Plug n Play Aux-in mod for 2005 6cd radios

[fatbastard]

Damn you Jazzy! I just recieved the board and my GLI came from Crutchfield today too.....must resist the urge to install. I know I should wait for the weekend so I have plenty of daylight but it is just so tempting. I am tired of having to change the radio station constantly for hte XM

[jazzymt]

Damn you Jazzy! I just recieved the board and my GLI came from Crutchfield today too.....must resist the urge to install. I know I should wait for the weekend so I have plenty of daylight but it is just so tempting. I am tired of having to change the radio station constantly for hte XM

Bah! Don't wait. It's an easy afternoon install. I promise.

[fatbastard]

maybe I will try to get it done tomorrow on my lunch break. Might be pushing it but I should be able to get it pretty close to done.

[praedet]

Little more info on the Belkin Auto Kit

 

The sound cuts appear to be clipping due to heating issues. If your car is warmer than usual, the amp in the kit will clip at a volume where it normally would not...

 

Ted

[nicheplayer]

For those interested the PAC 3.5mm GLI is back in stock at Crutchfield

http://www.crutchfield.com/cgi-bin/prodview.asp?i=127SNI135

 

And now it's out of stock again. Sheesh. My brother in law and I were going to install two of these over the 06/10-06/11 weekend (we've already ordered our boards -- one for his 2005 Outback XT and one for my 2006 Outback Ltd.), but I'm wondering if anyone has experience with how quickly these are replenished or if there's somewhere else to get them? Is it best to stick with this brand/model, or are any likely to work just as well?

 

Thanks!

[jazzymt]

And now it's out of stock again. ...I'm wondering if anyone has experience with how quickly these are replenished or if there's somewhere else to get them? Is it best to stick with this brand/model, or are any likely to work just as well?

The PAC GLI is a good brand because it has uneven windings (1.3:1) that provides some gain to your audio signal to offset the loss of going through a passive transformer. On the other hand, I'm not sure if anyone could tell the difference between one GLI or another, especially in a car stereo.

 

I dunno why someone else doesn't make a GLI with 1/8" connections, but PAC seems to be the only one that really does this and even THEY make that only as a special item for Crutchfield. If you go to their website, you won't even find an 1/8" GLI. Likely, someone is modding the RCA GLI in their basement and selling them through Crutchfield for a %20 markup...hrm...

 

Anyway, you could be in for a long wait...Crutchfield sometimes backorders them for 3-4 weeks, extending the backorder one week at a time. You might be better off just going to wally world and getting the components (including the RCA GLI) to do it yourself, especially if you're trying to plan a specific install day soon.

[fatbastard]

It was out of stock at Crutchfield for several weeks, someone earlier posted about this one though. It is a little more money but if that is what you want you can get it http://www.electricalconnection.com/audio/noise-filters.htm

[foghat]

Little more info on the Belkin Auto Kit

 

The sound cuts appear to be clipping due to heating issues. If your car is warmer than usual, the amp in the kit will clip at a volume where it normally would not...

 

Ted

 

You are correct the belkin unit heats up and shuts down but with a little work you can stop it.

 

I was sick of the cutting out so I took the Belkin apart (old/bad habbit) I found that a diode (i think that what it is) gets extremly hot within a few minutes of use.

 

After a trip to Mar-Vac Electronics to see would could be done I found a fan/heatsink system that apeared to be small enough for what I needed.

 

I carefully cut away the white plastic Belkin case to fit the new attachment then used heatsink glue to stick the diode to the heatsink and JB to glue the rest of the heatsink to the white case. wired in the fan to the Belkin and waited fot the glue to dry.

 

Has not cut out once since then and I now keep the Belkin volume at 10.

[nicheplayer]

Anyway, you could be in for a long wait...Crutchfield sometimes backorders them for 3-4 weeks, extending the backorder one week at a time. You might be better off just going to wally world and getting the components (including the RCA GLI) to do it yourself, especially if you're trying to plan a specific install day soon.

