Dension have announced the latest product in a long line of iPod car kit adapters. The Dension Lite is the newest kit that will be replacing the Gateway 100 and Gateway 300 for vehicles with CAN systems.

Dension have simplified the Lite kit, which some people may find a bit odd? A new kit with fewer navigation options than its predecessor. However due to the majority of vehicles stereo’s unable to support text display the previous Dension kits were often difficult to navigate and use. Resulting in users becoming a little frustrated in the products. Due to the complex menu structure the gateway 100 and 300 were only really suitable when text display is present.

The Dension Gateway Lite Negates the need for Text to be displayed on the stereo by utilising a much simpler operating method. Once the device is connected press the CD button on your vehicles stereo and you will start to receive audio from the iPod. The iPods click wheel controls the music selection while the steering wheel controls allows the user to skip forward and backward through tracks, providing a far superior system over the gateway 100 and 300.

Updating the controls isn’t all that Dension have modified on the Gateway Lite, It comes as standard with USB integration. So you can connect up to 8Gb of additional music to browse through. The method of navigation for the USB is different as there is no click wheel to operate from. However the operations are still simple. Just press CD button 6 to select the USB, and buttons 1-5 to select which albums / Playlists are played.

The Dension Gateway Lite is great value for money, as its much cheaper than its real equivalent the Dension gateway 300. In fact its nearly half price if you only require USB connectivity.

Dension Will be discontinuing the non Text compatible Gateway 100 and 300 units soon and rolling out the Newer Lite Kits is already underway.

Once you’ve decided to purchase an iPod car kit, inevitably you’ve chosen the Gateway Lite produced by Dension. You only have one further obstacle to hurdle, the installation. There are two options available to you for installing the kit. The first option, Pay a professional engineer to install the kit, either travelling to them or they can travel to you. The second option, is to install the iPod car kit yourself. Which is by far the more cost effective option and probably most convenient too. See below an installation guide to judge whether your capable of the installation, should you choose to go ahead.

The installation of the Gateway lite is fairly simple and pain free. Although this is a generic installation guide, it will suit 99% of vehicles.

Before you begin the installation, please remove the keys from the ignition and check that any radio codes are recorded for future reference.

Step one is to remove your car stereo, this will usually involve radio removal tools which will vary depending on what vehicle you have. Radio removal keys are readily available and the majority of online shops or traditional vehicle based retail outlets stock them. Radio removal tools are extremely convenient and can save you a lot of time and energy. This should take between 1-5 minutes

Step two is to remove the harnesses from the back of the stereo, Most vehicles have a Quadlock connection, this is a fairly large connection block that houses the wires to and from the stereo. If the Harness is a Quadlock connection the Dension harness will usually replicate the original harness exactly. The Dension Lite harness simply fits into the vehicle harness and then back to the stereo, basically a link between the vehicle and the stereo.

If the vehicle doesn’t have a Quadlock connection, the gateway lite harness fits into the CD changer port on the the back of the stereo. Usually located in the top right of the stereo as your looking at the back of it. Most of the time the harness simply connects straight into place, however occasionally the harness may have to be connected into the original harness then re-connected. This stage should take 2 minutes.

Step three is to connect the Gateway Lite PCB (the little black box) to the Dension harness, its the most straight forward step of the installation. This will take 30 seconds.

Step Four is to connect the iPod dock and USB extension cable to the PCB, again very straight forward. Once this stage is done its usually a good idea to turn ignition on to check the system works. (Follow the user manual to perform the operations for iPod/USB track selection) Again this will take 1-2 minutes.

Step five, Route the cables through into position within the vehicle, this is usually the most time consuming part of the installation. Depending on the vehicle this can be a complex job and may require the removal of some of the fascia / Dashboard. This part of the installation may take up to 30 minutes depending on difficulty, especially if you want a professionally installed look.

Step Six, replace the stereo into its fittings. Read the operational instructions from Dension and enjoy the use of your iPod and all of your music while you’re driving.

