Stock radio iPod option

[antFJ]

Hi all.. i am extremely partial to the factory look.. up to and including the radio.. which is why I am going to try out this route... (I have a 1978)

it is the harmon kardon drive and play ipod unit. it is normally listed for like $150-$170 but I got mine for $18 with free shipping from buy.com (keep an eye out they are on stale lots of places)

The model I got is the one pictured that is grey and has a black and white screen.. it is the first model.. i read reviews that the second one is better but I didn't really want to fork out all that money

so i won't be installing this for a while but here are my ideas.

1. the box will sit up against the back of the glovebox.. probably with velcro or something that won't require drilling holes.
2. the box will get power from the plug in the glovebox! I can do this by fabbing up a plug or possibly finding one from a broken glovebox lamp
3. the adapter pictured will allow me to plug this directly into the radio antenna plug to get a better sound quality (i read reviews that the FM transmitter built in doesn't work very well..) plus I'm not sure how well the stock system would pick up an FM transmission anyways
4. the screen and the joystick can both be mounted on the dashor windshield (with the adheasives provided in the kit) having the wires hidden under the dash or behind the upper dash pad

overall it will be a system that will allow me to have good sound quality keep my ipod and wires out of sight.. i won't have to find my ipod everytime i want to change a song.. the joystick and screen will be right there. Everything can be uninstalled with no damage to my cruiser since no modification is required. maybe some goo-be-gone to get the sticky crap off of the windshield. Also if you are leaving for a while and don't want the system chilling in your car you can unvelcro the box from the glovebox and unmount the joystick and the screen from their mounting plates (a tiny screw holds them to a plate which you adhesive to the windshield or dash kid of like rear view mirrors on certain cars).

i'm sure I forgot something but I'm excited about this.

 

[Colorado Boy-74-FJ40]

If you live in a big city with lots of powerful radio stations, don't waste your money on the FM cigarette lighter transmitter. I did that and the local stations drown out the weak signal even if they are a couple decimals off on the frequency. I would go with the FM Antenna adapter. I had one of those in my truck once (6 disc CD changer) since it shot right into the antenna cable itself I didn't get any frequency drowning. I think I would like to go that route myself. even though I have an aftermarket CD deck, it doesn't have an auxiliary jack for an Ipod (oversight, wish i would have known to get that option)
Let me know how it works out

 

[antFJ]

i should add that if you do have an aftermarket radio the unit comes with rca plugs

 

[Fast Eddy]

You have a stock FM radio? Pics? What kind of speaker(s)?

$25 shipped from here: http://www.amazon.com/Harman-Kardon-DP-1US-Controller/dp/B000BT97UO

and here: http://wilhagan1.amazonwebstore.com...froogle&utm_medium=organic&utm_source=froogle

 

[antFJ]

well thats the thing.. i don't even have the radio yet but I'm going to get one form cruiserparts.net.. or just just ebay or mud it up until i get one

hell i only have a rolling chassis at the moment - this had just been a pre-pre thought

edit:but I do have the stock speaker for the 78 and I might be adding some more.. I'm going to use the factory speaker mount with a high quality speaker to see what kind of sound i get and then go from there.

 

[Fast Eddy]

If you haven't done it yet, you could get a non-working stock AM radio somewhere cheap to fill the hole, then stash an amp and speakers somewhere and plug straight into the ipod phone jack without all that extra crap.

I'm all for the stock look, but I also don't like extra wiring. An ipod on random in the center console is just the ticket.

 

[Colorado Boy-74-FJ40]

X2

If you haven't done it yet, you could get a non-working stock AM radio somewhere cheap to fill the hole, then stash an amp and speakers somewhere and plug straight into the ipod phone jack without all that extra crap.

I'm all for the stock look, but I also don't like extra wiring. An ipod on random in the center console is just the ticket.