 

I guess I'll wait, then. It's not like we absolutely have to have this to do the initial install anyway, right? I'll just have to potentially deal with some noise for a while.

[jazzymt]

As an update, due to the problems some people experienced with the 1/8" to RCA adapters, I'm dropping that accessory and replacing it with a female RCA to 1/8" Male cable. This will reduce the number of components and connections by one in the PRO kit, so there will only be an RCA GLI, a male RCA to 1/8" cable and a female RCA to 1/8" cable. This will also result in lowering the price of the PRO kit by $5. Once I receive the new parts, I'll add them to the website and I'll lower the price of the PRO kit - until then, I'm substituting retail Radio Shack RCA to 1/8" adapters.

 

I also want to sincerely thank everyone for helping to make this project so successful. It's really fun to be involved in helping so many people mod their Subarus. Hopefully in the future I can do something more in line with my area of expertise, but until then, the "day job" will have to suffice. Have a good weekend everyone.

[MaStaMooN]

Hey Jazzy..

 

Would something like this be ok to run into the AuxIn board? Id like to get a little bit more volume out of my Sirius Starmate ST2 so I dont have to listen to it on like 35-40 (max level) when on a highway with the windows open or something.

 

3.5mm Preamp Link

 

Have to find one that runs on 12v though.. battery swapping sucks!

[jazzymt]

Yea, it should be fine. It's meant to function as a pre-amp for line level audio, so you'd be using it exactly as intended. I'm suprised your Starmate doesn't cut the mustard though - is that a portable unit & you're using the headphone jack or something?

 

~edit~ BTW - this is officially the 1000th reply for this thread. Woot! Masta - you got the 1000th post.

[MaStaMooN]

Its THIS unit. Just your standard everyday sirius reciever. Im using the only audio output available on it. Its ok volume wise.. but really needs a gain.. It has its own volume control built in, and if you max that out, you get some distortion from the unit itself.. so I have to leave that backed out a little bit.

 

I only really noticed that things could be louder when hooking up my new IPod via the headphone jack and could get alot of volume out of it. So that left me searching for a way to get my sirius to put out a bit more power. I hate the idea of having another volume control (gain control) to deal with.. but could probably get away with "set it and forget it".

[eVoMotion]

thanks again for the incredible service and great product!

 

 

 

I also want to sincerely thank everyone for helping to make this project so successful. It's really fun to be involved in helping so many people mod their Subarus. Hopefully in the future I can do something more in line with my area of expertise, but until then, the "day job" will have to suffice. Have a good weekend everyone.

[fatbastard]

OK...now I am a little nervous. I installed the board over my lunch break and ran into some trouble. Once everything was reconnected and I started teh car, everything seems to work but the HVAC controls. The radio works; I wasn't able to test the aux in because I forgot the cable but a CD played so I think I have it all connected correctly. The air does come on full speed but no display...any one have any ideas what I could have srewed up or missed?

[jazzymt]

OK...now I am a little nervous. I installed the board over my lunch break and ran into some trouble. Once everything was reconnected and I started teh car, everything seems to work but the HVAC controls. The radio works; I wasn't able to test the aux in because I forgot the cable but a CD played so I think I have it all connected correctly. The air does come on full speed but no display...any one have any ideas what I could have srewed up or missed?

You must have not connected the AC control cable. If your stereo display works (ie. the display is connected properly), there's nothing else that could be causing that.

[fatbastard]

I think I got them all but I will double check after work. I hope that is it, because it is freaking pouring out here and if I get soaked, then have to drive for an hour in a car with the a/c maxed, I think my nips might cut through my shirt.

[fatbastard]

jazzy you were right, I guess when I was struggling to get my sausage fingers back there it must have come loose because I know I "tried" to connect it. Oh well, now I have to go test it. Besides the scare the install is super easy, very good clear instructions.

 

Thanks Jazzy!

[fatbastard]

Wow! Found my cable and hooked up the Jazzy to the MyFi and the sound quality is quite good. I think tomorrow morning I will end up looking at my mounting options and route the cables appropriately.

