Installing an auxillary jack in a 2001 Sunfire with as little hurt as possible.

Bryse Eayo

I currently own a 2001 Sunfire and I want to find some way of playing my iPod through the speakers. I know that the 'easiest' way would be to simply replace the entire deck, but I simply have no urge to spend that much money.

Is there any hope?

the cheat

actually the easiest way is to get a radio tuner thing. they plug into your ipod and send out an fm signal for your car to pick up. but uh, i heard they aren't that great. they aren't that expensive either so. give it a try, i guess. you could always take it back.

Improvolone

You can get a new headunit installed with an AUX in for about $100 or less (probably).
You don't have a casette deck, do you?

Crashtard

If you buy a good fm transmitter they work pretty well. Doesn't make your ipod that mobile in the car, but oh well.

the cheat

Crashtard wrote: »

If you buy a good fm transmitter they work pretty well. Doesn't make your ipod that mobile in the car, but oh well.

maybe you should recommend one, because i have heard nothing but "they are garbage."

Bryse Eayo

Nah no cassette player. And I've edited the OP from dash to deck so I don't sound like such a retard.

Yeah if there is anyone with experience with FM transmitters please elaborate.

ProPatriaMori

I had an old one that I ended up hating because it had some special MP3 files it used to change bands. Since I set my iPod to shuffle everything, that just didn't work for me. I hardly ever used it.

So, if you do get one, make sure you can at least set the transmitting band with some buttons on the unit itself.

Wezoin

I usually don't recommed buying Monster products because usually they are overpriced bullshit, HOWEVER. I went to Futureshop and spent $60 on a Belkin fm tuner, used it for a couple days, sounded like absolute crap. So I figured I'd try the Monster one, it really sounds alot better. Bassically, because it draws power from your car's battery it can send out a more powerful signal, is how the sales guy explained it to me. This may or may not be bullshit but you really can hear the difference (no fuzzies)

I mean, if you get into an area with another radio station broadcasting on the same frequency you get cut off, but you can change the frequency fairly easily and get it all working again.

Also, the monster one is like $110 Canadian or something like that. I'm just saying, it is a decent option if you have the cash.

Pheezer

The monster one actually isn't too good. None of them are fantastic, but there's no reason to spend that much, you're gaining no ground. I know for a fact that my $10 solution works better than the Monster product. But it also depends on the vehicle. My car? Shit reception 'cuz the antenna is way at the back. My dad's SUV? Great reception, the antenna is upfront.

Crashtard

I know someone that has the ipod brand one (Yes, evil ipod). It works pretty well as long as it has a clear line to the radio.

wasted pixels

The girlfriend and I use a Belkin TuneCast II to hook up her Sansa during long trips. It works great, we just toss the MP3 player and the transmitter in the arm rest compartment, and we never have any reception issues. It can run on either batteries or a car adapter, and it has an auto-off feature. I think I paid $20 for it, so it's a pretty affordable solution, too.

Daenris

I have some generic $12 fm tuner that works fine. It has a switch selector to switch between 88.1, 88.3, 88.5, and 88.7 in case of interference.

Extending the length of the antenna on these FM transmitters can also increase the signal quality, and many of them have the antenna coupled with the stereo plug. I opened mine up quickly to ensure that this was the case, and then just hooked it up through a longer stereo cable and got a stronger signal that is stable unless there's a very clear and close radio station on the frequency I'm on.