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Apologies for this because I'm sure it will have been covered before but I used the search and couldn't find anything. It should probably be in technical too?
Basically, a friend of mine has an old car, doesn't want to fit a HU, would just like to be able to listen to his Ipod. I know nothing about Ipods, I don't have an mp3 player of any brand but I'm sure this is possible with some kind of pre-amp?
The system would be very simple, 6" in front and a 10" sub all running from a single amplifier.
So what is the best way of going about this?
Cheers
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Yes, simple, just use an amp that has a 3.5 mm socket, with a lead for the ipod to plug into. I've done the same in my triumph, amp out of sight, under the dash, lead fed into the back of the glove box. If hes interested, i've got a lightweight amp fit for purpose. Brand new in box, Vibe lite air 4, never gonna get fitted now as my other car is too noisy.
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Tepper
Part of things
Posts: 381
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You don't even need one with a 3.5mm socket, pretty much any car amp should work because they almost all have RCA inputs and you just use a cable that takes 3.5mm from the ipod and goes into the RCA inputs on the amp. Just make sure the amp has enough controls/channels for your speaker setup, you're probably looking at a 4 channel for what you're doing.
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1989 Peugeot 205 GTi - stolen! 1983 Mazda RX7 1968 Rover P6 - also stolen.
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Ipod straight to amp?fr€$h&m1nt¥
@freshandminty
Club Retro Rides Member 99
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Also check that the amp accepts a low voltage input - 1.5v IIRC. The amp gain control is used to match the voltage of the input but some have a minimum limit.
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stealthstylz
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,926
Club RR Member Number: 174
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Ipod straight to amp?stealthstylz
@stealthstylz
Club Retro Rides Member 174
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3.5mm to RCA lead is the easiest way, it'll never sound amazing because the input voltage is too low, but it's better than nowt. Also make sure he sets the gains correctly as most people tend to overdo it to make it loud and it'll kill subs and amps in no time
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Mark
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,097
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The Class T's are definitely an interesting choice, not hugely powerful but run off 12v and sound fantastic. Get some efficient speakers and you should be fine - you won't be running a sub though.
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I was thinking just as a preamp.....so to boost the Ipod line level before the amp.
ie Ipod>3.5mm-RCA>TAPreamp>2CH amp.
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rld14
Part of things
Posts: 351
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I use a pretty similar setup in my '54 Ford. I have a $25 off of amazon (Bossi think the name is) amp that I use either my iPod or a portable satellite radio with.
That and some cheap speakers and I have somewhat acceptable stereo in the car.
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88 BMW E28 M5
62 Vauxhall Velox
60 Vauxhall Velox
60 Lincoln Premiere Coupe
60 Lincoln Continental Mark V Convertible
54 Ford Customline Fordor
32 Ford Roadster
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rob0r
East of England
Posts: 2,743
Club RR Member Number: 104
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Ipod straight to amp?rob0r
@rob0r
Club Retro Rides Member 104
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I've not been disappointed when I've done this in the past but I'm no audiophile.
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E30 320i 3.5 - E23 730 - E3 3.0si - E21 316 M42 - E32 750i ETC
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No need for a preamp, just pump it straight into the amp via any old 3.5mm- phono cables and you'll be fine. If you want to run fronts and a sub you'll need some RCA splitters and an amp with a low pass filter, but most have it.
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Found this on the web that may help and I quote
Yes! It is possible to hook your iPod directly through an amplifier in your car. I have a 1967 Chevy Malibu (pic 1) (gotta give credit to my wife, who bought it for me as a wedding gift!) that desperately needed tunes. It had a funky old tape deck and some burned out speakers in the back, certainly not worthy of such a sweet ride. When I restored the dash (pic 2), I put an original AM radio in, looks great, sounds not so great. I was originally going to mount a head unit under the dash, but the car has factory AC, and there’s not much room under there. That was when I decided to try and wire my iPod directly through an amp. It would look clean and (mostly) original, and I could have my entire music library to choose from while cruising. After many days or searching the posts on IPodlounge and Apple, I really couldn’t find much concrete information about this type of install. From the bits I did get, it sounded feasible (and no apparent risk to my iPod), so I set out to make it so.
Here is a list of the items I used: MTX RT202 2 channel amp with gain control ($90 on sale at Circuit City) Polk Audio DB690 3-way 6x9 speakers ($120 on sale at Circuit City) Amplifier wiring kit ($20 eBay) Mini-jack to RCA cable ($5 Target) RCA male to male adapter ($5 Radio Shack) Cell phone holder ($20 Radio Shack) Micro-mini toggle switch ($3 Radio Shack) Small piece of plywood, painted black (Free) Four plastic feet ($3 lumber yard) Assorted screws, connector tabs, wire and electrical tape
First I replaced the old speakers in the package tray area under the rear window. Since someone had previously cut the holes for the speakers, I decided to use the same spaces. After much trimming, swearing and scraped knuckles, I got the new speakers and package tray in place (pic 3,4).
