AIWA CDC-MP3 INDASH MP3 CD PLAYER
- Thread starter Cable God
- Start date
anyone know any way to plug a portable MP3 player into an existing car stereo without sacrificing too much sound quality?? don't think i want to go so far as to build in the player
virtuamike
Diamond Member
- Oct 13, 2000
- 7,845
- 13
- 81
Also can just run down to Best Buy B&M. I'm pretty sure I saw it there for $269.99 2 days ago, this was the one at Arden in Sacramento.
CouponCollect: The way to get your MP3 unit working with your system is to get a head unit that has an auxilary (can't spell, sorry) RCA input. Don't see this in low-end models, typically only on higher end. Then all you need is a shielded RCA to headphone jack cable and you're all set.
CouponCollect: The way to get your MP3 unit working with your system is to get a head unit that has an auxilary (can't spell, sorry) RCA input. Don't see this in low-end models, typically only on higher end. Then all you need is a shielded RCA to headphone jack cable and you're all set.
Just a quick note: Yes Crutchfield is expensive, but they do give you everything you need to install the head unit. The wire harness' and head unit sleeves would cost more than the install at your local stereo shop and cruthfield gives them to you free. You also get great dis-assembly and re-assembly instructions. Crutchfield also offers 3 month no interest on purchases over $100.00
If you can get the head unit installed for under $275.00 with all the parts included thats good, or if you don't have a good install shop near by the crutchfield kits are preety good deal with the 3 months no fianancing.
If you can get the head unit installed for under $275.00 with all the parts included thats good, or if you don't have a good install shop near by the crutchfield kits are preety good deal with the 3 months no fianancing.
Mr. Mike,
nice computer setup
I've been into car audio for several years now, and I personally have no interest in installing things myself. I want a professional shop to do it. I can't imagine too many major cities not having a decent car stereo install place, with the market like it is now for car audio. If you're in the sticks, I suppose maybe not. Generally if Crutchfield has something for $299 you can find it here for a lot cheaper. This site has great prices on TONS of car audio gear. It would be worth buying from their site, and having a shop install it for $40 professionally. Some of you may wish to do it on your own but definitely check out that site if you want to buy something car audio.
Don't expect to get much product info there, all they really do is sell the stuff, but the prices are rock bottom. Research on manufacturer's websites, make SURE of your model number, then go place it there. =)
divinemartyr
nice computer setup
I've been into car audio for several years now, and I personally have no interest in installing things myself. I want a professional shop to do it. I can't imagine too many major cities not having a decent car stereo install place, with the market like it is now for car audio. If you're in the sticks, I suppose maybe not. Generally if Crutchfield has something for $299 you can find it here for a lot cheaper. This site has great prices on TONS of car audio gear. It would be worth buying from their site, and having a shop install it for $40 professionally. Some of you may wish to do it on your own but definitely check out that site if you want to buy something car audio.
Don't expect to get much product info there, all they really do is sell the stuff, but the prices are rock bottom. Research on manufacturer's websites, make SURE of your model number, then go place it there. =)
divinemartyr
I brought one from Crutchfield and did the installation from the guide they give you. All you need to do is splice some wire together and they give you all the tools you need to take out your existing car radio. Took me 2 hours to get it done.
CouponCollect: If you wanna plug an Mp3 player into your car, don't go for the cassette tape adapters, they're all analog and lose MUCH quality. Check out something like the head unit I'm using in my truck (http://www.crutchfield.com/cgi-bin/...;c=3&g=300&I=133DF800&o=M&a=0). This head unit has an extra set of RCA's coming out of the rear. I've just gone to Radio Shack (or similar store) and bought an RCA to 1/4" adapter that plugs into the headphone out on my Rio. In addition to radio, cd, changer controls, there's an auxillary input selection on the head-that goes to teh RCAs. I added a 6' gold wired headphone extension cord and I can play music from my Rio (from my lap) w/o having to look for it all the time. Good luck!
I've got the cdc-mp3. It rocks. One thing it does have, that alot of other models have, is a stereo in jack, instead of RCA, in the front of the radio, so you don't have to have wires poking out some strange places if you want to use an external anything - even rio.
