Audio withour a head unit

[guruatbol]

OK, some of you may have seen the almost hijack in the Friday work assignment about using an Ipod touch as the primary source of music in your classic. Thus allowing you to use a radio delete plate or in my case put a blue light in the stock non-working AM radio for a cool look at night and a nice stock look during the day.

We can make a mount or find some sort of a mount for the Ipod on the dash or console, maybe velcro, and then there would be no need for a changer in the trunk or anywhere else.

My thoughts were a small amp placed under the passenger's seat and a cable attaching to an ipod touch and mounted to a bracket next to the hand brake I want to mount on the tunnel for the ebrake.

Some drawbacks, no news, no volume control with the touch or iphone, device just laying down on the floor or rattling around in the glove box.

So maybe we can discuss this and find fixes. Together we could design something cool.

Mel

 

[AtlantaSteve]

OK, some of you may have seen the almost hijack...

WHAT! We never derail threads on SF!

As for the volume control, one point. if you source your audio from the headphone jack instead of the ipod-doc connector, you regain your volume control. But I want to have just one thing to plug up, and I want that thing to charge my iPhone's battery.

For the mount, my plan is to put on a delete plate (probably homemade, just some cut up scrap with some bolts holding it on), and then get some mount and screw it down to that plate.

Modifying something like this:
http://www.amazon.com/DLO-VentMount-iPhone-1G-3G/dp/B0016KFRPG/ref=sr_1_34?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1260569693&sr=8-34

I'll have to put the iPhone in, then plug the doc connector.

Also, a volume knob on the plate will adjust the volume (Finding a decent looking knob will be tough...all the generic after-market knobs I've found look like butt). Amp in the trunk or MAYBE under the dash, behind my console (yet to be built) And speakers are still up in the air.

Just, FYI, I have heard little good about the kick-panel speakers. It may be possible to make them sound better by insulating behind them, but Ron (Beach Pony) has a set and he wasn't very kind about them.

I also think Rick has a set, and I haven't seen him say bad about them. Rick, thoughts?

Steve

 

[guruatbol]

When the custom autosound crap stereo in the 67 was working correctly, I got many compliments on the kick panel speaker sound. I like them too. the trick is the speakers must me quality. I also insulated behind them. Between them and the fasgates in the rear that stereo rocks! The head unit is trash, but it looks nice.

For the 65, I have nothing and am starting from scratch.

In the bus, I have had a guide that put the video and audio on his Ipod and hooked it through the headphone jack to a set of RCA jacks. It was hooked into the line in of our system on the bus. It sounded great and I would just turn it on and give him a high volume setting. He adjusted the volume and what was playing from his seat. Was way cool. He never had to switch CDs or ask me to put in a cd in the dash. He did everything on the Ipod.

So, I was thinking you could control the volume that way. The only reason to use the lug on the bottom would be to charge it.

So no need for a separate volume control.

If you want volume control on the amp, is there a head unit like the Sony that puts out large wattage and has a remote control? You could mount the unit in the trunk like an amp and use the remote only.

Is there an amp with variable watt control and a remote?

I bet there is some think tank at a mfg somewhere trying to figure out just what we are doing.

Mel

 

[monkeystash]

Maybe Midlife can make a harness, and isn't :bike 's little bro Aaron work in the car radio business? Just a thought...although not completely serious...go figure.

 

[AtlantaSteve]

To me the charging portion is important. PLUS there's a pin on the ipod connector (the one at the bottom) that is for the microphone for use during phone calls. I plan to mount a mini-mic up near the sun visor, so my car will be wired with speaker-phone when someone calls.

I plan to do the exact same setup on my wife's Cabriolet, and her car runs and has a wiring harness in it right now so I can do a test case with it, and see if we can figure this out. I think that all of us have different "desires" on this deal, so we can each engineer our own solutions to various problems.

One of the problems you mentioned is no local news. Personally, I NEVER EVER NOT EVER listen to terrestrial radio anymore, BUT, there are apps that will stream local radio stations. They even use your location to tell you the local stations. Touch the station, bam you're streaming. This would only work for iPhone, because you don't get internet service "on the go" with the touch.

