Madjik_Man Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 nice walkthrough. but overall FM tends to be a little lower quality than CD even in the best radios. agreed 100% but IMO even .wav files playing out of the iPod sound worse than CD quality no matter what the connectivity is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerboa113 Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 well, TECHNICALLY wav iirc is supposed to be a "lossless" audio type. Sort of like FLAC audio altough wav is uncompressed and flac is.. well.. barely compressed mp3 and m4p are generally 128kbps.. very lossy. that being said.. the ipod can be made to play flac from what I hear.. but it doesn't do it very well. i just cut my losses and go with a standard jazzy aux in and plug in my favorite device.. which so far has been phones, ipods, and computers. "The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." - Plato Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FJuan Posted January 22, 2009 Author Share Posted January 22, 2009 Having used FM modulators similar to the one detailed here in the past, its highly dependent on the radio itself and how well it handles signals (which tbh the subaru radio seems to do quite well) but overall FM tends to be a little lower quality than CD even in the best radios. True, but if you were to compare the FM Modulators over the FM Transmitters it's a night and day difference in sound. Plus I didn't have to spend over $70 bucks to do it, which was the main purpose of this install. My wife's balls are delicious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerboa113 Posted January 22, 2009 Share Posted January 22, 2009 $70? I guess jazzy has raised his prices since I bought mine. You have a point. Those wireless FM things that they try to push on you these days are just crap. The wired in type of FM mod is the best FM mod style to go with. "The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." - Plato Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSiWRX Posted January 22, 2009 Share Posted January 22, 2009 For a non-audiophile, the wired FM-Modulators are, I think, good enough. But darkfox does have a great point - no matter what, it's going to have a lot to do with your FM reception, and in cities where there's few clear channels or channels that get overpowered, depending on your vehicle's physical location. Here in the dense-metro suburbs of Cleveland-east, 107.1 usually is pretty interference-free, but it'll still have some occasional rough-spots. Out further in the suburbs, as well as on the open-road, it really clears up. Certainly, as good F1inspiredLGT said, the wired FM-Modulator works a whole bunch better than wireless Transmissions - the difference between even using the FM-Transmitter in the "brain" of the H&K Drive+Play and its accessory wired FM-Modulator was very noticeable. But yes, it's still not nearly perfect. Even so, for a non-audiophile like me, it's works well enough. <-- I love Winky, my "periwinkle" (ABP) LGT! - Allen / Usual Suspect "DumboRAT" / One of the Three Stooges '16 Outback, '16 WRX, 7th Subaru Family Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FJuan Posted January 22, 2009 Author Share Posted January 22, 2009 $70? I guess jazzy has raised his prices since I bought mine. Well it would have cost only $30 if I didn't need to have the antenna adapters, and I didn't want to splice the wires together if I ever needed to go back to stock. What is this jazzy you talk about, link? My wife's balls are delicious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerboa113 Posted January 22, 2009 Share Posted January 22, 2009 http://jazzyengineering.com/ "The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." - Plato Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FJuan Posted January 23, 2009 Author Share Posted January 23, 2009 Thanks for the link. Looks like a good mod to do, as long as your careful. Is this what you have in yours? My wife's balls are delicious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerboa113 Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 Yup. I got one of the 1st ones he made as a test subject. Its easy to install if you dont mind taking the radio apart. I've been taking crap apart since I was a kid and now I work in IT so I'm used to handling PCBs so it didn't bother me. The install was fairly simple. The board shown on the site is actually (for mine anyway) coated in a clear plastic wrap so if it acidentally contacts the pcb it wont short anything. Where is jazzy anyway? I dont think I've seen him post in a while. The only downside for it is it uses a blank CD so you have a 1 second skip every 80 minutess.. but I have no problem with that. Another cool thing about it is you can play music over radio..so if a news break is on you can mix in your own music. I dunno if that hurts the radio.. I only do it to see when commercials are over. "The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." - Plato Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSiWRX Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 ^ Indeed, jazzymt's board has been the de-facto standard, since the early days. He's definitely still here, though. Also, there's mvigneau's solution: http://www.legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=71387&highlight=aux-in <-- I love Winky, my "periwinkle" (ABP) LGT! - Allen / Usual Suspect "DumboRAT" / One of the Three Stooges '16 Outback, '16 WRX, 7th Subaru Family Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FJuan Posted January 25, 2009 Author Share Posted January 25, 2009 Both great ideas, but mvigneau's install scares me a little. I don't want to trust my soldering skillz on this one, I respect my radio to much. For those who don't want to crack open their radio, IMO the FM Modulator is the best way to go. My wife's balls are delicious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerboa113 Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 I agree with you on both of those. I would never solder on my radio. I tried to solder mod a psx once and the CD started spinning backwards soldering is not my strong point. I work on laptops at work so I'm very familiar with the ribbon cable type interface that the radio uses.. and taking things apart heh.. so the jazzy thing was just the natural choice. I was doing my carputer at the time and the radio was already out so it was that much easier too. "The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." - Plato Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn06SpecB Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 the model that you posted is discontinued. crutchfield has another one for $50. do i need the antenna adaptors or can i splice wiring together? I'd rather not waste my $$ also, i have the factory nav and a video ipod so is there something better? