GETTING TO KNOW YOUR CAR
141
The radio is installed in a user-friendly po-
sition for the driver and passenger and the
graphics on the front panel make location
of the controls quick, facilitating use.
The CD Changer is available at Lineacces-
sori Alfa Romeo.
In the following pages you will find the
instructions for use, which you are advised
to read through carefully. The instructions al-
so contain the procedure for controlling the
CD Changer (if provided) through the radio.
For the instructions for use of the CD Chang-
er refer to the specific manual. ADVICE
Road safety
You are advised to learn how to use the
various radio functions (e.g.: storing sta-
tions) before starting to drive.
Reception conditions
Reception conditions change constantly
when driving. Reception may be disturbed
by the presence of mountains, buildings or
bridges particularly when far away from the
station being listened to.
IMPORTANTWhen receiving traffic in-
formation, the volume may be higher than
normal.
SOUND SYSTEM
The car sound system, fitted with CD play-
er (radio with Compact Disc player) or MP3
CD player (radio with MP3 CD player) has
been designed in accordance with the spe-
cial features of the passenger compartment,
with a personalised design that blends with
the style of the dashboard. The sound sys-
tem cannot be adapted to other vehicles and
for this reason it cannot be removed.
GETTING TO KNOW YOUR CAR
143
Do not use highly scratched, cracked, or
distorted discs, etc. The use of these discs
will involve malfunctioning or damage to the
player.
For optimal playing use original CDs only.
Regular operation is not guaranteed if using
R/RW CDs not properly mastered and/or
CDs with max. capacity higher than 650
MB.
IMPORTANTDo not use the protective
sheets for CD in commerce or discs with sta-
bilisers, etc. as they might get stuck in the
internal mechanism and damage the disc. IMPORTANTShould copy-protected CDs
be used, then, few seconds may be required
for playing them. Moreover, due to the pro-
liferation of always new and different pro-
tection methods, it is not guaranteed that
the CD player can play whatever protected
disc. Copy protection is often indicated on
the CD cover in small letters or hard to read
characters. Usually it is indicated by writings
like: “COPY CONTROL”, “COPY PROTECT-
ED”, “THIS CD CANNOT BE PLAYED ON A
PC/MAC”, or it is identified by symbols like: To remove a Compact Disc from its con-
tainer, press the centre and raise the disc
carefully, holding it by the outer circumfer-
ence.
Always hold Compact Discs by the outer
circumference. Never touch the surface.
To remove fingerprints and dust, use a soft
cloth starting from the centre of the Com-
pact Disc outwards.
GETTING TO KNOW YOUR CAR
144
IMPORTANTThe CD player can read
most of the compression systems currently
on sale (e.g.: LAME, BLADE, XING, FRAUN-
HOFER) however, due to the evolution of
these systems, reading of all compression
formats is not guaranteed.
IMPORTANTWhen loading a multi-ses-
sion CD, only the first session will be played. TECHNICAL DATA
Radio
Maximum power: 4 x 30W.
Aerial
The aerial is located on the car roof. You
are recommended to slacken and remove
the aerial from the roof to avoid damaging
it when washing the car in automatic sys-
tem.
Speakers
The sound system is formed of a system
comprising:
– 4 tweeters: 2 front and 2 rear (for ver-
sions/markets where applicable) with 30W
power
– 4 speakers with a diameter of 165 mm
(2 front and 2 rear) with 40W power. Protected discs (and their cover) very of-
ten are not marked with the audio CD iden-
tification symbol:
GETTING TO KNOW YOUR CAR
152
PRESET/XX EQ SET*/CLASSIC/
ROCK/JAZZ functions
(equalizer on/off)
The integrated equalizer can be turned on
or off. With the equalizer off, it is possible
to change the sound settings only adjust-
ing the bass (“BASS”) and treble tones
(“TREBLE”), while activating the function
makes it possible to adjust the sound curves.
To turn the equalizer off, select “PRESET”
by means of button
÷or˜.
