How to add Bluetooth to an old car stereo

Plenty of good cars on Pakistan’s roads have a stereo with no Bluetooth. You don’t need a new head unit: a small adapter streams music from your phone for a fraction of the price. Which one depends on one question.

Does your stereo have an AUX socket?

Look for a 3.5mm socket marked AUX on the stereo, the dashboard or inside the armrest.

• Yes: use a Bluetooth receiver in the AUX socket. A cable connection gives the cleanest sound and never picks up radio interference. The CZ-07 Bluetooth 5.0 receiver (Rs.1,600) makes any AUX car stereo or speaker wireless.
• No: use an FM transmitter. It plugs into the car’s 12V socket (the cigarette lighter), receives your phone over Bluetooth and sends the sound to your radio on a free FM frequency.

The CZ-06 (Rs.1,900) can do both: it has a line-out for AUX and an FM output, plays music from a USB drive or TF card, and handles hands-free calls.

Setting up an FM transmitter

1. Plug it into the 12V socket and switch on the car.
2. Tune your car radio to a frequency with only static — the ends of the FM band (near 87.5 or 108 MHz) are often free.
3. Set the transmitter to the same frequency.
4. Pair your phone over Bluetooth and play. If you hear hiss while driving through a city, move both to another empty frequency.

The CZ-08 to CZ-15 transmitters also charge your phone: they take 12–24V (cars, vans and trucks) and have QC 3.0 fast charging with a USB-C port plus two USB-A ports.

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