I have a 2005 Volvo S40 and have been reading all the iPod connectivity threads.

I just got a MOTOROKR T505 bluetooth kit to use with my iPhone in the car. I picked up a separate bluetooth transmitter with an iPod/iPhone dock connector as well (iPhone will transmit phone audio over bluetooth, but won't stream music without a separate transmitter). If you're not familiar with the T505, it will receive bluetooth signal and re-transmits it over FM. I am streaming music from an iPod nano I keep in the car.

The sound quality on this thing is amazing, even here in the city. I tried 4 or 5 different FM transmitters and couldn't find a single one I could live with, but this one is absolutely great. You might be able to distinguish it from CD quality (I honestly couldn't when I was out on the highway) but it's at least as good as a very high quality radio station signal.

Just wanted to through this out there in case anyone would prefer to go the FM transmitter route, but hasn't been able to find a decent sounding one.

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Is the transmitter the device shown in your post the unit with the visor clip? I assume it is, and if it is clipped to a sun-visor, I wonder how it is working so well given the location of the antenna.

I have used FM transmitters in the past (in other cars) which do not work in my S40. I believe this has to do with the antenna being located in the rear window glass as opposed to being a mast. My other cars both had mast antenna in the rear fenders and the transmitter worked fine.

I appreciate hearing about this transmitter and I will investigate further, maybe the line of site to the antenna being clear is the key, or maybe it's more powerful than the typical iPod transmitter.

I started out thinking I just wanted to use my iPod in the car like I have with other cars but now, I am very interested in getting a hard wired installation of a satellite radio. Even with reading the threads on the forum I am still confused about whether it will work at all or who I should trust to do the install. Everybody (every audio shop) seems to have a different story and none have any clear Volvo experience, that I have found.

I would appreciate anyone reading this with advice chiming in. I am about ready to save the money and the hassle and just wait till I trade my 04.5 in for a newer model with the connectivity built in.

I'm not sure the mechanism that's allowing this thing to work so much better, but in my case at least, it definitely is. Maybe the allowable signal output is greater since the main purpose of the device is a hands-free phone kit?

All told, I paid about $175 for the setup ($100 for the visor clip and $75 for the bluetooth adaptor for the iPod).

Thanks, yeah I am giving this solution serious consideration. Beats twice the price plus adding a bunch of installed junk to the car.

I appreciate the reply.

If the final transmission medium is the fm I don't believe what you mean with a "good quality". I'm an audiophile and like 20hz ~ 20khz freq response and every single fm transmitter outhere is crap!!

I just want to know if you compare the quality of your transmission as a near cd quality?

I invested 1500 usd in audio for my volvo (with the dealer) and the sound is just AMAZING... the best factory audio you can find in any car around there... the values for armonic / intermodular distortion and the signal/noise ratio are just inside professional values at 60% of the volume.

cn2gj, as you've pointed out, no FM transmitter out there will work out for you.

I live in Philadelphia, and occasionally hear a small but perceptible amount of noise in the signal while I'm in town. A couple miles out on the highway, though, and the noise does go away (in my case, at least). I'm sure the frequency response of my solution isn't as wide as yours, but for me, it's good listening quality for inside a car.

To my ears, an auto environment will never be the ideal music space, and I don't have the money to try to approach that ideal in my car. But I really do think this particular FM transmitter is worth a shot for a lot of people out there who, like me, want to listen to their compressed iPod music at reasonably good quality but who don't want to shell out quite so much money or do so much engineering inside their cars.

If you were demoing your kick-**** system, what music would you pick to show off its qualities?

I'm not looking a super High-End 20-20 Quality in my car with the iPod, I will be ok if I can get a "near-CD" quality, but all FM transmitters I try hear like AM radio... horrible! :(

So for now I'm still using regular audio cds (the Premium Audio on the volvo is just amazing) but I would like to have an aux in to connect my 3Terabytes hd box and avoid changing disks!

mdcathell, I want to try this solution out in my 2006 S40.

I found the MOTOROKR T505 Bluetooth® In-Car Speakerphone online and I was wondering where you found the iPod/iPhone dock connector pictured in your post.

Also, are you using this solution with an iPhone or an iPod? I have both but would perfer to use my iPhone because then I wouldn't have to carry my iPod around.

It's a Motorola bluetooth transmitter for iPod. I bought it on Amazon, where it seems to be on sale for $50 now.

Link is here.

I've used it with both an iPod nano and an iPhone. Works great with both.

Thanks so much!

I got one a couple of weeks ago and I've very pleased with it. It's a good inexpensive solution especially for people like me who have the standard sound system and no options for any real way to add anything into the audio system.

Note: This solution gets the sound out of the phone or mp3 player by acting just like stereo wireless bluetooth headsets. Your device must support the A2DP stereo headset profile in order for this to work. Just about every recent phone and MP3 player has this built in except iPhone and iPod. Sorry. Not Motorola's fault; blame Apple. Lots of vendors sell add ons for the Apple products that add this ability, though.

As a bluetooth speaker phone solution - it's great. I give it a B+. The quality and ease of use is as good as any built-in solution. The disadvantages are that it doesn't automatically interrupt whatever is on the radio when you get a call - you'll have to switch to the radio channel the T505 is using yourself. But if you've put on a channel button, that's no big deal. The other disadvantage is that you'll have to charge it occasionally. I do that once a week - but it's never run out of power on me.

Of course the flip side of that is that its easily portable to any car you want to drive. That makes it an especially attractive option for people who are often in a rental car.

As a solution for playing your tunes through the car sound system, it's very good. I would rate it a B-. It's an FM transmiter so that caps sound quality to FM radio standards. However, given that - it's the best FM transmitter solution I've ever used. Its strong electronics help it lock into a radio station. And its position near the roof seems to be advantageous in the S40.

So if you a looking for a bluetooth speaker phone anyway, (and especially if you have the standard non-upgradeable sound system) the T505 is a no-brainer. It's inexpensive and it works.

On the other hand, if you want top quality audio, and you have a premium factory sound system, and you are willing to spend several hundred dollars, and you have enough DIY moxie to rewire the Volvo system and add in components - then there are other solutions you can look at.

mdcathell :

I read your post about the SONY bluetooth for connecting the ipod with the sound system in the volvo.

Can you please clear for me the following doubt?

1- Is this compatible with volvo s40 t5 2006?
2- How you add bluetooth to your volvo?
3- The quality with this device is better compared with regular fm transmiter?
4- Do you have noises like with fm transmiters?
5- the quality is "near-cd" quality?

Please let me know and I will purchase inmediately!!!!