To turn the equalizer on, use button
÷
or˜to select one of the following op-
tions:
– “USER” (adjustment of the 7 equaliz-
er bands that can be changed by the user);
– “CLASSIC” (predefined equalizer ad-
justment for best playing of classic music);
– “ROCK” (predefined equalizer adjust-
ment for best playing of rock and pop mu-
sic);
– “JAZZ” (predefined equalizer adjust-
ment for best playing of jazz music).
When one of the equalizer settings is on,
the display shows “EQ”. *XX EQ SET function (only if the
USER equalizer setting has been
selected) (excluding versions
with Bose HI-FI system)
To set a personal equalizer adjustment, use
button
▲or▼to select USER and then
press button
▼for long.
The display will show for about 2 seconds
“XX EQ SET” and then a graph with 7 bars,
where each bar represents a frequency.
Choose the bar to be adjusted using button
÷or˜; the bar chosen starts to flash
and it is possible to adjust it using button
▲
or▼.
To store the new settings, press button
AUD again or wait for about 10 seconds.
The display will show the word “MEN” to-
gether with the graph with 7 bars.
Antitheft protection
Refer to “CD Player” paragraph. Fader adjustment
Proceed as follows:
– Use button
▲or▼to select “FADER”
in the AUDIO menu;
– press button
÷to increase the sound
from the rear speakers or button
˜to in-
crease the sound from the front speakers.
Pressing the buttons briefly the change is
gradual by steps. Pressing longer, chang-
ing is faster.
Select “
÷0˜” to set the same val-
ue for both front and rear speakers.
LD function
The Loudness function improves the sound
volume when listening at low level, in-
creasing the basses and trebles.
To switch the function on/off, use button
▲or▼to select “LD” in the AUDIO menu.
The function condition (on or off) is shown
on the display for few seconds by “LD ON”
or “LD OFF”.
GETTING TO KNOW YOUR CAR
156
TA function
(traffic information)
Certain stations in the FM band (FM1,
FM2 and FMT) are enabled to also broad-
cast information about traffic conditions. In
this case the display shows “TP”.
To turn the TA (traffic announcement) func-
tion on/off, briefly press button MENU and
then select “TA ON” or “TA OFF”.
IMPORTANTIf the TA function (traffic
information) is on, with CD, CD Changer (if
installed), Telephone or Mute/Pause active:
automatic station tuning will start.
With the TA function it is possible:
– to search only RDS stations that trans-
mit in the FM band, enabled to broadcast
traffic information;
– to receive traffic information although
CD player or CD Changer are being used;
– to receive traffic information at a pre-
defined minimum volume even with the ra-
dio volume off. IMPORTANTIn certain countries radio
stations exist which, even if the TP function
is on (the display shows “TP”), do not trans-
mit traffic information.
If the radio is working in the AM band,
when TA is activated, it passes to the FM1
band on the last station heard.
The volume with which the traffic bulletin
is transmitted varies depending on the lis-
tening volume:
– listening volume below 20: traffic bul-
letin volume = 20 (fixed value);
– listening volume above 20: traffic bul-
letin volume = listening volume +1.
If the volume is changed during a traffic
bulletin the value is not shown on the dis-
play and the new value is kept only for the
bulletin in progress.
The TA function is interrupted by pressing
any sound system button. AF function
(alternative frequency search)
Within the RDS system the radio can work
in two different modes:
– “AF ON”: alternative frequency search
on (the display shows “AF”);
– “AF OFF”: alternative frequency search
off.
With “AF ON”, the radio is automatically
tuned to the station with the strongest sig-
nal that is broadcasting the same pro-
gramme. During the journey it will thus be
possible to continue listening to the station
chosen without having to change the fre-
quency when changing area.
Of course, the station being listened to
must be receivable in the area the car is
crossing.
To turn the AF function on/off, press but-
ton MENU, and then select “AF ON” or “AF
OFF”. If the AF function has been turned on
the display shows “AF”.
If the radio is working in the AM band,
when the AF function is activated, it pass-
es to the FM1 band on the last station se-
lected.
GETTING TO KNOW YOUR CAR
159
Selecting the compact disc player
To turn on the Compact Disc player inte-
grated in the set, proceed as follows:
– insert a CD with the set on: the first track
will be played;
or
– if a CD is already inserted, turn the set
on and press briefly button CD to select
“CD”: the last heard track will be played.
