Dension Gateway 500 iPod Adapter - Great Experience?
I finally gave up on finding anyone in Tucson who knew anything about the Dension Gateway 500 unit and bought it direct from Mass Electronics in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada (there is no US distributor). Cost was Cnd$549 + $40 overnight shipping.
I took it to a well regarded local installer this morning, and though he had never seen the unit, he had in and operating perfectly in two hours. He says the install would be 1.5 hrs max with this experience.
Unit goes in my glove box behind the CD changer. On top sits a small switch to select CD or iPod, plus two leads - one for the iPod and one USB for software upgrades. Very clean, and I lost almost no room in the already small glove box.
I have total control of the iPod from the MMI screen - I can select by play list, album title, artist title, song title, recently purchased, most played, etc. I can scan by any of them.
My left steering wheel thumbwheel will take me through tracks of whatever mode I'm in.
Sound quality is absolutely excellent. (No cross-talk with satellite radios as with the Audi adapter.)
Based on one afternoon's experience, I would recommend this unit highly. I will post a follow up no later than mid-April after we do a 2,000 mile road trip back to the Seattle area.
Update after trip: Turns out Tucson installer (and Dension instructions) did not know how smart the Audi MMI is. Had the unit rewired upon return to Seattle area ($40) to cut the manual switch out of the system. Now when you select CD, you get the 6 disks plus the iPod menus - artists, albums, songs, playlists (no genre). This made a great unit even better. I recommend this unit highly.
Last edited by S6Guy : 06-05-2008 at 10:31 AM.
Reason: Added trip update
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06-05-2008, 10:25 AM
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