Just looking at the options of installing an iPOD in the NB, but want to run it through the CD changer.

I have done a bit of reading about it, but has anyone installed an iPOD into their VW on here?

dont know about running thru the cd player, probably can, my bro runs his with the ipod accessory that plays thru the radio, or u can run them thru an amplifier.

an itrip is a good option, with the ipod accessory that VWFOOL sugested, sometimes the sound quallity suffers as your running it through the radio, but it's still very good.

or you can buy a stereo with a ipod adaptor...$ though.

ITRIP....$59.00 dick smiths

Jim, i wouls go for the Radio/Amp option with the input jax for the ipod, or install a inline Amp, again with the input ports!, easy!

i will be doing a amp setup purley for my splitty, all hidden away but the sound like a night club. at the moment i am using the tape type of input, persoanally i prefer this method at the moment, 1 cause i aint set up the amp. 2. itrips/belkins use too much batterys!

tapes/cd's are a thing of the past, i love ipods they are the best!!

Andy

Hi Jim,

I am happily playing a 20Gb iPod through my JVC KD-G615 head unit.

http://www.jvc-australia.com/products/_products_sub_group_details.asp?ID=1393 

If you look to the right side of the head unit you will see it has a 3.5mm AUX in jack which I plug my iPod into.

I specifically got this head unit for that reason. I had an earlier JVC head unit in my previous Kombi with the same AUX in jack and found it great. It has basically meant I can plug in my iPod, Discman, MiniDisc etc etc etc.

As you have an NB you probably want to keep the head unit that's already in there? Just thought I'd let you know my experience anyway.

You are always going to get detractors about the iPod and sound quality etc etc etc but I use it for the convenience. I can listen to heaps of music in the Kombi on long trips and then take it with me when I'm out of the car.

I've found in most instances that poor sound quality is usually the result of poor source recordings more than anything i.e. someone downloads a crap quality mp3 of the internet then converts it so it still always is going to be crap sound. If you can rip the music with good quality I'm sure you will be more than happy.

I'm never going to get audiophile quality sound in the Kombi anyway unless I want to listen to my music parked with the engine off for hours on end

I'm happy enough with my sound setup anyway. It's probably cost me about $1500 or so. I couldn't see myself spending $10k in a Kombi for audio unless I won lotto!

There's an interesting article about iPods and sound quality that I came across that you may be interested in anyway.

http://www.caraudioaustralia.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=58276&hl=ipod%20i...

Well that's my 2 cents, happy tunes

Cheers...Scott

the quallity of sound through ipod is exellent, its when i use my ITRIP that i have to be carefull which frequency i use, it has to be one with only static, and nothing else .5 each side of the frequency that is chosen, the sound is perfect. some companies a freaking out over the success of ipod and have now stared to put aux jacks in their steroes, which is a good thing but was also a $$$ thing for me.

it's all fun, happy listening.

I forgot a couple of other forums you may want to keep an eye on:

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-threads.cfm?f=112&g=44 

http://forums.appletalk.com.au/index.php?s=5f77dbab14f6f3914c1c96074ec30322&s...

And another good read:

http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/forums.asp?s=2&c=11&t=1751&p=0 

scotts right, the best option is to purchase a new head deck with an auxilliary channel that plays straight from ipod to your speakers. tuning it through the radio will always be a pain and sound terrible.
a new head deck with ipod adaptor = $150 - $300 installed. the speakers in a nb are fairly okay, so i wouldnt bother replacing them.
good luck!

Check out this unit from Jaycar.

http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=QM3780&CATID=&keywords=fm+modulat...

It is great if you wish to keep the factory radio for some reason, like if you have integrated controls on the steeering wheel. It is basically an fm modulator, but it connects INLINE between your aerial and the head unit, so it is broadcasting on one of two selectable frequencies straight into the head unit. Then you connect the ipod to the line level inputs on the modulator from its speaker output or line level from its dock connector. I have had this setup in my company car for a about a month without an issue.

[ Edited on 2-1-2006 by 1964_Notch ]

Keep in mind that MP3's don't have all the sound 'information' present - a la CD recordings. So combine that with going through the radio, and it could muddle up the clarity of the sound even more.. that said, I find that a lot of the treble, unless properly acoustically setup, gets drowned out/absorbed by the car interior anyways..