Next I mounted the amplifier to the painted piece of plywood. Then I mounted the amp/plywood assembly to a raised area on the trunk floor under the package tray (pic 5), using the plastic feet between the wood and the floor. My thinking with the plywood platform was to keep the amp off the floor, and also if I ever needed to replace the amp, I wouldn’t need to drill more holes in the trunk.
With the major installations out of the way, I preceded to wire everything up. The amp came with wiring instructions that were helpful, so don’t throw ‘em away! ***For those not electrically inclined - DISCONNECT THE POSITIVE TERMINAL OF YOUR BATTERY BEFORE WIRING ANYTHING***. The amp power line went under the carpet (pic 6) (I was replacing the carpet at the same time) on the drivers side, out through a hole in the firewall (pic 7), to be connected to the positive terminal of the battery (pic 8). The RCA cable went under the passenger side of the carpet (so as not to pick up any interference from the power line on the other side) and up under the dash. This plugs into the audio inputs in the amp. At the other end, I used the male-to-male RCA connectoer to join it to the mini-jack-to-RCA cable that plugs into the iPod's headphone jack. I ran the amp’s ground wire to a spot on the trunk floor right next to it (pic 9)(remember to scrape away any paint on your ground connection with the floor/chassis to ensure a good metal to metal connection). Next I ran the turn-on wire from the amp to an “accessory†tab on the fuse box (pic 10). This wire sends a signal to the amp to turn it on when the car is on or the key is turned to “accessory†in the ignition, it also turns the amp off when the car is off. This is so the amp isn’t always on, which would obviously drain your battery. I put a small toggle switch in the line so I could turn the amp off manually when the car was on if I wanted to (pic 11). I mounted this in an already existing hole on the underside of the dash (pic 12). Last but not least I mounted the Radio Shack cell phone holder to the underside of the dash using a bolt and an existing hole in the dash (seeing a pattern here?) (pic 13, 14). This is not an ideal location because of the AC controls, but with a right-angle adapter, the cable is out of the way when plugged into the iPod.
Now all I had to do was plug in my iPod, turn on the car, and play some tunes (pic 15)! First I turned down the gain on the amp (sort of a volume), and turned the iPod down (didn’t want to blow the speakers). With some music (Bob Marley if I recall correctly) playing, I set the iPod volume to about 3/4 max, then slowly adjusted the gain up until the music was loud without distortion. I sounded great! Because I am using the headphone jack, the iPod volume controls my listening volume. Now, some purists will tell you that the line-out sounds better, but my ears can’t hear the difference. Plus with all the noise in a 37 year old car with a V8, you can’t hear every nuance in songs like Pink Floyd's “Time†anyway.
This install was reasonably simple and inexpensive. It sounds fantastic, and it leaves my classic car looking mostly stock. This was the perfect set up for my needs, and I think it’s the best one I’ve seen for a classic car or for someone wanting to use their iPod without a head unit. It’s also a great theft deterrent, you just take your iPod with you when you get where you’re going, leaving nothing showing for someone to steal. I may not be the most experience with electrical wiring, but with some help from a few friends, a couple of calls to the local car audio shop, and some browsing on the web, it went smooth as silk (almost!). Enjoy!
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Kev
Part of things
Posts: 221
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Surely you would only get sound from two speakers this way? (Unless a 3.5mm headphone splitter is used?) Still, saves a lot of wires and clutter.
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RobinJI
Posted a lot
"Driven by the irony that only being shackled to the road could ever I be free"
Posts: 2,995
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Surely you would only get sound from two speakers this way? (Unless a 3.5mm headphone splitter is used?) Still, saves a lot of wires and clutter. It'd depend how many outputs the amp has.
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Kev
Part of things
Posts: 221
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My amp is 4 channel and requires a pair of RCA leads per pair of speakers. I suppose you could run 4 speakers off of two channels though. They would all be the same volume and have the same settings.
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An ipod dock has a line out, pump that into your amp.
Using the normal output you'll be amplyfing an amplified signal.
You can mount the dock somewhere discreet and just drop the phone/pod onto it and have it charge too.
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Koos
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Thanks all - I know nothing about Ipods.....have you a link to a suitable dock MDH? Thanks
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