FM radio transmitters and the like? MP3 solution needed.

CircleFaust · 16 Dec 2008 at 19:29

i need a good solution to play MP3s in the car.
i tired one of the simple FM radio transmitters but found the sound quality poor. i think there is a type you can wire into your radio at the back?

there are some with remote controls too which would probably be a good idea rather than fumbling for an MP3 player?

so what is your solution, including your MP3 player?

(btw I won't be replacing the stereo, i just want to keep the factory fitted CD player and work from there)

so any suggestions/links/etc would be appreciated

Howard · 16 Dec 2008 at 19:34

My solution would be to replace the head unit. I prefer to do things properly

paradigm · 16 Dec 2008 at 19:38

The Harmon Kardon Drive + Play does exactly what you want. (Assuming its an iPod)

EDIT: seems the Drive + Play 2 does the same with other portable music players.

Lum · 16 Dec 2008 at 19:44

Yes there are some that tap into the aerial wire, also if you have a tape deck (you don't state what car or how old or what the current head unit is) you can get one of those fake tapes with a wire coming off, they work better than you might think.

I'd just replace the head unit with one that takes some kind of flash memory, USB or SD or whatever.

Begbie · 16 Dec 2008 at 20:34

I would buy a new head unit, but am simple like that.

You can get head units with, aux in/ipod in/usb in etc these days.

Jez · 16 Dec 2008 at 20:38

Lum said:
you can get one of those fake tapes with a wire coming off, they work better than you might think.

Yeah i will vouch for that, i actually use this solution on one of mine as its impossible to get aux audio in via any other means. Sounds absolutely fine.

CircleFaust · 16 Dec 2008 at 20:42

i have a 07 vectra. i dont want to lose the steering wheel controls hence keeping the head unit.

Lum · 16 Dec 2008 at 20:42

You can get a variety of leads and smartleads to connect OEM steering wheel controls to aftermarket headunits.

Edit: Such as this one which will hook your steering controls to a Pioneer head unit.

Puzzled · 16 Dec 2008 at 20:51

Jez said:
Yeah i will vouch for that, i actually use this solution on one of mine as its impossible to get aux audio in via any other means. Sounds absolutely fine.

Any recommendations?

Might get my dad one as he only has a single cd slot and tape deck.

Jez · 16 Dec 2008 at 20:53

I use a tesco one, i have no idea if any others would be better but i can assure you that this sounds absolutely fine even at loud volumes with all ranges of music. You just need to make sure that you set the ipod at around 50% volume. (ipod video, the older white one).

CircleFaust · 17 Dec 2008 at 10:29

if i was to remove the factory head unit in the vectra where can i get the pins? halfords maybe, how much are they approx

Hawk Tuah · 17 Dec 2008 at 10:52

I have one of those tape adapter things in the beetle which works great.

I've got an FM transmitter, but the sound quality is terrible. I'd rather wear headphones.

Jez · 17 Dec 2008 at 10:56

Bug One said:
I've got an FM transmitter, but the sound quality is terrible. I'd rather wear headphones.

The FM transmitters are so bad that i dont understand how they are even legal. I bought an itrip last year and it was in the bin literally a day later. Absolutely unusable, "find a spare frequency" is the first instruction....errr, everything is used. Even if i did find one i'd drive 5mins down the road and a radio station would cut in and interfere with it.

El_Watcher · 17 Dec 2008 at 12:19

Lum said:
Edit: Such as this one which will hook your steering controls to a Pioneer head unit.

That might be considered a competitor seeing as they supply Wii accessories :rolleyes:

.

CircleFaust · 17 Dec 2008 at 14:49

Jez said:
The FM transmitters are so bad that i dont understand how they are even legal. I bought an itrip last year and it was in the bin literally a day later. Absolutely unusable, "find a spare frequency" is the first instruction....errr, everything is used. Even if i did find one i'd drive 5mins down the road and a radio station would cut in and interfere with it.

the transmitters that plug directly into the socket on the headunit are supposed to be better, any experience of those?

if there was two phono sockets on the back of the headunit could you just run a phono to 3.5mm jack to an ipod?

Jez · 17 Dec 2008 at 14:52

Indeed which would be the best option, sadly for me there are no phono connections.

I hear the modulators which cut into the aerial line are spot on, they actually cut the feed from the aerial while they are in use so do not suffer from interference. My issue was that my aerial's are so strong that every frequency in the whole spectrum picks something up, so the itrip never had any space to work.