As far as my install i got mine from National Electronics for $260, shipped (in stock now), and just got an plug for my car's audio for $6 at wally world, and some heat shrink tubing for $1.50. The radio itself comes with the aiwa-end piece of the adapter, and the colors all lined up on my car (mitsubishi). All I did was twist the red to the red, hit it with a mini-torch and solder, put the tubing over it and wave the torch in that general direction and plug the plugs into the plugs. Took me 45 minutes, total.
Good luck.
===============
Dual Cely 366@604
256 micron cas2
asus v7700 deluxe
wd 7200 18
seagate 7200 28
maxtor 7200 30
pioneer 105s 16x
yamaha lightspeed 16x (bye bye, plextor)
hollywood plus
As far as my install i got mine from National Electronics for $260, shipped (in stock now), and just got an plug for my car's audio for $6 at wally world, and some heat shrink tubing for $1.50. The radio itself comes with the aiwa-end piece of the adapter, and the colors all lined up on my car (mitsubishi). All I did was twist the red to the red, hit it with a mini-torch and solder, put the tubing over it and wave the torch in that general direction and plug the plugs into the plugs. Took me 45 minutes, total.
Good luck.
===============
Dual Cely 366@604
256 micron cas2
asus v7700 deluxe
wd 7200 18
seagate 7200 28
maxtor 7200 30
pioneer 105s 16x
yamaha lightspeed 16x (bye bye, plextor)
hollywood plus
250 is a hell of a deal for that mp3. I shopped around quite a bit and finally got it off of egay for 270 shipped! This is a real nice player. It does everything I need it to do. Does anyone know where you can get some cheap name brand 6.5's?? besides carmedia1. thanks!!!
I think tripod is cool... they give you 50 megs for the web site as well as FTP access so if you have a lot of pics, you don't need to upload each individually.. just use an ftp client and send all the files at once.
If your getting an car MP3 Player - go with the ultimate - a hard drive based system. Then you get access to your entire cd collection with the touch of a button. We sell the MP3 Rack for $289.99 at MP3 Solutions
Also I recommend getting the aux input if at all possible, crutchfield should have a connector for you (although they can be expensive sometimes). We do sell FM modulators on our site which input directly into the antenna. They work OK, it's much better to have a direct connection though.
Also I recommend getting the aux input if at all possible, crutchfield should have a connector for you (although they can be expensive sometimes). We do sell FM modulators on our site which input directly into the antenna. They work OK, it's much better to have a direct connection though.
hmm.. I ordered my CDC-MP3 2 months ago from CF, was using 25 off + wired magazine promotion code, to get it down $269. Free ship. they delivered it with installation kit(cable,mount racks...) for any car you pick. I think they are the first one can promise you can install audio system to your own car by yourself (toll free tech. for all car installation).
Don't think other places provide free installation kit + professional installation support lines. I saw some other places was selling $239. but shipping everything + cable kit from walwart will be almost the same as CF's price
Don't think other places provide free installation kit + professional installation support lines. I saw some other places was selling $239. but shipping everything + cable kit from walwart will be almost the same as CF's price
I put a cdc-mp3 in today, got it from Crutchfield, everything that was needed was included except for a way to splice the harnesses. I wimped out and bought Butt connectors, since I didnt have soldering iron. Followed the directions, no sweat, took a couple of hours.
I called the tech line once about a week ago to ask a general question, about putting on the backstrap, I was on hold for less than 5 minutes, and talked to a guy that sounded like he knew how put a stereo in. I was impressed. He also turned out to be correct, there is just about no way to put a backstrap in a 91 ranger without dismantling more of the dash than I care to do, and it works fine without it.
About the only thing they could have done to make it easier would to have been to attach the wiring harness kit to the radio for me, and that would have only saved me 10 minutes tops.
I called the tech line once about a week ago to ask a general question, about putting on the backstrap, I was on hold for less than 5 minutes, and talked to a guy that sounded like he knew how put a stereo in. I was impressed. He also turned out to be correct, there is just about no way to put a backstrap in a 91 ranger without dismantling more of the dash than I care to do, and it works fine without it.