A lot of hot-rodders do that. You get the stock look with 21st century electronics

 

[antFJ]

thats a thought - i needed some sort of ipod playing thing for my DD anyways - I'll toss the amp idea around and see how I like this thing too

 

[Fast Eddy]

thats a thought - i needed some sort of ipod playing thing for my DD anyways - I'll toss the amp idea around and see how I like this thing too

You can connect the headphone output directly with a cable since the ipod has volume control built-in...

 

[bsevans]

You're fooling yourself if you think the stock radio and a high quality speaker are going to translate into quality sound. How big is that stock speaker - maybe 3X5. Facing down and hidden behind the dash - that is probably the worst setup for clear, quality sound. You can throw all the money you want at this approach, I’m sure my Alpine deck with XM radio and 4 small high quality speakers will sound better. I applaud your desire to maintain an old school look, but trying to run your IPod with the FM adapter that is expecting a digitally tuned FM frequency and using an analog tuner will not supply consistent high quality sound transfer.

 

[antFJ]

You're fooling yourself if you think the stock radio and a high quality speaker are going to translate into quality sound. How big is that stock speaker - maybe 3X5. Facing down and hidden behind the dash - that is probably the worst setup for clear, quality sound. You can throw all the money you want at this approach, I’m sure my Alpine deck with XM radio and 4 small high quality speakers will sound better. I applaud your desire to maintain an old school look, but trying to run your IPod with the FM adapter that is expecting a digitally tuned FM frequency and using an analog tuner will not supply consistent high quality sound transfer.

first off i didn't say i was looking for something high quality - just something a little better than the stock set up with the ability to play songs from my ipod without having to modify anything

AND its cheap... the whole idea is that I don't HAVE to throw money at it. the amp idea is great and having other speakers is great but i don't want that. I want a stock setup that is clean and doesn't require ANY modification.

if i wanted high quality sound... once again with many of these types of threads.. i would buy a new car that is already quiet and ready to go with some 7.1 and powered bass

 

[antFJ]

You can connect the headphone output directly with a cable since the ipod has volume control built-in...

i don't quite know what you mean but with this set up I won't have my ipod floating around the truck with its wire hanging down all over the place - thats the whole idea - and once again... I got this for $18 - the amount it would cost for an amp and more speakers and the cables would be way more than that - and it would require modification to the truck.. the rollbar or at least the appearance of the vehicle in some way

anyways i'm not trying to agrue this point with anyone - to each his own - just thought someone else might want to know about this

 

[beejay42]

Screw the ipod and Itrip, or wires- (EDIT- well at least thats what I did don't mean to tell you what to do)
cheaper way (and better for dedicated car system IMHO) is to just get one of those cheap FM modulators that plug into the cigarette lighter- all you do is use cheap USB thumb drives for storage (instead of your ipod).
The advantage I see of this way over the Itrip is that you can set the frequency to whatever you want- just find one that works that no other stations are using.
I've used Itrips heaps of times on road trips and they always seem to get interference- I get clear as a CD music on mine all the time (but I also have a good sound system) with no interference- even when driving under tram lines

Also, the thumb drive as storage media is actually kinda cool- and very affordable. I have a 16 gig drive I picked up cheaply, and I am not near to filling it yet- but eventually what I will do is have a range of smaller capacity drives just sitting in the glove box- sort of like mix tapes specializing in different genres.
The whole lot is cheap, and I have no worries about leaving it in the car all the time.

here is a ebay search showing some of the range available- most ugly, some not so bad, some interesting (they also go by a few names so other searching can bring up more)

wireless modulator, Electronics items on eBay.com

mine looks sort of like this one- at least it is the same on the front- with nice big buttons that you can click to skip forward or back (while not looking at it as you are bouncing along in your 40 suspension).
It cost me less than Aus$20 delivered from Hong Kong.

I don't mind the look of mine on the dash at all, and all you have to do is rip it out and throw it in the glove box.
Alternatively you could mount an extra cigi light outlet somewhere just under the dash out of site but in reach.
When we are on long trips, I get my girlfriend to use the remote that comes with it to skip and jump to tracks- plus the remote for the volume on the stereo.

