The Super-Duper Trooper: Final Word on my MP3-Player Project (see my Dremel thread for the origins)

[BonzaiDuck]

Let me visually introduce the item of my multiple, previous thread obsessions.

"Garage" forum -- meet Super-Duper-Trooper -- my 1995 Blue Pearl Metallic LS SUV. [For anyone clueless about the model -- the Trooper was an SUV of three generations introduced by ISUZU in the 1980s. Mine is second-generation -- 1992 to 1997. ISUZU terminated passenger-car production after 2002. I have yet to find a part that isn't still available as either OEM, aftermarket or "re-man".]

There is only one drawback for this orphaned vehicle. There are no ISUZU dealerships to service them, unless you want to try their truck dealership. It is imperative to find an independent mechanic and shop you can trust, for the heavy-lifting and repairs you don't want to do yourself.

With two or three coats of hybrid ceramic wax, I didn't take time to clean off the dust and run the orbital polisher for these pictures. Next time -- knock your socks off!

I added the grill-guard/bull-bars in February, 2019 -- last year. I'd always wanted them, if only for the appearance and to assure that "I win" in any future fender-bender. I'd originally purchased the 4WD SUV to go four-wheelin' in wild-life refuges, tour Barker Ranch in Goler Wash where Charlie Manson was arrested, and other assorted dirt-road excursions and hiking expeditions. The grill-guard was about $650 back in 2004 when I was window-shopping -- $450 last year. An outfit named Calmini in Bakersfield manufactures grill-guards for a lot of more modern vehicles. This one, they had as leftover stock and I stumbled across it by accident.




The RIGID fog-lights were installed in February. I think I did a neat job with the wiring. I explained that in a now-dated thread.

The sunlight today doesn't help displaying the chrome wheels, which I try to keep clean and polished.







I put in some effort a year ago to clean up the engine compartment. I was hoping that the Mechanic From Hell (another thread) would take note and give special attention to his assignment. Instead, he seemed to take it as an excuse to screw up a lot of things that I had to correct last summer.




Cracked and damaged rear tail-light assemblies have all been replaced as of last year. Hard-to-find items! I stumbled across these metal guards to more or less match the front grill guard -- for about $25.





THE FINAL WORD: MY MP3-PLAYER IN-DASH INSTALLATION PROJECT

Apparently, the automotive accessory industry doesn't make a rectangular MP3 player to augment an old car's OEM audio. They want you to buy a $400 Kenwood or Pioneer instead, providing digital radio, MP3 and Bluetooth. Instead, they make these MP3 devices to plug into a vehicle's cigar-lighter, which I think is kloodgy and stupid. You want a cigar-lighter available so you can have those nicotine vitamins and nourishing tar vapors. Or maybe you may need it to hook up an electric tire pump.

I finally settled on the [Amazon] "BT06" MP3 player (with Bluetooth) for its shape and features. These things are all made in China. But an MP3 player is a simple device and hard to screw up.

Asking about using a Dremel for doing this project with LEXAN in an earlier thread, I chose to use Poplar "hobby-board" instead to make the face-plate for my MP3 player. I was able to do just as well with the Dremel and my Dremel drill-press workstation.

The player I chose was a best-fit for a rectangular shelf or box under the Trooper's OEM receiver. [Next picture]. To avoid removing the whole center console to extract the box and work with it separately on my table, I was able to drill the 1 1/6in diameter hole with a key-hole saw drill-bit.

I wasn't sure what was behind that box! The heater-core is back there somewhere, and I didn't want to drill through something like my car's ECM, or damage any wires. So I drilled a small 1/4" hole, and probed through it carefully with a wooden chop-stick.

In order to make the BT06 MP3 player fit in the box without protruding from the front, this hole was necessary to fit the female plug from a cigar-lighter splitter. I only used a 1"-dia hole saw, so I had to use my Dremel extension and a small cutting bit to enlarge it:



I was actually worried that a single 1/4" thick panel of Poplar wouldn't be strong enough, although I was subsequently able to see that it would. But I laminated two blanks of the Poplar so that the panel is 1/2" thick. Since everything would be an interference fit or precise fit, the extra thickness also gave some advantage:







I was actually planning to make a more elegant and sturdy tray or box from foam-art-board or "foam-core". Instead, a block made with four foam rectangles served to secure the rear-end of the player and the female-cigar-lighter connection to it. I made a point of marking and cutting my materials with precision, hoping that everything would fit so snugly that I wouldn't need any screws or additional surfaces to secure the assembly.








