sonicjai

Hey guys... I just bought an iPod mini and its awesome. I currently have a Alpine 9827 on the car and was wondering instead of getting a wireless transmitter or other routes of installation that cost over $100 to get the iPod working on the car, can't I just buy this cable and run it on the back of my radio and plug the headphone back into my ipod and call it a day?




Monster

TriaXenginE

why don't you just get the ipod interface from Alpine? You can control the ipod via the head unit and it charges the ipod while you drive too.

TriaXenginE

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BlueDevil34

Yes, that wire will work great. I did the same thing with my Alpine in my Civic, and it was fantastic. I'd suggest combining it with this charger:

http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage...duct_Id=149006#

The charger has a 3.5mm jack in the base, you can run the audio cable (you may want a longer cable, but they're easy to find) behind the head unit out and under the console cover to the power outlet. That way, you only have one cable running from the charger to your ipod which handles both power and audio. The charger then feeds out the audio to the headunit with minimal wire clutter.

Your head unit is AiNet compatible, so the ipod car connection kit is an option. While you gain the ability to control the ipod through the head unit, you lose the ability to control the ipod directly. I have no first hand experience, but the headunit navigation is reportedly klunky and slow, so bear that in mind. The advantage is that you can hide the ipod away completely and have only one wire to deal with total.

I'd recommend the first option myself, but definitely test out the ainet interface if you can to see if you like it. If you like it, you have a very elegant solution with one wire for less than $100.

It sounds like you've ruled out the other options, such as wireless transmitters (which suck) and more expensive solutions like the Neo ion. I love the ion because you get basic headunit controls and keep your ipod controls too, but having the best of both worlds will cost you $200. The Y-splitter and belkin charger will cost you less than $50 and will sound great.

Good luck!

eepr5

from what i can find, the 9827 does NOT come with an aux input standard. you need one of these http://www.crutchfield.com/S-QDjIofdmNxt/c...00&I=469ALPAIRC to connect to the ai-net plug to get aux in.

as for ipod compatibility, I think its the 9825 and up for '04 models and 984(?) and up for '05 models.

i've been using the aux in being fed off the line level feed of the belkin car plug for audio through my 7894 (its too old for ipod box, gonna upgrade) it works very good (much better than just using the headphone port, don't have to worry about volume) but can be a pain when you want to change songs and have to find where the ipod has moved, esp at night.

walkabt

I have the Belkin charger and the Monster ULPCC - the Belkin's built in amplifier really messes with the ipod sound. To me the Monster ULPCC sounds much more like my ipod connected to my home stereo - but the jack is at the base of the dock connector, not at the power end, so you have to run a second cable.

I use the Belkin to charge in another vehicle that can only use the cassette adaptor - you have to plug the cassette adaptor into the headphone jack.

romduck

In addition to chargin the iPod while it is on-board, the Alpine iPod connector, like the other connectos that attach to the BOTTOM of the iPod (instead of hooking in to the mini-phone jack on the TOP) receive a much better signal. This is especially important if you have music that uses the apple lossless encoding (CD quality music) or AAC or other high quality file format.

Even if you have high quality MP3s on your iPod you will probably notice a significant difference.

On the other hand, the monstercable or radioshack method is very quick, simple and inexpensive.

-Rom

NFRs2000NYC

I am doing an IPOD install, and am doing a step by step writeup on how to do it. Ive been working with KNUKONCEPTZ to make a new line of wiring specifically for IPODS. It should be out shortly.

If you want to use that wire, YOU HAVE TO USE THE DOCK!

If you plug it into the IPOD headphones jack, you send the sound through the IPOD processor, and the EQ in the IPOD wil fight with the EQ in your headunit, resulting in no bass, and messed up everything else. Wait a few more days, an Ill have a great how-to on this issue.

Also, I gave the alpine interface a whirl, it was.....

*slow
*terrible if you use your IPOD outside your car.

eepr5

I can live with slow (assuming menus, name update, etc) but please explain why its terrible if you use the IPOD outside of the car? I have no intention of leaving it in the car, also use it at home and work constantly.

NFRs2000NYC

Ipods are 20 gig and 40 gig. The ALpine headunit displays are made to recognize a large CDR, which is 700mb. Which means, the Alpine can only display about 700mb of songs. To go around that, you need to make playlists for each letter. Meaning, a playlist no larger than 700mb for "A", "B", and so on. This makes it annoying as hell when you are just listening to your IPOD out of the car. I like my way better, its faster, and easy to update and such. I hop in the car, stick the pod into the dock, and 10000 songs at my disposal. No wires, no crappy sound, no need for 600 bucks worth of equipment.

This is just my opinion. Im sure others love it.