Connecting MP3 Player to Car stereo.

ST

Hi,
I have a Creative Labs Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra which I would like to connect to the factory fitted Stereo in a Mazda 6. Has anyone any experience connecting an MP3 player to a mazda stereo, or any car stereo for that matter.

Could anyone recommend a FM transmitter which would do the Job?

Thanks.

astec123

If you want quality take the radio out and see if there is an AUX port on the back, maplins sell these cables that means you just plug the player to the stereo and enjoy, its the best quality.

ST

Haven't taken stereo out, but from searching online, there isn't one unfortunately.

Scubadevils

How easy/difficult is it to take out the car stereo, or does it depend on the car? I want to do this too, using a cassette adaptor at the moment but sound can be annoying, buzzing noise at low volume.

Impurity

yeah i get the same, the only problem with that maplins fm tuner device is that my screen is broken and can't tune in stations anyway :-(

going to get a new stereo anyway, does anyone know if you can get some with a left and right audio in at the front? haven't looked yet, just being lazy

big_moe

my mate has a goodmans car stereo with an aux input in the front. its a mini jack as opposed to left and right phono connections.


moe

besty

i would love to connect my ipod to the clarion factory fitted stereo in my peugeot 206 but dont know what to do. does anyone know if there is one of these aux inputs in the back of the stereo and if so, how do you go about taking it out to connect them?

cheers

s8n

sorry to drag up an old thread, but OP, did you ever have any joy wiring the MP3 directly into the Mazda 6's stereo ?

Padwick

I was wondering about this myself. I'm not sure about other Mazda 6's but I can't take the radio out of mine, it's built into the car.

s8n

same here, so was wondering if theres a way of fitting an audio scart on somewhere to accomodate an mp3 player.

Anyone got any ideas ??

bobbyjoe

What about an itrip? They tune into your radio not sure how good they are.

s8n

have one but they can be susceptible to interference

ST*

I bought a FM Modulator from Maplins -

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?TabID=1&ModuleNo=44128&doy=21m4

You remove the Aerial lead from the back of the stereo, plug it into this unit, then plug the aerial lead from this unit into the Aerial socket on the back of the stereo. The unit has two RCA (Phono) sockets on it so I also got a 3.5mm jack to Phono lead which I use to connect my Creative Nomad MP3 player.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?criteria=L45AJ&DOY=21m4

The glove box in my Mazda 6 (03 reg) comes out easily enough (no screwdriver needed) and I could reach my hand in to the back of the stereo and remove the Aerial without much hassle.

You also need to connect a 12v DC supply to the unit. The cables feeding my Car Kit were handy so I used these.

Mine is a company car so I have just sat the Modulator in the Glove box and when I use the MP3 player the lead trails out of the glove box, and the Nomad sits nicely where the coffee cup holders are beside the handbrake.

The unit transmits on 89.1FM and another freq (88.7 I think) right where RTE Radio 1 is! However the modulator has it's own power switch, and when switched on kills RTE and transmits the Audio from the Nomad. Switch it off and you get RTE back

Audio Quality is quite good, Bass boosted a little I think, but not really noticable. It's a fairl easy solution for the Mazda, have done a lot of googling but it's not easy to get external Audio working. This can be fitted without too much dis-assembley of the dash.

This will also work with any other car stereo, the only thing that might be needed is an aerial plug adapter depending on car stereo make.

Also got Creative Car Charger for Nomad which plugs into Cig lighter so it also charges while in the car.