About the only thing they could have done to make it easier would to have been to attach the wiring harness kit to the radio for me, and that would have only saved me 10 minutes tops.
I love this player, a friend of mine bought it this summer . . . my main complaint is the way it handles directories. It just has a number, first directory alphabetically gets a 1, etc. They could display file names just fine, the thing reads ID3 tags and displays 'em . . . maybe I'm just picky. Other than that, this is a nice piece of equipment.
My friend got one of these, the first batch to hit Crutchfield. I was jealous so I got mine in the second batch. Anyway, I installed it in my car along with Infinity Kappas and an amp, of course. I encode all of my mp3s at 192 and download atleast 192, if possible. This keeps the quality. I've tested with 128 vs. 160 v. 192 and there's a slight loss of quality with 128's. Doubt you'll notice with stock speakers. The deck works with CDRs and CDRWs. Options/Features I like are contrast control (lots of lights and colors on this deck) and detachable faceplate (the Kenwood MP3 deck doesn't do that).
It skips about once/hour ride for me. Takes a bit to load all the songs and to go to the next song. Overall, I wouldn't give it up for anything else as it is easy to burn a CDR(W) before you leave and have customized music for your trip.
It skips about once/hour ride for me. Takes a bit to load all the songs and to go to the next song. Overall, I wouldn't give it up for anything else as it is easy to burn a CDR(W) before you leave and have customized music for your trip.
heh, I got my sister to order this a few weeks ago using the Microsoft Passport 20% and the $25. Gave myself the referall too.
$299
-60 aprox for Passport
-25 for her
-25 for me
$190 net plus shipping
It works well, now we have to upgrade the crappy speakers in the system.
$299
-60 aprox for Passport
-25 for her
-25 for me
$190 net plus shipping
It works well, now we have to upgrade the crappy speakers in the system.
Alright. I have to say this, even if people hate me for it. The hard drive systems suck.
There are a few slight things I've noticed about the cdc mp3 that i don't like, since i've had mine for a while:
1) Getting it through the mail is fine. I've seen threee of them mailed from national, and all three worked fine when they got here.
2) The anti-skip buffer isn't big enough for me. live in new orleans where the roads really really suck.
3) The random feature only does ranodom within the album you're in. Once you get to the last song of that album, it'll go to the next (unless you have the album set on repeat), so you either get the last track of every album every time you listen to it in random, or you just dump all your tracks in one album, which is lame.
4) People who make hard drive systems shamelessly try to sell them despite the fact that the cdc-mp3 is much better and you get pissed off too easy. Imagine somone try to tell you that paying $1000 for a system where the drive's gonna go to crap in three months and you';ll have to replce it is better than 30 cent media. Or that it's easier to bring a laptop to your car or pull the whle damn unti out to put the songs in it in the first place, when you could just burn a cd. Not that I'm trying to point out any morons here or anything.
There are a few slight things I've noticed about the cdc mp3 that i don't like, since i've had mine for a while:
1) Getting it through the mail is fine. I've seen threee of them mailed from national, and all three worked fine when they got here.
2) The anti-skip buffer isn't big enough for me. live in new orleans where the roads really really suck.
3) The random feature only does ranodom within the album you're in. Once you get to the last song of that album, it'll go to the next (unless you have the album set on repeat), so you either get the last track of every album every time you listen to it in random, or you just dump all your tracks in one album, which is lame.
4) People who make hard drive systems shamelessly try to sell them despite the fact that the cdc-mp3 is much better and you get pissed off too easy. Imagine somone try to tell you that paying $1000 for a system where the drive's gonna go to crap in three months and you';ll have to replce it is better than 30 cent media. Or that it's easier to bring a laptop to your car or pull the whle damn unti out to put the songs in it in the first place, when you could just burn a cd. Not that I'm trying to point out any morons here or anything.
I had read the Aiwa unit was made by Sony. Now there's a company who knows how to make junk. Let me be clear about this, Sony knows how to make nice products also, but it is rare and expensive when they do (XBR TV's, ES receivers, etc.).
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