# 2008 Saturn (Opel) Astra



## Beeblebrox (Nov 9, 2007)

The Victim: My gf's 2008 Saturn Astra. While its branded a Saturn, there is no GM in this car for sure. 
The Problem: This one came with the CDC 40 Opera system. Besides the lack of sub bass was annoying, easy fix there. LOC'd that sucker with a bass knob up front and now the sound is great. Waiting on the 4-channel for now till I trick her into it, but all in good time coz I can't listen to my Ipod! 
I've been all over the saturn forums and everyone there has given up and gone FM Modulated aux-ins. I cannot accept this. What I've gathered is there are certain models that the programming can be changed in the radio with a Tech2 tool to accept the signal, but it's hit or miss. I can't take how crummy it sounds, so before I have to give up my rollpan and blowthrough on my truck for a 360.2 I know someone on here is tricky enough to make this work. 
The car does have OnStar which makes me want to start poking and prodding wires and harnesses, but I'd rather have someone here give me some suggestions that have worked before I short out my girls new car.
Any Ideas?


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## SQ Man (Nov 27, 2008)

AFAIK there is no AUX input on this model head unit, although some european versions had a DAB (Digital Radio) add on available, you might be able to turn this on & use that input as an AUX i/p.

You can get a bootleg aftermarket version of TECH2 the programming/diagnostic tool on ebay, do a search for OP-COM.

Might also be worth your while joining some European Astra forums, have a look at www.astraownersclub.com for a good example.

On a final note, there might be a dedicated sub o/p available, I found this when searching for the pinout connections for the CDC40.


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## mmiller (Mar 7, 2008)

Beeblebrox said:


> The Victim: My gf's 2008 Saturn Astra. While its branded a Saturn, there is no GM in this car for sure.
> The Problem: This one came with the CDC 40 Opera system. Besides the lack of sub bass was annoying, easy fix there. LOC'd that sucker with a bass knob up front and now the sound is great. Waiting on the 4-channel for now till I trick her into it, but all in good time coz I can't listen to my Ipod!
> I've been all over the saturn forums and everyone there has given up and gone FM Modulated aux-ins. I cannot accept this. What I've gathered is there are certain models that the programming can be changed in the radio with a Tech2 tool to accept the signal, but it's hit or miss. I can't take how crummy it sounds, so before I have to give up my rollpan and blowthrough on my truck for a 360.2 I know someone on here is tricky enough to make this work.
> The car does have OnStar which makes me want to start poking and prodding wires and harnesses, but I'd rather have someone here give me some suggestions that have worked before I short out my girls new car.
> Any Ideas?


 

NO GM in The Car But it Has ON Star?????????LOL.


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## tinctorus (Oct 5, 2009)

Look into a company named "peripheral" they make ALL sorts of aux inputs,hd radio add ons and bluetooth add ons for factory radios and they ALL work great...

At least from my experience using them at least 9 times a week at work...


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## Beeblebrox (Nov 9, 2007)

Peripheral is one of my vendors, so checking in with them, PAC, even the guys at logjamelectronics couldnt help me. And yes, it is true on some euro models it is possible to program, but not this one. Which leaves one more comment:

"NO GM in The Car But it Has ON Star?????????LOL."

I guess what I mean by the "no gm in it" comment is that the car is actually put together well. No rattles, no cheap plastic with breakable clips, hell even has a charging system that I can leave the key on for more than 4 minutes without having to jumpstart it and find the code to unlock the radio. Basically a saturn GTi. But like all euro cars, hard to integrate with.


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## 94VG30DE (Nov 28, 2007)

Yeah I would love to poke around with a tech2 and see if there are any useful settings that you could mess with. Unfortunately, most people that have a Tech2 know nothing about audio, so they aren't terrible inclined to care about your predicament  DAB i/p and the phone i/p look promising though. Do you have a SOURCE option in the head unit that can switch it to "phone" or "digital input" mode?


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## Beeblebrox (Nov 9, 2007)

Sadly, no. Starting to look like fm mod. Poopy.


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