The Lotus Elise… It’s a rare beauty that we don’t see very often. One good customer of ours owns a black 2005 Lotus Elise and gave us the opportunity to work on it for him. His request was simple yet satisfying. He wanted Bluetooth for hands free phone use, streaming audio, and an all-around great quality head unit.
The choice was easy. After going over several radios with the customer, we chose the Sony DSXS310BTX. This is what’s called a “mechless” head unit. There is no internal cd player. The face of the unit flips down and it actually has what’s called a “tune-tray” that swings out to hold an iPod inside the radio! The unit also has a front USB connection, so you could have an iPod inside and another plugged into the front! The iPod control is impressively fast and easy to use. You really have to experience this head unit to understand. If you’re interested in checking it out, we have one on display in our SOUND ROOM!
We installed the microphone for bluetooth to the left of the heater controls (see photos below), and ran the cable through the steering column trim pieces. This allowed the microphone to pick up his voice properly being aimed toward the driver seat, and we did not have to drill any holes or take away from the integrity of the car at all. The wire is hidden all the way up to the back of the radio. The bluetooth gave him the ability to make and receive phone calls without ever having to touch his phone, conforming to the “hands-free” laws of Maryland. It also gave him the ability to stream music wirelessly through the A2DP bluetooth audio source.
The new ability to answer phone calls hands-free, stream audio wirelessly, and the multiple lines of text on the display make operating the stereo in this Lotus much more convenient. As always, we make the Drive Easy!
