HELP!! Looking for an easy IPOD solution in my Wagon & Coupe

Looking to hear from a fellow hamb-er who has an ipod as their main source of music in their ride. I've got a 66 Chevy Wagon and a 29 Model A Coupe. The Wagon has the original am radio(works), and the Coupe has nothing.

I've been reading on the hamb message boards about people "hiding their stereo's". And I've gotten some great ideas! Some guys have recommended hooking up an ipod direct to an amp via mini-jack to rca wires. This sounds perfect for me. I would be able to switch back and forth between my 2 cars.

Wanted to know, from someone who has this setup, exactly what do you have? How is the sound quality, etc.....

Thanks!!

 

Me too.

 

This is my next project after I get the motor put back in...

Look here and read any posts by Sean. He works in the iPod division at Apple and knows his ****.

 

I use a Flathead V8 by the Ford company. Sounds come via 6 wide open pipes protruding off the side of said V8. Sounds great.

 

Thanks Django......will do.

 

I don't have this setup in my hot rod, but my wife's new car has an input for an auxillary source that she plugs the ipod into. The sound quality is great, but you have to turn the volume all the way up on the ipod in order for it to have the same volume as the radio does at the same setting on the head unit. Essentially, the head unit is just acting as an amp and disributing the music. I don't see why you couldn't just hook the ipod up directly to the RCA inputs on an amp with the right cord. I know the stereo in my wayfarer has an auxillary input in the back of the head unit and I'll be adding the cord for the ipod in that car too. I know it's not exactly the answer you were looking for, but maybe the info will help.

 

Here's what you need to do. Get one of those old FM-AM converters that you put under the dash, plug it into the AM radio, and wire up power to it. Then get one of those ipod FM transmitter thingys at wally world, plug the ipod into that. You may need to get the cigarette lighter working to get power to it. With this kluge you should have modern tunes playing out your am radio! it'll have ****py sound, but hey, it's an old car, whaddaya expect?

 

Thanks for the help guys!! I'm not looking for anything too state-of-the-art......it's just am radio is killing me!! I get one decent oldies station. Otherwise it's talk radio or spanish stations that I don't understand.

 

those fm transmitters pretty much ****. your best bet is getting a head unit that has aux. rca inputs. then get an rca adapter from radio shack. hide the stereo somewhere and youre golden.

 

In the wagon just put a newer headunit in the glovebox and in the A put the head unit under the seat, hide an amp in the trunk with a base tube. speakers can be hiden behind door panels etc (just punch a matrix of holes for the sound) to use the Ipod, either a c***ette tape adapter or the fm adapter will sort or get a head unit with an aux input.
perhaps not the cheap route but at the end of the day decent secondhand headunits are **** cheap as are used base tubes, just make friends with some import tuner guys, as soon as the latest fashion ice **** comes out , last weeks must have is in the bin......the last system I put in my car cost a grand total of £17 ($25) but cost the original buyer over £500 ($700)

 

Personally I would put in a small eq. to a small amp out to speakers. Run the the Ipod to the eq. You'll get better sound that way. Those FM transmitters for MP3 players (unlike for devoted CD players), usually don't work well. Real tinny sound and no real ability for any loudness (you'll probably be barely able to hear anything, due to parent power source). PLus if you live in an at least semi-urban area you're battling about 30,000 frequency sources, hence to some of the bad sound.

 

So ipod.....to eq.....to amp.....to speakers. Got it, thanks!!

btw: ol_scratch, is your signiture from the comic-book the Tick?

 

I don't know why everyone's knocking the FM transmitters...my wife uses one with her ipod every day driving to work and on trips, sounds just fine, has stereo, it's plenty loud, etc. Maybe she lucked out and got a good one, it's a Monster brand.

Also there's a widget you can get at wally world that plugs into the cigarette lighter and has a USB port on it, you plug a USB memory stick into it and play mp3 songs from that and listen on the radio. Seems to work fine for me in my kid's car, but not nearly as convenient (or expensive) as a real ipod.

 

I've been told from guys who have the fm transmitters not to get one. Maybe it's the area I live in??

 

Here, at least, you spend more time looking for a clear signal than listening to music - with the FM transitters. When it works it is fine, but then you go around the curve and start over...

The EQ/amp deal works great for me. You have acres of room too hide that in the wagon.

 

Yeah, I guess if you live in a big metro area an amp would be the way to go.

 

DON'T get the FM transmitter, they ****.

I am going to run an iPod-only system in my coupe, and the setup is very simple: cheap amp with the red/white in jacks, speakers, and wire. No need for a receiver/preamp or head unit, since I don't care about radio. Plug the iPod into the amp (which can be easily hidden under the seat) via a headphone splitter (which you can buy at Radio Shack for $8). Set master volume on the amp, control secondary volume thru iPod. Equalizer & other controls are on your iPod as well. You can power & charge the iPod with a cig lighter attachment (available any place that sells iPods).

 

welded to the underside of the '29???
http://hooptyrides.blogspot.com/2005/08/my-first-smaller-ipod-case-hack.html

 

In this months issue of cl***ic trucks RF does an article on it. I bought it for that article.

 

I got my wife an iPod for Christmas. Now I want one! When I was playing with hers (iPod ) I got to thinking about how I could use one as car tunes, especially in my truck since it had no factory radio. So this is timely. I agree with Zenor, that's how I'm going to do it too.

 

I have a JVC stereo with a input on the front, i plug my ipod into the face and the power supply into the lighter. Works great.

