Well, I have quietly been reading all the problems and progress of people
with the 98.5 CD changer installs.  The one with that damn rectangular plug
rather than the simple round one.......so here it goes.

Purchased the car 3 weeks ago, dealer wanted 600 for the changer, I told
them to go blow.

Started the search for one on my own, thanks to a list member who gave a
phone number I purchased the Panasonic DP601 6 disk changer from Sound
Center out of Clarksdale, MS.  800-530-7227 for $249.95.  That was the easy
part.

I called blitsafe for a cable, but they won't sell to individuals.  So I
started calling around, finally found a place in Cleveland that said he had
one.  Turned out he was a fellow VW nerd who had a VR6 of his own and who
was planning on attending Waterfest.  (although I don't remember his name.)
anyways, I digress.

Stopped by the shop the next day and everyone looked at me like my head was
on backwards, "nope, we don't have it, but we can order it for you"  ok I
said, when will it be in?  Thursday.  So today I venture back across town to
the shop.......  no cable, they don't remember me or ordering the
cable.....grrrrrrr.

disgruntled I head back home and grab the phone book and start calling
everybody in the yellow pages explaining exactly what I needed.  Nine out of
ten answered "you want a what to do what in what???"  most of them didn't
seem to have a clue.  Just as I was at my wits end I called close to the
last place on the list, the guy says "yup, got one right here" and gave me
directions.  Turns out he was just putting one into a Cabrio and was
familiar with the whole setup.  On a side note he was putting the 8 disk
changer into the cabrio.....he said it would work but I didn't wait around
to see.

so I cruise across town again, this time in rush hour and viola, he has the
mysterious adapter cable  about 8 inches long with the correct ends on it.
looks like something that wouldn't be too hard to build if one had the
wiring diagrams, but I wished to keep it as professional as I could and
easy, considering I am without a garage or soldering iron.

now for the kicker

He says the cable is 75 bucks......(I about fell over)  I was mentally
prepared to spend 50, (thats what the last shop told me) so I kinda sighed
and told him I would have to wait for a week and get one from the other
joint.  So he drops the price to 59.95 and I gave in. (long ride home with
stale tapes)

Next trick, see if it works.  (I was really hoping the whole smoke incident
was a fluke)  plugged it in, put in the magazine and viola......music.  CD
quality music at that.  I was tickled pink.

Everything seems to work as advertised, except for the MIX feature.  I press
and press the button and nothing happens, read the directions even to no
avail.....any ideas?

I decided to mount it under the passenger seat (leather height adjustable to
the lowest setting) it snugs in nicely, I can reach it from the drivers
seat, although right now I only have the one magazine so it doesn't make a
difference.  I am considering taking a list members idea and putting some
Velcro on it to hold it to the carpet, but it seems to stay quite nicely as
it is.  only possible problem is with passengers in the back seat kicking
it.  but without it being boltet down with the hardware it is quickly
unplugged and removed if necessary.  pretty slick so far.  besides,  I
wanted the trunk space for more important things......like golf clubs.  Now
all thats left is to pull up the rug a bit and hide the rest of the wire
bundle, on my list for tomorrow.

All and all I am happy.    I spent more than I originally planned (I had
hoped not to need an adapter) but it is still quite a bit cheaper than the
dealer, and I put it where I wanted it.

Good luck to all the others, I will answer questions but honestly I don't
have too many answers as I received most of my info from this board already.
I would assume that people out east or west side of the countly would have
an easier time getting the adapter cable as there are generally more VW's
out there, not too many here in the Clevland area.

****************************************************************
Jon T. Miller
Captain B1900D
98 Tornado Red GTI VR6...New CD changer edition
"If Life could only be as cool as a Calvin and Hobbs cartoon"
*********************************************************************



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