mikehaase1norse

iTrader: (2)

nice writeup, gives me an idear

spence2

Anyone in the South Florida (Im in Pompano) area that could help me out with this project?

Thanks

Or, does anyone know about this http://factoryradioservice.com/corve...put-p-137.html ?

ZTwentyAteU

iTrader: (12)

This mod is Epic, great job.

I'm using it to plug my Droid into to listen to Pandora Radio and my mp3s

99huggercamaro

iTrader: (21)

just did this today! awesome write up and works great! thanks a lot!

LOTTI99TA

I just did this mod over the weekend and it works great..!!! I have a 99 TA with a Monsoon CD HU... Not a bad deal for a $2.49 stereo jack from Radio Shack, a $1.99 - 20pack of crimp connectors for phone lines (also from R.S ) and a 3 foot length of CAT5 cable I had lying around. ((( I just tried to post a reply but the system said I was not logged in and ate my entire 1 page reply so here it goes AGAIN..

1st- If you don't have a set of star or torx bits get yourself a set because trying to get the radio apart without them is next to impossible...

2nd- The RED wires are very thin and the crimp connectors work great and give the connections a clean look. Much better than black electrical tape around those tiny wires.

3rd- The top of the radio will come off without removing the front face plate but it requires a little force. I found you can detach the top of the face plate enough to clear the 3 or 4 tabs on the circuit board and lift the board straight off very easily.

4th- I drilled a hole about 1/2" up and to the right of the antennae jack. There is an open space there where the cable can be run that doesn't interfear with anything inside the radio. I also drilled a hole in that area for a machine screw for the ground.

Finally the stereo jack is VERY small..! There aren't many locations in the dash or console thin enough to mount the jack but I did find a spot I thought was pretty trick. Under the glove box there is a black cover pannel that is held in place by 2 push clips. If you pull the pannel down there is a small "wing" on the left side about 1.5" wide and long. I drilled the hole for the jack there. (no sanding or grinding needed) It works great there and both driver and passenger can reach it NO problem. An added bonus there is when your not using your Ipod/mp3 player you can lock it up in the glove box without having to unplug it. Anybody looking in will have a hard time seing it up under there..!

Thanks Again to the original poster for the GREAT mod..!!!

***** With the money I saved with this mod I'm thinking of upgrading my headlights and fog lights to HIDs or Xeon bulbs. Can someone point me in the right direction for my 99 TA.....?

byacey

There should be a way to enable the CD audio inputs without playing a CD. Probably one of the other pins will have a logic Hi or Lo when the CD player is running enabling the audio input switching circuit in the HU. I'm going to delve into this soon and see what I can find.

For those complaining of leakage from the CD player when using the Aux input jack, ensure that the CD audio send and audio return aren't sharing wires within the same twisted pair of the cat 5, otherwise it is capacitive coupled between the wires even though the signal path is open by the switching jack. As an example, don't use blue for the CD right send, and Blue/ white for the aux right input return. Better yet is to use small gauge individual shielded wire for the audio , a total of 4 separate shielded wires, 2 for CD send Left and right, 2 for Aux return left and right.

DigitalDragon

I just got my car ('96 Trans Am) and wanted to try this mod. My CD connector was the flat wire type, so I didn't really want to cut that up, plus the CD player didn't work, the dreaded E20 error even after cleaning. So.... I probed the tuner for audio and found Pin 3 carried Left and Pin 6 carried Right (pins numbered from the Face of the HU) Things to bear in mind if you do it this way:

1. You will have to cut the traces. This is so that the audio passthrough in the jack works correctly.
2. You can play MP3's without a working CD Player, hell you don't really even need a working display.
3. All soldering is done directly to the board, so no ugly wire splicing. Makes for a very neat job.

This way works very well, the audio quality is great. I had no bleed through as well, possibly due to the fact that I stole my wire from an S-Video cable which had shielded wire, i.e. every signal line had a grounded shield around it.

