I.C.E?

Post by **Chris** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 11:49 pm

Hi,

I've been wondering about having some "In-Car entertainment" in my morris for a while, in the form of a normal car stereo. But this idea has also seemed to be quite a challenge - hiding the stereo, fitting an aerial etc.

So has anyone thought/heard of an MP3 only player being used, i.e something very small about the size of a walkman plugged into an amp? This could then be hidden under a glovebox, clipped in, with a power supply, and wiring to an amp all out of sight. Then it could be unclipped so that tracks could be downloaded from your PC. This wouldn't allow for a radio tuner or a tape player, it would simply be an MP3 only player, which would be more than enough to keep me happy.

I've tried a quick google search, but haven't been able to find much info on this. Every MP3 car player seems to come with a 6CD player, or something similar, which is not what I want.

Any ideas?
Cheers,
Chris

Post by **Kevin** » Fri Oct 17, 2003 1:11 pm

Hi Chris
Do you have a local Richer Sounds I know they are all over the London Area, and they are very helpful people and should be able to answer any questions, if you dont have a shop they do have a website.

Post by **Gareth** » Sat Oct 18, 2003 2:51 pm

Do you mean using a personal MP3 player? For this you'd have to have a wired amp hidden somewhere (a small one shouldn't be too difficult) which has a line-in 3.5mm jack. That could be difficult to source. You'd then need to fit speakers &c...

What about fitting a car radio CD player? Some modern ones will play CDs that are encoded with MP3s to give about 30 hours of music, or something like that. Radio in the glovebox, speakers fitted in the scuttle panels, and bob's your father's brother. ;)

Post by **Chris** » Wed Oct 22, 2003 12:11 am

Cheers Kevin, I've had a look and there does appear to be a Richer Sounds in plymouth so I will have a look sometime.

Rather than trying to source an Amp with a 3.5mm jack, I could use an adapter like this:

(Amps are usually RCA aren't they?)
This would also allow me to play any sort of personal player, tape/CD/MP3/Minidisc etc. although I will be reliant on batteries.

But I don't know a lot about audio equipment, and don't really have much of an idea when it comes to amps. Apart from something small is there anything I should look for? Also speakers are something I'm not sure about.

Any ideas as to how this might sound? Is the personal player likely to have enough juice for the amp to pick up from?

I s'pose if all else fails then I'll look towards a proper system.

Thanks for any input,
Chris

Post by **Cam** » Wed Oct 22, 2003 11:31 am

There is a slight problem with this way of doing things.

If you use the above connector then obviously you will have to plug the 3.5mm jack into the MP3 player. If the MP3 player has a line-out connector then you won't have volume control, so the sound will be effectively on full volume all the time. If you are planning to use the headphone out jack then there will be an impedance mismatch between the player and the amp. The headphone out is designed to play into about 32 ohms (headphone speakers) and not about 10 k ohms (line in level).

What this means is that you may find that there is a considerable amount of distortion when you start to turn up the volume on the MP3 player and you may also find that the volume control does not behave linearly anymore.

To be honest, if I was in your situation I would get an in-car MP3 player and just a pair of speakers. Much easier and better. Plus you don't have to worry about trailing wires and power supplies.

Post by **Kevin** » Wed Oct 22, 2003 12:20 pm

Bimey Cam after reading your explanation (which I did not understand

) I think your solution sounds much simpler.

Post by **Cam** » Wed Oct 22, 2003 2:46 pm

Yeah it is.

I'm not saying you CAN'T do what was suggested, I'm just saying that there are easier and better routes!

I did the audio thing quite a while ago with one of my Minis (1715 watts, 17 speakers, 5 amplifiers and 2 Rover SD1 batteries). That was fun at the time, but I am into other things now!

Post by **Kevin** » Sun Oct 26, 2003 12:20 pm

Is this of any use in giving an alternative option
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 3054180563

Post by **Cam** » Sun Oct 26, 2003 7:44 pm

Yep, but you would still need the cassette player and speakers. Good idea though, and cheap enough too!

Post by **Chris** » Sun Oct 26, 2003 11:43 pm

Cheers Cam, I think I understood that. I'll leave the idea alone now and try for a 2nd hand normal car stereo, maybe with that 3.5mm to cassette tape idea.

Thanks for the help,
Chris