I-pod for your hotrod for Tunes Ideas needed

Well with the weather taking the turn, the windows are gonna be up and the rattles get louder .. I couldn't hear the motor this much this morning. I have no tunes at all to drown out the creeks and such.. So my I-pod would be the thing right??? I know there was a post about a year ago or so but times have changed and so has the tech.. I don't need to see the thing(i-pod) and would like for it to be hidden or not.. So what are you running or your buddy and how is it?
thanks john

 

John - my A coupe is at Gordy's, we're adding a simple iPod setup... amp, two speakers and a subwoofer. Just need to plug in to almost invisible RCA jacks (can get at Radio Shack cheap), and bingo, a stereo. The iPod is its own preamp.

Come by and take a look sometime...

 

Do a search on "iPod" there are a few threads on this already. I run mine in every vehicle I have. Though I like having a head unit as well. But like Mike said just plug it into the amp, you can use a dock that'll charge your iPod as well as keep the tunes routed to the amp....

 

Same offer as Mike... come by anytime to see my setup in the coupe.

 

A Couple options:

1. The iPod stright to the amp works well but I think you need to play with the iPod EQ a bit to get things right.

2. By a new deck with accessory input and simply plug in your iPod. Run everything from the iPod and control the volume with the stereo. Basic deck will cost about $150. Only draw back is that the iPod is running on it's battery.

3. By a deck (about $150) that can control the iPod like a CD changer. All you need is an extra cable (about $20) and you can control the iPod from the stereo and the stereo powers the iPod. (I have this in one of my cars works perfect.)

4. BEST LOW BUDGET IDEA...... Find an car stereo with a tape deck cheap (ebay/Craigslist/friend)and use the c***ette adaptor. Somebody you know has an older c***ette deck that used to be top of the line sitting on a shelf in their garage. Give them $10 bucks for the radio and then go down to RadioShack and get a casttette adapter. (This is what I'm doing in another car. CHeap and works great)

 

You don't even need a radio/cd/tape deck.

 

You can always put an EQ in line with the iPod, should be less than a deck, but check out Crutchfield.com they have a ton of head units that will let you control the iPod...

 

If you have a deck with a CD changer connection, you can get an adapter cable that plugs into the CD Changer port on the back of the head, and to your iPod on the other end. The CD Changer connection varies from one brand to another, but the adaper cables are readily available for all the popular brands.

I have this setup with the Kenwood system in my car. Works great.

 

I have thought about something similar, I know that Apple sells a "radio-sender" that you can connect to your iPod. It allows you to set your own frequnzy i.e. 88,0MHz and then you simply tune your radio in on 88,0MHz and then you can listen to your songs that way!

Best of all, no visible cd-player or similar that makes people with long fingers break in to your car!! And you can easily bring it from one car to another!!

 

buy some home computer speakers with built in amp. most have a power converter that comverts them to 12 volt dc. just wire power and have great sounds.

 

I had one of those, and they don't work for ****. You're constantly fighting interference and repositioning the iPod like TV rabbit ears.

A small amp can be hidden easily and the only visible part is the two tiny RCA input jacks. When you're not in the car just take the iPod with you.

For long drives you need an iPod power source, you can get an cig lighter charger at BestBuy.

 

I haven't seen them with 12v. Loud exhaust would drown these out, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. OK for sitting with the motor off.

 

best is probably the amp/speakers with an adapter cable to plug the ipod into the amp input.

The radio transmitter thingys work ok out in the toolies where we are...but in big cities they ****.

Computer speakers mostly are not loud enough, unless you have a quiet car. but the price is right, if you get them at the thrift store or as part of an old computer that your friends are always giving you....at least thats where I get mine....

 

my 2 cents, i have one of the radio transmitters and it works alright, but does not even compare with plugging it directly into a deck or amp. i spend some time tweaking, finding good radio signals and all that to a point where im ok with the radio transmitter, but if you are a fan of music and like good quality sound, buy a head unit or plug directly into an amp

 

the radio transmitter gizmos are rubbish..some times they work other times they don't and there's no reason why..
the c***ette adapter is a real cheapie but as no one really does decent tape players anymore it's an old stereo or a **** one!! but they do work OKish
an amp/speakers/base pin is a good idea. Try a base tube with built in amp for the sub base for best results easily..
a dedicated head unit means you get radio too but can cost $ as you will probabaly want an amp/more speakers/sub base too....
a skinflint option is get over to a wrekers yard that deals with newer cars and have the speakers out of a decent wrecker (loads of new cars have real good sound systems) the cost would be real low as the speakers usually don't get "re-cycled"
My choice would be the i-pod, amp/sub/speaker and combine it with an in car i-pod charger so the car runs the whole deal...you could really build a killer "install" (see I can speak tuner too!) for a small budget and have nowt on show...usually it's the head units that get nicked and they are the easy bit it get out and sell on

 

or you can be like my brother's friend Tom and build your own mp3 player with VFD showing track and ***le...oh...wait...you just said that!

 

Or you can go old school and drive with one hand on the wheel, and the other over your shoulder holding a boom box. All the cool cats are doing it. See?

 

This works great in the garage...no converter needed, of course.

Bryan

 

in the garage I have a 70s house stereo, the kind with the turntable, c***ette, etc built in, and a pair of big speakers...plugged into the ipod

and in the house my computer is plugged into a 70s Dynaco stereo preamp and power amp, connected to even bigger speakers.

 

or you could plug the earphones into it and put them in your ears.....my `60 belair still has the original radio in place but alas its ****ed so i`ve just bought a cheap mp3 compatible cd player and put it in the glove box.....300 songs on one cd,put it on shuffle and away i go.....

Monkey

 

watch out for da fuzz if you do the earphones thing

 

USA-2 head unit. Cl***ic style with modern components.

Has an input specifically made for your Ipod.

 

Any ideas on how this would this work with the new shuffle??

 

Same thing, except I don't know of any way to charge the thing while playing it. You just use the headphone jack on it, and run a cord from that into the head or whatever is amp'ing the speakers. Most of the time, you'll want to run your iPod's volume to WOT if you are going into a head unit. Then adjust the volume with whatever controls are on said head.

The Griffin iTrip FM transmitter works awesome* in my wife's 2004 Explorer, as long as we stay out of Birmingham, Alabama. For some reason we can't find a frequency that doesn't have major interference there. Even in Dallas and Atlanta it works fine! In every other vehicle I have tried it in, it is not worth carrying out of the store even if was free.

*Awesome = the best/clearest FM broadcast there is. You're giving up a lot simply by going over FM rather than a hard wire.

 

wife's Monster icar works pretty good, my VR3 is so-so but will play songs from a usb drive, and the Belkin battery powered one is junk.

Not all transmitters are created equal.

 

that's the ticket!

 

generally any device that plugs into the docking port gets "line out", and needs it's own volume control

 

this is the basic set-up I used because I wanted the line-out instead of the headphone jack for quality reasons. To pull it off, I had to add this:

http://www.mjmautoinnovations.com/remotecontrol.htm

When using the line-out (dock connector) the iPOD's volume control is rendered useless just as you suggested Ryan.

My system:
iPOD 5G video
MTX 4 way amp, 600 watts/channel
MTX 3 way 6x9s
MTX 12 woofer
I built a custom tuned box to house everything under the rear deck. This site will help you in figurering your box specs.

http://www.bcae1.com/spboxnew2.htm