auxillary adapter to play iphone music?

[VergeTSi]

Does anyone know any good devices to play music from your iphone/ipod to your car radio? I have the stock radio, the FM transmitter sucks, the tape player adapter sucks and I don't have an aux input. I found a site that has a adapter aux input that hooks up to the back of any car radio antenna but can't find it anymore. Does anyone know what i'm talking about and can lending a helping hand? thanks

 

[Lofty]

My opinion, find a head unit with an aux port. They're really cheap, and probably less work then doing this adapter crap.
I'd give you my head unit with the Aux capabilities, seeing as my Ipod went through the wash

 

[Dsmj89]

Well considering i do work for radioshack and deal with this stuff on a daily basis, i would recommend you just buy a new cd player off the bat that comes with a front aux input. Don't bother wasting your time for any adapters or fm transmitters, it is all crap. If you get a new cd player, and use a stereo-to-stereo aux cable you will get the best out of your ipod/iphone. Keep it simple. The more connections the more sound quality you lose.

 

[crimsondragon]

+1 on new headunit. Shop around for ebay. I got one of the best headunits in its price range for $130. Aux plugin, USB, CD, radio, built in amplifier, mad adjustments, etc etc. Granted, I'm not the type of guy that rolls down the street with the bass shaking the asphalt but I do like it loud and so far, cramming all the music to the rear speakers is great for me. Fck the door speakers.

 

[VergeTSi]

Cool thanks for the input. Any good head unit suggestions? Is it pretty much plug and play? OR do you got to do some mad rewiring?

 

[RedTurboEclipse]

oh yea you have a "Talon" all 95 "Eclipse" GST or GSX come with the standard infinity system that has the deck with the aux input in the front

really though, just get a new deck. You can get one for $50 and has an aux in the front.

don't go off asking recommendations here, everyone will start giving you their biased opinions or the most expensive one you probably don't need.

Go to the store and see what features you like and how much you want to pay.

Install is easy if you get a harness, if not it's still easy, just do a search on anything regarding car audio here. You'll probably see many of my posts.

 

[Dsmj89]

I wouldn't say mad rewiring, whatever cd player you get just make sure to provide your car's info so they can give you the correct harness kit for it. I suggest crutchfield.com. I get my audio needs from there. I recently just purchased as the matter of fact this cd player from them Kenwood KDC-MP238 CD receiver at Crutchfield.com ,waiting for it in the mail. I had this same cd player on my previous gst i had before and it was very easy to use, very user-friendly. Comes with a remote and everything, best part of all it'll run you only $110 shipped !

 

[crimsondragon]

I have the Kenwood KDC-X series. One of the best ever. No need for fancy blue ray shit or bluetooth or blue eye or whatever blue shit they have now.

 

[Dsmj89]

No need for fancy blue ray shit or bluetooth or blue eye or whatever blue shit they have now.

+1 !!!

 

[Jason97GS-T]

I payed a little bit more, but I wanted it and I had the money. Its a 7in touchscreen. It has a usb port, a port for the ipod/iphone, aux hookups for game systems, and a slot for a SD card. I was going to get a motorized flip one, but then I saw this and had to get it. Here are some pics.

 

[90redtalontsi]

they make a kit that you can turn a certain radio station on and then turn your ipod on and turn the device on and it will play the music from you ipod idk how it works but i saw one the other day at target i think it was only like $35

 

[RedTurboEclipse]

^^^ yea those are FM Modulators and those suck! if you care about quality don't get that.

most new decks, even the cheapest ones will have aux input. you can find them for $50. I just bought a clarion cd mp3 deck with aux input for that much at Fry's. Also they had a kenwood one also for the same price.

 

[jumpfroggy]

I'll buck the trend here and suggest something other than "replace the deck". I've heard a few inline FM modulators that have sounded pretty good, and for most people it'd be good enough quality that they wouldn't notice the difference. A lot of us are more picky about our cars, so depending on how good your ears are and how much you care, it may or may not work for you.

Note that I'm not talking about normal FM transmitters that connect to your ipod and transmit the music. Those generally aren't great. I'm talking about inline FM modulators that connect to the back of the deck to the antenna port. Those can be as good or better than FM quality, and do not have any static at all (since they're directly connected). That's probably the easiest/cheapest way to get decent sound.

Buying a cheap new deck is probably the second easiest solution. You wont be able to control your ipod, but at least you'll be able to play the music through with near perfect quality (if you get one with a line-in).

I've had a Harmon Kardon Drive+Play in my car for a while, it's really great. I have a line in so I can't comment on the FM modulator's quality, but the control aspect is great; better than most built-in "ipod ready" decks. It comes with a controller that you place anywhere (near the shifter for me) and a screen (right behind the steering wheel, below the speedometer). You can control your ipod just like you were touching the buttons, except that you don't have to fumble around for it and you can see everything without looking too far away from the road. You can even choose songs, playlists, etc. I'd recommend something like this (even if it's not this model), since it truly is dangerous to try to control the ipod while driving.

Good luck.

(Oh yeah, forgot to mention that I got the Drive+Play for around $18 from buy.com last time it went on sale. That's cheaper than most fm transmitters!)

 

[broads72]

1) Buy a headunit that controls your ipod. not an aux input, but one that is made to "control" it. It makes operation easier, it will keep it charged (you will use your ipod a lot more once you see how great it works and sounds). This option will also allow you to lock your ipod in the glove box and keep it safe and secure.
2) Another option is to hardwire it into your factory system. There are plenty of manufactures that make the pieces you will need. The downfall to this is that you will be stuck with the factory system and upgrading to amps will result in the same dilemma.

It looks like you already found out what "The cheap way" gets you by buying the FM modulator. Do yourself a favor and buy an after market radio. Pioneer and Alpine sells awesome ones for just around $200. There are tons of other brands that work just as well.

To those of you who do use the Aux input, please don't bash me and comment on how happy you are and how well they work. I'm fully aware of there capabilities and more importantly their limitations. If he had a radio with one already so be it, he could focus elsewhere, but since he doesn't and seems to have little knowledge on this we might as well steer him in the right direction from the get go.

I agree completely with you jumpfroggy on your recommendations, but i think because the systems in our cars are so simple to upgrade, he may actually be better off replacing.

 

[my2AWDgst]

Just get new deck.All of new decks have the Ipod ports and they plug on the back of it and you dont need that big module box any more.

 

[jumpfroggy]

I agree completely with you jumpfroggy on your recommendations, but i think because the systems in our cars are so simple to upgrade, he may actually be better off replacing.

Yeah, you pretty much have to remove the deck anyway to install the antenna wire. The big difference is pricing. I really do plan on getting a completely new deck with all the features (ipod control, eq, etc)... or scrapping the deck completely and running a carputer with screen, input buttons, and amp with no deck at all. I can't wait to get it all working, especially since my current deck sometimes does not light up... and sometimes the volume knob does not work.

And yet I'm still using my FM modulator. A new deck is a good way to go, but an FM modulator fits the "Temporary 30 minute fix that will probably be there for the next 5 years" route. The deck is on my todo list, at about #20 I think.

 

[broads72]

Hahahaa, I love it....."Temporary 30 minute fix that will probably be there for the next 5 years" route. Hopefully no one gets offended but that about sums up the average DSMer.

 

[Defiant]

Get a head unit that has USB and SD inputs, and you won't have to fiddle-de-dick around with an iPod anymore.