DenCon509 Posted January 17, 2014 Posted January 17, 2014 I did this on my '04 Forester a few years ago; yesterday was my son's car's turn. I couldn't find any evidence of this being done on the internet, but I followed a hunch - just tap into the CD audio outputs, upstream of the amp (shared space with cassette/tuner). His '97 LGT has the factory cassette/single-CD radio. I cut off one end of a standard stereo speaker cord (used for computer speakers) and soldered it to the 13-pin female connector (behind the amplifier module. Here's the wiring diagram: http://www.surrealmirage.com/vrg3/bcstereo/ I soldered the cable ground to the connector chassis itself (took a little flux to get good flow) - but I suspect any ground will do - and soldered the L & R wires to the appropriate metal runs poking out of the back of the connector; everything is easy to access. The only trick was finding a neat way to route the cable through the radio chassis. I tied a knot inside to prevent pulling the cable through from the outside. The cable emerges from the cassette door; I might punch a hole in the front lower left corner for the wire to make it neater (and retain cassette functionality ) Hint: don't strip/tin your wires until after you have pulled the cable through. I burned a 1:10 audio CD of silence, which "plays" while listening to music from the iPod, phone, etc. Works great!
spooln30 Posted January 18, 2014 Posted January 18, 2014 No disrespect but why not just spend the $75-100 and get a nice head unit? For this price you can find Pioneer units with USB and Aux ports. A few years back I got a digital media Pioneer single din head unit for $235 shipped. It, at the time was their best single din deck and has USB, Aux, SD card ports. Along with Bluetooth and a 3"x4.5" (size of iPhone screen) LCD screen for viewing slideshows, pics or even watching movies, yes movies. It's really clear for such a small screen. It can also change the screen and overall colors to practically any color. It's set on green and a perfect match of my LGT dash lights. Sorry for blabbing on. I just really like this unit.
Stevo F Posted January 18, 2014 Posted January 18, 2014 I replaced my factory cassette with a decent Kenwood for $75 which has the AUX anjack and USB port (I think most units do nowadays). I'd replace the stock unit unless you want to keep functionality for cassettes.
Zues Marine Posted January 18, 2014 Posted January 18, 2014 i have an OEM cassette player with the cassette to aux cord.. works great, $4
DenCon509 Posted January 19, 2014 Author Posted January 19, 2014 No offense taken. Simply, I don't have the funds for a new head unit. Secondly, nobody wants to steal a factory stereo - reduced theft/breakin risk. Besides costing me nothing, it was fun to figure it out and have it work perfectly - my son is stoked! No disrespect but why not just spend the $75-100 and get a nice head unit? For this price you can find Pioneer units with USB and Aux ports. A few years back I got a digital media Pioneer single din head unit for $235 shipped. It, at the time was their best single din deck and has USB, Aux, SD card ports. Along with Bluetooth and a 3"x4.5" (size of iPhone screen) LCD screen for viewing slideshows, pics or even watching movies, yes movies. It's really clear for such a small screen. It can also change the screen and overall colors to practically any color. It's set on green and a perfect match of my LGT dash lights. Sorry for blabbing on. I just really like this unit.
Stang70Fastback Posted January 19, 2014 Posted January 19, 2014 It's definitely a good upgrade if you don't want to spend any money!
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