Continued, due to the 10-picture limit . . .

 

[BonzaiDuck]

A little tricky getting the female lighter-plug and male end of the player fitted through the hole I'd drilled! But a little jiggling and fiddling around, and it all sinks in perfectly. I was actually stunned at the precise fit, and how my preparatory attention to measuring and marking paid off:



Some folks who purchased this BT06 player complained about the lights being too bright. I wish there were alternative colors, or simply the single color of blue LED. You can see how my little 3-pin LED switch on the left of the player works. On the right, I chose only to accommodate a single USB port, although the player has two -- the second of them for charging. If I want to charge something, I can use the cigar-lighter with the cell-phone accessory!

 

[nakedfrog]

If it were me, I would have just replaced that OEM head unit with a good one

 

[BonzaiDuck]

If it were me, I would have just replaced that OEM head unit with a good one

Of course. Absolutely. Positively. Yes!

However! As I've stated many times, there aren't that many vehicles equipped with a 12-CD Changer. If I take out the OEM head-unit, then I'm pretty sure I can't use the changer.

In this post-modernistic bullshit age, it is true that CDs are old-tech. Maybe not obsolete, but not much a focus of attention for automotive audiophiles. Head units still come with CD PLAYERS. Some have DVD players. But usually, such an accommodation supports only a single optical disc at a time.

Others -- friends -- suggest that it's a good idea to preserve the OEM equipment.

Now, I already mentioned that I was having a bit of trouble here and there with the CD-changer. It was throwing ERRs for discs #1 through #3. I started wondering about this whole situation. I didn't put in a lot of time constructing the modification to the MP3 player -- the face-plate, wiring, switch etc. I DID put in a lot of time thinking about how to do it. What happens if the Changer goes south? Or -- what if it IS going south?

Well, not only can I purchase the OEM replacement for less than $100, but it does not appear that my problem was the changer. I got some eyeglass lens cleaner and a cloth that came with a new pair of glasses, and cleaned up the CDs. That exercise seems to have resolved my problem.

So the changer works, and continues to work, and will continue to work properly.

Having the changer in an operational state is an advantage. My music library on the 32GB USB drive installed in the MP3 player must have 120 folders. So? Sure -- I'm going down the highway at 50mph, cars on the left, cars on the right -- cars front and rear. And I want to flip through 50 folders to change the tunes from Bach to ZZ-Top. No -- I don't want to be flipping through 50 folders while I'm driving. OK -- I might have to pull over for five minutes to change the tunes.

On the other hand, if I have the contents of my destination folder on CD, ready to play in the changer, I need only press one or two buttons on the head unit, and -- voila! No wait, no fuss, no bother.

TELL YA WHAT ELSE I DID!

The 95 and 96 Trooper (basically the same model, features and parts from 1992 to 1997), were "re-badged" and sold as the Honda Passport, the Chevy Trooper, the Acura SLX -- probably more than I can remember. Having found parts for my Trooper that were advertised as SLX parts, I discovered that the part numbers match. That is, the Acura part number is the same as the Isuzu part number.

So I was casually surfing through EBay last night, and I found the 12-disc magazine for the SLX CD-changer. I checked the photos. I brought my magazine into the house, to compare more closely with the photos.

It's a match! Again, the part number was identical. Which means that I can grab another 12 CDs off my entertainment shelf -- or burn some copies -- then fill up the second magazine, put it in a dust-free plastic bag, store it under the driver's seat, and I can change magazines at will. Of course, I'd have to pull off the road for 5 minutes, but that's just the way the cookie crumbles. $30. That's what it sold for, and that's what it was worth to me.

Also -- FLASH! -- Breaking news! One of our colleagues in another related thread had suggested that I probably need new speakers. I finally got out to the garage for a really close look. I pulled off the door-panel cutouts for the speakers and removed the retaining screws. But all I had to do was look at the old speakers after removing the pop-out panel. PAPER CONES! Dusty, flimsy, paper cones!

