Stereo location

er, it goes in the dash...

Ok, it sounds like a silly question but hear me out.

A176 came with an after market CD player fitted with an aux socket that allows my to play the iphone/DAB radio while hooning about. It works a treat but is an eyesore in the standard dashboard. I have since sourced a stock Voxsan radio which I want to fit in it place, which will calm down my ocd, but doesn't have the AUX socket.

So, my idea was the fit but not wire up the Voxsan, giving the dash a much more correct appearance, and fit the modern head unit somewhere discreet (but able to reach from the drivers seat) and wired to the speakers to allow me to use the aux capability as I currently do.

But finding somewhere in an X1/9 cockpit that will hold a modern head unit AND can be reached from the driver seat while driving is not that easy. The glovebox is too shallow, the fuse box location means the head unit can't be fitted under the glovebox, there is very little to attach anything too under the dash above the drivers right knee. My only real idea is to fit it on it's side against the drivers side kick panel (next to where my right ankle will be whilst driving). Not sure you can play CDs with it in the this position though.

Any idea's? Just wondered of anyone else had tried this.

You could consider fixing it to the bulkhead between the two seats on top of the tunnel. However, you would need to make sure you positioned it so that you could still get at the spare wheel.

If you're using the aux socket then you've embraced the future! Ditch the whole idea of in car cds- use the aux exclusively and that way you can fit a tiny amplifier unit because without the physical size needed to play cds you'll be able to fit it anywhere.

Or, plan B, take the guts out of the original and fit a modern amp inside it with a discreet aux socket mounted remotely.

You can solder an aux cable on to the tape circuit inside the Voxan unit. I have done this to the old Phillips tape player in my X1/9. The quality is really good - much better than one of the cassette tape adapter things as the signal doesn't go through the tape heads. It's also a lot better quality than the radio transmitter gadgets I have tried. I have run the aux cable down behind the dash and leave it between the seats for an Ipod.It is only let down by the original small and shallow 80s Kenwood speakers.

The first time I tried this the input had too much gain and was a bit crackly but my Father added some RESISTORS and it now works brilliantly. I can confirm the components that were added hopefully.

The aux cable is the white and red wires in the photo:



To activate the Aux cable you need to insert an empty/gutted cassette which I think is pretty cool as it looks like you have put a cassette on! The original cassette playing function will still work (if it does still work) and the radio will also work as intended. Plus you get any cool retro lights from the Voxan to go with the original period dashboard.

There will probably be companies who will do this mod for you. To find the correct pins on the board you can hook up a speaker and power indoors. Strip the wires on the aux cable and touch them to the pins you think run from the cassette inputs and you should hear your device playing amplified through the old unit.

I think the excessive gain is the only tricky issue.

We think it was something like a 9 Ohm resistor connecting the aux cable to the amp input and another 1 Ohm which connects the amp input to ground. So you need 4 resistors in total. I am not sure if these are the correct values. I'm not a master electrical guru myself unfortunately.

They could be 9K MicroOhms or 9 Ohms(9k MilliOhms)?

I take no responsibility for any damaged equipment

Andy Rowley wrote: You could consider fixing it to the bulkhead between the two seats on top of the tunnel. However, you would need to make sure you positioned it so that you could still get at the spare wheel.

Hi Andy, I thought about that but I'm not sure how discreet it would be. On reflection, I could fit it IN the spare wheel well, ditch the spare in favour of a can of tyre weld, and control the volume via the iPhone. That would work.

Andrew Sinclair wrote: If you're using the aux socket then you've embraced the future! Ditch the whole idea of in car cds- use the aux exclusively and that way you can fit a tiny amplifier unit because without the physical size needed to play cds you'll be able to fit it anywhere.

Or, plan B, take the guts out of the original and fit a modern amp inside it with a discreet aux socket mounted remotely.

