By ben gott on Friday, June 15, 2001 - 12:19 am: Edit

I know, they aren't as fun as racks and sliders but i am wondering.....

Is there any way to take the head unit out and tinker a way to have a 'line-in' say when you press 'am' or something? I know it's a bit far fetched but then you could have digital quality and plug in anythign you wanted too.. 2-ways.. whatever..

anybody got any ideas? or understand what im saying here?

thanks, ben

By MTB on Friday, June 15, 2001 - 12:46 am: Edit

Ben
Man my brain is still spinning
I assume when you say having a line in you mean that when you plug something into it and press AM that you would be able to use a 2way radio or what ever and you would be able to hear it over your speakers. If so I would think you are going to give yourself a major PITA I would think that if you tap into the am you will have to mess with the circiut board and how you would stop the AM from broadcasting is beyond me.
What kind of outlet were you planning to use if you were planning to use a cigarette lighter outlet than I would run one off your fuse box and have a seperate power point. (like Chevy has)
Good Luck.

Michael B

By ben gott on Friday, June 15, 2001 - 09:28 am: Edit

Yeah, i am thinking messing with the actual circuit board would be needed.. I think if i can find a really cheap used head unit i might buy it just to play with it.. I ised to do audio circuit stuff with a friend, its worth a shot..

if any one else has ideas..

thanks, ben

By Axel Haakonsen (Axel) on Friday, June 15, 2001 - 09:32 am: Edit

I don't see why you wouldn't be able to tap in somewhere between the tuner and the amplifier circuits, it should be possible in theory at least...

By Ron on Friday, June 15, 2001 - 09:39 am: Edit

The way to do it would be with an FM modulator like a CD player has. You would loose some sound quality but given the source (a CB etc) I doubt it would be noticeable.

Ron

This way no muss no fuss and the next owner won't curse your name

By Axel Haakonsen (Axel) on Friday, June 15, 2001 - 11:17 am: Edit

Yeah, I know an FM modulator is the easy way to do it, (I have one myself, and it works ok). But the original question was if it is possible to add a line input to a head unit, and that should be possible, at least in theory for someone with the appropriate electronic knowledge.
Whether it's worthwhile or not is another question alltogether.....

By Russ Perry on Friday, June 15, 2001 - 11:21 am: Edit

Hold on a sec...I've been thinking about this one too. I think a more prudent possibility would be to work out a way to switch between the CD changer and another line input. Some sort of switchbox, I guess. I don't know enough about the CD changer's DIN configuration to put one together at the moment, but I did it for my old car.

In that case, the head unit manufacturer was Clarion. I called them, and one of their engineers sent me the pin config. I set up a cable using parts from Radio Shack. I had to send a 12V feed through the cable along with +/- for each audio channel, but it worked like a charm! (I rigged a switch to toggle the 12V power from the battery. That way I could turn OFF the "CD" and get back to my FM / cassette head unit...)

Any thoughts? Any idea who builds the LR head units? (Harmon Kardon?)

-Russ

By Jon Williams (Jonw) on Friday, June 15, 2001 - 12:23 pm: Edit

It's a Pioneer head unit, up to '98 I know. The Harmon Kardon system appeared in the SII. That's about all I can tell ya...

By Leslie on Friday, June 15, 2001 - 12:38 pm: Edit

HK was optional on Series I's, but most were Pioneer.

-L

By L_Tilly on Friday, June 15, 2001 - 12:50 pm: Edit

If you're willing to look for a new headunit, there are some out there that will have an AUX input. Usually a stereo pair of RCA input jacks, located in the back. These are hard to find, and usually only on higher-end models, such as you might use for car audio competition. It lets you hook in your VCR or DVD player so that you can listen through your stereo system...and you thought off-roader's had all the fun, expensive toys. ;-)

Unfortunately, I can't offer up specific models to check. I used to be big into following the mobile audio news, but haven't kept up on it much for about five years. My suggestion would be to contact a serious car stereo install shop (NOT Best Buy, etc.) and talk to a rep there. You'll know pretty quick if they are clueless. Best of luck!

L_Tilly lnctilly@mediaone.net
96 Disco "Beowulf" - USA, NH