If you decide to put the jack under the faceplate, as I did, you must be very careful putting the unit back together. I broke a bulb and bent the pins on one of the connectors. After I repaired those things, the radio still didn't work and I was majorly bummed. A quick trip to the local junkyard and I found the same HU from a 99 Grand Am which had a working volume control (my original HU had to use steering wheel controls) and the CD player worked. It even plays burnt CD's! Cost, only $45! So after my warranty runs out (30 days) I will be modding the new HU with the MP3 plug, though I will still use the FM signal path. I will post my results and pictures of the work in progress for anyone else to use as reference. Thanks to the original poster for this thread!

enigmah

iTrader: (1)

Sorry to dig up an old thread but I cant seem to get this to work. I did exactly what was said and triple checked and it still doesnt work. I also read all 16 pages every post and never saw anyone tap into the cd changer. Mines an 2000 camaro, with the 12 disk changer. Every time i put a disk upfront into the HU i get ERR and it spits it back out yet my 12 disk works perfectly fine.

I also noticed in a couple of posts people say you can tap into the wires going to the 12 disk changer, but nobody made a writeup nor put any pictures up or any info on what wires need to be tapped into.

If anyone has anymore information on tapping into the 12 disk wires please pm me.

Jason Novak

There are a couple of other threads on it ... here is one that was linked from this thread:

https://ls1tech.com/forums/stereo-el...ml#post9660753

Cheap Guy

iTrader: (3)

Just to be clear, does the signal from the CD player stop when you plug in the phono jack or when the jack receives a signal from the MP3 player? The reason why I ask is that I'd like to mount the jack on the receiver and then plug in a phono extension cord.

WhiteBird00

iTrader: (4)

The signal stops when the plug is inserted in the jack. It acts as a mechanical switch - the plug moves the contact away from its resting position, breaking the circuit. There is no signal sensing involved.

Cheap Guy

iTrader: (3)

Thanks. That means I'm going to have to use a long Cat5 cable. Now I've got to find a good place to mount the plug so I can use it with both my Sirius and my iPod.

Cheap Guy

iTrader: (3)

This mod works as advertised, but does anyone sell a better connector than the Radio Shack part, which isn't as "sturdy" as I would like?

Here's my problem...I have both and iPod and Sat radio and I don't think the constant plugging/unplugging of the units is going to be a good situation. I'm actually thinking about just connecting (soldiering) two phono cords to the L and R channel and leaving the CD wires disconnected since I really don't use CDs anymore. I also won't have to worry about any bleed over which I'm getting (just a little) with the CD wires connected.

Think this will work? Does this make sense? Do I have to have the CD wires connected?

pentavolvo

woudl work fine just remeber you have to have a cd in the player

skimms98

iTrader: (7)

subbing for later reference...GREAT WRITE UP!

Cheap Guy

iTrader: (3)

I tried this mod and it works as advertised, however...

Head units with aux in and more important, usb have drop so low that it's probably best to just go with an aftermarket unit, even a cheapo unit. I bought a Kenwood HU on line for $70, $100 total for all the stuff needed to do a proper install and it sounds great - way better than the stock unit - installed with about the same amount of work needed for the aux in mod. I also bought a new Dual stereo for my Jeep Cherokee with aux in, on sale for $55, and I used a $15 off coupon. Yes, it's a cheapo unit, but it sounds better than the stock Monsoon head unit.

This thread was started back in March 2007 when aux in was rare and usb non-existent. You're talking about modding a HU that was pretty much designed pre-1997 - a zillion years ago when it comes to car audio - and you're only going to end up with so-so sound, and none of the "modern" feature like ability to play WMA, MP3, etc. Like some other in this thread, I really wanted to keep the "stock" look but the trade off was worth it, and I found a HU that didn't have the "Tokyo At Night" look that I hate. Listening to my new HU with some of the stock speakers and amp tells me that the HU is the weakest part of the stock setup.

Again, not saying this won't work and it is cheap to do if you're short on cash, but it does have a few drawbacks.

Blackfly

iTrader: (13)

yea. Maybe.

This thread still has use though and the USB /Ipod cable is all that is needed if you want to output sound to a Moded stock unit. (via RCA's)

ae13291

iTrader: (8)

thanks a million. just did this today. sounds and works great. best $5 i ever spent.

Mark42

Great thread!

I plan to do this to my Firebird base model CD player (not monsoon). From the posts, it looks like the Pontiac hu uses a flat ribbon cable.

Has anyone come up with a good method of splicing the ribbon cable?

Has the "power on" pin been identified so a CD doesn't have to be put in?

Going to do this mod when the weather warms up a bit. Hate working in the cold (today its only 36 in the garage and 23 outside).

Gallagher005

old thread but wanted to thank original poster...awesome write up man