Any interest in a cassette tape -> 3.5 mm adapter? (1 Viewer)

[Hatsuwr]

Hope this is the right forum. Not selling anything here, just gauging interest, and would be glad to talk about any of the technical details of it.

Still need to see what models/years this would apply to, but my '04 LX 470 has a tape player, but no 3.5 mm connection.

It's easy enough to inject audio into the tape player and just keep a tape inserted to trick it into playing. Not bad, but you have to deal with the tape reaching its end, the motor noise is annoying, the mechanism is going to fail eventually, and you definitely need to cut the traces to the audio chip if you don't want issues with static. To get audio to play from the tape player input without using an actual tape, you need to emulate the reel rotation sensor and the player's position sensor.

I have the initial design done for a small board that would just plug into the socket for the tape player. Takes a bit of disassembly to get to, but nothing difficult. This version just has a 3.5 mm port. I'm doing some experimenting with adding Bluetooth, although no idea how much success I'll have there. Would be nice to have that on the board, but there are plenty of standalone Bluetooth adapters out there that could just plug into the 3.5 mm port.

 

[Live to Ski]

not sure what the advantage is over a blue-tooth cassette gizmo.

Also, not sure about others, but I burned a huge amount of time in my youth makeing custom tapes. Have not got around to digital tranfers. Super easy to just throw a tape in vs looking at your player and almost getting into an accident.

with the age of our rigs (and drivers), not sure it's worth upsetting the apple cart (no pun intended).

that's not my story and I'm not sticking to it.

 

[Hatsuwr]

not sure what the advantage is over a blue-tooth cassette gizmo.

Also, not sure about others, but I burned a huge amount of time in my youth makeing custom tapes. Have not got around to digital tranfers. Super easy to just throw a tape in vs looking at your player and almost getting into an accident.

with the age of our rigs (and drivers), not sure it's worth upsetting the apple cart (no pun intended).

that's not my story and I'm not sticking to it.

Main advantage is just audio quality, plus reliability I suppose. Shouldn't really need any manual input or visual attention after initial setup. Doesn't really make sense to do if you're invested in a tape collected though, thanks for the feedback!

 

[Rhetoric]

There are a few manufacturers of Bluetooth modules that wire in line with the stock system. Grom Audio is one. I have their BT3 unit and it simply adds another source called “CD Changer” when I press the CD button. From there I can stream. It also has a 3.5mm input or even a USB input option that I never got around to installing.

I can also toggle back to the DVD changer and when I get the itch I can listen to my cassette collection. I leave my vinyl at home.

 

[crimsonaudio]

Are you talking about something like this?

https://www.amazon.com/INSTEN-Universal-Cassette-Adapter-Smartphones/dp/B00CRBA9D8

 

[Live to Ski]

Are you talking about something like this?

https://www.amazon.com/INSTEN-Universal-Cassette-Adapter-Smartphones/dp/B00CRBA9D8

the cassette adapter I use is blue tooth. No wires. Otherwise the same.

 

[Hatsuwr]

There are a few manufacturers of Bluetooth modules that wire in line with the stock system. Grom Audio is one. I have their BT3 unit and it simply adds another source called “CD Changer” when I press the CD button. From there I can stream. It also has a 3.5mm input or even a USB input option that I never got around to installing.

I can also toggle back to the DVD changer and when I get the itch I can listen to my cassette collection. I leave my vinyl at home.

I knew about the Grom, but didn't know that it acted as a separate input, that's interesting! I haven't taken a look at the CD/DVD side of things yet, but that opens up some more options.

Are you talking about something like this?

https://www.amazon.com/INSTEN-Universal-Cassette-Adapter-Smartphones/dp/B00CRBA9D8

No, the tape player mechanism would be removed an a small board put in its place. I'm just reusing the board from the old mechanism in this picture (the vertical amber one) for testing, but the final product would be roughly the same size.