Replacing Car CD Player with one that has aux in

[Krynn72]

So probably like 8 or so years ago I had someone add a CD player to my 1993 Buick Regal. They removed the cassette deck and big ugly black box with the interface stuck on to it. The "faceplate" part pops out so you can hide it/ take it inside so it doesn't get stolen. It doesn't have an AUX-IN port though, and I'm getting real ****in' sick of burning CDs. So I want to replace it with one that has an aux input. I dont know anything about these though, so does anybody know if I can just buy a new "faceplate" thing and plug it in to the big ugly box? Or are they not universal, and changing one requires changing a lot of shit?


Help me cartime2.net.

EDIT: Nevermind, you can't. **** it, I'll deal with the shitty cds.

 

[TechnoHippyChic]

I guess yours doesn't play mp3's?

 

[Viperidae]

There's several ways you can rectify this without spending a lot of cash.

But you're just not di(rt)y enough.

 

[Krynn72]

Nope. After the last major repair to the car a few weeks ago, I'm sick of doing things with it. I looked up how to install FM modulators and such, and it seems easy enough but I just dont give enough of a **** to spend $50 AND have to do work. I mean, you want me to do TWO things? Come on.

 

[TechnoHippyChic]

You could do what I had to resort to after someone stole my faceplate (yes, just the faceplate) - listen through a mono bluetooth headset. On a recent drive I could have sworn I copied over a cool album to listen to, but I guess not. I was left with the default music, or maybe it was the previous owner's. It was apparently designed to make people veer off into oncoming traffic...

 

[evil^milk]

I miss driving and listening to music. My car had an old stereo with a cassette player which you could hook up to an mp3 player. This didn't do wonders for the listening quality, but it still made driving a lot more pleasant.

Anyway, you could still do CDs if you can't be bothered to replace your car stereo. But $50 and a little bit of work doesn't sound all that bad if you're still going to be driving and listening to music. I wouldn't want to put up with needing to burn CD's or continuously re-burning a CD-RW to listen to new music. Bottom line: one-time maintenance + cost of installment > burning CD's + being shitty.

 

[sinkoman]

Nope. After the last major repair to the car a few weeks ago, I'm sick of doing things with it. I looked up how to install FM modulators and such, and it seems easy enough but I just dont give enough of a **** to spend $50 AND have to do work. I mean, you want me to do TWO things? Come on.

Instead of using an FM transmitter, you should try integrate something like these into your dash:

http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9612
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=310-300&utm_source=googleps

Just hook a mini jack up to the inputs, and then splice the outputs to the L/R outputs on your deck. The only problem I immediately see is that you'd have to use the volume control(s) on the board whenever you were using it, but the quality should be way better than an FM dongle.

 

[Hectic Glenn]

I did the same you you want to do about a year ago. My old faceplate didn't have AUX in but my friend had a similar sony faceplate to mine which I tried to use instead. Manufacturers seem to intentionally move plastic clips and the positioning of the connector to prevent you just getting a new faceplate and not replace the main unit built into the car dash.

I was bought a new one in a sale for my birthday with an aux adapter, they don't cost the earth anymore. You get these weird metal bars which go down the sides of the player to release the catches hidden at the back. You need the exact model / make of the player because you need the specific metal bars for the job.

One really simple work around, if you still have one, is the cassette aux adapter which is a pretty strange invention but it's really cheap and works great. Fools the player into thinking it's playing a cassette, which isn't real - it has an AUX in connector which hangs out the cassette port. There is also a similar invention for CD players too, which fools the player into thinking you have an external CD changer connected. I've never used one but I believe you need to remove the player and insert a device between the player > car speakers, which also has a split off aux connector which you thread to the front of the player.

Think those are pretty much your options.