I recall years ago, you could buy a device that plugged into any car radio that played cassettes. The thing was pushed into the casette opening, and a wire which is part of it, could be connected to any other audio source.
But what about car radios that have a CD player. Is there a similar device that can be pushed into the CD opening to allow another audio source to be played, such as a MP3 player?
PaintedCow:
No cassette deck? No aux jack? No Blue Tooth?
Good luck! I've had less than stellar performance with the many I have tried. One suggestion, have the player(iPod or smart phone) and transmitter in the area of the cabin closest to your car antenna. Since this is typically the rear roof or built in to rear window, you'll need that transmitter in the back seat.
Even with these measures, if you live in a crowded market, the best you'll get is staticy sound in mono.
Cow,
Many auto CD players accept line-in signals. Check your manual. If yours does not, it may be modifiable but space is usually really limited in car radios. It may be quite hard to do.
Dave M.
David L. Martel:
Does it involve opening up the head unit and looking for place to solder a line input to?
It may depend on the vehicle/head unit.
My Honda Odyssey did not have an AUX port, but the head unit was set up to accept an XM Radio receiver. There is an XM connector built into the harness near the driver's side fuse panel.
I was able to add an Aux jack to my Honda Odyssey by plugging this adapter into the XM Radio connector. By choosing the CD4 mode on the head unit I can listen to whatever is connected to the AUX adapter. (You can get it for much cheaper than the price shown here)
I then added a Bluetooth adapter that plugs into any vehicle's AUX port.
The Bluetooth adapter is "permanently" plugged into my AUX adapter since I don't need the AUX adapter for anything other than the Bluetooth adapter. All wires and components are neatly hidden within the dashboard.
I did this a while back but now I understand that there are single devices that add both the AUX port and the Bluetooth in one shot. Neater and cheaper.
IIRC there are some that can be plugged into the MP3 player and then play through an unused FM channel
True, but as mentioned earlier by "thekma" they usually sound like crap, even in the best of situations. For long road trips, you have to keep finding an unused channels to avoid interference.
Years ago I set up a list using a website like this one, but it still didn't work out very well. Sometimes even their "best" vacant channels sucked.
Will the CD player play MP3 CDs? If so, burn the MP3s to data CDs; if not, replace it with one that will.
I think all new cars are coming with Bluetooth and will take all kinds of devices. I just learned it this year having to trade in my old and leaky car for a new one and had the experience of syncing cell phones with it. Also learned that a lot of older drivers are clueless on how to use it. My brother also bought a new car and went back to the dealer to ask the salesman how to use it and he was clueless and had to get another to help.
Note his last line, with my emphasis added:
"allow *another audio source* to be played, such as a MP3 player?"
I take that to mean that the mp3 player is just an example. "another audio source" these days often means a smartphone used for Pandora, podcasts, streaming internet radio, etc.
Those are things that can't be burnt to a CD.
kman,
That'a a possibilty, but you'd need to find a line-level part of the pre-amp or amp circuit. Then you'd need to find somewhere to put the input jacks and space is rather limited. Can't really say without seeing the radio. My trusty radio/cassette will accept line-level. I'd bet that most car radios will, now a days.
Dave M.
" That'a a possibilty, but you'd need to find a line-level part of the pre-amp or amp circuit. Then you'd need to find somewhere to put the input jacks and space is rather limited. Can't really say without seeing the radio. My trusty radio/cassette will accept line-level. I'd bet that most car radios will, now"
With a mini to cassette adaptor, yes.
Again, to get the CD & Radio only unit in my wife's 04 Corolla to accept line- or any - level external input signal, HOW would I connect it? My instinct is I would have to remove the unit from the dash, take the cover off, and with the aid of some schematics, find some way to tap in.
Unless you know of some other way the rest of us here don't.
MP3s are better :)
IMO, that's the easiest way.
Generally yes. The problem is you need a way to "turn on" the new AUX input. I have done it by inseerting a closed circuit jack between the CD DAC output and the amplifier, and putting a CD in the player. Plugging in the MP3 player disconnects theCD and connects theplayer. You WILL have to change the volume settings pretty drastically in many cases.
Putting in the disc activates the input.
he jack can be remote mounted. On my PT Cruiser I had installed a Neon CD Changer underthe seat, and I put the t jack in line with the wire from the radio to the CD player. Turn on the CD, plug in the player, and perfect sound output from the MP3 player through the radio speakers. Total cost of the modification was under $10, the jack was in the storage compartment in the console.
Is there an external cd changer available for the 04 corolla? The cheapest and simplest fix is likely to replace the factory radio with a current aftermarket DIN mount stereo head. I did that in my Ranger. I paid $49 for the dual branded radio locally and $10 for the mounting kit/wiring adapter from Walmart on a trip south of the border to the USA. Less than half an hour to install (allow a little longer if you have not done this several times before)
I have sinse picked up several head units with AUX inputs at garage sales etc- never paying more than $10 - for a brand name unit some "tuner" pulled out of his ricer to put in something with "more street cred"
Depends on the vehicle, but most newer cars have at least one of the following:
- Auxilliary input jack
- Bluetooth
- USB port.
My 97 Honda did not have the aux jack so I used a cassette adapter or an FM modulator. (Tried both). It was OK but eventually I just bought another radio with the jack. Same with 2002 Ford truck. There was a hack around for the Honda using the DIN plug for the CD changer but I did not try it.
This is not a newer car. 96 Plymouth Voyager, with factory radio. This was their better option back then, some came with only an AM FM radio, and I believe they could still get a cassette tape model too, so thi CD model was top of the line back then. I dont think bluetooth even existed at that time. It would be nice if it had come with an AUX jack though.
The CD player is nice compared to cassette, or just plain radio, but changing CDs while driving is a pain, and keeping them in the car gets messy. MP3 solves all of that. Rather than a CD with 10 or 20 songs, a MP3 player can have hundreds of songs, and in a much smaller package. Also, the car CD player is real touchy. It will ERROR out or "skip" on a CD that has one tiny scratch or dirt. That same CD plays fine in my home CD player or the one on my computers.
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