I Have A Crazy Idea

[chrispiss]

OK so I was brainstorming about my audio debacle. Someone suggested an ipod, but that didn't solve the issue of having no RCA jacks. But I found these little puppies online:

headphone jack splitter (turns one female headphone jack into two female jacks)

and

headphone to rca splitter (hook rca cables into the headphone jack)

I figured I would plug the 2 headphone splitter into the ipod, plug the tape adapter into one plug and the rca splitter into the other one, then run the amp off those RCA's. Would that work? Or would my ipod explode? Help!

[steviej]

will you lose stereophonic sound?

steviej

[chrispiss]

I think I can honestly say I have no idea what stereophonic sound is.

[coltonb]

I think I can honestly say I have no idea what stereophonic sound is.

←

Let me start by saying i'm biased - I hate cords. Wireless will _always_ win with me.

That said, get yourself an iPod, and an iTrip. It broadcasts through the radio, and should solve your problems. they're $25 on ebay. mine works great, and doesn't drain the battery that much.

[jragosta]

OK so I was brainstorming about my audio debacle. Someone suggested an ipod, but that didn't solve the issue of having no RCA jacks. But I found these little puppies online:

headphone jack splitter (turns one female headphone jack into two female jacks)

and

headphone to rca splitter (hook rca cables into the headphone jack)

I figured I would plug the 2 headphone splitter into the ipod, plug the tape adapter into one plug and the rca splitter into the other one, then run the amp off those RCA's. Would that work? Or would my ipod explode? Help!

←

I"m not sure what you're trying to do. If you're going to use a tape adapter, why do you need RCA cables to go to the amp? And if you're going to use RCA cables to go to the amp, you don't need a tape adapter.

I'd suggest one of three things:

1. Buy a good quality tape adapter and use it with your in-dash cassette deck.

2. Buy an FM adapter for your iPod and play it through the FM radio in dash.

3. Use the mini to RCA connector to hook the iPOd directly to your amp. In order to make this convenient, I'd also suggest an RCA splitter (4 RCA males connected to 2 RCA femailes). Connect both your indash stereo and the iPod to the amp.

However, before doing #3, make sure that the amp is providing all the amplification and you're not dealing with an amplified receiver plus external subwoofer only amp. In that case, you'd only get sound through the subwoofer which wouldn't sound very good - and you'd risk damaging your iPod.

Choice #1 and #2 are probably easier. Be sure to get a car charger for your iPod, too.

Good luck.

[chrispiss]

I want to keep the factory deck, which is why I don't have any rca plugs.

I don't know how I feel about the itrip, it sounds like it would be like any other fm broadcaster thing..it would only be radio quality.

My plan is to buy a headphone jack splitter, run the tape adapter off one end and the headphone to rca adapter off the other end, and then hook the amp onto that rca cable. So yeah the ipod would be hooked up directly to the amp.

My question is, is this a viable option? It seems like it should work, and I don't know how the ipod would be damaged..it would just be the same as the amp getting signal from the headunit, except it's getting it from the ipod instead. The power for the amp is coming straight from the battery of the car so it's not gonna add like some huge power load, or at least thats what I would assume.

I think I'm gonna go for it. maybe I'll post updates about my adventure in hacking ipods into lexus stereos. pray that I don't make my car catch on fire or something.

[coltonb]

good luck! fires are bad!

[jragosta]

I want to keep the factory deck, which is why I don't have any rca plugs.

I don't know how I feel about the itrip, it sounds like it would be like any other fm broadcaster thing..it would only be radio quality.

My plan is to buy a headphone jack splitter, run the tape adapter off one end and the headphone to rca adapter off the other end, and then hook the amp onto that rca cable. So yeah the ipod would be hooked up directly to the amp.

My question is, is this a viable option? It seems like it should work, and I don't know how the ipod would be damaged..it would just be the same as the amp getting signal from the headunit, except it's getting it from the ipod instead. The power for the amp is coming straight from the battery of the car so it's not gonna add like some huge power load, or at least thats what I would assume.

