Rear Audio Control Buttons

[Kevin Lang]

I was cleaning my windows yesterday and was staring at my rear radio controls.



They're disconnected, ever since I upgraded to a 2005 model radio, for which they apparently weren't an option.



Anyone have any ideas for an alternate use for them?



Also, what were they originally supposed to do? Why do I want to have the people in the back seat screwing with my radio?



There are headphone jacks, so does that mean that the radio could tune 3 stations at once, so that the driver, and 2 passengers could each listen to something different?



That'd be cool, but rather pointless IMO as the driver gets the subwoofer, which is right behind the rear passenger, so his headphone'd station would have to compete with the seat-shaking bass.



The manual didn't seem very specific on this, and of course I can't test it out.

 

[Shaun Tucker]

I havent plugged in headphones, so I can't answer that. I don't imagine that the passengers can tune into two separate radio stations, as there is no control for that. I think that the headphones have a separate volume control than the main stereo. So if the kids in the back want to listen to Fred Penner, Dad can turn the stereo all the way down while the kids can plug in the headphones and manage their own volume controls.



But yes, more or less, those controls are there so that the people in the back seat can screw with the radio.



You can toggle these controls on and off thankfully, as I have had to do with a few of my drunken buddies, who kept switching the radio station and turning it up/down.



As for "alternate uses", why not rig it up so that it is a hot chocolate dispenser, something like in "The Santa Claus" with Tim Allen. I dunno, or you could ask Xhibit and the fellas at "Pimp My Ride" - they seem to have lots of clever ideas :throwup:



(no need to post any "Yo Dawg, I heard you like..." images here)

 

[Kevin Lang]

My ST isn't held together with ducttape and made of 2 halves of 2 cars welded together, so I don't think "Inhibit" could help me out...and I don't want the ST replaced by a Scion! :throwup: :throwup:



Don't know about the chocolate dispenser...I'd rather have the Undercover Brother orange soda dispenser.



Maybe I'll just cut out the controls and put a power inverter in there, or at least another cig lighter outlet.



Without a separate radio to control, this doesn't really make sense, because if the people in the back are listening to something on headphones, the driver gets nothing :boohoo:



I guess I'll just let 'em sit there for the time being, so that people in the back seat can embarrass themselves by trying to screw with the radio.



On a side note, how are you living with just a 6-disc, non-mp3, no-aux radio?

 

[David Ponder]

On my 01, When headphones are plugged in the speakers are shut off. Passengers in the back can listen without disturbing the driver and rear controls allow them to make changes without asking the driver. Kids used it a few times on long trips.

 

[Tom Schindler]

They could be turned off by the driver. You could have the "kids" listed to a CD while you listened to the radio, or what not.





Tom

 

[Kevin Lang]

Well the whole "one gets cd, one gets radio" thing makes more sense, but I never had reason to play with it.



My ST isn't a limo :grin:

 

[Shaun Tucker]

On a side note, how are you living with just a 6-disc, non-mp3, no-aux radio?

I'm not, I'm living with a ONE disc, non-mp3, no-aux radio. I found a decent Ipod adapter that charges and broadcasts so that is what I use.....still holding out for the double-din touch screen. It'll probably never happen at this rate though. :sad:

 

[Kevin Lang]

Ouch. Sadly I've never gotten a good FM transmitter. I had one, but gifted it to a friend...and all the others I've found are iPod-only, and/or overpriced with lame quality.



Some day I'll fork out the 40-60 bux for the Ford official RCA auxiliary input adapter.



Until then, I'll have to live in 2002 with my mp3 cds. Ironic that mp3 cds were the rage then, but my 2002 trac didn't have the option.



Honestly I'm a little afraid to upgrade the headunit to non-oem. Not so much because of crime but because once I start upgrading the head unit, I'll want to do the speakers, and the sub...and when my brain gets on that track, the wallet can't keep up. :sad:

 

[Shaun Tucker]

Honestly I'm a little afraid to upgrade the headunit to non-oem. Not so much because of crime but because once I start upgrading the head unit, I'll want to do the speakers, and the sub...and when my brain gets on that track, the wallet can't keep up.

I feel the same way.



<rant>

I've never found a good FM transmitter until NOW. My coworker gave it to me because it didn't fit in his car the way he wanted it to. I bought an expensive Belkin FM transmitter and the freaking thing was more of a nuisance than this $30 Canadian Tire one I have now.



The Belkin adapter had a terribly weak signal. Often I'd be driving along enjoying my own tunes and all of a sudden it would switch from whatever I was enjoying to whatever the person in the next car was listening to. Sometimes I like to listen to some softer music and that would often be punctuated with CLUB MIX or something straight from Afghanistan. Not to mention that if the volume went low in a song I was listening to, the FM transmitter assumed I had hit pause and turns its self off, resulting in the immediate and deafening HISSSSS of radio static from an empty station. :angry:

</rant>

 

[Kevin Lang]

Not to mention that if the volume went low in a song I was listening to, the FM transmitter assumed I had hit pause and turns its self off

I hate it when they do that, it makes no sense. If I wanted to save power, I'd just turn the thing off.



Sadly all of mine are portable, and do that & have weak signal, and only allow certain stations to be selected.



The one I gifted plugs into the cigarette lighter, doesn't cut out on low volume, and has aux input as well as USB & SD card input, and allows any station to be selected.

(Only flaw is that it didn't cut out the day my friend decided to go through the Billy Joel discography...the irony Billy Joel for driving music was lost on him...but not on me, for 5 hours of brutality)

 

[Shaun Tucker]

:bwahaha:

 

[Roger Batts]

The rear controls do give the back seat passengers control of the radio, but they can also be used to play the CD, radio, or, if your vehicle has it, the rear video system while you listen to either the radio or CD at the same time. Our Expedition has the same setup, and we can listen to the radio or CD while my son watches a DVD. If you press and hold the 3 & 6 buttons simultaneously, you can turn the rear seat controls on or off. When used with the headphones, the rear speakers are disabled, including the subwoofer.

 

[Kevin Lang]

When used with the headphones, the rear speakers are disabled, including the subwoofer.

Music without the subwoofer isn't music. Bass is a neglected part of songs, and once I realized that, I could not go back. The classic "Why don't you make like a bass guitar & be inaudible?" isn't true concerning my sound now.



Glad I have the option permanently disabled :grin: