i-pod to stereo options

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piper1st
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i-pod to stereo options

Post by piper1st » Thu Jul 24, 2008 9:39 pm

From other topics, i know a lot of you use i-pod's for music (and possibly video) in the car, or at least know someone who does, so your advice and experience is what i'm after.

I just had a tape player/radio in the car when i bought it, so to use the i-pod, i bot one of those FM transmitters, which worked, but wasn't ideal as i found myself changing station several times during a 180 miles journey. For my next trip, I borrowed a CD headunit off my mate to tide me over until i buy a new or 2nd hand one of my own. The JVC i borrowed looks like this ...

Image

as you can see, it has a mini jack input on the front (as do many these days) ... so when i was driving up north, we took the i-pod with us.

EXPERIMENT - I connected the i-pod from the mini jack headphone output on the i-pod to the mini jack input on the front of the stereo ... using a 5mm jack to 5mm jack (see pic) ...

Image

FINDINGS - terrible sound quality ... i thought the sound wasn't great at all, and it lacked a lot of bass, the difference in quality between the i-pod and a CD was massive.

THOUGHTS - is it the case that the headphone output on the i-pod is just that, and not designed to output to a stereo in that way ... if you think about it, the docking stations all take the audio from the bottom of the i-pod?

QUESTIONS - Is the sound quality a lot better using the i-pod adapters etc (see pic) available for each different manufacturer?

Image

Are there any other connections options, such as USB etc worth investigating?

Cheers, Ross
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Post by kev » Fri Jul 25, 2008 6:16 am

Yes you are on the right track with an adapter.
However as you hav't bought a head unit yet I would without question
buy an Alpine unit with a cable to connect your i-pod. They sound great
and you have full control of your pod through the head unit.
Have a look at this
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Post by Dan the 480 Man » Fri Jul 25, 2008 8:19 am

Hey Ross.

I've had experience with a few iPod connections, as when i was a student, i looked for the cheapest way possible to get the iPod through the stereo :lol:

The first way i tried was to buy an adaptor for my Kenwood. It cost about £12. It had a CD multichanger plug one end, and L & R female RCA's the other. Then you just go to an audio shop, buy a 3.5mm jack that goes to two male RCA's, and connect that way. It's good sound quality, but you have to manually control the iPod.

The other way was having a HU with a USB connection on. This worked ok, but i found it was a bit temperamental with the connection, and sometimes the USB worked loose.

The best bet by far, and out of all the ones i played with/read about (as suggested by Kev), is the Alpine. The older model came with a little box that wired the same way as the JVC one you have pictured. However, the newer models have the cable directly wired to the HU and no extra boxes-so connection is alot faster. I also had one in the 480 and it was the best stereo i've had-sound quality and adjustments, great little CD/MP3 player. I did find that iPod was a little quieter than regular CD's, but not that much-and it wasn't like the quality suffered either.

I prefer ones that are controlled through the HU, as it means you can tuck all the unsightly wires out the way. Thats one thing i hate about modern car accessories, they all leave wires dangling about everywhere! Looks awful :lol:
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Post by piper1st » Sat Aug 09, 2008 9:46 am

Cheers for your help and advice guys! I went with your advice and bought myself an Alpine CDE-9871R with full speed I-pod cable (same as pic below).

Image

First impressions: really liking it so far, in fact, just with the CD's i think there's a clear difference in sound between the the Alpine and JVC, the Alpine's sound being a lot tighter. I've not had the chance to try out the I-pod with it yet tho ... i'll let you know how i get on ...

Asthetically, the HU looks ace IMHO, and the display is very clear. :D
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Post by kev » Sat Aug 09, 2008 12:47 pm

Very nice Ross.You won't regret it.
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piper1st
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Post by piper1st » Tue Aug 12, 2008 6:39 pm

kev wrote:Very nice Ross.You won't regret it.
:D
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Post by Dan the 480 Man » Tue Aug 12, 2008 8:24 pm

Seconded! Alpine are my stereo of choice, think you've made a good buy :)
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Post by gltease » Tue Aug 12, 2008 10:17 pm

yep, got an Alpine in the Celeb, great sound quality, and has a nice green display so fits in well with the dash lights.
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Post by eEm » Tue Aug 12, 2008 10:55 pm

Defo good choice but you're never going to get CD quality sound from an i-pod anyhoo. Its always worth spending as much as you can possibly afford on the cable itself as this is where alot of sound quality is lost. Most people overlook this and go for cheap.

Replacing the wiring from the head unit to the speakers will make the biggest difference to sound quality. Just make sure that Halfrauds don't supply or fit any of it ;)
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piper1st
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Post by piper1st » Sun Oct 12, 2008 4:20 pm

I forgot follow up on this one. The Alpine to i-pod connector is defoe much better sound quality than taking a jack out the headphones socket!

When the i-pod is connected, the i-pod's button become disabled and you must navigate using the Alpine interface on the head unit! I've not tried this on any other brand of stereo, but i recon this is probably where the good brands get into a league of their own? I had to read the manual first to see how this works, cos pressing random buttoms wasn't getting me anywhere, but once you know how, your sorted!
;)
Current:
Honda Civic ES I-VTEC
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previous:
BMW E46 330i SE Touring
VW Mk4 Golf V6 4Motion
Toyota Celica GT-FOUR ST205 WRC
1995 (M) Dark Grey Metallic 480 Turbo
1994 (M) Flame Red Metallic 480GT
1992 (J) Black Metallic 480ES 1.7i

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