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Gear / Technical Help => Ask The Tapers => Topic started by: Karl on April 23, 2004, 05:50:22 PM
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I have a JB3, and would like to listen to it in my car. I have no tape deck, so that's not an option. I do have a CD player-AM/FM tuner. Is there a solution? What about something that plugs in to the headphone jack that outputs an FM signal? And I don't want to do headphones, either. Thx.
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Your only option is an FM-transmitter. It broadcasts over a station that is not being used. You can buy these at BestBuy or Circuit City or some other big electonics store. Other than that, I know of no other device.
My work tuck has a 1/8" input, so I use a m > M cable from the JB3 to radio. It does skip a good bit and I have to stop taking to wth me.
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Is there a solution? What about something that plugs in to the headphone jack that outputs an FM signal?
Yup, that'll work.
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Been thinking about picking one of those FM x-mitters for after show listening.
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I have a 1/8" input, and I have a cable with that on both ends... and I did do that for after show listening, but the quality of my stereo in my car is sooo crappy, that it drastically exaggerated the bad aspects of the recording.
It was enough to make me not do so anymore.
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I've never had very much luck with those FM transmitters...but that was a while ago and maybe they've improved since?
Here is what I did for car playback. Bought a new deck because I needed a new one badly. But I made sure to get one that has an auxillery audio input(not very many have this). It was actually one over at Car Toys that was onsale for 50 bucks off a couple months ago. It had 2 RCA inputs so I mounted a 1/8th inch jack just below it so I can plug into it directly from JB3/minidisc/CD. There are some out that that have the jack directly on the front which works out even better. I have no idea why more car decks don't have this feature....it doesn't make sense with all the IPods and such out there.
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I've never had very much luck with those FM transmitters...but that was a while ago and maybe they've improved since?
Here is what I did for car playback. Bought a new deck because I needed a new one badly. But I made sure to get one that has an auxillery audio input(not very many have this). It was actually one over at Car Toys that was onsale for 50 bucks off a couple months ago. It had 2 RCA inputs so I mounted a 1/8th inch jack just below it so I can plug into it directly from JB3/minidisc/CD. There are some out that that have the jack directly on the front which works out even better. I have no idea why more car decks don't have this feature....it doesn't make sense with all the IPods and such out there.
WHat would be really sick is if they had digital inputs, and our portable had digital outputs... since I turned over to digital on my home system, I can really hear significant deterioration when I have to go analog...
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The Aiwa line has a mini jack on the front panel. I have the low end Aiwa, and it doesn't sound to bad... sounds MUCH better using the input jack than putting a cd in especially with a 48k file.
Matt
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I have a Panasonic I got off ebay for $109 that has the 1/8 aux input on the front panel. very handy, perfect for at least taking a listen on the way home from a show.
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WHat would be really sick is if they had digital inputs, and our portable had digital outputs... since I turned over to digital on my home system, I can really hear significant deterioration when I have to go analog...
Agreed....that would be awesome. Hopefully sometime in the not too far off future :)
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The Aiwa line has a mini jack on the front panel. I have the low end Aiwa, and it doesn't sound to bad... sounds MUCH better using the input jack than putting a cd in especially with a 48k file.
Interesting... seems like converting a digital source to analog then back to digital would sound worse than something that remained digital the whole time... interesting!
I think it always sounds better on the cd than through the input on my car stereo... maybe a placebo effect or something...?
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Ok, just went to Best Buy to check the FM transmitter thing--they had two choices, one for $20 and the other for $70. I bought the $20 one--what a piece of crap. And $70 seems pricey for one, even if it works.
???
Any better solutions?
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dood, while you're taking back the $20 piece of crap, go check out the car audio section. last year i got a jvc indash cd player with cd changer controls, two sets of amp outs, fold down face, and aux in on the front for around $150 including installation (note: i had to fix the install to my liking when i got it home - but the guys at bb did a decent job, but not awesome). This thing can do everything, i can even change the amount of volume my subs put out.
i think its well worth it in the long run. plus it reads cd text, so when i back up my cds and keep them in my car it says the cd title, band title, and song title when the cd is playing. very nice.
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thanks ed, but I am extremely happy with my Alpine deck--it does all you say your does plus an extra amp out, crossover controls from the deck interface. BUT, I also paid quite a bit more for it, and no aux in :(
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The Aiwa line has a mini jack on the front panel. I have the low end Aiwa, and it doesn't sound to bad... sounds MUCH better using the input jack than putting a cd in especially with a 48k file.
Interesting... seems like converting a digital source to analog then back to digital would sound worse than something that remained digital the whole time... interesting!
I think it always sounds better on the cd than through the input on my car stereo... maybe a placebo effect or something...?
my aiwa deck has a low end cd section... it is converting to analog as well... you can't hear digital. The mini jack bypasses all of that and goes straight to the pre on the deck. I hear a huge difference on the imaging... The da/ad on the jb3 isn't all that bad... much better than a $110 car deck for sure.
