iPOD

Bruce Branch · Jan 9, 2006

I am looking at new headunits. I would like to find one that works well with my iPOD (hardwired). I have been using cheap transmitter unit to determine which course I want to take. The transmitter works OK but the one I have ($20) only transmitts to 4 stations and the Atlanta area it's hard to override those stations sometimes. So, I can either spend $75 for the digital version or a couple hundred on a new headunit. I think I want to go with the new HU.

What do you have? How do you have you iPOD mounted? Any pictures? Other suggestions?

Thanks

Frank Marano · Jan 9, 2006

I dont have an ipod but I have a sirius S50 unit which is a IPOD per say. My aftermarket headunit has rca inputs so I bought a rca to headphone jack plug and it works excellent. Great sound quality.

j Schmidty · Jan 9, 2006

I know that AIWA (a sony company) has a real simple jack on the front of the HU.

Stephane Bolduc · Jan 9, 2006

An FM modulator (about 45$) will bypass the antenna with an on/off switch. I bought mine at CircuitCity. This will give you much better sound than wireless.

Like Fmarano says, a head unit with aux in is even better. I had it before, but I wanted to go back to my original head unit, so I now use an FM modulator.

If you decide to go for a new head unit, there are some new models coming out "iPod ready", which gives you an extra rca in the back with the right ending cable, allowing you to control the iPod from the head unit.

Do a seach on the forum, there's been 100's of topic regarding the iPod connections, and I recently read that a company came out with a set of cables for the original head unit allowing you to control the iPod (to some degree), but it depends which head unit you had. I think it only works with the 1 cd units that has remote cd charger capability. Something like that.:unsure:

Robert Stanton · Jan 9, 2006

Alpine makes a special iPod unit that connects to a bunch of their headunits, which allows you to control the iPod from your headunit like it was a changer.

Lynn V · Jan 10, 2006

If you have a head unit with a "SAT" button you can get a connector from Logjam Electronics which will allow you to use the SAT input on the back as an AUX input. I did this and it has worked really well for me. If you want a new HU Sony, Onkyo and Aiwa all make ones with AUX inputs on the front. There are also Alpine and Kenwood units which will allow you to control the iPod from the HU controls. Check at Crutchfield to see what is out there.