Agile Tortoise
Greg Pierce’s blog
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Factory car stereos are weird
I’ve been trying to figure out what I need to be able to hook up my iPod directly into my car stereo. Turns out this is more complex than I thought. I have a 2001 Chevy Tahoe, with a “premium” sound system which consists of 6 speakers and a subwoofer and a single CD/AM-FM head. It’s not spectacular, but it’s adequate and it has a button labelled “AUX” on it — so I thought it would be really simple to wire in the leads for the iPod.
Turns out this is a little more complex and requires a special after-market powered wiring harness that imitates the feed from the cassette and/or CD-changer that were options in the truck. This is an $80 piece which I would probably have to have professionally installed (around $60).
If I was going to spend that much, I thought I’d look at the option of replacing the whole head with another that would also support MP3-CD playback. I could do this, but it gets a bit weird because the built-in stereo has a factory amplifier that powers the speakers in the rear doors and sub separately from the head’s amp which powers the front and far rear speakers. And, a new head would have higher wattage and run the risk of blowing out my speakers.
And, yes, I’ve tried FM-Transmitters and they are completely useless in the Greater Dallas/Fort Worth metro-mess due to interference. Plus, I don’t think they sound all that great. I guess I’ll be breaking down and getting the wiring harness installed for my existing stereo.
