Just a thought about Car Radios

I don't live in the U.K anymore where the Radio is relatively good with plays,documentaries and comedy shows as well as good music. Where I live there are wall to wall FM channels with ads every 5 mins - it's terrible and unlistenable. (like the TV!) To add insult to injury my MP3 FM radio got nicked this week! If I buy a new one the chances it will go the same way. However what about this...

Since FM radio is just adverts nowadays over here is there a market for a cheap amplifier that amplifies say an IPOD or the like. It would cost very little and not be worth stealing - it would not even have any controls - just a black box. Nothing worth stealing any more since the IPOD goes with you when you leave the car. Of course you can take the front cover off your FM Radio but then you still have the hastle of how to play your IPOD through your Radio amp - with a transmitter and so on. I have found you get intereference this way so a cheap amp woudl be the answer.

Naebad

Reply to
naebad
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a) many car stereos have line-in inputs.

b) several recent vehicles (Mini comes to mind) have iPod connectors as a factory-standard feature.

Reply to
zwsdotcom

Hey, that's pretty cool - and my car is apparently supported. Unfortunately, the kit for iPod is $189 which is a bit more than I care to spend.

Reply to
zwsdotcom

There are IPOD-to-car-radio adapters. Most of them use RF links into the antenna cable.

...Jim Thompson

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|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

My first portalbe CD player (late 80's) had a device that mimiced a cassette tape, and could be plugged into the car stereo that way. Of course, you could hear the cassette motor running during thee really quiet passages.

Reply to
Richard Henry

Recent vintage car radios seem to have standardized on an interface that allows operation of a variety of accessories via the radio control system.

For instance...

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...Jim Thompson

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|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

I had that but I got interference and people steal your radio - I don't need a radio, only an AMP.

Naebad

Reply to
naebad

Working with an inventor who I can't presently name, the industry has standardized on an interface to allow any number of accessories to plug into the car radio and use the existing radio/steering-wheel buttons for controls.

The direct connection will allow the costs/prices to drop.

...Jim Thompson

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|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

[snip]

Wireless? Barf! What are you so enamored with wireless?

For the last several years there has been a connector on the back of the radio.

...Jim Thompson

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|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

I read in sci.electronics.design that naebad wrote (in ) about 'Just a thought about Car Radios', on Thu, 10 Nov 2005:

Well, it's no problem - just a simple audio amp running from the headphone socket and driving a **decent** small loudspeaker (nothing less than 75 mm diameter need apply) in a proper enclosure.

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Regards, John Woodgate, OOO - Own Opinions Only.
If everything has been designed, a god designed evolution by natural selection.
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Reply to
John Woodgate

I read in sci.electronics.design that snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote (in ) about 'Just a thought about Car Radios', on Thu, 10 Nov 2005:

Sounds as though the interface is designed to justify audiophool prices. The ipod gives out around 0.5 V of audio at low impedance.

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Regards, John Woodgate, OOO - Own Opinions Only.
If everything has been designed, a god designed evolution by natural selection.
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Reply to
John Woodgate

Hello Jim,

Most of them are FM modulators that just transmit into the antenna. One was mentioned in the paper today. They want a whopping $80 for it. Ouch. Seems iPodians are considered big spenders.

Regards, Joerg

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Reply to
Joerg

Hello Jim,

Ah, finally. That was long overdue. I just hope they don't use a plug but a wireless scheme. Bluetooth or something.

I already had a direct connection in my old Citroen in the 70's. 6V radio, even had short wave. Opened it, had a sip of beer, tapped off at the potmeter, drilled a hole, had another sip, then mounted an RCA jack. Actually soldered it in so no nuts and washers would come off. When it was all said and done this amounted to 1/2hr of time and 30c or so for the (gold plated!) RCA jack.

The problem was that this car ran sans battery most of the time. The old radios were sturdy but some of the connected stuff didn't survive. Anyway, this scheme beat the heck out of all those clumsy cassette adapter inserts. Plus my radio didn't have cassette.

Regards, Joerg

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Reply to
Joerg

Hello Jim,

Because it's easy. No wires where your coffee mug could get tangled up. Or the dog could trip over when doing the forbidden jump from the back seat into the front, sending the coffee mug sailing all over the place.

And for stuff that's going to be permanent there is no need to pay an installer who has the special tools to disassemble the dash. No tie wraps or duct tape to hold some cable in place.

Even my old 12V radio from the 70's had that. But I could not use it because the 6/12V inverter made too much AM noise.

I have CAT5 throughout over here. Yet I still switch on the WLAN once in a while because it's less hassle. Our dogs are one reason ;-)

Regards, Joerg

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Reply to
Joerg

for

cost

as

Wow, doesn't that look convenient, a black box bigger than the iPod along with a funky cable. Cool, the black box has Hayes compatible switches. ;-) I guess they're too embarrassed to show the connector on the other end of the cable, I'm guessing it will likely be some special made rhombic Deutsch connector with BGA contacts. And just look at how inexpensive it all is. I can surely understand why they don't bother to put a Toslink connector directly on the car radio and the iPod. When will the madness stop?

Reply to
Anthony Fremont

Like this?

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Can't say anything about sound quality.

Paul Burke

Reply to
Paul Burke

Worse than that, on inspection the device claims to connect to the CD-changer harness. However, neither of my cars has that option. So their search engine is bogus - this product won't work with either of my vehicles.

(I have a 98 Escort with the AM/FM only - this did not have CD-changer option. Only the tape version had CD-changer hooks. I also have an 02 Focus with CD. The single-disc in-dash CD player does not have a CD-changer port).

Reply to
zwsdotcom

In order to support "control from the radio's controls" the radio has to have knowledge of the CD-changer hardware. There may be a wire leading from behind the dash to inside the trunk (this is definitely not true for the Escort, but may be true for the Focus), but that doesn't do me any good if the radio doesn't have the firmware to generate the control signals.

The tape version of the Escort radio has CD-changer buttons. The radio version does not.

Well, the Escort (2.0L wagon w/ABS) cost me $2500 with nearly 100K miles on it. We've had it about 18 months, it's done another 20K miles in that time, and maintenance costs (all of which occurred during the first two months after purchase - i.e. things the vendor didn't tell us about) have been $1,085 not including oil changes and wiper fluid/blades (these total $224). That strikes me as pretty good value. Low insurance cost too.

Of course, the Escort is actually a Mazda...

The Focus hasn't had any maintenance costs, apart from oil changes and wiper fluid/blades, since I bought it new nearly 3.5 years ago - with the following exceptions:

  1. passenger side mirror broken off by hooligan - aftermarket replacement off eBay.
  2. windshield wiper relay went bad after ~2years. I didn't replace it yet, I just opened the old relay and cleaned the contacts - it will inevitably go bad again, but in the meantime I will acquire a replacement.
  3. cabin air filter went moldy after driving through a swampy area in very humid conditions (Ohio summer). I think this was about but don't have records.
Reply to
zwsdotcom

Are you sure? Most American-made cars have complete harnesses to accept ANY offered accessory... so the dealer can just plug them in, but charge you big bucks for the installation ;-) It's cheaper to manufacture a single harness than to make option-specific harnesses.

Get a REAL shop manual and study the wiring diagram.

FORD = Fix Or Repair Daily ;-)

...Jim Thompson

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|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

Wasn't it the case that basically all American cars up until the mid-80s? even later? had a distinctly limited service life? I haven't been in the car market long - never needed to drive until I came to the States - but I'm sure I've read this in several sources.

Reply to
zwsdotcom

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