HOW TO: ipod into hotrod without a radio

thanks for the info! will do as soon as i get my car back from the shop!

 

Anyone have ideas on how to have a front-to-rear fader w/ this set-up? BTT!

 

You guys have RADIOS in your cars? Huh...

 

What he said. What's up Krooser?

 

You would need a quad potentiometer (four potentiometers ganged together) after the stereo volume pot (or straight off the ipod if you're using the headphone volume as your volume control). You would split each channel from the volume pot into front and rear and each would be connected to one gang of the quad pot with the front and rear pots set up so that when the resistance on the front increases the rear decreases (basically reverse the signal and ground so the front is opposite of the rear).

This would increase the resistance in your signal path essentially giving you a weaker input signal to the amp. No idea how big of a pot you'd need. If it's too small you may not be able to completely fade out the front / rear - too big and you'll have to crank the amp to get any sound at all.

Keep in mind that I've never actually any of tried this

 

Ive spent time in a few really hot, hot rods w/o radios,and it can drive you crazy after a while.I only wish we would have had Ipods in 1989.Good tech ,in the spirit of Hot rodding

 

Novadude-... or you could get a 4 channel amp and just turn down or up the gain for the front or rears,as long as this was a "set-it-and-forget-it" type situation(u won't be changing the sound levels from front to rear unless u have easy access to the amp)ie:it will always be a little louder in the front or rear(snide remark here)as you raise or lower the vol. And ,please,unless it is "lossless" people,MP3 quality sucks! No,really,on the right system-u can tell the difference.

 

Took an old motorola radio from the early fifties, removed all the guts, placed my imotion / altec lansing ipod player in it. It sits on the back space behind bench seat in my 31 Coupe.... downside is, I take xtra AA batteries with me.

I take the radio out of the coupe and play the motorola ipod radio outside at shows.

Just another way of keeping tunes sounding and looking nostalgic.

 

I run this type of setup in two of my cars. One I run out of the bottom plug of the ipod and through a volume control then to the amps. One four channel for the speakers and then to a monoblock for two 12" subs. Sounds pretty good to me but the speakers are only average quality.

On the other car I run out of the headphone jack at the top and use the internal volume control of the ipod, same amp as the other but better quality speakers. I can't really tell the difference from each output, but the cars are very different in shape, size and sound deadening.

Its great to always have all my music just sitting there on the seat next to me

 

yeah an i-anything and a headphone splitter into the pre amp side of a power boaster does the same thing. No radio, and no hum. nothing. But the little battery fm tuners are great to be able to play your iphone/pod through any of your portable fm radios or stereos.
Zombilly

 

ive been doing something simular for years, but with a walkman phone with a 2gb card, i get in the car, plug in the phone and press play on the phone, if i get a call the music stops and the ringtone comes out of the phone, i press answer and the phone becomes a handsfree through the car speakers, nice loud and clear, i didnt need to buy any stuff, i did it with stuff lying around, i have another lead plugged into a big old
stereo in the shed, same deal but when i get a call the whole street can hear my phone call.
i cant see much point getting a ipod, my last 4 phones were walkman phones, they sound good, have eq and easy to use buttons, i tried to put songs on the duaghters ipod and couldnt get them on , got the shits and gave up, this seems much easier on the phone and no way would i ever buy itunes, especailly with the limited selection of music available.
i am doing something simular in my project, but it has a 1950's radio face with a triple gang stereo potentiometre were the origional volume pot was wich is inline with the line rca leads running to the amps.

 

1. The SMALLEST iPod you can buy is 2GB... and it's $69.

2. iTunes is software which allows you to catalog, play, and burn CDs of your music and features a built-in music store, as well as allows you to sync your music to your iPod. It's free, you don't have to "buy iTunes".
http://www.apple.com/itunes/

3. iTunes Music Store is the top music retailer in the USA, featuring over six million songs... and growing (it's now ten million):
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2008/04/03itunes.html

~Jason

 

You almost forget since some weeks its DRM-free.. so you can also play your itune-mp3 on other mp3-players

ow if you want to know what DRM is FYI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rights_management

 

Yes, on 1/6 Apple announced cheaper prices (a .69/.99/$1.29 price scheme, with the majority being the less expensive price - albums are $9.99), as well as higher quality (256kbps AAC encoding) MP3s in addition to eight million of the now ten million songs being DRM-Free.

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2009/01/06itunes.html

~Jason

 

but if you still find that to expensive you can download a youtube to mp3 converter http://www.dvdvideosoft.com/free-dvd-video-software.htm

and make your own mp3

 

Anybody try one of these yet?

http://www.virtualvillage.com/Items/006004-034?&caSKU=006004-034&caTitle=300W%2012V%20Mini%20iPod%20MP3%20Stereo%20Car%20Bike%20Hi-Fi%20Amplifier

Looks like it could fit under a seat or in the glove box... I don't want big stereo in my car, just a pair of 6" speakers and a Zune (has a FM tuner in it)...

 

This looks like a great idea Big Mike. Did you buy one?

 

I did it in a simpler way. I got a 50 watt Eclipse amp, hooked the power to my fuse block, put an off-on toggle switch on the dash and mounted the amp under my seat. I ran a "Y" connector (R and L to the amp and earphone connector for the i-pod) up thru the seat back. It doesn't charge while I'm driving, but a full charge lasts for a long time. Works great.

