Stereo input mod

[CubanCorona]

For the longest time, I was content with burning CD's in order to make use of my fairly extensive music collection in my motorized carriage.

But then my car started to look like a CD printing press vomited all over the interior...

So, inspired by some fairly elite modders in some car enthusiast forums, I decided to take matters into my own hands.

I got a replacement stock head unit off eBay for 50 bucks for my 2003 C class Benz and proceeded to rip the lid of that bad mama jama. I then located the L and R signal traces coming from the tape mechanism and installed a closed-circuit stereo jack in-line.

Now I can listen to my MP3 player in the car!

I highly recommend this mod to anyone who's been wanting to do the same without spending a lot of money on a new system and/or replacing the stock head unit.

Rock on!

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Can you gut the tape deck components and make a dock?

 

[CptCrunch]

I bought a PIE-TOY adapter for my 2006 corolla, has dual aux inputs, best thing I have bought in years! Much better than that fm modulator crap

 

[zerocool84]

My aftermarket stereo had usb on the front and I just hook up my 8GB flash drive to it. Instant music.

 

[CubanCorona]

@Xanth:

That's an awesome idea, and I bet it would work well with smaller PMP's like the nano that would fit comfortably in an existing tape slot. Hahaha, imagine turning to your shotgun passenger and telling him to watch closely as you insert your nano into the tape player!

The main issue here (and I'm sure the details vary from car to car) is that in addition to the L and R audio signals, there are control signals going from the cassette mechanism (which is generally modular and easily removable) to the main board of the head unit.

What I discovered is that if the control signals do not indicate that there is in fact a tape in the mechanism that is playing properly, the head unit cuts off the audio signals and displays something like "NO TAPE."

If you can figure out those signals, I bet you could rig something up.

 

[jtvang125]

Good job. Unfortunately 95% of the people out there probably have no clue on how to do that even if their life depended on it.

One question: wouldn't you have to trick the deck that there's a tape in the drive so that a signal can go through and be amplified?

 

[CubanCorona]

@jtv:

Exactly right. I just put in a blank tape, and you can probably cut the reel so it never runs out.

You could also cut the power to the tape mechanism motors, but then you lose your tape player functionality. The beauty of the closed-circuit stereo jack is that it lets you keep your tape player!

 

[SearchMaster]

I did that EXACT thing on my '91 Eclipse over 15 years ago. At the time there weren't a lot of alternatives (could have done a tape input). I had a toggle switch to go between the tape player and the 10 disk cd changer in the trunk (again, this was 17 years ago) and it all looked quite spiffy if I say so myself.

 

[ViviTheMage]

200 bucks for the hardware to do it in my Audi correctly, I will deal with CDs .

 

[SparkyJJO]

Why not just get something like this if you already have a tape deck?

 

[Raduque]

I simply cut the AINet connector on my Alpine and wired up a 3.5" minijack in it's place.

 

[CubanCorona]

@Sparky:

I've always assumed that a significant amount of quality is lost in the transduction process. Maybe someone here can fill us in on the inherent limitations of cassette tape audio quality?

 

[Throckmorton]

That's clever. If your stereo has a provision for a disc changer, you could possibly wire the jack into that too.

 

[Eos]

Originally posted by: Raduque
I simply cut the AINet connector on my Alpine and wired up a 3.5" minijack in it's place.

I bought mine on eBay. Works great.

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: CubanCorona
@Sparky:

I've always assumed that a significant amount of quality is lost in the transduction process. Maybe someone here can fill us in on the inherent limitations of cassette tape audio quality?

I'm not familiar with how it works, but the audio quality doesn't suffer that much, especially compared to the terrible acoustical environment that the car imposes anyways.

 

[OdiN]

Originally posted by: SparkyJJO
Why not just get something like this if you already have a tape deck?

Because they don't work in a lot of tape decks.

 

[SearchMaster]

Originally posted by: CubanCorona
@Sparky:

I've always assumed that a significant amount of quality is lost in the transduction process. Maybe someone here can fill us in on the inherent limitations of cassette tape audio quality?

There is a noticeable amount of noise introduced using a cassette adapter over the inline approach. Plus, in my case, I didn't want a bunch of extra wires.