Also, if you want, you can of course simply plug an ipod into most of these as well- handy when someone else has one and wants to transmit it across the radio.

heres a blurry shot of mine in action.

oh yeah, and while I am at it, here are my speakers (thanks to PO). Couldn't think of a better place for them if I tried. Sounds awesome.

 

[Blue77FJ40]

beejay: how does this work? You have the mp3 cig plug in unit that reads mp3s from a thumb drive plugged into it? And it transmits the mp3s to your head unit? What software is needed on the thumb drive? Just the mp3 files?

 

[40's rock]

Another spin...I bought the old model stiletto from Sirius. It is ipod and satelite radio in one and the same size as large ipod. Currently I run it to an old boombox under the drivers seat. Future will be rca to amp to speakers mounted secretly under the dash or seat. Stock look, nothing for the sticky fingers to see since I run topless most of the time and good variety of programing, sports, races, music...thats my ticket, all in under $250.

 

[Seattlemobile]

What about skipping the stereo completely? I am thinking that a big fat amp located under the seat; Add a 3.5 mm jack to connect the iPod and control volumn and selection all via iPod. Pull the iPod when you leave the truck and there is nothing to steal. Any thoughts? I have the same approach to speakers up above on the shelf. I also can add two speaker boxes on either side of the front seat sitting on the rear bench's.

 

[beejay42]

beejay: how does this work? You have the mp3 cig plug in unit that reads mp3s from a thumb drive plugged into it? And it transmits the mp3s to your head unit? What software is needed on the thumb drive? Just the mp3 files?

No software needed- all you do is dump music files straight from a cd or from itunes (like I do) onto the thumb drive- then you plug the thumb drive into this little cig plug unit and it plays the files and transmits it to your car radio (like an itrip).
the main advantage of this over the itrips I have used is that you can set it to whatever frequency is unused by other stations, and other Itrips that are driving past
This may be a placcy POS made in china (and I had to shave a bit of plastic off the end and alter it a little to get it to fit in the lighter properly) but I swear, for interference issues, this thing works way better than the ipod/itrip combos I have tried.
Also, as far as sound quality goes, I can't tell the difference between a cd being played in my stereo and mp3's being played by this thing and tuned in through my radio.

In other words, this set up is like a cheaper, simpler ipod and Itrip. Cheap USB thumb drives are your media storage (gig per gig WAY cheaper than ipods), no batteries, no wires, no expensive equipment to hide so that no one smashes your window to grab it...

Down sides of this are- you don't put music on as albums- you dump them all on as individual tracks (or big slabs of individual tracks)- so essentially it is like one big long cd with hundreds of tracks.
The tracks will play in the order you put them onto the thumb drive-
You cannot skim through a track, just back and forward.
Mine doesn't have a shuffle/random function, though I think some other ones do.

Positives again, you can just skip back or forward tracks like a cd, or with the remote type in and go directly to numbered tracks.
When you start your car, it remembers where in the play list you were last at and continues from there.
Oh yeah, and though my stereo already has different EQ settings and manual levels, the cig plug modulator thing has a range of preset EQ style/settings- and they actually sound pretty good- better than the presets in my stereo.

Next I am on the lookout to buy a good cheap bulk pack of small capacity thumb drives- probably around 1-2 gig, and then put together a bunch of different genre and mix albums. And next long road trip I will also put on a couple of good chapterised audio books.

 

[apeterson]

just get a delete plate for the hole and get a "real radio" and put it in a center counsil like tuffy... it still looks pretty stock.

 

[antFJ]

not to belabor the point but..... in that case I would have to find where to put speakers.. buy the speakers, buy the tuffy console ($$) buy the radio (will cost the same as stock if not more), and then even still I wouldn't be able to use my ipod without some sore of transmitter or cable which would defeat the whole purpose of me posting this up.

I know what i CAN do i just though others might like this option too.

 

[Blue77FJ40]

Thanks beejay, that's the way I'm going to go. My cd player bit the dust, so this is my next shot.