For optimal playing use only original CDs.
When using R/RW CDs, use top quality CDs
mastered at the as low as possible speed. Inserting/ejecting a CD
To insert the CD set it gently in place to ac-
tivate the powered loading system, which
will position it correctly.
Press button
˚, with the device on, to op-
erate the powered CD eject system. After
ejection, the source heard before playing the
CD will return.
If CD is not ejected, the device will reload
it automatically after about 20 seconds and
then will set to Tuner (Radio).
CD cannot be ejected if the device is off.
Inserting the ejected CD without fully re-
moving it from the slot, the tuner will not
change the source to CD.
COMPACT DISC PLAYER
Introduction
This section only describes CD player op-
eration variants: as concerns sound system
operation, refer “Functions and adjust-
ments” paragraph.
GETTING TO KNOW YOUR CAR
160
Select track
(forward/backward)
Briefly press button
÷to play the pre-
vious track and button
˜to play the next
one. Tracks are played in sequence: after the
last track, the first one will be played and
vice versa.
If playing the track started more than 3
seconds ago, pressing briefly button
÷
the track is played again from the start. In
this case if wanting to play the previous
track, press the button twice consecutively.
Fast forward/backward
Keep button
˜pressed to move the
track selected forward at high speed and
keep button
÷pressed to move it quick-
ly backward. Fast forward/backward is
stopped once the button is released. Pause function
To pause the CD player, press button
MUTE. The display will show “PAUSE”.
To resume playing the track, press button
MUTE again.
The pause function is deactivated chang-
ing the sound source. Possible error messages
If the CD inserted is illegible (e.g.: CD-ROM
inserted, CD not inserted properly or read-
ing error), the display will show the mes-
sage “CD ERROR” for about 2 seconds.
The CD is then ejected and the previous
source before CD was selected returns.
Display information
When the CD player is working, the dis-
play shows the following information which
means:
“T05”: shows the number of the track on
the CD;
“03:42”: shows the time elapsed since
the start of the track (if the corresponding
Menu function is on);
GETTING TO KNOW YOUR CAR
162
Technical data and operating conditions for
MP3 files are as follows:
– adopted CD-ROM shall be mastered ac-
cording to ISO9660 Standard;
– music files shall be renamed as “.mp3”
otherwise they cannot be played;
– sampling frequencies are: 44.1 kHz,
stereo (96 to 320 kbit/s) - 22.05 kHz,
mono or stereo (32 to 80 kbit/s);
– it is possible to play variable bit-rate
tracks (files).
IMPORTANTCharacters: blank, ‘ (apos-
trophe), ( and ) (open and closed brackets)
are not admitted in MP3 track names. When
sampling MP3 CD you must not use these
characters to name files otherwise the sound
system will not be able to play it. DISPLAY INFORMATION
ID3-tag info display
(track informations)
In addition to time elapsed, directory name
and file name, also ID3-tag info relevant to
track Title, Artist, Author (see section “MP3
disp function”) are displayed.
The MP3 directory name shown on the dis-
play corresponds to the name with which
the directory is stored on the CD, followed
by an asterisk.
Example of full MP3 directory name: BEST
OF *.
If you want to display one ID3-tag info (Ti-
tle, Artist, Album) and the track being played
has no ID3-tag info then, the file name will
be displayed.
MP3 CD PLAYER
(where provided)
Introduction
This section only describes MP3 CD play-
er operation variants: as concerns sound sys-
tem operation, refer to “Functions and Ad-
justments” paragraph.
NOTEMPEG Layer-3 audio decoding tech-
nology licensed from Fraunhofer IIS and
Thomson multimedia.
MP3 mode
In addition to standard audio CDs, the sound
system can also play audio files in MP3 for-
mat. Sound system will operate as described
in “Compact Disc player” paragraph when in-
serting a conventional audio CD.
For optimal playing use only top quality
CDs mastered at a speed as low as possible.
MP3 CD files are structured by directories,
with sequential lists of all directories con-
taining MP3 tracks (directories and sub-di-
rectories are all brought to the same lev-
el), directories not containing MP3 tracks
cannot be selected.