So I went to Crutchfield an hour ago, and ordered a pair of Polk Audio 652's and a pair of Polk Audio 402's. As for the OEM 1+ inch tweeters, I'll wait to see if they really need replacement.

Did we all get our "stimulus" check and the letter from the Criminal-in-Chief? Sure, we did. And I'm spending approximately $170 of it for new speakers. Did I NEED the stimulus check? No. But when the government sends you money, one must accept -- without complaint.

And there you are. Here I am. Or -- this is where I want to be.

By the way. You said "replace the head unit with a good one". That's a matter of perspective. For 1995, the ISUZU Trooper's OEM audio receiver was indeed "a good one". It's still good. I can even get a refurb-in-shrink-wrap replacement for $50, but I don't need it. So, sure -- if my Trooper had room for a double-DIN unit, and if I didn't want to keep the CD-changer, I could get all the bells, whistles, USB ports and Bluetooth hands-free -- maybe with integrated backup camera/monitor and GPS.

But I'm going to retro-fit the camera system -- possibly GPS -- before year's end. There are plenty of gadgets. It only remains to do a little extra work so they're installed in a proper way. I'll probably wind up just using my cell-phone for GPS, even so.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Heh-heh! I still have one of those "CD-ROM lens cleaner" discs for cleaning the laser lens of optical drives. Threw it into the changer. The changer first recognizes it as a disc, shows the disc number, and tries to track it. Switching to another disc and letting it play for a few seconds, I then switch back to the disc number that has the cleaning disc, and it skips it. But it apparently works on any first pass.

No ERR messages. So I gots MP3, Bluetooth-hands-free, and I gots a 12-CD changer -- all working perfectly.

Now -- to see how those Polk Audio speakers work, compared to the OEMs. Reviews for the Polk Audios are maybe "B+", although the high-frequency range is as good as you'd find with any of the best. But these aren't $150/pair speakers. They're $70/pair speakers. Good enough . . .

 

[NutBucket]

Anything is a massive improvement over paper cones. Ugh. I'm surprised they haven't turned to dust.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Anything is a massive improvement over paper cones. Ugh. I'm surprised they haven't turned to dust.

Maybe I should've taken a bit more time to shop and choose, but I'm not sure that my decisions were out of line for a 25-year-old vehicle.

The Crutchfield selection filters gave me a lot of choices for the lower-front-door pair and the rear-pillar speakers. I didn't see a need to replace the tweeters in the upper front door. They give you the option just for that preference, so while they might recommend a Rockford-Fosgate "component speaker-system update", with tweeters that require some slight modification to install, they specifically provide the option only for replacement of the lower-door front speakers -- leaving the OEM tweeters in the car.

I hadn't even explored these links and distinctions before choosing a pair of Polk Audio DB+ 652s for the front. This, in turn, made it easy to select the Polk Audio 402s for the rear-pillar installation.

It turns out that the refinement to the Crutchfield recommendations for "Replacement" versus "Upgrade" also throws up the DB 652s for the front door, and the DB 402s for the rear pillars, offering only one or two other makes and models.

I searched for reviews of these -- after I'd placed the order. They're great for the upper frequencies, performing the same as speakers with double the price. That they are "Marine-certified" is of little consequence to me, but nice to know they are more impervious to weather, moisture and other factors. For the lower and midrange, instead of the "A" or "A+" proven for the high frequencies -- they rate as "B" or "B+". But I expect you may be right about the OEM speakers, or that these new ones will be a vast improvement.

I also had just discovered yesterday that the vibration I experienced from the lower-front-door speakers was not coming from those speakers. It is coming from the dashboard assembly adjacent to the speakers. At cold engine RPMs, the same vibration occurs with the sound system turned off. This, I suspect, is the result of last year's experience recounted in my earlier thread about the "Ghosts of the Little Repair Shop of Horrors and Its Mechanic from Hell". If they hadn't broken the heater-core when they re-installed the intake manifold, they would not have needed to remove the dash assembly to fix it. And therein is the likely cause of the vibration. I'll have to locate the dashboard mounting bolts and torque them a bit, or whatever else it takes to eliminate it.

