I've seen this question asked before here, but, since the '06 has been out for a while, I figure I'd ask it again. Has anyone looked at the '05 OEM stereo and compared it to the '06 OEM stereo to see if it's possible to outfit the '05 with an AUX-in like the '06 has? Does the '06 have an entirely new stereo? Or does it just have something plugged into it that the '05 doesn't? More broadly, what do people think about the best solution is for playing music on a digital music player (i.e. an iPod) on the '04 or '05 stereo. As far as I know, if you can't outfit the '05 with the '06 AUX-in, then there are 3 options: 1. VAIS product that connects the iPod to the stereo (~$225 on group buy). 2. FM transmitter that doesn't attach to the car antenna (~$20 at local electronics store). 3. FM transmitter that does attach to the car antenna ($??? at ???). I have #2, am not that thrilled with it, and am not so keen to shell out the $200+ for the VAIS product. Has anyone installed the antenna-attaching FM transmitter? How happy are you with it? Where did you get it, and about how much did it cost?
I'd like to know too. Currently I use an FM transmitter, but I also can use a cassette adapter. Pioneer recommened that for the AirWare, but they also mention a wired FM transmitter. Alas they don't have one for sale.
You can get this (see image) at best buy. I have seen images of the back of non jbl unit on this site that appear to show a standard antenna hole in the back of radio. Not sure about a preamp antenna issue also mentioned on this site. I also have been wondering if this will work as a better solution to the over the air fm solution. [attachmentid=2345]
There are several devices out there that will hijack the CD player's AUX audio input. I think that's how the Dension Ice works too, but there website gives so little technical info. But, here's some other ones I ran into last night: Logjam
I am surprised that somebody has had success with the FM transmitter. I bought one from CC Crane and tried it in my Camry, (the other car). With fresh batteries, I had to position it just so. To use it all day, I had to either keep changeing the batteries in the transmitter, or run another wire from the 12v outlet. My sound quality was not CD quality. More like distant-edge-of-reception radio quality.
Well, I have the Pioneer xm2go portable XM, which has a built-in FM transmitter. During my normal commute it works fine (I'm not that much of an audiophile), but on trips I need to use the cassette adapter.
Thanks, in theory that would work better, but it would plug into the car mount (it's a portable XM radio) where the cassette adapter would plug into. The adapter has a stereo plug while these have a monoral plug. I could get an adapter to convert it, but there's no guarantee it would work.
Agreed. That plug looks suspiciously like a Mono plug. I'm willing to make some sacrifices for sound, but I'd like to have stereo.
It's not mono...it is a direct feed for the fm signal to the head unit...rather than going over the air...has anyone tried it...to the prius headunit...i read a post that the open antenna input on the back of the prius headunit was not a normal input...not sure why it is even there... if this works it would better than no direct connection at all...and it's 20 bucks.
The problem is that the miniplug (i.e. the thing that would plug into the iPod) is a mono miniplug, I think. Maybe this is some technology that I'm unaware of, but usually plugs with just one dark band on them (like this one) are mono plugs. Even if this is some sort of weird satellite radio "stereo" hookup, I don't think it'd work for stereo with an iPod. . . This adapter, on the other hand, looks very promising. Does anyone know if the Prius has a "standard" antenna input?
I used a wired FM modulator in my prius for a while. Got it at Walmart for about 20 bucks. It was WAY better then a wireless modulator, but nowhere near as good as CD. I also found it better then tape adapters. I can be installed with minor dash disasasembly. I took out off the right passenger vent, lower glove box, and left passenger vent. The there is a computer box held in by one screw. It can be wiggled out of the way. There is then plenty of access to the back of the radio. On my car (with the JBL system) the radio antena was way over on the driver side. It was a reach, but it worked. I think my particullar unit was bad, as it started to act very poorly when cold. Another thing you might want to look into is the auxbox. It plugs into the cd-changer port on the back of the radio and provides very clear sound. If you have the 6-disk in dash radio, it won't allow you to switch between the cd-s and the aux in. Once the aux in is active, the only wayt to get your cd's back is to power cycle the car. It is supposed to work very well with the 1-cd radios. It costs more then the wired modulator, but not as much as the soundlinq.
do you have a link for the auxbox...sounds like it would work with an ipod along with the sat in through the antenna. if i pull the head unit i can do both at once...is it the one Betelgeuse is showing? Sirius will never sound as good as cd. to much compression. better than fm though. thanks hawkjm73
So, I'm leaning toward the wired FM modulator that I found (and posted about higher up in this thread). Does anyone know for sure if the standard (i.e. non-JBL stereo) has a "normal" antenna input (i.e one that will work with this modulator)?
You could be right on this one. The connector shown is for the FM. I saw one at Fry's where the connector was mono. Still need to look. I have the cassette adapter to fall back on, but that just looks bad.
oh, i missed this one. we looked... and looked... and looked... and found it would be insanely difficult and expensive. the only way to do it in the JBL premium sound set is by hijacking the tape player, and we don't want to void our stereo warranty on a $4k unit. we got the harmon/kardon drive+play for the ipod ($200 i think) with a wired FM transmitter from best buy (about $50). works fine, but definitely NOT cd quality.
So, galaxee, does this mean that the JBL system does NOT have a standard antenna hook-up? Funny; the Crutchfield site was promising to give me instructions on how to install the FM modulator on the JBL stereo, but not on the standard (non-premium) stereo. So, do you (or your DH) know if the standard (non-JBL) stereo has the type of antenna hookup that would work for one of these (wired) FM modulators? I'm almost interested enough to disassemble our dash and look. Almost.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Betelgeuse @ Mar 1 2006, 05:55 PM) [snapback]218682[/snapback]</div> So, what did you end up doing, Betelgeuse? I'm trying to decide between wireless and wired FM transmitter/modulator, and I want to make sure I have all necessary information before I make the decision... Thanks!