 

Thanks Jazzy for the fast shipping, support and quality product.

[jlogan]

Installed everything in around 2-3 hours with no problems, even with my 2-1/2 year old daughter "assisting" in the passenger seat.

 

Only hitches were with removing the bezel around the AC/radio (couple of minutes searching the forums to find out about running a fabric-covered screwdriver underneath and around the bezel fixed that), and finding out I needed a female RCA-to-1/8" Y-adapter for the GLI (easily sorted out with a trip to the Shack).

 

Thanks, Jazzy, for a great product!

[kristian]

I plugged in the Jazzy/PAC GLI last night and sure enough, I'm getting cut out issues with my Belkin Auto Kit. I pulled the white cap off the Belkin and the chip inside does get quite hot. If I play the Belkin at about 1/4 volume and the HU at 20+, it doesn't cut out very much, but it's still annoying. Plus, I would like to have the HU at a similar volume to where I would listen to the radio just in case I want to listen to a traffic report or something.

 

I guess I'll have to either try the heat sink idea, or go back to a straight cable and deal with the ground loop noise (which I only notice on soft songs with low volume).

[jazzymt]

It didn't occur to me until now, but I suppose as a transformer, the GLI does put an inductive load on the audio line just like a speaker. I wouldn't expect it to be very much, but I suppose it's enough for the Belkin kit to freak out. Doesn't sound like it's put together very well, but what can you do...hopefully you can figure out some kind of heat sink solution. Good luck.

[nicheplayer]

Well, my day of reckoning is drawing nigh. Due to a small shipping snafu, my brother and law and I may not have two Jazzy boards to work with this weekend, but we'll at least have one kit to use for the install on my 06 Outback Ltd.

 

I just finished reading through every page of this thread, so I feel about as comfortable as I'm going to with the install. I assume a couple questions I have will become clear once I get everything taken apart in the car, for example, where to stash the GLI? My install is going to be exactly like cjfreitag's, from what I can tell, so I'll be running my 1/8" to 1/8" patch cable from the GLI to the cubby, where my Belkin Auto Kit will be waiting. I wonder what kind of tape cjfreitag used to fasten his GLI to the underside of the radio.

 

The thing I'm still most vague about is how the Aux-in "fastens" to the back of the radio. I'm to understand that it sits somewhere between the CD changer and radio HU? Will this be secure enough when I have the GLI hanging off the board?

 

Lastly, Jazzy, my b-i-l called you earlier this week to clear up a problem with our recent order and was impressed by your friendliness and service. If our replacement equipment gets to him in Madison by Friday, we'll be very, very happy campers. Thanks very much for all your hard work.

 

And wish us luck!

[jazzymt]

Yea - wups...that was a screwup on my part. Hopefully you will still come out ahead though. The other board shipped yesterday and should arrive tomorrow if USPS holds true to form. So far, Priority has been very reliably, 2 day service.

 

As far as how the board "fastens" to the radio...it doesn't really. It sorta floats between the CD changer and amp inside the radio. As far as the cable coming out of the headunit, I would recommend zip tying it to the radio somewhere to prevent yankage.

 

Also, I'm fairly sure the GLI you got (1/8" from Crutchfield right?) - the correct end to plug into your Belkin kit is the male end, so the patch cable would connect the GLI to the aux-in board. This also makes it so nothing is hanging from the radio, and you can hide your GLI either inside the cubby, or under it.

 

PS. I forgot you guys bought the 1/8" GLIs - all those extra cables are going to be kinda useless eh? Hopefully they'll come in handy somewhere down the road I guess. Sorry again about the mixup.

[nicheplayer]

Hrm. That's a better idea to have the GLI at the far end of the patch cable from the aux-in, particularly since I think the plugs on the GLI are smaller diameter than the RS gold-plated cable I have and will therefore require a slightly smaller hole to be drilled in the floor of the cubby.

 

I plan to have my laptop with your instructional PDF sitting right next to me during the install. Now to gather my tools.... If this really is easier than an Xbox mod, I'm golden.