Cassette Deck Fake

[ED.]

I looked at this briefly so apologies if it has been answered previously here but my thoughts were on running an ipod interface over the cars cassette system thereby tricking the car to play your ipod when TAPE is selected.

This has been done a lot on my BMW boards with the Alpine units but I wondered if the Phillips could be modified in a similar fashion? I think the catch with BMW was you must leave a cassette in at all times or at least when playing audio.

Any thoughts?

[1990LS400]

You are just full of questions today! I don't remember the cassette aux-in hack being documented on this forum but I know it has on ClubLexus. The best solution I've seen is by ebay seller "Factoryradios" in California. That may not be the exact seller name but I think I supplied it on this forum in the past and uploaded a photo of his work I stole from eBay.

The guy also sells used Lexus and other radios on eBay. He will add the aux-in port either to the front of the radio face or as a cable coming out the back of the radio so that the aux-in port can be installed where you want. His method does not involve hacking into either the cassette or CD. The only reviews I have seen have been positive. I don't remember the price but it was substantially less that $100 not including shipping.

[VBdenny]

Get a cassette thing with a wire and plug it into the headphone jack on your ipod. Easier yet is one of the short distance FM transmitters.

[Micah.Berry]

Personally, I didn't have very good experiences with the FM transmitter. I bought a Belkin unit that also served as a charging stand, where I could place my iPhone. The stand plugs into the cigarette lighter and is reasonably sturdy. The Belkin FM transmitter produced a lot of static, and the during the brief times that it was relatively clear, the music quality was sub-par. I was very unhappy with the results, as they didn't measure up to what I had hoped. So instead, I use a cheapo tape adapter with the Belkin, which I've had for years, and plug into the aux out port of the Belkin. I wrap the excess cord around the base of the Belkin stand, and it's reasonably clean looking-no floppy cords. If I turn the music up on the stereo (with the volume low on my iPhone), there is a bit of tape hiss that I can hear through the speakers. The way I get around this is to keep the iPhone volume about 2/3 to 4/5 and keep the stereo's volume down. The hiss is virtually gone, and the sound quality is very good. Volume levels can get quite high with acceptable (to my ears) sound quality. I've found that if I keep the iPhone's volume all the way up, there is "clipping" that occurs with the speakers. Keeping the iPhone at 65-75% solves this problem. I'm very happy with the results, as I listen to music on the iPhone more than I use "regular" ol' analog radio stations. The stand allows me to see what's being played or allows me to utilize my Navigon GPS app, where the voice guided directions are played over the LS's speakers.

Aesthetically, it is not the best as I have to leave the lighter tray open in order to have the Belkin plugged in, but functionally, it works great!