I've got a combo AM/FM/MP3/CD/DVD/TV unit in my overhead console between the visors. The unit also has a USB input as well as flash memory slot. I have an XM radio under the visor on the driver's side. The head unit will play MP3 cds (up to 10 hrs each) or a standard MP3 player, jump drive or USB hard drive can be used. The unit also displays the picture from my rear view camera. I have a couple of amps hidden in the trunk, 2 15" subwoofers behind the back seat and six speakers hidden in the headliner. The radio unit itself was only $139 on that auction site everyone loves to hate.
How is the sound quality going from a MP3 player right to the amp? I know this type of setup wont get any audiophile awards, but do they sound decent? This is the system I'm thinking about:
Sorry cool57, I got kinda carried away.. We are trying to steer our audio company towards car audio and electronics and I get a little excited some times.. I'd much rather be working on cars than store displays and museum announcers. We build stand-alone MP3 players. Our current products are very industrial, usually they don't have a case or anything, just a bare board to be put into other peoples systems or displays. We are working on making a very simple system for cars. One that will be permanently installed in your car. We want it to be as hidden as possible, but be fairly powerful in terms of amount of music and customization.. We also use touch sensors in our business and we think it'll be a great way to hide controls. Our end product will be VERY simple to install. To put music on it you would take a USB drive, plug it into your computer transfer your music to it, take it back out to the car and plug it in.. that's it. We will have software that will help in transferring the music and also will allow other options like randomly mixing in period commercials or whatever else you chose. We plan on having it do alot of stuff.. ex. play a file when you open the door. Here are some pictures. The first picture is of a couple of our current products.. these are built specifically for displays and other things, not ideal for cars, but the core of it is there. The USB drives next to it are 1-2GB. Roughly 15-30 Hrs of music. 2nd pic is the dash of our buick. The controls will go right where the old radio was. It will be a black plexigl*** sheet, only thing visible will be a Buick logo, that's it. or maybe "special" since buick is already on the other side. Once the MP3 player is turned on you will be able to see backlit controls behind the plexigl***. the "****ons" are behind it. you just touch the plexigl*** in the correct spot and it senses it and does whatever it is supposed to. 3rd pic is controls for a Bose display that works the exact same way. It doesn't matter what you have on the plexigl***. you can put anything you want painted or written on there. The ****ons will work through wood, gl***, plexigl***, and fibergl***... basically anything non-conductive.
In my daily driver I run an alpine deck with an ipod connected to it and stashed in the glove box. Sound quality is better/more adjustable/eq... All controls are handled by the deck in relation to sound and the ipod. For my caddy I'll probably be picking up a bose hifi and sticking my ipod in that and saying screw it. Not messing with the stock deck. Only other idea is to leave the stock deck connected and operational to the stock front speaker. Then running a deck somewhere with an ipod connected to it. Completely stashed. You can run a remote ****....the receptor for the remote...the red panel. You can run one of those off the deck and stash it in the dash panel or somewhere not visible easily but easy to hit with a remote. Control the whole thing with a remote and nothing is visible at all. Hide a couple speakers in the front and a couple in the back. Done with it. Don't need no 15 inch subs in my caddy. Exhaust sound just fine to me.
All the amplifier is doing is taking an input and amplifying it thru your speakers. It doesn't care what the input is whether it be an MP3 player, CD player, c***ette player, etc... Only thing you will have to tweak would be the amplifier gain and your MP3 player volume so you don't overdrive the amp.
Thanks, thats what I figured. Until I saw this thread I was frustrated trying to figure out where to put a deck in my auto-crosser as I'm running a stripped interior. Plus this deletes about a mile of wiring! I guess I can run the amp turn on wire to a switch or to an acc ignition source.
You got it. Again, you don't have to go as elaborate or expensive as the picture you have shown. Just depends on what kind of sound fidelity you're shooting for I guess. No need for a deck at all if you're just wanting to listen to your MP3's from time to time.
I've found that the cheapest, easiest, most versatile solution is to just buy any $100 AM/FM/CD/MP3 player on the market (mine is a Pioneer), and install it. The iPod is superfluous: it has too much proprietary software, is prone to breakage, limits my music sources, and for me, serves no useful function, since I already have an MP3 player. I burn 10 hours of music to a CDRW, and can have plenty of music. If I want different music, I burn different songs on it, or get another CDRW. If I really like the music on the CDRW, I can burn it to a CDR for permanence.
I've used a set up like that since the early '90s and love it. I use an amp with 2 speakers in the package tray. Run a headphone jack splitter out of the amp up under the seat to a mp3 player and thats it. Tuck the cord aray between the seat cushions and you'll never know it's there. I used to use a small discman cd player years ago and switch to a small sports radio if ever in a place where I needed radio. Now I just carry a MPIO mp3 player with FM built in. The device controls the volume and works great. But remeber Most the musicians I listen to are dead and sound quality via 1960 wasnt that great anyway. I's a great way for some tunes but remember its a hot rod and the exhaust and supercharger still make the best sounds.
Yeah Ive got this stuff laying around from my last car, so I figured I'd just use it again. Thanks for the info, much appreciated.
After posting this setup on other boards I found a line driver would be needed to sound the best, here is the new setup:
http://www.installer.com/ipod/ iPod/IPHONE plug to RCA with charge This cable hooks to the bottom of the IPOD/IPHONE. And charges the device while delivering clear CD quality music from the bottom IPOD/IPHONE connector. POWER WIRES ON CABLE MUST BE HOOKED UP FOR IPHONE TO WORK $29.99
You will need an aux volumee controll with this set up. The signal from the apple device will be line out @ full volume. There are alot of options for this though, one that I 'm working on will be one switch that will be off maintained, when you want tunes rotate switch to on pos. turning on amp, and then the rest of the switch range is for volume controll.
Ok so I pulled an amp out of the garage a couple of speakers and ran to radio shack and picked up a cable to plug a I pod into the amp. so there is a Positive and a neg on the amp. this is going to hot and gorund easy enough. there is a connector on the amp next to the positive that is marked REM ( what is this for) next question is will I have problems controling the volume? what type of speaker wire should I use? a cable like monster cable or just regular speaker wire?
pretty sure REM is the remote power. think it would be fore a toggle switch or acc portion of the starter switch. it would turn the amp on and off. and if you are running from the headphone portion of the ipod to the amp you should be able to use the volume on the ipod. if you get interferance you might need a noise filter. if you are running from the bottom plug on the ipod it has been mentioned that is a line out and it runs full volume. I do not have an ipod so I do not know how that works. I see these docking bay speaker things for sale all the time. I just ***umed that you used the ipod volume for setups like that.
The Jalopy Journal