FTR, there are TONS of Head Units out there that have wonderful ipod integration, and I think the number of people ready to go head-unit-free is not huge. If a head unit based solution works better for any particular user, I recommend that over what we're attempting.

Steve

 

[guruatbol]

I went to CNET and did some research on different units. SWMBO was talking about the droid. We have Verizon and the Iphone is out for us. The Droid looks cool.

After going to Cnet, I was able to look at many units, Zune, Droid, Ipod Touch, and a few others. some can even have storage up to 500GB. So that being said, it really depends what you want. Video? Audio? Phone? Internet? What? I do feel based on what I can find, that the Ipod touch or Iphone are the two that do everything acceptably. They are week in areas and the others attack those areas and where they are strong the others do well too. The Droid looks to be just as good if not better than the Iphone, so Verizon users can get something pretty much the same as the Iphone.

Now, for my uses, I need the Video as well as audio. So, after I get a chance to go to a store and touch them and demo them and ask lots of questions and see it do what I want to do, I will reserve my decision.

Now the hard part, making it interface with the car audio. For music play back, the batteries of the Ipod touch will last 7 hours. So do you need to charge it? The mic option is important and only useful if you have a Droid or Iphone. The touch will not work with your phone. So a headset will be needed or one of the many hands free speaker phone devices sold. since my car is too loud for that, no phone while in the 65.

My problem thus far is the amp. I would like to find an amp that is small enough to be placed under the passenger seat and then the device can ride on the hump. I can make a nice mount that will work for many devices.

So here we are with some more research for all you guys that want to go headless in your cars. I know that sounds funny, remember self control guys?

Mel

 

[boss351]

I saw someone mention the droid... have you looked into a blackberry storm? This is what I have and I love it. I am also thinking of doing this mod, because I already have my radio deleted. I have an oil pressure and fuel level gauge where my radio used to be. I can stream radio on my berry if need be. The zune I believe has a built in radio tuner which would be cool also.

 

[guruatbol]

OK, for my 65, I found an amp that I can use an RCA Line In. I can plug an iPod in from the headphones jack. This looks thin enough to mount under the passenger seat. I can route the cable under the inside edge of the passenger seat and put a regular iPod om the hump using a small mount to the front seat bolt on the passenger side.

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_17801_Eclipse+XA1200.html
It will not charge the iPod, but I can run a charger cable from the power lead going to the amp to the same location. Then I have volume control and charging and great sound with a minimum of mess and parts.

What do you audio and electronics experts have to say?

Mel

 

[gotstang]

Youse guys are making this too darn complicated. There are a couple good ways to skin this cat...I don't know exactly what you guys want to do, so I'll throw out some suggestions, and they might even be relevant. :sur

You can do all of this stuff with a modern radio...they control iPods, and they have bluetooth, so you can use your stereo as handsfree attachment for your phone, or stream music from your phone. Plus they have a USB port, so you can skip the ipod and just store your music on a jump drive or portable hard drive. 99% of those radios also come with a remote.

Before I go on and tear most speaker companies a new one, I'll go ahead and admit that I'm a stereo freak and picky one at that. I also think that a lot of the crap you can buy today is, well...crap.

Most amps won't be small enough to fit under the front seats or in the console...the only one I could think of would be a real low-power class D unit, and most of those are probably too big.

As far as amps go, all of them have RCA inputs, that's how the signal gets from the radio to the amp, so you could use any amp with an RCA to 1/8" stereo cable in the headphone jack of your ipod, if you wanted to go radio-less.

A lot of newer amps do have the remote mount volume control knob that Mel was talking about, but some of them don't really have a volume control knob, some are really the "bass boost" control knob, and bass boost is evil! It blows up speakers thanks to distortion you can't hear. :scar

Nothing wrong with kickpanel speakers, they are usually the best place to put speakers (depending on the design of the car). It's just that some of the ones from the Mustang shops are made out of plastic so thin it's almost see through and $5 speakers that they charge $50 for. Plus, it would def. not hurt to put a layer of good sound deadner behind them. Stick shift cars and people with big feet are a whole 'nother discussion when it comes to this though.

Hope this helps guys.
-Kyle