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If you pay more than that, you should talk to your agent to see if you need an additional rider, and of course keep your receipts.
~c
What about IPOD with FM modulator ?
Note that we have been working this for the GT/XT/Ltd models that have the 6-CD changer. It may or may not work on the base models with single CD.
Craig
Thanks again.
I also live in the SF Bay Area and have found 92.7 to work generally well with my Belkin transmitter. I also did a simple hack of soldering on a segment of wire to the antenna lead to extend it's range.
Sometime this week I'm going to be installing an FM Modulator, however, for more consistent performance.
Ken
I just was reading through the other forum and it sounded like a solution was ready, just without the CD mute function.
Please let us know how the install goes when you do get it. It sounded like some through-hole soldering was required and I'd love to hear how difficult you thought the modification would be.
Ken
Ken
Legacy 2.5i wagon -- had the same 17" wheels as the 05 GT, and Yokohama Advan tires!
Outback 2.5i wagon -- had 17" wheels that were a new style (maybe 8-10 spokes) but still had the Potenza RE-92A tires.
Craig
I am hoping Mike can get the boards pre-fabbed (with connectors already soldered on). The pitch of the connectors is very fine (like 0.5 mm zig-zag), and I would not look forward to soldering that!
Craig
So, with the connectors already soldered on, the board simply plugs onto the back of the HU?
It's too bad I no longer work with the semiconductor test group at work. I knew many EE and techs for whom something like this would have been a walk in the park.
Ken
Lee
Look at our pathetic life, we can;t connect this to a 30k car ? Subaru failed miserably on this.
You mean OE tires that don't suck on a Subaru?
I'm shocked.
-juice
Craig
Seems like there is a market for an adaptor to open up options.
-juice
The board will have two ribbon cable connectors, a short extra ribbon cable, a pigtail with RCA leads, and various power/relay wires.
The ribbon cable going from the CD changer to the amplifier (inside the radio) would be disconnected and routed to the board. The extra ribbon cable would then go from the board to the amp. Relays on the board will switch between the CD changer input (on the incoming ribbon) and the RCA pigtails, then direct the output to the amp.
You'd need to pull the radio out and remove the back panel of the radio (all easy). Then reach in and fiddle with the ribbon cables (also fairly easy, even more so if you have small hands!). Finally, either zip tie or tape the accesory board inside the radio (plenty of room) and route all external the cables/wires out through a hole in the back (which is currently covered with a plastic plug).
Craig
Craig
Craig
-juice
EDIT: NM.. Missed your last post. Found the site
I'd really be interested in finding a way to plug my 'pod into my 05 Outback XT. Thanks,
Chad
Craig
-juice
I believe the auxillary circuitry is already there in the unit's board [remember coming across a thread of such over at nabisco].
-Dave
Apple just added Nissan, Mazda and Diahatsu in Japan to the list of cars with dedicated iPod connectors. Here in the US I know of BMW, Mini, Volvo, Scion, Jaguar and Benz. Get with it Subaru!
Craig
Ding ding, we have a winner!
Creative juices not flowing today...
Ken
I followed the copious number of instructions available over at LGT.com and overall the process went fairly smoothly. The only accident I had was burning the tip of my thumb on a soldering iron after I modified the power cable on the FM Modulator. Ouch! Those things get really hot!
I used an Audiovox FMM100A Modulator that uses an on/off switch. The overall sound quality is much clearer and stronger compared to the FM transmitter I had been using. It’s nice to hear pure silence with the modulator powered on and the tuner dialed into the right frequency. The only noise I seem to hear comes from when my iPod spins up it’s hard drive to access more songs. While it’s not CD-quality, it’s an acceptable solution until some of our more EE-savvy friends finish the direct AUX-in modification for the stock HU.
Some things I noted that might help some others:
- Budget a lot of time the first time you take apart the center console. The parts are held in by plastic clips and come out with some force, but the pieces are fragile and easily scratched. The learning curve is pretty steep and the process becomes relatively easy the second time around.
- I used a plastic scraping tool from our kitchen to remove the chrome ring around the shifter to minimize scratching.
- I used the 90-degree bend of hex-keys to pull up the trim around the shifter.
- Cover the area around the gated shifter with a towel prior to removing the headunit to prevent scratches.
- Use caution to not drop the two screws that hold the HU in the back – it’s easy to lose them forever in the jumble of cables and insulation.
- Once the HU screws are removed, start with the hazard light harness on the back upper right.
- I used double adhesive Velcro strips to attach the modulator to the center AC duct directly behind the HU. Some folks use the ABS unit below, but I wanted to stay clear of that unit.