So you are thinking of installing some Infinity car speakers. It’s not the easiest thing to do, especially if you haven’t tried it before, so how can you guarantee you will get the best out of them? Here are a few things to think about before you start the job.

The first thing to do is to make sure you are using the right Infinity car amplifier otherwise you may find you continuously blow your speakers. This is not a problem with the manufacturer but rather you the user.

Car audio speakers will blow for two reasons. The first most people understand i.e. you have pumped too much power into them. So if yours are rated at 200 watts and you are pumping 500 watts into them, what do you expect to happen?

The second reason they could be blowing is down to your amplifier not being strong enough. Let’s use an extreme example. Say you were using a 100 watt amp with 1000 watt speakers. You like listening to your CDs at 500 watts. Your amp will work to provide you with the music but it will be distorted. By the time your human ear has picked up on this distortion the damage will have been done and your speakers will blow out.

This is quite a common problem. As people can hear the music playing they don’t think it is an issue to use a car amplifier with less wattage than their speakers. When the latter keep blowing they blame the technology. If this is happening to you, upgrade your amp and at the same time get your alternator checked to make sure it is strong enough to support the amplifier. If your lights dim when you play your stereo, that is your alternators way of telling you there is an issue!

Your car battery wasn’t designed to run your in-car stereo system so if you have parked up you still need to have the engine on while using your new Infinity car speakers.

So you want to enhance the sound quality of your in car stereo system? One of the best ways to do this is to rip out the factory speakers and install one of the many different types of Infinity car speakers instead.

Infinity car audio speakers are designed to produce a reasonable sound volume. You can improve this by adding an amplifier and a subwoofer to your automobile. These two pieces of kit will help to give you a total surround sound effect. You can overdo it though so if the music from your newly installed system sounds rather fuzzy, you should reduce the volume level of the amplifier.

I would definitely leave the amplifier and sub to the experts to install. In fact to be honest, I would let them do the whole lot. But I know some of you will want to replace the speakers yourself. Unless you are mechanically minded, installing speakers may not be as simple as it looks. Although instructions come in the pack, they cannot cover every make and model of car available so may not be as comprehensive as you need them to be.

Don’t forget to disconnect the negative battery lead before you start work. We don’t want any nasty surprises. You should keep the new speakers in their packaging until you are ready for them. They should glide very easily into their new home so never force them or you will end up causing damage.

If you have to cut anything to make room, please be careful with the fuel, hydraulic, electrical and vacuum lines. More than one would be engineer has drilled through these rather important parts of the engine!

If in doubt, don’t try to save a couple of dollars installing your new Infinity Car Speakers yourself but instead ask your local friendly authorized retailer to do it for you.

A subwoofer is an essential component of any automobile sound system. You don’t believe me? Try removing the existing one from your car and see how bad your music sounds. You might be surprised how much difference a bit of bass can make.

But don’t worry. I am not suggesting for one second that you are trying to recapture your lost youth years by waking up your neighbors from a mile away. They are not just used for that purpose, but there is no point telling their teenage owners that as they lost their hearing ages ago.

Everyone needs to fit a subwoofer in their car. It doesn’t matter what style you are into, whether it’s Jazz, Rock and Roll or the latest Hip/Hop, you will still need to hear the bass or you might as well just listen to the chat shows.

Always buy your car parts from recognized dealers. There are far too many hot items on the market right now. If the price of the Infinity car stereo seems too good to be true, then best to walk away as the person selling it just might not be the rightful owner, if you know what I mean.

Fitting an Infinity subwoofer may not always be easy. It depends on how much room there is for it in your trunk as they can take up quite a lot of space. Depending on what type of system was there before, adjustments may be needed. If you are not that mechanical, I would suggest you let the experts fit it. It will be done twice as fast and correctly.

Make sure that they provide a warranty on their services just in case you do have problems. Electronics are notorious for breaking down even those made by reputable companies. If you deal with an authorized dealer you will have no problems getting any issues fixed or finding replacement parts for your Infinity car speakers if required.