Motors FM Transmitters (iTrip's and the like)

Has anybody acctually used one of these (in the UK)? If so, what are they like? There's a ton of them on fleabay - LineX, Belkin Tunecast, AudiaX, iTrips, iRocks etc etc.

The plan is to use one of these to get MP3 to the new Saab's radio without the need to carve up the shiny new facia.

Comments?

 

Personally i think FM modulation sux, but my ears are becoming quite audiophile!!

Ive got my iPod running thorugh an FM Modulator in the car, and iam going to buy an amp instead, and run the amp dirctly to the speakers... really do notice a diff in sound quality.

May be worth checking you SAAB radio to see if it has an RCA in jacks, then you would be sorted.

AFAIK, nearly all Blauplunk (sp) have RCA inputs.

 

see if you can hook a mp3/cd changer up to the factory stereo

 

Saab radios / head units aren't din modules, so it's a) difficult to get out to look for phono's and b) impossible to replace for a 'standard' audio system.

It does have CD changer controls, and there's a space specifically for the Saab changer in the boot. From what I've heard this is a Panasonic unit, but it's been subtely changed by Scandanavian trolls for Saab - meaning that I can't go and get a panny unit myself and plumb it in.

Hence the FM modulation route.

Ah well - guess we'll just have to keep burning....

 

Im in the same boat as you dude...

Unfortunately the Stereo unit in a Spider is an Alfa unit and not standard (and no one makes adapters) my thinking is to run my kenwood stereo somewhere hidden connected to the iPod and use an IR remote control for it. I don't really want to remove the Spiders stereo because, like the 156 its part of the alarm system, and when you take the stereo out you no longer get the blinking "I'm armed *******" LED on the dash.

 

ah the joys of buying a normal car

tbh go to your local ice dealer & ask them about it they may have wasy to improve the sound quality

phat - mount your normal haedunit int he glovebox, run a direct feed fromt he battery to that, then use the aux outs to a 4ch amp

2 channels for the frotn, bridge the otehr two for a sub

then build yourself some kickpods to mount hte speakers in the footwells

hey presto, your alfa bits are still there & working but you ahve some decent kit

btw this place may be a good palce to ask the car hifi questions www.talkaudio.co.uk

[EDIT by GOO] - fixed your URL Sam.

 

Why not go for the amp route??

Can easily conceal a 4 channel amp under the seats in my car, and plug the iPod into that. Sure you would be able to run dual cabling to the spks (orginal & ones from amp) or you could be lazy and splice the outputs from the amp into the original cable! (Ok, maybe not the best idea.....)

Least that way you dont have to modify the car very much, and you can still keep the original stereo, and get better sound quality

 

http://www.saabcentral.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=15411

Sam -

Yeh, I'm thinking of mounting the head unit probably under the seat, or behind me (somewhere where I can ventilate it properly) or I might look out for a rockford fostgate unit which has the 8v preamp outputs. Then I will run this into a genesis amp. The spider acctually has a hole for a 10" sub between the seats, so that location is sorted, and I will replace the Alfa speakers with some Focal units (Kevlar probably, cos it's yellow ) but it all depends really on when I get a *good* look at the alfa stereo. I have an feeling it may be the same kind of stereo as the 156, in which case I can easily get another adapter, and if the spiders stereo does integrate part of the alarm system I could easily bury it in the dash somewhere and just make sure it never turns itself on

Trust me, when I get my spider there's going to be a bit of a "project log" so to speak in here.

 

phat m8 go to that talk audio site, trust me if its got 4 wheels (sometimes less than 4) someone will knwo abotu the alarm / car hifi & stuff to watch out for

plus stuff like genesys amps come up cheap int he classified quite a lot

 

chances are the mounts are changed for mounting in your car... check around on some car audio forums for a changer that works with the stock saab head.... I found one that worked for my nissan's factory head, as well as my hondas.... the bimmer has a new sony head, and my truck has an old clarion autopc....

 

why is it upon clicking the link sam, I have a strong feeling the site is affeliated with www.caraudiodirect.co.uk lol

 

probably cos it started out life as car audio directs forum

 

Problem solved! (Thanks Phat)

After digging around the forums that phat found that thread in, I've found out that there's no modding involved.

There is an Aux in, and the port / jack plug for it is in the arm rest cubby hole along with a 12V power outlet (I've also got this confirmed by the Dealership as well). I must have missed this when we went for the test drive (which is odd because I commented on the fact that it had power in there - didn't clock the other socket at all )

So all I need do is plug the line out from my weapon of choice into the line in on the Saab and Robert's your mothers sisters husband, so to speak!

Now all I have to do is persuade Mrs GOO that we need an iPod...

 

Bah - who needs iPods! I've just got myself (well, I should say we because Mrs Goo will be using it as well) the iPod's evil twin brother - A Philips HD100:

​

Ummm - Black! Matches the car!

Proper pics to follow once it's charged up and strutting it's silky black stuff...

 

No Piccies, It's boxed up to be banished to whatever electronic hell spawned it

Oh dear - what a piece of crap.

Take this as a serious lesson kiddies - don't buy before you try. And don't impulse buy (Damn you Dixons, Damn you to hell! ). I was seduced by the slinky gorgeousness of the unit, only to be stabbed in the back by the firmware and the synch software.

The Synch software doesn't even rip for you! And once you've transfered a play list, it doen't even play the tracks in the correct ID3 tag order - it uses some random "aha - bet you wasn't expecting that next" method.

Needless to say it's going back - And I'm off to order a 15Gb iPod and carkit (which works out cheaper as well!)

Ho Hum....

 

Soon you shall be welcomed into the arms of the iPOD lovers group

Wasn't it quicker for you to find an iPOD in a local(ish) reseller? I travelled 200 miles to get mine because I couldn't wait

 

TBH, I didn't bother looking because all the online resellers have them on for the same price, and the only highstreet shop I know that sells them (John Lewis) has sold out and the wait would be the same. I just ordered it from the Apple site, as it was the easiest thing to do.

Besides, It's for use in the car - And that's not arriving until the end of the month / 1st week of October.

I can wait.

BTW, It's Musicmatch 8.0 that comes with it isn't it? I already have a licensed copy of that. If that's the case I can start ripping the CD collection ready, and then just synch the ipod up when I get it.

 

It's 7.5 on the cd, but then there is an ipod update, I don't see a problem with it not working with 8.0

Rip all your albums, and as you rip use the "Supper Tagging" to rename the files themselves, so your songs are

title - artist.mp3, it's not needed, but it makes your folders a lot easier! Then save each CD as a playlist (do all this before you get the ipod to save time!!!) If you have the window in "View By Album" you can just right click on the album and click "Add To Playlist window" then save it as the album name, it then makes playing albums through the iPOD a lot easier.. and more importantly, in order!!!

Even if you dont playlist your songs you can acctually browse via artist/album/genre etc etc, but a playlist is so much better

I'm sure you'll pick it up dude I love Musicmatch, so much better than winamp.