December 18, 2004

6:39 AM

My girlfriend recently got a new car (Hyundai Elantra) and I would like to get her something so she listen to her Ipod through her speaker system. Tried the iTrip, but the range is to small for the car (antenna in the rear), and the sound quality leaves something to be desired. What are some other more moderately priced solutions to this problem?
posted by mhaw to (18 comments total)

Wouldn’t object to a new head unit, but all of the ones claiming to be iPod ready seem rather pricey. My 1994 Jetta GL, has a a head unit with an AUX-in port, anything like this still available? What about special wiring through the glove box adding an AUX-in? Looking to spend between $100-150.
posted by mhaw at 6:39 AM on December 18, 2004

Hubby installed a new deck in my car that has an aux-in in front. I think the unit cost around $100 at Best Buy. I'm not sure how much the installation would cost. The specific model I have is no longer available, but I know they still have at least one model with a front aux-in available there.
posted by ferociouskitty at 7:16 AM on December 18, 2004

Not to thread jack, but how difficult/expensive is it to install an aux-in jack to an existing car stereo, perhaps through the glove box?
posted by LarryC at 7:39 AM on December 18, 2004

Crutchfield has the best "What head unit can I install in my car" system on the net. (Unfortunately, they've also got an annoying token system to store the results of your session which makes it difficult to link directly to the tool -- it's in the left column half-way down the page, with a link that says "What fits my car?")

Anyway, Crutchfield will also sell you (or include, most of the time) the mounting kit, faceplate that makes it look factory-ish, and installation instructions. The cheap Aiwa CDC-X504MP looks like it both fits the Elantra and has a front Aux-in, for example, but there are many more. Best Buy stocks it too.

But that's just what looks like the cheapest one. There are *lots* of head units that fit almost any import at any car stereo dealer, and lots out there with Aux inputs. It doesn't have to claim to be specifically iPod-ready as long as you don't mind a cord from the iPod sitting on your seat to the input jack.

I will say this, though -- if your Elantra has a cassette deck as well as a CD player, just use a $10 cassette adapter. I've used one in a factory Elantra deck with an iPod, and it works fine. An aux-in jack really isn't any more elegant in day-to-day use, and the sound quality isn't that much better unless you're an audiophile.

LarryC, it depends on your existing head unit. The "difficulty level" varies for each, since they all use different wiring harnesses and have different accessories on the rear of the unit. Some are enormously easy, some are advanced projects.
posted by eschatfische at 7:46 AM on December 18, 2004

Yeah...I bought a head unit through Crutchfield for about $100 that had an aux. port in the back. I threaded a wire from the back of the head unit into the glove compartment. All told, the process took about a half hour--it was quick and painless.

Pros:
The ipod is connected to the car via a cable--the sound is good.
The ipod is in the glove compartment so nobody knows you have one.

Cons:
The ipod is in the glove compartment--so its a paint to change albums/tracks/playlists, etc.
posted by jabberwock at 8:01 AM on December 18, 2004

Until you decide to get a new head unit or something fancy like that, I'll just throw in my $0.02: I have tried a number of the radio transmitter thingys like iTrip and found that they all suck. Just a regular, old school cassette adaptor works the best, and is the cheapest too.
posted by spilon at 8:06 AM on December 18, 2004

The ipod is in the glove compartment--so its a paint to change albums/tracks/playlists, etc.

you could see if something like this would be compatible with your interior. I found a TuneDok by Belkin on ebay for only $12, but you can probably to do better with a little shoppin' around. ya heard?
posted by mcsweetie at 8:58 AM on December 18, 2004

Yeah, an iPod dock for the cupholder should fit fine.

I had an MP3 CD player with aux in installed shortly after I bought my '03 Elantra, and i had them cut a small hole in the pocket below the stereo and run the wires out there. The cord stores neatly in the pocket when it's not deployed for iPodding.
posted by kindall at 9:53 AM on December 18, 2004

The NEO iOn SP is an aftermarket solution to control your iPod through your head unit. The cost is $159, but that may vary depending on your make and model. From what I understand, it's very similar to the offerings by BMW, without the cost associated with having it professionally installed.

If I understand the description and the advertisement produced by BMW correctly, it does not display song data on your head unit. You can only charge the unit and use your head unit to play, FF, RW, Next and Previous.
posted by sequential at 10:44 AM on December 18, 2004

A simple solution is to get an Aiwa head unit - the sound quality is decent, and I think almost all of them have aux input (even the cheap ones).
posted by sluggo at 11:04 AM on December 18, 2004

I've been through several of the various FM transmitters, with various unsatisfactory results.

The cheaper and much better solution turned out to be going to the local car stereo dealer, and having them install an FM Modulator (this fits inline on the radio's antenna line) as used in adding CD changers to car stereos without direct support. They installed this, and ran a cable with a jack for the iPod to the glovebox on my center console. I also took them a car power adapter for the iPod, and they took it apart and wired it into the car wiring, and placed the jack for it in the glovebox as well. Last, they added a little switch in the glovebox to turn the FM modulator on and off (when it's on, normal radio reception is fairly limited.)

The whole thing ran less than $150, it's completely invisible when the glovebox is closed (whether the iPod is in it or not), and the sound quality is far, far better than any of the FM transmitters I played with (and I played with nearly all of them.) -- I wish I had done this to begin with. The quality is not as good as it would be if I'd had a head end with a direct line in, but this is a very close (and inexpensive) second. The job took about two hours to do, and the car stereo dealer understood what I wanted and was happy to do it.

The only thing I am still considering is getting one of the PocketDock adapters that has a line out jack (if you're using a 3G or higher iPod, with the dock connector), so I could jack into line out rather than the headphone jack. Absent this, I have to fiddle with the volume on the iPod a little to get the sound quality and volume where I want it.
posted by nonliteral at 11:27 AM on December 18, 2004

I'd suggest giving the guys a Dr. Bott a call. They sell all sorts of iPod stuff and should be able to point you in the direction of the best solution.
posted by pwb503 at 12:27 PM on December 18, 2004

I'd not bother with a dock in the car. The iPod doesn't adjust the volume at all for the line out. No, not even for relative volume adjustment (i.e. iTunes Sound Check tags). The headphone jack is actually the better output in this regard, although it too has its share of bugs with regard to the volume stuff.
posted by kindall at 1:01 PM on December 18, 2004

See also: This thread.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 1:04 PM on December 18, 2004

If her car has a casette deck, you could get her a $5 casette-to-stereo-mini plug at Radio Shack...
posted by gen at 4:56 PM on December 18, 2004

The iPod doesn't adjust the volume at all for the line out. No, not even for relative volume adjustment (i.e. iTunes Sound Check tags).

Gen4 and older iPods do use soundcheck on the line out I believe.
posted by cmm at 5:04 AM on December 19, 2004

This, if I understand correctly, jacks into the antenna connector on your head unit and allows you to connect an mp3 player (or a laptop or anything else that uses a standard headset-sized line out) directly. I've never tried it, so I'm afraid I can't give it a thumbs up or a thumbs down. The vendor to which the link leads is selling it for forty five, but I think I've seen it for thirty or so on ebay.
posted by Clay201 at 6:28 AM on December 19, 2004

Gen4 and older iPods do use soundcheck on the line out I believe.

After reporting this as a bug to one of the iTunes engineers, I was told that this behavior was intentional and would not be changed. If they fixed it, more power to 'em.
posted by kindall at 5:39 PM on December 19, 2004