Manual says that BT audio is enabled via Aux BT input. Unfortunately, I don't see that in my inputs when my iPhone is connected to BT.

This appears to be the same unit I have in my 2011 Cayenne and the audio over BT works perfectly. Is this not a feature of PCM in the 997.2 cars?

Thanks.

 

I'll look into that on my own car tomorrow, but for now I have say that I have a vague memory of a thread a couple of years that concluded that BT audio was not supported. It wasn't terribly important to me since I use Android and keep my music on a thumb drive, so I don't guarantee that memory. As I say, I'll check tomorrow, but it might be worth a search of the forum.

Gary

 

Blu tooth audio is not supported on PCM3.0, however PCM3.1 which is in my 2011 cayenne it is supported. The op was correct with his above statement. I tried on my 2010 Cayman and no go

 

So the 997.2 only has PCM 3.0?

 

PCM 3.0 was introduced in the 997.2. It was a major step up from the previous PCM but still about two years behind on the tech curve and tech that was used in some other brands.

 

I have never seen the A2DP profile reported by any phone I have used with PCM 3.0 997.2. Perhaps by "BT audio" Porsche means that HFP is supported and it is. Separately you can plug a phone with a music player into either the USB or AUX inputs and play music but A2DP support should have been what they implemented.

 

I'm not very tech savvy so please help me understand. Does audio from the phone play over the car speakers, and can phone calls be made from the car's control module when the phone is mated, or not? This could be a deal breaker for my pending build to order GTS. I commute an hour each way almost every day, and this is one of the reasons I believed I was upgrading to the .2!

 

To play music from a BT device like the iPhone on a car, the system must support A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile); to play high quality stereo or mono audio streams over the car's speakers.

The PCM 3.0 that was released in 2009 for 997.2 does not have this profile. In later versions of PCM, like 3.1 found in the new Cayennes, A2DP is supported.

 

Now if you have your iPhone plugged into the iPod outlet in the arm rest and the auxiliary jack at the same time you can listen to your iPod and phone call be made and come through on the PCM3.0, however it is not done wirelessly which I believe is the AD2P feature. I know this because my 2010 Cayman has PCM3.0 and my 2011 Cayenne has PCM3.1.

dave-t

 

It's not making sense to me. The entire bluetooth process is based upon wireless technology, isn't it? I've never heard of a bluetooth situation where the device had to be plugged in. The devices "discover" each other and then work wirelessly.

 

mseligson-- think of bluetooth as a type of wireless technology whereby the implementor of the technology gets to pick and choose which specific subcomponents of the technology are implemented...tall stack of stuff whereby each item in the stack allows you to do a different thing...one thing allows exchange of data, one thing allows you to control the audio and video on your mobile phone, one thing allows you to stream audio from a phone to something else (or vice versa), one thing allows you to transfer contact information and address books, etc. So the stack that Porsche bought in the PCM 3.0 allows you to transfer an address book from the phone to the car, lets the address book synch, lets you dial, talk and initiate/terminate a call, lets you voice dial, etc. What it appears they did not buy/implement was the protocol that allows you to control your phone/music player thru PCM over BT and stream music to/thru the PCM. This specific protocol appears to be added in PCM 3.1. They limited the music playing ability to hardwired devices (CD/DVD/radio/Ipod/USB/AUX) which is far, far better than what they had before.

 

Awesome. Thanks for the explanation. I mainly care about the phone app - don't really care if I have to plug in my ipod to use it.

 

I managed to get my iPhone to play music from my phone through the PCM connected via Bluetooth on my 2012 model-year Cayenne. I just did this at the weekend. Dunno if this is due to some PCM upgrade or not, but it works.

I think I had the option on teh PCM to add an AUX bluetooth device and it picked it up from that. I had to pair the devices again though even though my phone was already paired as a phone.

 

Yes, I was told at the dealership that a change was made for the Cayenne but was NOT cut in for our cars. The BT over AUX option does not exist for our cars and the PCM manual is very clear that BT exists only for the phone. Even then, it goes so far as to show a data BT capability in the manual and in the BT section of the PCM but then the manual says that capability does not work except for vcf sending. They could have done more with PCM 3.0 in these areas but chose not to. Now they are adding that capability to 3.1.

 

Blue tooth is a combination of hardware (radio frequency signal) and software (data communications protocol) specifications.

The radio (hardware part) is in place in the 997.2. It handles the actual RF transmission to and from paired devices.

Beyond that, to make it do something, you need the software side of things, and that is governed by a big list of 'profiles', that are the protocols for transmitting data over the blue tooth radio channel.

For the cell phone's phone system to work, you use the HFP (Hands Free Profile).

As was mentioned, for the streaming of audio files, a separate feature from hands free phone use, you use the A2DP (advanced audio distribution profile).

So the 997.2 PCM3.0 systems have HFP in their software support, but they do not have A2DP. So using the car's audio system for hands free calling works wonderfully. Streaming music from your blue tooth device wirelessly does not work. You need to use a physical connection (aux in port, or i-pod port) to play back audio.

The PCM also has support for PBA (phone book access), and if you have the (use the car as a telephone) option, SAP (SIM access profile).

In theory, all it takes is a firmware upgrade to the blue tooth system in he car, to add the A2DP functionality. However, manufacturers almost never add features beyond what was originally sold, they only patch bugs, so I'd not expect PCM3.0 to ever get audio streaming over blue tooth.