- I drew power for my modulator from the back of the cigarette lighter on the center console.
- I drilled two holes in the bottom of the center box to run the modulator switch and RCA/minijack cable into the storage cubby. I cut small slits in the “carpet” to allow these to come through.
Ken
Sorry to hear about the finger. They gotta get hot to melt metal.
-juice
I doubt the gain in sound with a stock headunit is worth that trouble, assuming you buy a GOOD fm modulator and not a crappy $20 radioshack unit.
Too bad the climate control is integrated... if it wasn't, you could do what I did. I have a Clarion DRZ865 mp3/wma deck and for the last year have been connecting my mp3 player to the auxiliary input. Or sometimes I just put in a burned mp3 cd.
But I'm thinking about getting a $99 module that controls an iPod as if it were a Clarion changer. http://www.crutchfield.com/S-P8RJ5114HLd/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=227550&I=020EA1251B
Wicked cool.
~Colin
http://www.jlaudio.com/press/CleanSweep05.html
6) CleanSweep™ also integrates a stereo auxiliary input circuit for adding an additional stereo source such as a satellite radio tuner, MP3 player, aftermarket source unit, or any other audio source to the system.
http://www.jlaudio.com/press/pdfs/CleanSweep_05.pdf
In the end, you could achieve the same thing by hooking up your iPod directly to an amplifier with a gain/volume control in between, such as provided by the $30 Belkin Auto-Kit (or just use the iPod's slightly noisier headphone output and the iPod's own volume control).
The true benefit of the CleanSweep is that you can use it to clean up the factory speaker signal, which may have pre-canned equalization. The Legacy/Outback radios, and other Subaru radios, have a preset bass-reducer equalization that kicks in at high volume levels to keep the factory speakers from distorting. If you are going to install amps and high quality speakers downstream of the head unit, then this is unwanted. However, if you're keeping the factory speakers, you're probably better off with the preset eq curve.
So the upshot -- if you're spending at least $1200-1500 on good amps and speakers (amps are required with the CleanSweep) and want to retain the factory head unit, the CleanSweep is a great idea. For any other purpose, it's not really needed. In fact, the radio in my 05 XT gives unmolested sound up to about a volume level of 17, and this would be suitable for my purposes when adding amps. The bass-reducing eq kicks in above volumes of about 20 or so. I honestly could get by with a volume range of 0-17, so I would not even benefit from a clean sweep when adding amps and speakers. However, people who want a volume resolution less than 1/17 may want to look into it.
BTW, the VP of JL Audio, Manville Smith, is a poster over on the other Legacy forum and is a heck of a nice guy. He drives a GT and of course, has a pretty nice audio setup!
CRaig
Did you use the Metra adapters?
Hopefully I'll get the direct line-in capability going in the next couple weeks, depending on how Mike's work goes on the other forum....
Craig
I thought it is a cleaner way to connect my IPOD to factory unit. If i keep factory stereo/speakers & not add amps, are you saying Clean sweep is NOT needed ?
any other cleaner way to hook IPOD/MP3. I am happy with factory sound.
Yes, I used the Metra adapters. They were relatively inexpensive (something like $20) and worked perfectly.
Now that I'm fairly comfortable getting in behind the center console, I'm seriously considering buying one of Mike's boards if the installation doesn't involve some fancy soldering.
It seemed like Mike was fairly close with the exception of getting the CD mute function resolved. I wasn't sure if he had connectors mounted to the board, however.
Ken
Craig summed it up, but with Clean Sweep, you're basically using the factory HU as an audio source (CD or FM). It intercepts the signal from the HU to the speakers and gives the added bonus of an AUX-in.
I exchanged some emails with the Clean Sweep people and it's not worth the money if your sole purpose is simply to add a line in. Like Craig wrote, you no longer can control volume and other settings from the HU. Also, with Clean Sweep you need to add your own amplifier to drive the speakers. Since the stock HU has an EQ curve adjusted for the stock speakers, chances are the resulting sound (if you simply added a Clean Sweep and a basic amp) would be rather flat.
Clean Sweep, IMO, is a great product if you are replacing the stock speakers and adding your own amp but don't want to change the appearance of your factory HU. It's simply overkill for adding an AUX-in.
Ken
Are you happy with the quality when listening to FM radio? If so, then just get a wired FM modulator like Ken and I did. It is inexpensive, works quite well, and is a straightforward install. Further down the road (within a month I expect), we should have a direct line-level aux-in which will provide the best possible sound quality (basically as good as CD). However, it will have a bit more complexity.
Craig
chad