As for the laser-lens cleaning device and its effect on my model-8320 12-CD changer, I'm surprised that it took me so long to try it. I used to be ahead of everyone in computer-tech matters during my earlier working life. On a PC, I would've seen it as a first imperative immediately. I must be getting old. It was the most obvious solution which I might have tried initially.

So now, I'm just waiting for two things to arrive: The Acura SLX 12-CD magazine, and the Crutchfield order. Everything should be on the doorstep by Wednesday or Thursday. Three or four days will seem like an eternity, given my expectations and nothing to do but continue gaining familiarity with the MP3 player.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

NEW QUESTION: SPIRE ACOUSTIC FOAM PADS

So I've figured out a possible solution to my dashboard vibration problem without doing more than tighten the handful of attachment bolts. But it would stifle unwanted vibrations at the source, as opposed to the vibrating object or "sounding board".

I have in my computer parts-locker chests probably just enough Spire Acoustic Foam Pads from earlier computer projects to take care of my SUV project.

If I design a shape for it, I can install these at the speaker, gluing them on the opposing dashboard surface. Because the vinyl lower dash corners face the lower-door speakers, that sound wasn't going anywhere anyway, so I'll deaden it with the Spire.

Now, the question. Spire has their logo written in white on their foam panels, while the major part of the printed surface is just charcoal black. Charcoal black would still serve the aesthetic consistency of the interior. But because of the white logos, I'd really want to paint them.

These are a foam rubber similar to that of foam-rubber weather-stripping of the denser kind, which I'm going to use around the back of the speakers, as much as the application make sense. I've found already that it makes for a great replacement weather insulation around the edges of tail and parking light lenses, but it has the same acoustic properties as Spire -- approximately, essentially.

Dupli-Color and some other brands make a vinyl spray-paint or enamel in the two colors here that matter. Their steel gray paint matches both the interior of my Trooper and my brother's Nissan Hardbody, and I have one full leftover can from a project to repair my brother's vinyl-covered foam-rubber door hand. And, of course, I can buy it in charcoal black. In fact, I think I may have a can already.

Will this stuff adhere and work with those foam-rubber acoustic pads?

Also -- as I said, there's a million brands and designs of MP3 players for vehicles. However you find a way to install it either using your cigar-lighter as-is, or using a dashboard niche, some are rectangular, some are more of a square shape -- all various shapes or sizes. But if you choose the same model I used in this project, be absolutely sure the manufacturer's name is "JINSERTA". There are other versions that look identical, but the programming of the device is terribly flawed.

[LATER]: False alarm. the surfaces for foam application are not even visible when the door is closed. No need to hide anything -- not even the SPIRE logos in White. But they must be cut precisely, or they won't look as good as desired.

[LATER AGAIN]: FOLKS! FREE-IENDS! IF you have the sort of vibration of interior panels transmitting sound to one another inside your vehicle, SPIRE Acoustic Foam Pads may be a good solution to the problem.

Now, I have to say that there was no real reason to replace my speakers but that they have 25-year-old dusty paper cones. Without the misdiagnosed vibration, these old speakers are still great!

The OEM tweeter is crisp, clean-- brilliant as one might want to hear it. So I'm really impatient to see how those Polk Audio 21st century speakers sound in comparison.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

UPDATE on the Polk-Audio speakers -- according to NutBucket's recommendation to replace the OEMs.

Got the front lower-door-panel 6.5" DB-652 speakers installed tonight. With the OEMs, the rear pillar speakers seemed more powerful than those in the front doors. Now, they seem weak by comparison.

Also, the 652s and the 402 4" speakers I purchased for the rear were rated in reviews as "B" and "B+" for low and mid-range frequencies. Screw the ratings -- these things are powerful enough that I'll need to re-adjust my bass-treble button on the receiver. Amazing!


Now I'm wondering if I should replace those old OEM tweeters installed at the top of the front doors. . . .

 

[NutBucket]

You want your soundstage biased towards the front anyway. In my car I have a nice set of component speakers in the front doors with an amp. The rear door speakers are still the stockers being powered by the headunit. I guess if anyone sits in back they'll have a bit of sound...if they can hear it over the front pair.