Hey Jim,

You might find that VW has an ipod interface that will allow you to hook up easily and run it via the wheel if you have controls from the wheel.

yeah mp3's lack the quality of a proper cd to start with. i am yet to even have an ipod however it is a definate for final touches on my car. but i know i will be plugging straight into the deck. not running through fm as the quality of radio is absolute shit..i cant remember the last time i listened to the radio.

but then again. i am VERY picky when it comes to sound quality.


Anthony

oh. and i belive most pioneer decks have ipod adaptation?

maybe wrong though.

will get my brother to find out tomorrow for you (he works at audiocom)


Anthony

if you already have a pioneer deck maybe try this out.


http://www.pioneer.com.au/car_entertainment/accessories/cdib100/index.html 


Anthony

i'v enquired with JB hiFi about that Cd - iB100.. usually go for around $160 looks easy to fit yourself, theyre all sold out over christmas but once pioneer have em bavck in stock they'll have them again.. they have been very popular!

i'll be getting one i think

Thanks for the responses.
The thing was I was half keen on keeping the stock deck. Just adding to the clean look by having all the toys and sounds, but looks stock.. (eg. replacing speakers with Alpine 6.5" 250W x 4, sub in the boot, iPOD in the armrest)

Happy to hide wiring, and prefer to run the anti-fm radio option due to losing quality, plus the fact of being able to 'trick' the CD player into thinking there is a stacker in the boot, using the stacker lead, then I can use the head unit controls to skip songs, etc, rather than using the iPod, and instead it can sit in there and charge via the cigarette charging adapter from under the armrest in a New Beetle.

That make sense? I'd be interested in finding out whether you are right with that suggestion Brad..

That set from the link looks okay, now I just have to find out whether that cord on the right is that one that is the same as the stacker cable, which I think it may be.. Anyone seen the back of a NB stereo lately?:o

[ Edited on 3-1-2006 by BenettonVW ]

How's this Jim for an iPod in a NB?? Sorry for getting off track but thought you might like it

http://www.sharperimage.com/us/en/catalog/product/sku__GT805/pcatid__22/catid...

Nice one. That toy is pretty cool, and the How-to quite detailed. I didn't read it all tonight, but it looks okay. Difference is, he is putting in a aftermarket headunit, not trying to use the stock one.

i going to hard wire mine when the stereo turns up, the ash tray on my type 3 is the exact right size for the ipod dock, so im going to mold, fill and paint that using liquid plastic. That way I have a nice dock that folds away (i dont smoke :P)

Have a look at this site for some good ideas:

http://forums.ipodlounge.com/forumdisplay.php?s=88275a6eae5491c5590b02d799f83...

Well, the iPod is coming now that I have won a green one to match the car(4gb - enough for me- mini) so the countdown is now on...

4gb is more than enough...sorting through the songs will be a bitch though.


Anthony

Hi guys, I will be starting my ipod installation this weekend. I will let you guys know how it goes and I will post some pics as well

OK let me start by giving the understanding of sound generation. This will help you (i hope) to understand why mp3's work, or not as the case might be, and thus what happens when fm modulating this thing.

MP3 are just a file format of a sampled audio signal. whilest mp3's are a digital format it is the interpataion of the analog (ie sound) wave. If you have a look at a sound through a oscilliscope (science grad 10 (form 4)) you will see a quite complex wave form. This wave form is actually a makeup of a number of standing wave, or frequencies. This is where Hz comes into it. has anone told you about bass frequencies, being between 0-approx 120hZ. this is just all the freqs between 0 and 120hz. if we played a 30hz wave a 60 hz wave and a 120 hertz wave the waveform woul not look ike anything recognisable. However, if we look at the waveforms front on. (ie instead of looking at the passenger side of the car we look at the front) you will actually see the individual freqs seperated. (this is where a spectroum graph comes from the frontal view of sound waves., ie the visual thing in winamp.. ) what this is simply is each frequency gets reproduced digitally. Now, without trying to loose you too much, sampling of sound is what ends up being converted digitally. in other words each time we sample or take a snapshot of a wave form the frontal area gets saved. Lets look at a 1 hz wave. the does a complete up and down in a second (hz one cycle per second) this means that it the wave will peak and fall in onesecond. if we same this wave one then we will only ever see the wave at one point. if we sample twice we will see it in a high and a low. the more times we sample the better quality the reproduction or saving will become. There is a limit where extra sampling will not make that much difference but it will change dramatically with more frequencies. Put simply if we add higher frequencies then the sample rate will require to increase to gain the better sound quality.

