ipod hook up?
Depending on the model year of your car and whether you have a cassette or CD head unit, you can get an auxiliary input adapter that plugs into the CD port on the back of the radio. There is also an iPod specific model that has additional features but costs a lot more. In either case the radio has to be either a cassette unit or a 2000 or newer CD unit - the 98 and 99 CD units won't work (well, actually some late 99s will work but you can't really tell until you try it).
Depending on the model year of your car and whether you have a cassette or CD head unit, you can get an auxiliary input adapter that plugs into the CD port on the back of the radio. There is also an iPod specific model that has additional features but costs a lot more. In either case the radio has to be either a cassette unit or a 2000 or newer CD unit - the 98 and 99 CD units won't work (well, actually some late 99s will work but you can't really tell until you try it).
The next step down in sound quality is the cassette adapter. They work great if you have a cassette head unit but the sound quality is limited by the dynamic range of the tape head which is somewhat narrower than that of a CD.
Below that you have the hard-wired FM modulators. These are the ones that connect directly into your antenna cable. They provide sound quality equivalent to a strong local FM radio station - not bad for a noisy car environment. They have the advantage of cutting off the factory antenna when in use to eliminate interference from broadcast FM stations.
At the bottom of the pile is the wireless FM modulator. These should only be used in an emergency! The sound quality is terrible and they are subject to lots of interference from other radio stations. They're really only useful if you have absolutely no other choice or you need the convenience of switching between multiple vehicles.
Trending Topics
The Best V8 Stories One Small Block at Time
Thanks
GM9-AUX: http://www.pie.net/store/index.cfm?a...ails&ItemID=18
As far as these adapters not being CD quality that depends on how you rip your music. I rip mine with Apple Lossless and they are the same quaility as a CD. Yes, if you compress your CD's they will be of lower quality but then nothing in a car will sound as good as a quality home system anyway especially if you are using the stock HU/Amp/Speakers so it does not really matter.
These facts come from tests at my company, which worked on the MP3 specs as well as MP3Pro.
These facts come from tests at my company, which worked on the MP3 specs as well as MP3Pro.
i work at best buy in the ipod section and the car audio section. the best solution(most economical) to using a stock headunit with an ipod is a hardwired fm transmitter. a box plugs into your radio jack in the back of the headunit and the box has an a/v input and a plug for the antenna. the hard wired fm transmitter is about 45 bucks, and will require installation if you dont know how the do it yourself. go to the back of best buy, ask them for it, and they will probly giv eyou a run around saying they dont know what your talking about b/c some of them dont know what their doing. but its called a hard wried fm transmitter. and best buy makes it. the box has the best buy logo on it.
i dont tell this to customers b/c it takes too long. i just piont them the the wireless things, which suck
edit, a tape adapter and the ipod2car will have about the same sound quality since they both use analog cables to transmit the sound. it will never be cd quality but you probly wont be able to tell. and the tape adapter is 21 bucks. if you want to get fancy, harmon kardon makes an ipod external interface which is lovely. its 150 bucks and you mount a sleek screen on you dash and control the ipod through it.
i work at best buy in the ipod section and the car audio section. the best solution(most economical) to using a stock headunit with an ipod is a hardwired fm transmitter. a box plugs into your radio jack in the back of the headunit and the box has an a/v input and a plug for the antenna. the hard wired fm transmitter is about 45 bucks, and will require installation if you dont know how the do it yourself. go to the back of best buy, ask them for it, and they will probly giv eyou a run around saying they dont know what your talking about b/c some of them dont know what their doing. but its called a hard wried fm transmitter. and best buy makes it. the box has the best buy logo on it.
i dont tell this to customers b/c it takes too long. i just piont them the the wireless things, which suck
edit, a tape adapter and the ipod2car will have about the same sound quality since they both use analog cables to transmit the sound. it will never be cd quality but you probly wont be able to tell. and the tape adapter is 21 bucks. if you want to get fancy, harmon kardon makes an ipod external interface which is lovely. its 150 bucks and you mount a sleek screen on you dash and control the ipod through it.
As far as the quality of the recordings on the Ipod, That depends on how they were encoded. Using a lossless technology my CD's are the same size as they were originaly and sound quality is the same as on the CD. As I said not that it matters much as your always going to have noise in a car that you canot avoid which will affect the sound quaility of any recording whether CD, Ipod etc...
If the headend has the CD Changer input (must be a cassette model with a tape/aux button, the single CD headends do not have this input), that would be the way to go, for sure.