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerboa113 Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 dont factory nav cars have factory aux in as well? Or do you have an 06 or something? "The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." - Plato Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FJuan Posted January 26, 2009 Author Share Posted January 26, 2009 the model that you posted is discontinued. crutchfield has another one for $50. do i need the antenna adaptors or can i splice wiring together? I'd rather not waste my $$ also, i have the factory nav and a video ipod so is there something better? Here's another for under $30. http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=205-566 http://www.parts-express.com/images/item_large/205-566_L.jpg The antenna adapter will cost you about $30. Never spliced antenna wires together before, so I can't help you there. My wife's balls are delicious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gt05silver Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 I apologize for the stupid question, but I have no experience with modulators. I currently have an fm transmitter but am not very happy with it. Do you still access the music through an unused frequency?Also, the directions seemed pretty straight forward and clear, what would you say are the chances for a successful install for someone who doesn't have the most experience in this area?Thanks for sharing your info and your time as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FJuan Posted January 27, 2009 Author Share Posted January 27, 2009 I apologize for the stupid question, but I have no experience with modulators. I currently have an fm transmitter but am not very happy with it. Do you still access the music through an unused frequency? Also, the directions seemed pretty straight forward and clear, what would you say are the chances for a successful install for someone who doesn't have the most experience in this area? Thanks for sharing your info and your time as well. No need to apologize, that's why I posted this thread for those interested in this mod. Yes, you still access the music through an unused frequency. If you look closely to the pic above, Pyle's FM Mod has 2 selections, either 88.9 or 88.5. The unit I have comes with an on/off button. Turn it on and it cuts off only that MHz you have it selected to, which lets you play your MP3 player without any interference. Installing the mod is straight forward, the only difficult part for me was where to place the on/off switch. I used the cig lighter since I had no other need for it and it's a great location to connect the power and ground wires. If you need help installing, just send me a PM and I'll walk you through it. My wife's balls are delicious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gt05silver Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Thanks for the info. I tried to find some dimensions for the pyle but couldn't on that link, I'll look some more. It seems like the scosche is of smaller dimensions and judging by your pictures, it looks like it just fits in nice and snug when tucking it away. Do you think it would be a problem with a larger modulator, or did you feel there was enough room when you had the radio unit taken out? Thanks again, I've only used this site a few times, but its great how helpful and interested everyone is. All the advice is greatly appreciated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FJuan Posted January 27, 2009 Author Share Posted January 27, 2009 Here are the dimensions for both modulators... Scosche - 4-15/16"W x 1-1/16"H x 1-15/16"D Pyle - 1.10" (H) X 4.10''(W) X 4.35'' (L) Since Pyle is basicly 4" X 4", it's going to be a very tight fit. I would recommend the Scosche since it slide easily underneath the radio, no fitment issues. My wife's balls are delicious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FJuan Posted January 27, 2009 Author Share Posted January 27, 2009 the model that you posted is discontinued. crutchfield has another one for $50. do i need the antenna adaptors or can i splice wiring together? I'd rather not waste my $$ also, i have the factory nav and a video ipod so is there something better? Crutchfield is showing low stock, did a quick search and found several different vendors that carry it. http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&q=scosche+fm+modulator&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=11757790505292124423&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&resnum=4&ct=result#ps-sellers My wife's balls are delicious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gt05silver Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 I just noticed they had low stock as well..i was wondering about the antenna adaptors though, crutchfield recomends 2 when you select the modulator and enter the vehicle info. The 2 are 1) OEM male to motorrola female, to connect an aftermarket antenna to the subaru radio and 2) Motorrola male to OEM female to connect subaru antenna to aftermaret radio. Are these the same adaptors you purchased? They appear to look the same in comparison to yours. I hope so because I just ordered it all, cost a total of $62.96, I wish I knew about this before I wasted about the same price on my piece of crap fm trasmiter... Thanks again for your help, the instructions look great, hopefully I'll be able to figure it out from here! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSiWRX Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 ^ You'll need both of the Metra antenna adapters. Crutchfield made a mistake on the stock level of one of those connectors, when I ordered mine - they called me the next day, told me of the error/concern, and asked if I wanted to await backorder. They originally thought it'd take 4 weeks to get the backorder, but it took barely a week and a half. It even came with a nice form-letter apologizing for the wait. I've ordered from Crutchfield since their early days, and I still love them. <-- I love Winky, my "periwinkle" (ABP) LGT! - Allen / Usual Suspect "DumboRAT" / One of the Three Stooges '16 Outback, '16 WRX, 7th Subaru Family Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FJuan Posted January 28, 2009 Author Share Posted January 28, 2009 I wish I knew about this before I wasted about the same price on my piece of crap fm trasmiter... Me too!! Crappy ass transmitters. I've ordered from Crutchfield since their early days, and I still love them. Same here, I can always trust on them. My wife's balls are delicious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gt05silver Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 I did find it cheaper from other places, but went with Cruthcfield for there reliability, plus they had the other adapters readily available. Would someone be able to give me a quick rundown of what tools I will need for this? Unfortunatly I don't have a garage (live in an apartment) and its alittle chilly outside in Ny these days. If I knew everything that I needed prior to starting it would make it much easier for me, not to mention it should help increase my chances of a successful install..haha. Thanks again for any help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSiWRX Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 A Phillips screwdriver is all you need. I'd also recommend a small flashlight, so you can dig for that antenna connector (see f1's original post, here). The search engine here is pretty darned good, and will be of good use to a new guy on the Forums, like you - give it a try! As a welcoming present, here's the search, all done and packaged: http://www.legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=103422&highlight=remove+radio Good luck on your install! <-- I love Winky, my "periwinkle" (ABP) LGT! - Allen / Usual Suspect "DumboRAT" / One of the Three Stooges '16 Outback, '16 WRX, 7th Subaru Family Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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