Sounds like you're happy with the upgrade? (pun intentional)

 

[BonzaiDuck]

You want your soundstage biased towards the front anyway. In my car I have a nice set of component speakers in the front doors with an amp. The rear door speakers are still the stockers being powered by the headunit. I guess if anyone sits in back they'll have a bit of sound...if they can hear it over the front pair.

Sounds like you're happy with the upgrade? (pun intentional)

I just put the DB 402 speakers in. These things are rated at about 45W, as opposed to the 100W for the 652s in front. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the OEM tweeters still in the car, but the 402s in the rear -- with coax tweeters of their own -- seem a bit anemic. That is -- they don't sound worse than the OEMs after I'd completed installation of the DB652s in front. The sound is cleaner. But there isn't that much more of it.

I'll fiddle with the adjustments some more. Even as you say, though. the 100W DB 652s in front are more than sufficient by themselves.

As for the "JINSERTA" MP3 player, I figured out a way to eliminate those garish neon-pink-red lights. Automotive adhesive aluminum tape, Xacto knife -- perhaps a silver dollar to make a stencil for a large "washer" with a quarter-inch center hole. Cut it in half; stick it on the inside (toward the center) of each knob. Now -- all blue.

The weird thing -- I took some pictures, but the camera somehow captures some residual red light leaking out. I can't see it with my own eyes, but the camera catches it.

Well, here . . . . then . . .

 

[BonzaiDuck]

OK. Here's my verdict. I didn't take enough time to match speakers and allow the full limit for my OEM receiver's capability.

The DB 402 rear-pillar speakers require adjustment to fadar and bass which pushes the volume adjustment just below the full limit. For this, I give them a B- rating on CD playback and a C or C+ rating for MP3 playback. And after all -- this thread is about my MP3 player project. So . . . there you are . . .

I need to replace these with the DB522 DB+ Polk Audio units, which are priced about the same. After I handle the administrative details and get the DB522s, Ah'll be back . . . .

Back again . . . . Wrong. The DB522 speakers won't fit my rear pillars, even though SonicElectronix says they do. Crutchfield says no. I say no.

So I'm going to try these: DS18 Pro -X4.4BM

I searched and searched for several hours for these criteria: 4", 4-ohm, 100W RMS -- each speaker, midrange -- crisp highs. The Sensitivity on these is 89 dB and change, but with that sort of power, I suspect it won't matter much.

Don't beat up on me if I'm wrong about this, but if my Suzu Premium Audio Receiver can drive the Polk-Audio DB+ 652 6.5" speakers in front under the 100W RMS spec and potential, then I should find more balance with the fader, and lower volume settings to higher-overall volume effect. I should get good sound from the rear of the car as well as the front. I'm more likely to find the balance at the fader adjustment's center notch. And the tweeter part of the assembly without any built-in crossover is rumored to be something like celestial. That factor may make up for any shortcoming in the front OEM tweeters. Not that I've heard any lackluster front-tweeter performance, but those are the old OEMs.

Who makes these things?! They come from China. Has anyone ever heard of DS18 Pro? Looking again, these boast a sensitivity of 92.7 dB. I must have been looking at the wrong speakers if I said 89.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Continuing with what seems like a monologue at the moment about my "MP3 Player Project", nobody seems to have had comments about DS18 car-audio speakers. The wisdom about choosing speakers seems to follow a decision point of "updating" the OEM speakers, or upgrading the entire vehicle. If you pick and choose pairs of speakers, will they give you a good match? I suppose I will see, now, won't I? The 4" 100W-RMS DS18 speakers could arrive a week from today . . . So . . . we wait . .

Meanwhile, having never heard of "DS18" before, I found this review in a comparison for some 4" speakers -- maybe five different brands and models. These are not the speakers I ordered, but figure that there would be a consistency of performance across product lines:

The Review

DS18 EXL-SQ4 4-Inch 3-Ohm High Sound Quality Speaker 260 Watts
Via: Amazon.com
If you’re looking to build a high-quality sound system, then you’ll love these four inch compoennt speakers with 260 watts of peak power. They’re pretty much the best we found without getting into ridiculously specialized competition speakers.
They’re also pretty cheap overall, making them a great way to push the most out of your speakers. They’re definitely up there when it comes to bass as well, putting them as one of our favorites overall.
The biggest thing about these is that you can either set them up as component speakers or coaxial depending on what you need. We favor the former option, but they make a pretty impressive upgrade for those who are on the fence either way.
If you’re looking for a high-quality pair of component speakers with great build-quality then you’ll be in the right hand with these. They can be run either way as well, just adding to the value at their lower price point.
What We Like