I think I'm gonna go for it. maybe I'll post updates about my adventure in hacking ipods into lexus stereos. pray that I don't make my car catch on fire or something.

←

I still don't understand. If the iPod is going directly to the amp, why do you need a tape adapter, too?

You might want to reconsider the iTrip. While it's 'only' FM quality, that's probably as good as your mp3 (or AAC) collection will be, anyway. When you compress a file to MP3 or AAC, you're losing so much quality that it's no better than FM.

[chrispiss]

I still don't understand. If the iPod is going directly to the amp, why do you need a tape adapter, too?

You might want to reconsider the iTrip. While it's 'only' FM quality, that's probably as good as your mp3 (or AAC) collection will be, anyway. When you compress a file to MP3 or AAC, you're losing so much quality that it's no better than FM.

←

I'd use the tape adapter to get sound out of the main speakers. I'd only have the amp hooked up to some subs, the other speakers will be running off the headunit.

Also mp3 quality is really good, especially if you have it encoded at 160kbps and up. VBR mp3's are good too. I use nero right now to burn cd's, and it burns the mp3's directly to the disc without converting them back to wav's to save time, and they sound fine. I'm not an audiophile or anything so it won't make a difference. I installed a panasonic mp3 cd player in my girlfriend's car and it sounded fine too.

plus this is a good excuse to buy an ipod. :)

good luck! fires are bad!

thanks!

[jragosta]

I still don't understand. If the iPod is going directly to the amp, why do you need a tape adapter, too?

You might want to reconsider the iTrip. While it's 'only' FM quality, that's probably as good as your mp3 (or AAC) collection will be, anyway. When you compress a file to MP3 or AAC, you're losing so much quality that it's no better than FM.

←

I'd use the tape adapter to get sound out of the main speakers. I'd only have the amp hooked up to some subs, the other speakers will be running off the headunit.

Also mp3 quality is really good, especially if you have it encoded at 160kbps and up. VBR mp3's are good too. I use nero right now to burn cd's, and it burns the mp3's directly to the disc without converting them back to wav's to save time, and they sound fine. I'm not an audiophile or anything so it won't make a difference. I installed a panasonic mp3 cd player in my girlfriend's car and it sounded fine too.

plus this is a good excuse to buy an ipod. :)

good luck! fires are bad!

thanks!

←

OK, I think I have it. Let me see if I understand this. You have a tape adapter in your head unit driving the main speakers and the RCA will drive an amp purely for subs.

There are two scenarios:

1. Your head unit is also driving the sub. In this case, you don't need the Y adapter at all. Just use the tape unit.

2. Your head unit isn't driving the sub. In this case, you're only going to get the sub out of the iPod and not your head unit.

If #1, just use your head unit and tape adapter.

If #2, what you're proposing will work just fine. You won't have a fire and the only downside will be a few cables lying around. HOWEVER, you might want to see if your headunit has RCA level outputs that would allow you to connect the head unit to the sub amp rather than having the iPod's bass bypass the head unit. That would give you subwoofer on all sources.

If your amp has enough power, high level inputs, and the impedences match (and if you're willing to play around with it a bit), there's a third option. That would be to take the output from your head unit and feed the amp and use it to drive all speakers. Quite a bit more work, but this would probably be the best solution. MAKE SURE that the impedences match, particularly on the speakers, and that the amp will take high level inputs.

I hope that helps. The bottom line is that what you're suggesting won't hurt anything. I'm just not sure it's the best way to rig things up because only the iPod will benefit from the subs (assuming that you're using option#2).

Good luck.

[mrdice87]

I have a similar problem. I want to play my ipod through my 98 es300's speakers. The most direct solution I can think of is setting up a cable that runs from the ipod(or similar player) to an auxilary (sp?) input on nthe head unit or the amp. Before I go pulling things out of my dash, does anyone know if any such input even exists on the stock system, and what would be the easiest way to access it?

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[camlex]

Hello,

I don't know it will works with factory system or not and i am not music fan but i read this link:

http://www.cardomain.com/item/PACAUXPOD

http://www.discountcarstereo.com/detail.aspx?ID=711

Check it out.

Hope this helps.