Having had all my stereo stuff stolen, I've been thinking what to do to replace it So I was wondering, if I could have just an amp, running a few speakers, and just have a lead from the amp to a headphone jack and plug an ipod into it... Would that work? Or would I need more stuff? The whole point being I don't want a headunit
have you thought about doing a car pc? you can hide (and bolt) the pc into the spare wheel well and then just run the speakers and stuff off that... downside is within theory you would need a screen but i dont see why you wouldnt be able to unplug it when its not in use? hth andy
Yeah that would work, afterall, the rca's only supply an unaplified audio signal to the amp. Maybe worth seeing if you can get a lead that plugs into the bottom of the ipod with rca's in the other end, that should sort the quality.
i have a headphone to rca/phono plugs for my ipod so i can conect it to my seperates in the living room, it sounds ace, so i suppose it could work well
yea that would work, but youd have to wire a switch on the remote wire to turn the amp off, cos you wont have a headunit
I always have the amp on a switch anyway was just thinking, would it be loud enough? and if not how could I make it louder, dont want any kind of headunit, so a pc isnt really an option (what with everything being stolen before)
it would work a treat - I had a sony walkman rigged up like that to a little blaupunkt amp in 1988 !!
Was it loud enough though? I was gonna ask if the quality suffered any, but then I realised tapes are sh*t anyway []
it should be plenty loud enough the max voltage on an RCA output is about 2volts, very similar to a headphone output. an amplifier should be much easier for the output circuits of the ipod to drive than a pair of headphones, so about 75% volume on the ipod should be fine. My ipod will drive my low-impedance (ie need lots of current) Grado headphones really well so will have no probs driving an amp. BTW the sound quality of an old Sony walkman using decent cassettes is pretty awesome- an original Sony walkman Pro would blow away any Ipod tbh. Analogue rules, not this digital stuff where 80% of the information is thrown away! lol
Thats the whole point of mp3!!!!! It removes the highs and lows that cant be heard normally on headphones, a good system with a ipod input replaces them, like a bose system. With regards to the original question, it would be fine for normal useage! Just have a good amp!
Mr Bose: very good at marketing, shame he forgot to employ some acoustic engineers . . . the claims they make are laughable, the little cubes they make are nothing more than a 50p paper driver in a plastic box. We measured the output of a set at uni, the frequency responce was awful, just really pronounced treble which gives the "detailed" sound that everyone likes. You wouldnt believe how good a vynil record deck can sound compared to a CD player . . . and compressed audio can never sound any better than CD as theres not as much data to reproduce. Although a record deck isnt much use in a car
hi guys u can buy stuff that covers all stereo units and amps,hide the amp in spare wheel well, speakers under carpet of the parcel shelf and the headunit if u dont want to fork out alittle for the head unit stick it in the glove box, people are none the wiser but if u want it loud then you are jsut drawing attention to yourself whether u have a head unit or not, anything that looks ok or sounds ok willbe atarget just un lucky it was a golf! they must own a nova!
Not really much good me hiding something in the spare wheel well when my car is stripped though And since my idea worked I have absolutely no need for a headunit either brilliant
I'm liking this minimalist ipod-only idea, but would want to be able to power/charge the ipod too without having to plug a separate charger into the cigarette lighter. Can't stand wires hanging out everywhere! Before I start seaching the web, does anyone know if there's a lead out there which I can connect to a 12V feed as well as having the RCA plugs for the amp? Jolfa, out of interest what did you do with the gaping hole where your headunit was?
after reading this thread, i decided to make a little switching box so that i could bypass the headunit and plug my ipod in straight to the amp. I got a 4-gang crossover switch, some RCA connectors and a little black ABS box to put it all in from maplins and did some soldering. Basically what ive done is got two sets of RCA inputs, one from the headunit and one from the Ipod (using the headphone socket) which are switched to one set of outputs which drive the amp. I also got hold of a 12v to 5v USB adaptor for a few quid off ebay, one of the ones that plug into the ciggy lighter socket, and hacked it apart so i just had the little circuit board and the USB socket bit and mounted that in the box too, and screwed the box to the inside of the glovebox. I just routed a wire from the back of the socket on the dash to the back of the box inside the glovebox. So now i can charge to ipod using the standard white USB lead you get with it. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....m=270198929556&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=017 So now ive got full ipod connectivity in my 17 year old passat Simple really and only cost about 15 in bits (couldve done it cheaper but wanted shiny gold plated rca sockets
and how loud is it? what amp are you using etc etc i think this is summat i will try myself with my girlfriends ipod.