• Component speaker set
• Tons of power
• Extremely high build-quality
• Great price

What We Didn’t Like

• Prone to distortion at higher volumes
• Not great for bass

============
The 4-ohm model I purchased has a different design, supposedly to meet audiophile desires for higher frequency performance. So that may knock out the first of the two "dislikes" in the review. As for the second, the DB+ 652 Polk Audio speakers are rated at B/B+ for low and mid frequencies in reviews, but -- believe me! -- there is more than enough! So -- "Not great for bass" might not have much relevance for what I'm trying to do.

I don't know much about speakers. I'd thought about building my own stereo speaker enclosures and choosing component speakers during the mid-1980s, and I have a How-To book on the topic somewhere in my vast, disorganized library.

I'll just have to wait until next week, even as some forum member might venture to comment in the meantime. I'll be interested in those comments, even so . . .

 

[BonzaiDuck]

UPDATE: THE RESULTS FOR THE DS18-PRO X4.4BM SPEAKERS

So -- good luck! -- the DS18 4" mid-range speakers arrived a day early. I say this, because -- between ordering PPE masks and 3M Respirator filters as well as various minor auto parts -- reliability of parcel delivery has become slightly degraded. Especially, it's degraded if shipping originates in China. These DS18 speakers are of Chinese origin, but they have an "authorized" dealer in Kissimmee, Florida -- DBS Car Audio, available on EBay as dbscaraudio.

The problem, again, was the need to adjust bass/treble, fader, and volume to get a "3D" sound experience in my mid-sized SUV. The old OEM speakers were weakest all-around, because they're 25 years old. Whatever the limitations the OEM "Isuzu Premium Audio System" receiver and head-unit, it is more than powerful enough to do the job, whatever speakers are installed. That is, using the OEM speakers as a baseline, I can adjust it to the point that the sound might cause me temporary or even permanent ear damage.

I'd replaced all the OEMs with Polk-Audio: DB+ 652 speakers in the lower front doors, and DB+ 402 (4-inch) speakers in the rear pillars. Something wasn't quite right, even as the DB+ 402s seemed "adequate" for a match with the front speakers. The fader needed adjustment almost to the extreme point where the front speakers can barely be heard. Volume needed to be turned up an extra 1/4 turn and almost to the maximum allowable. Bass/treble needed adjustment well beyond the center notch, almost to "full bass".

The DB+ 402s were 45W rms speakers; the 652s were 100W rms. Rightly or wrongly, I thought I needed 4" speakers rated at 100W rms. And I found the DS18-PRO units.

The result seems to be almost what I had hoped for and expected. I was thinking I might get more bass from these more powerful mid-range speakers, and they may be a bit more capable than the Polks, but -- they're 4" speakers and limited by size. They live up to a mid-range performance spec -- but no more than that.

But -- they are still loud by comparison to the DB+402s and the OEM 4" speakers. The upper frequency ranges are crisp and clear, just as touted by the manufacturer and several customer observations.

Now my volume adjustment is now lower than it was with the OEMs. The fader adjustment is the same as it was originally: just beyond the center notch and favoring the rear speakers. Similarly with the bass/treble adjustment.

If I now try to push the volume setting to the maximum, I could need an appointment with an ear doctor.

So -- yeah! -- the DS18-PRO X4.4BM 4" 4-ohm mid-range speakers are good.

For testing your speakers, I suggest music with a lot of drums and base as well as higher frequencies. Perhaps Respighi's "Pines of Rome" or Holst's "The Planets" might do. But nothing can substitute for a good Metallica album. Which! I just received a few days ago! "It's like wires! Wires between my ears! 'Ex-it Light! En-ter night! Take my hand . . . we're off to never never-land!!'"

I may be an Old Boomer, but I've earned my Gen X/Y Black Belt!

 

[NutBucket]

The problem you experienced with the Polks was they needed more power...basically you were hitting limit of the amp. As for the bass/treble, the other big problem with OEM audio is they usually have a funny eq curve designed to protect the speakers when you crank the volume. There's usually no easy way around this.