L

 

I have the monster one too, It works great

 

the iPod has an EQ in it, so no real need... I've been running one at the bar plugged straight into the PA as well as in the car...

 

I've got a cheap, old amp with built in EQ and an AUX input on it, up unde rthe dash of my '60 chevy wagon. Can't see it at all. Currectly I have no front speakers, but those will be easy enough to hide in the kick panels, hell for $120 I can get the kick panels with the speakers in them already. In the "way back" I have a cheap enclousure with 2 8" woofers and a couple of tweeters.

So there you have a sub $100 stereo system, just add Ipod, or Diskman, or transistor radio. The amp was $40 or less at Radio Shack, back in 1988, the speaker enclousure with speakers was $19 at Big Lots. Sounds fine, and will never become obsolete.

 

In one car ('55) I have a head unit with an aux input, and I use a cord to go from the iPod headphone jack to the aux input. In another car, I have a Monster brand cigarette lighter power cord/FM transmitter.

The aux input has better sound than the Monster cable, but doesn't charge the iPod. However, if you run a cable out of the headphone jack, you're still going through the preamp on the iPod (volume control on the iPod works). The most pure sound would be from taking an iPod dock connector apart and running the line level outputs into the RCA jacks on your head unit. You could also get a power connection this way. This is how I am going to wire the iPod in the car I'm finishing up right now.

 

This looks interesting:

http://www.nyko.com/nyko/products/?i=44

Instead of using the headphone jack, is use's the dock connector as your audio out source.

 

I just went through this situation myself & found the perfect solution. My stock radios in my 51 & 65 are both AM only radios. Since my 65 is my driver I needed more than what was available on the AM stations (spanish & talk BS). The stock radio works great & there was no way I was hacking everything up to put a modern unit in. I found that FM transmitters for mp3 players & other accessories are very common but not one company that makes one that transmits soundwaves into AM frequency. I researched for weeks & finally found my answer, The Gizmo:

http://www.vcomp.co.uk/gizmo/gizmo/gizmo_uk.htm



This magic little black box is the answer to all your AM radio problems. It is made by a company that specializes in cl***ic radio collectors (funny thought - cl***ic cars have cl***ic radios in them - duh...) Its for people who restore old radios but want to plug modern accessories into them without hacking into the wires. It is an AM transmitter. I spoke with the guy who runs the company & builds the units via email & he was very helpful & totally cool. Do not hesitate emailing him if you have any questions. He builds each unit per order & they arent very expensive at all, comparable to the standard FM transmitters that you'd buy at radio shack for your IPOD.

I ordered it up & it was at my house within a couple weeks. Very simple instructions were included & easy to follow. The only other accessory you need to purchase is the "regulated" power supply. Get one like this with adjustable voltage and one that comes with different tips. The reason you need a regulated rather than a standard is that it has a built in noise surpressor so you dont hear the coil & spark plugs through the IPOD or other audio accessory you plug into the Gizmo.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=6305081&type=product&id=1074787382733

Once you have the power supply hooked up (which i hid under the dash by hooking up a separate lighter, tapped into the fuse block) you can hide the box under your dash. I just wrapped the Gizmo's antenna wire around the car's radio antenna wire. The Gizmo comes with a simple accessory wire with a headphone jack on the end (which is the only thing I have in plain view coming out of the ash tray drawer - so i can roll it up & hide it when im not using it) the advantage of this headphone jack input is that I can use my sony MP3 player (which also has FM radio on it too) or my girl can use her ipod & my friend can use his Creative mp3 player, I can even use a portable CD player or a walkman. So with this box, my car went from having only ****py AM radio to having AM, FM, mp3s, CDs or tapes. All coming from the stock radio with the stock speakers without cutting up any of the original wiring. I use it everyday & it works great! Plus, its totally hidden so theres no modern electronics messing up the flow of my chryslers pretty painted metal dash with tons of chrome all over it. All you have to do once you plug in the power supply and your MP3 player is tune the AM radio to 1600 (i think - check the manual) and there ya go, whatever you have going into that accessory wire is what you'll hear on the radio. You can also tune your radio to other stations as you usually would in case you like to hear some spanish gospel talk radio instead of your mp3s.

In my opinion this is the only way to go. Pretty cheap, simple and works F'n great!

I'll be glad to help anyone else out who wants to go this route. Just give me a holler.

 

Look here and read any posts by Sean. He works in the iPod division at Apple and knows his ****.[/QUOTE]

Sent Sean a couple of pm's. Great guy! Answered all of my ipod questions.
He knows his stuff.

 

I've used FM transmitters and they do ****. They are conveinient though.

Of course an FM transmitter only works if you have an FM radio. In crowded suburban areas, it can be tough to find a clear station.

my previous set-ups;

I-pod with FM transmitter and a ghetto blaster. ****s

1, I-pod mini with FM transmitter running of the i-pod to my in dash CD stereo.

Pros : easy to use
. portable
Cons ; ****py sound
. drains the i-pod quickly.
. Hard to tune, even harder to change the station (can only be done on the computer).


2, my new set-up;

Alpine stereo with I-pod adapter.

Pros; Charges while playing.
. True digital sound.
. allows you to control tracks/volume from the head unit.

no Cons.

The i-pod hooked directly to an amplifier would work as well but I would still consider adding a hidden head unit. This way you can still listen to CDs should your I-pod ever **** out. (and it will)

 

check this out...

http://hooptyrides.blogspot.com/2005/08/megagiant-wood-ipod-eliminates-mugging.html