RT stereo question

[motor602]

Alright guys, I bought my car in the good old days, when Ipods didn't exist. When I took delivery of the car I had the "factory" Alpine 6 disc changer installed in the car. However it has become quite the relic over the last few years as I usually just listen to my Ipod through an FM transmitter (which are terrible, don't waste your money on a "high end" one, they all ****). Anyway Im posting because Im curious if it is possible to manipulate my set up to work with the Ipod.

Let me try to describe this as best I can. Basically I turn on my radio and tune it to 88.7. Then I power up the disc changer with the control unit in the cabin, the sound will cut in over the radio and I can listen to my CD's. The radio must be tuned to 88.7 or else you will not hear the CD's over the stereo.

I tried to get an idea of the wiring set up without disassembling anything and the best I can figure is that there is one wire coming directly from the amp and piggybacking on a larger, plastic hose sheathed set of wires going through the trunk wall. Finally there is another wire leading from the changer itself to either the amp or through the trunkwall again. (im not 100% as I was just feeling around, didn't take any of the components out)

My question is if there is any possible way to maybe find a 3.5mm headphone jack that can subsitute in place of the in cabin control unit so I can hook up my Ipod and listen to it over 88.7 just like my cd changer.

I realize it is possible to change the head unit and have an aux in, but I would like to explore options that might exist with this current set up. Any ideas?

please let me know if I need to clarify anything and I will try my best.

 

[2000_Black_RT10]

Do you use the cig lighter for Ipod power? If so and you did find a solution to hard wire it in, there will be a ground loop issue, and there's a good chance you'll hear the engine revving interference static with an older stereo w/o a filter on the power lead (static which you don't get with an FM transmitter because it's not directly connected).

I would suggest getting a new Ipod compatible head unit and save yourself some time and headaches.. I'm only saying this because I wasted enough of my time trying to do a similar thing with a Sirius player...

 

[SylvanSRT]

you could get a stereo installer to do a hard wire fm modulator that attaches right onto your antanae it will work much better. this should also get you a plug that will charge your ipod

or of course then you could just get a new head unit that would have an ipod connection or aux in jack, more than likely it will be much better than the stocker anyway

 

[motor602]

Sylvan, do you have an idea of how this process works or how much it would cost to get it done?

and black, what head unit did you end up getting and what are the better options out there, im pretty much a total noob with stereo stuff.

 

[SylvanSRT]

hardwire fm modulator works same as a lighter plug unit. except the modulator attaches directly to the antanae lead and elminates the interference you get with the lighter plug units. should cost less than a couple of hundred bucks and that should include a ipod wire that plugs into the bottom of ipod and charges when head unit is on.

though like i said i would imagine that for $300-400 you can get a whole new head unit installed with some kind of hard wire ipod connect or aux in plug

 

[motor602]

you know what, when I was inspecting the cd changer in the trunk, the wire leading out of the changer looked like it was actually two wires put together...About halfway along the wire was what looked like a cigarette lighter plug, the end of which had been wrapped in electrical tape with another wire leading out of it. sounds like my CD changer was set up as a hardwire FM modulator, eh?