this is where we get the freq rate fr4om in mp3's it is the frequency at which the music or audio is sampled. 128Hz, 192, 240,360 etc.etc. the higher the sample the better the recording or imaging. so regardless of the unit you use to play the audio if teh mp3 is not sampled high enough it will sound crap. the other thing is the higher you sample the bigger the file (ie more nformation saved. So in practise I will only sample mine either variably (therefore sampling more if the music is busy) or at least 320hz fixed. this produces a really good quality track which will be Better than CD. But again if the cd is only recorded (remember cd's are digital audio as well...) 168hz then sampling the tracks at 192 will give no better results. therefore if you lift a track off a dvd (better highrate sample) then you will find the quality of the audio is unreal.

Now to confuse the issue a little. The theory shown above only is talking in a mono sense. the more channels we have the more information we need to store. (ie stereo is two channel thus will have twice the information as a mono recording, and quadraphonic audio is foiur etc etc...)

Now FM/AM work exactly the same. fm is stereo am is mono. am has better quallity (as the channels do not need to broadcast more than one channel (ie mono) over the same type of freq bandwidtrh. In a normal music frequency range you would expect to hear approx 22,000Hz range from zero. PER Channel. When the radio stations where formed they transmission was setup to have where given only 32Khz range to broadcast. for mono this is not and issue as 22Khz is fine within one channel but when you look at stereo trans, you need 44Khz to get the full picture, so some pruning was required for broadcasting. this is why a fm modulator will not sound as good as a digital signal, but again if you have a bad recording this would not be a issue anyway all that happens with radio is that the freq you tune into is added to the sampled signal thus the tuned freq becomes part of the music. and gets stripped out by you head unit so that you play sound.

So in the simplest answer to your original question. I woudl either run a new head unit or run fm modulator. even though tape unit convertors are far better than the fm modulators, I doubt that your NB will have a tape player. The other thing is that even if you HU has stacker control, most stackers have logical in them that "talks" with the unit, if this logic is not there trhen it will not use the stacker control. even if there was a box to use to get the unit to function you would nto be able to command the ipod from the HU it would only be audio.

Cheers

T

PS: I hope I have not confused you too much. if need be I will explain further. audio is alot of fun, but can take a little bit to understand properly.

Jeez.. Thanks!! I think..

From my readings in the US NB forums, there was such a unit to 'hardwire' the ipod in through the stacker cable, and this unit would confuse the HU, thinking it was a stacker, and therefore working accordingly; that is, song selection, volume, you name it, rather than just an amplifier that the signal is converted to sound through. The bad news is, apparently these units have stopped being made.

I see these Alpine and Pioneer iPod interfaces, and wonder something. This may sound like a stupid question, but would you need the corresponding HU(pioneer HU and pioneer interface) for the ipod to be working properly and use one of these things? Or can I just get one of these and use it as per normal?

For example:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5856795596&rd=1&sspagename...

Thanks for your help!

Wonder if this would be the go..

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NEW-OEM-VW-iPOD-ADAPTER-JETTA-BEETLE-PASSAT-GO...

People?

Benneton it definately seems as if the item is for the purpose you have described. It would seem to be be original and be able to plugged in but I would ask a few questions first.

1. go to vw dealer and ask for the part number (might be th same part number.. hopefully)
2. make sure it is compatible with the unit yo have.

inshort. most companies will not have a product that will connect another brands head unit. ie the suggestion of the alpine unit working on anything other than alpine would not work. This is due to the system working differently behind the scenes, whilest it works similarly and the results are teh same the overall workings are very very different.. :S

Cheers

PS: good luck. hope this will help you solution.!! What is the stereo brand in a NB anyway???

Hmm, i was playing to go nuts with my system i would wanna install. IPODS are far betta than cds and tapes.

but i was thinking of installing a lap top. Much cheaper when u think about it, cause it can be used for games, dvd player, music, tele, radio, internet, phoning, smsing, gps and programin' any ECUs u got :P Lol all into one. would have to get the right software and accessories though, but would cheaper than buying each unit separate. Especially if u got a bro who knows software and electrical engineering, and a mate who works at dick smiths

[ Edited on 31/1/2006 by bajachris88 ]

No branding Firefly.. I remember they used to be Blaupunkt but I don't know if that is still the case...

I think I might just get this one and be done with it. I'll do further reading on newbeetle.org
Thanks.