Ha, future embraced, solid state music is the way ahead! By tiny amplifier, do you mean instead of the modern stereo unit I currently have?
I did also think about swapping the guts of the two units & having the aux socket on a cable somewhere discreet.

Jeremy wrote: You can solder an aux cable on to the tape circuit inside the Voxan unit. I have done this to the old Phillips tape player in my X1/9. The quality is really good - much better than one of the cassette tape adapter things as the signal doesn't go through the tape heads. It's also a lot better quality than the radio transmitter gadgets I have tried. I have run the aux cable down behind the dash and leave it between the seats for an Ipod.It is only let down by the original small and shallow 80s Kenwood speakers.

The first time I tried this the input had too much gain and was a bit crackly but my Father added some RESISTORS and it now works brilliantly. I can confirm the components that were added hopefully.

The aux cable is the white and red wires in the photo:

To activate the Aux cable you need to insert an empty/gutted cassette which I think is pretty cool as it looks like you have put a cassette on! The original cassette playing function will still work (if it does still work) and the radio will also work as intended. Plus you get any cool retro lights from the Voxan to go with the original period dashboard.

There will probably be companies who will do this mod for you. To find the correct pins on the board you can hook up a speaker and power indoors. Strip the wires on the aux cable and touch them to the pins you think run from the cassette inputs and you should hear your device playing amplified through the old unit.

I think the excessive gain is the only tricky issue.

We think it was something like a 9 Ohm resistor connecting the aux cable to the amp input and another 1 Ohm which connects the amp input to ground. So you need 4 resistors in total. I am not sure if these are the correct values. I'm not a master electrical guru myself unfortunately.

They could be 9K MicroOhms or 9 Ohms(9k MilliOhms)?

I take no responsibility for any damaged equipment

This is why I love the internet. 10/10, star pupil. Although I do hold you SOLEY responsible for the car fire I'm about to start by accident
Only question I have, my Voxson is a radio only, it doesn't have the cassette function, but I bet something could be done inside it.

Jeremy, that is pure genius! I love it!
Hywel, yes, I did mean instead of your current unit. As for you using Jeremy's idea on your Voxson, I'm sure it could be done but only cost effectively if you figure it out yourself... Tricky. You'd have to access the amp inputs and figure out how to disable the radio because at the moment as soon as you power on the unit the radio is on... but to pay a pro to do the job would cost more than a new amp which would sound waaaaay better...

Andrew Sinclair wrote: Jeremy, that is pure genius! I love it!
Hywel, yes, I did mean instead of your current unit. As for you using Jeremy's idea on your Voxson, I'm sure it could be done but only cost effectively if you figure it out yourself... Tricky. You'd have to access the amp inputs and figure out how to disable the radio because at the moment as soon as you power on the unit the radio is on... but to pay a pro to do the job would cost more than a new amp which would sound waaaaay better...

Sorry to be thick, but what do you mean by "new amp"? Do they have a name so I can start googling for one?

From what you have said (I think!), you are refering to a small, separate 12volt audio unit that can be fitted discreetly out of sight, wired in and has an aux socket which will allow me to plug my iphone/ipod in? That's exactly what I want!!

do you mean one of these?

gromaudio.com/store/usb_adapters/audi_98...gration_adapter.html

I was meaning something like this:



You could mount this out of sight somewhere, with a flying lead to connect into your ipod. Or option 2, wire the lead to a discreet socket drilled into the dash somewhere (a 3.5mm jack is very tiny so wouldn't be obvious), or even into the Voxson's front panel (haven't seen one so I don't know if there's space), or option 3, which is to remove the insides of the Voxson completely and fit a board like this into it.
Amp boards like these don't have any volume or eq controls usually, but you'll have all that on your ipod, and if you wanted to you could connect a potentiometer for controlling volume to the board.
You could even mount the volume control in the Voxson's front panel so it would look like it was in use

If it was me though, I'd ditch the Voxson and fit something like this:

www.classiccarstereo.co.uk/