 

Same thing I did except with a pair of 6X9's and the amp in a beer crate in the back of the wagon. Works great.

 

Bringing this back to life. It is great tech and I am getting ready to do this in my dad's wagon. He has an MP3 player. It will only be pushing to 2 small speakers 6" round or maybe 6x9.
I understand the charging part of this. But with the MP3 player it will only need the amp - right? Just a key on for the amp?
The local stereo shop wants to sell me a several hundred dollar amp, run and 8 gague wire directly to the battery(claiming the car wiring will melt), and add the volume control.
Someone please clear this up for me. Do I really need all this? Will the amp really require it?
It has to be painless for him or it will not get done.

TIA

 

Yes, sort of...

You do not need a very big amp for what you are doing, you could probably pick up most of what you need at Wal-Mart for a hundred or so $$$. But you probably should get an amp wiring kit, the heavy gage wire will be needed for the amp. I run a second small 16 ga. wire through a switch to the amp "on" plug. You could do this or run it through your ignition switch, I just like the option of running my system without turning the key on. (but I forgot to turn it off once and drained the batt.)

You shouldn't need the volume control if you use the earphone jack to RCA cable cable to connect the player to the amp, you can set the amp levels and use the volume control on the amp, the simplest method IMO.

If I can do this anyone can, I am stereo iliterate, followed someone elses instructions and love my system...

 

The setup in my Galaxie is a little amp (I think like 30x2 or something, I forget) driving a pair of 6x9s in the factory locations, and just a headphone jack (I can never remember the size of those things) to RCA adapter cord. I put in an aftermarket wiring harness in my car, and didn't need the 12 AWG fan circuit, so that's where my amp is drawing from. I paid all of $30 for that amp, an old PPI Art-series (GREAT soundin' amps) on EBay.

It sounds like your car stereo store are sorta takin' advantage of your admitted unknowin'ness. What a wild idea, a shady car audio place . You don't need ANY amp that's gonna necesitate 8AWG wire. Get yourself a basic 25 or 30 watt x2 (good brand though, car audio stuff's performance isn't regulated like home audio stuff), use some 10AWG... In reality, 12AWG would be fine. I've watched many an analog ammeter while beatin' the bujesus outta a car stereo and they don't pull nearly what you'd think, at least in your sorta application (a bigass subwoofer amp is a different story). 10AWG is a nice compromise, cheap, easy to come by. I never buy car stereo wire, MAJOR HUGEASS RIPOFF. Go to your electrical supply store, they'll have something that will work just as well (if not better) than the pretty red car audio cable.

The volume control thing is horseshit. The volume control on the MP3 player will control your volume.

 

If you're going the electrical supply store route for the wire make sure you aren't getting solid wire - it probably won't like the vibration over time. Even stranded 10AWG is pretty stiff compared to the wiring in most of those wiring kits.

 

I actually used solid once for that reason (OK, not solid, but IIRC it was 16 strand, so it may-as-fuckin'-well been), it wasn't gonna get loose and flop around (because no matter how good a job you do, for some reason they always get loose and flop around sometime or another <== EDIT: I just read that last part out loud and almost pissed myself, reminds me of some girls I know!) as it would stay secured. It was a pain in the ass; I ended up giving up on bending it by hand and used a hickey. It looked pretty cool when it was done, sorta like brakelines, it was sorta gray with a layer of somethin' shiney on the outside, and was tough as nails, but damn, I'll never do THAT again (but since then I've needed to run 1 or 2 aught welding cable to the back).

God that sucked doin'.

 

for those whose cars don't have speakers fitted as stock, has anyone thought about using Drive in Movie ones? can someone tell me what the measurements of the actual speaker cone itself is, diameter and depth?

 

dig it. perhaps i should step up and convert my cd and record collection to mp3 now..

 

Ok I get the part where I do not need the volume control.

I am still confused about the heavy gauge wire to the battery - why do I need it directly to the battery? The modern fuse panel/wire loom has a key on and a constant hot. Won't the constant hot running back to the fuse panel serve the same purpose. Again, realizing I am not looking for anything with a tons of watts. I would think I am look for 2 channel at 50 watts or less???

 

It's because of current draw... If you try to draw too much current through a smaller conductor, it's going to transfer some of that electrical energy into heat energy, which can melt wire insulation, completely burn through the copper, then cause a short. The larger wire allows the amp to draw a sufficent amount of current through a conductor that is capible of supporting it. Most amps ask for at least 20A capacity, which it might never draw, but it can and that would require a larger gauge cable (10 would be fine for that) Your existing main might have a 4 or 6 AWG cable feeding it, but it's ALSO feeding everything else in the car. Running the cable isn't hard, especially if you do an in-cab hidden mounting (like under a seat).

A 2 channel with 25-50 watts per channel is an excellent general purpose amp selection. You might say, "my head unit says it puts out 20W", but that's max power... 25 amplifer watts > 25 head unit watts (on 9 outta 10 head units, so no one needs to nit-pick me, I know). It's not going to overpower any speakers, and won't overload your electrical system. The car will barely notice it, and it will be pretty loud if you feel the need to listen loudly.

 

For those of you with an iPhone, iTouch or new nano, PAC sells a new 5V cable model IC-AV2. It will charge 12V and 5V models and gives you right, left, and video out on RCA's. www.pac-audio.com

 

its the best! and cheap!