Matt
Matt
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i wouldn't even consider buying an aftermarket deck, living in the city. Detachable face or not, that screams "steal me". theives know where there's an aftermarket deck there's usually aftermarket amps and speakers.
i'm probably gonna look into an FM modulator, one that doesn't transmit, but you plug the antenna lead into it, plug it into the antenna jack on the radio, and plug your portable into the RCA inputs. sound in these is typically better than the transmitters, you just have to make sure you ground it to the radio or you get engine noise. most people will find the fidelity in your FM tuner is pretty decent, not higher than the preamp section but much higher than the tape heads.
one other option for me is a kit to plug into the cd changer input for my honda head unit - you can get them on installer.com but they are like $100 - a bit high to still have stock sound...
what i'd really like to do is get a fatty head unit, mount it recessed 1", slice the faceplate off my honda radio and glue half a cd onto it. we used to do this when i was an installer (back then we used tapes, mostly)
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If you have a factory head unit with unused cd changer controls, you can get a cable that runs the audio into the changer audio input. One manufacturer is blitzsafe http://www.blitzsafe.com/blitz_catalog/blitz_catalog.html It gives you RCA inputs for your player.
They even have a method if your cd changer is present although it is more complicated and may not sound quite as good.
Edit: Doh jinx
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another manufacturer of the rca input through the changer is
www.pie.net
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thanks ed, but I am extremely happy with my Alpine deck--it does all you say your does plus an extra amp out, crossover controls from the deck interface. BUT, I also paid quite a bit more for it, and no aux in :(
haha, good call, i'd stick with the alpine.
cooker: if you have full coverage/comp on your car, why worry about having it broken into? a cheap aftermarket stereo could easily become a foldout dvd player in the paperwork. heh, seriously tho, i live in lansing which isn't all that bad, but i've drove and parked my car in some of the crappiest places in detroit and i've never had a problem. i don't even have an alarm. i should probably knock on wood now, next time i go to a concert, all my shit is gonna get stolen.
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$150 deductible for comprehensive - not to mention the fun that picking glass out of your seat for weeks brings
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bought the P.I.E. CD changer / aux input adapter for my honda radio today. i plan on mounting a female 1/8" in the back of the dash pocket under my radio. i'll post the results when i finish!
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i use the radio transmitter in my HD recorder. just gotta find the right station
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I cheated and got an MD recorder in my dash. :) Even when I upgraded to DAT, I continued to patch my MD into my system so that I had a copy to listen to on the way home. The recorder works great for taping radio broadcasts as well, the radio tuner gets excellent reception, and the recorder is built right into receiver, so there is no loss in any connection. The only recording loss is in the ATRAC format itself, which for an FM transmission, is not even noticable to my ears.
I would like to install an RCA patchbay between my CD changer and my head unit though, it would be nice to be able to plug in my DAT or my MDLP player.
Everything from the MD recorder to the CD changer are Sony XPlod, so I think there is a box to patch in a TV tuner, but I haven't seen one for sale anywhere in a long time, and I think the box itself is like $100. So I'm still just better off patching my MD for the instant car copy.
Nothing like rolling down the windows after the show and blasting the nights tape. :)
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Jeremy,
How in the H*ll did you get a MD recorder into your dash? I really would love to see a pic or two of that, because that is something I could do.
+T for patching your MD from your DAT. That is a very ingeniuos (sp?) idea.
...and you're right. I'm sure that is a wonderful feeling to listen to the show's tape minutes after it has happened!
BUT, I have another suggestion for all of you.
Instead of all of these FM transmitters and everything, why don't you just buy a cassette adaptor that plugs into your tape player in your car. Sure, it won't sound amazing, but then again, the whiz bang FM transmitters are unecessary and WHAY overpriced.
...or am I the only one here that still has a tape player in my car???
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they used to sell MD car decks
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This (http://www.minidisc.org/part_Sony_MDX-C800REC.html) is the head unit that I'm using. I was able to purchase the very last unit from Crutchfield a few years back, and it has not been available anywhere that I've seen since. These suckers are pretty hard to find, but I love this thing so much!
It is still possible to buy MD decks for your car with the option to install CD changers to connect to it to, but not since the C800REC model has recording been available, only playback. I would ditch this model only if a new head unit with MDLP and recording were available. Otherwise, I just keep all of my MP3 needs in the stereo setting when I transfer them to MD.
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bought the P.I.E. CD changer / aux input adapter for my honda radio today. i plan on mounting a female 1/8" in the back of the dash pocket under my radio. i'll post the results when i finish!
I think this is similar to what I'd like to do. Is this the model # ALP/AI-RCA? What retail store did you get it from?
I see Crutchfield has it for $15
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I got the HON-AUX, which was $45 from the first retailer linked to on the pie.net site.