At any rate, glad you found a combo that works for you

 

[BonzaiDuck]

The problem you experienced with the Polks was they needed more power...basically you were hitting limit of the amp. As for the bass/treble, the other big problem with OEM audio is they usually have a funny eq curve designed to protect the speakers when you crank the volume. There's usually no easy way around this.

At any rate, glad you found a combo that works for you

Thanks. I think I've reached a point where I'm not going to seek further modification. Adding an amplifier would probably require tapping the speaker wires at some location in the car, or pulling the head-unit to access the harness. The volume and clarity can be adjusted to the point where my ears cannot tolerate it further.

As for the original OEM CD changer, it seems to be in perfect working order. the annoyances with "Err [n]" when changing to a different CD required further switching back and forth until the changer would track, and it originally seemed that putting in a CD cleaner-disc and applying lens-cleaner to the discs significantly improved things. But I've now discovered that changing out the entire CD disc-magazine makes a difference with that. Perhaps the original magazine has worn a bit. I was pleased to find that the disc-magazine for a '96 Honda Passport was indeed identical, and works great.

So I was going to post a thread entitled "Beyond Trooper MP3: The Total 21st Century Retro-fit".

Basically, I'm testing out my ASUS ZenPad Z8 8" tablet for purposes of voice-navigation GPS and backup-plus-dash camera. Google Maps -- and there are maybe a dozen other free apps for Android -- works great by itself. The sparse instructions for the MP3 Player (and hands-free Bluetooth cell-phone calling) would seem to indicate that the voice-nav feature should interrupt the MP3 music to announce "Turn left at Magnolia Avenue . . . " etc., then resume play. If it doesn't work exactly that way, I'll have to merely turn down the volume on the receiver to use the voice-nav feature.

That leaves only the selection of the "best" wireless backup camera with a good Android app, and determining how I want it switched. It is possible that I can arrange to use the Zenpad's own "rear" camera -- which has the highest megapixel resolution -- for the forward dash-cam. But of course that means I won't use the same "app" for both cameras. Not really a problem, though. The Zenpad provides simply drawing an alphabet letter on the screen to raise one app or the other.

That leaves the problem of attaching the Zenpad to the dashboard without obscuring any rocker switches or the digital clock, and I may have that problem licked. I'm going to take as much time as needed to assure it. But I've determined that I can use two of these devices:

OHLPRO Tablet Air-Vent Mount

Two of them might not be "necessary", but I want to avoid using the suction cups, and I don't want to break the louvres of my center-dash air-vent. My trials prove that you can mount two side-by-side, and the claws just fit the 8-inch width of the tablet. I think I can design a foam-art-board construction that uses the air-vent-louvre mounts, but distributing the weight across all of the louvres -- rock-solid, and still allowing airflow as desired from the vent.

The OHLPRO units have little pop-up tabs on the feet that hold the tablet, so the tablet is easy to remove. I needn't use any of my monthly GB's of paid LTE/3G data for this. One merely downloads a map region of any size to the tablet's SDXC card when connected through the household WIFI and router, and the tablet's own GPS works with it. The backup camera works with WIFI as a different "network", and the tablet communicates with the MP3 player and OEM head-unit via Bluetooth.

The tablet needs juice to keep the battery at 100%. So I made a second pass at the woodworking for the wooden MP3 player face-plate, with solid walnut, stained and varnished, this time with two USB ports instead of one. The MP3 player provides both a music-play USB port and a charging port. It appears so far that the 2.1A charging port works fine for the tablet:



I know . . . I know . . . someone will say "Why don't you just buy a new SUV?!"

Well, I'd told the story of the Mechanic From Hell encounter of last year. My new guy, who has one of those little fish-logos on his shop/store-front, I call the "Mechanic of God". You can't beat this for honesty. I told him I needed to encourage our "bidnis-relationship" in the event that I needed something important done, like an engine or tranny replacement. He said "You won't need it. They built those Troopers like the Toyota SUVs to be virtually indestructible."

No -- maybe I'll buy a new vehicle in a few years. Maybe a Suburu. Maybe a Prius. I could be dead before I finish thinking about it!