[condor]

You could tell them that you will soon be their customer twice over. They cant treat you like that !

[navin]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

Integrated Alpine HU with some speakers and a sub and an Alpine CD changer in the boot.
HU has 4 modes - Tuner, CD, Tape and Phone. I dont need the tape. Actually, dont need the CD changer either.
Got the HK Drive+Play..transmitting thru FM.
Cannot connect the Drive+Play to the CD-in as the CD input and connectors are all Optical.

Question - if I wire the Audio Out from the Drive plus play to a cassette adapter and somehow figure out of way to send the wires through the insides (so they wont be dangling out of the Tape loader) - will the sound quality be better?
1. iPod connected to HK Drive + Play
2. Drive + Play audio Out connected to a cassette Tape adapter.
3. Tape adapter pushed into HU in a way that it cant be removed.
is this good or do I have any other option?

1. The cassette adpater is better than FM but has it's own set of problems. remember that the cassette adapter makes contact with the head of the cassette deck and that signal is in uV (yes micro volts).

2. Can you open the HU? If you can see if you can trace the tape head amp (it might be a TDA 1522 or 1523) and insert the signal after that amp. The 1522 is usually used and it would be a SIL chip.

3. I assume you need the phone input.

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by navin

2. Can you open the HU? If you can see if you can trace the tape head amp (it might be a TDA 1522 or 1523) and insert the signal after that amp. The 1522 is usually used and it would be a SIL chip.

Okay that sounds like a plan. Let me check with my installer.

Originally Posted by navin

3. I assume you need the phone input.

Yes I do need the phone input. I find it indispensible.

[low_bass_makker]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

Wire wont come out of tape slot - my installer said he can push the wire in between the HU and the faceplate so it goes through un-noticed.

Ok that is nice. Try connecting the HK to the HU in that way externally see that you like the sound. If yes go for it.

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by low_bass_makker

Ok that is nice. Try connecting the HK to the HU in that way externally see that you like the sound. If yes go for it.

No can do. The sound is lousy, so I guess I'll go and buy the Aux In adapter suggested by Ajmat. Should be here in about 7 days.

[low_bass_makker]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

No can do. The sound is lousy, so I guess I'll go and buy the Aux In adapter suggested by Ajmat. Should be here in about 7 days.

That is bad news then go for the Adapter thing. It will be the best option.

[Steeroid]

Finally bought this:
Connects2 Jaguar iPod Connector

The product suggested by Ajmat (Dension ICE Gateway 100) would have been perfect + it has a CD retention kit which means you can use the CD changer port for the IPOD, yet retain your CD Changer with a y-connector. However it was available only in some UK online stores, and none of them shipped outside the EU. I did try and tell them that I am willing to bear the full cost of shipping, but they were unwilling.

So much for fortress Europe.

[nishantgandhi]

Originally Posted by hydrashok

Steer, does your HU take input from a CD Changer? (You'd mentioned looking for CD Changers). If it does, then there maybe some way of getting the iPod output adapted to the CD Changer input.

In fact most of the proprietary iPod interface solutions of manufacturers (eg. Blau) plug into the CD Changer input of the HU, ruining your option of using a CD Changer also (one of the reasons I did not spring for an iPod interface for my Blau Casablanca, after paying 15K for a Blau CD Changer).

@hydrashok - Isnt it easier to connect an iPod through the AUX-IN from the back of the HU? I think the connector costs INR 600 for the Blau

[Steeroid]

I finally think I have a solution, made up of two ebay purchases:

1. I bought a Jaguar CD player headunit from ebay UK since I wanted to retain my CD-playing capability. The original HU on my car had a cassette player with a CD changer in the boot. All iPod/MP3 playing solutions involved a connector to the CD changer socket, so it meant I would lose the ability to play CDs.

To take care of this I bought THIS off ebay:



This reached Dubai today.

2. All Ipod interfaces I saw on the net were very complicated and involved iPod control thru the HU, which I didnt really need as I prefer using the HK Drive+play interface. So I searched for and found a simple connector on ebay. I'm getting a modified version of THIS that features a 3.5 headphone connector in place of the iPod connection:



This will be here in a couple of days and I will connect it to the CD Changer socket on the new HU. So I can play CDs off the HU and still stay connected to the iPod.

Very complicated, I know - but this was the best possible solution.

Thank you all for your suggestions!