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

many thanks! looking SO forward to this. can't believe I haven't done it sooner as this FM transmitter is driving me bananas

 

Let me know how it goes. I ordered my ipod pro kit this week and if thats all the info I get for the charger and GLI then I'm in trouble.

Let me know how it goes. I ordered my ipod pro kit this week and if thats all the info I get for the charger and GLI then I'm in trouble.

The only "wiring" you have to do is to splice two power wires & really, you don't "have" to do that either - the cable will work w/o power, it just won't charge.

 

There's lots of walkthru's for splicing wires on the net, but if you run into trouble - feel free to post here, pm or email me. I'll help however I can.

Thanks. This will be a first for me. With all the success everyone else has had though I thought I'd give it a try. I'm going to do the oem sub at the same time... and a kartboy sts, too, since I will have it all apart. I might be biting off more than I can chew, though.

 

By the way, Jazzy, my wife wants to thank you. If I had never done a search to find an alternative for the fm transmitter I would have never have found this website and, hence, would have never gotten the idea to do any mods to the Legacy. And let me tell you, she is very excited about all of this.

Since my MP3 radio arrived today from Hong Kong... I just placed my 80 $ order. Have there been any failures of the Jazzy board after installation (long term)? How long (on average) does it take to do just the radio portion of the install? Happy new year!

hey there. just got my pro kit in the mail today - w00t! I was going to try to do the install today but after reading the instructions I was a bit bewildered how people were knocking this out in under two hours. i'm having a hard time imagining this not being a full weekend project -- provided nothing gets broken/lost during the process.

 

are people being serious when they say they've done the whole thing in a couple of hours?

 

guess i need a little encouragement...

I got mine yesterday and decided to give it a go last night. I have absolutely no previous experience with anything like this and it took me three hours (I really took my time, though). The directions were great. The only time I had to drop an f-bomb was when I dropped a screw. I was also nervous about tapping the power from the lighter, but I went to Radio Shack and got some wire taps (yellow wire for positive, black for negative) and what do you know it charges too. It's all put back together and really sounds great.

 

The only thing I'm still trying to figure out is where to run the wire. I've got it coming out of the ashtray now, but I have some proclip stuff ordered to mount it on the passenger side of the cubby. When it comes in I think I'm going to try to run the wire up the inside of the trim on passenger side, maybe notch the trim out a little on top to get the wire out and see if I can hide it that way.

 

All in all, a very easy install. One thing I did that made it easier was got a bunch of plastic baggies and post its for all the screws. When I took them out I wrote down what they were from and how many there were and put them in seperate bags. That and make a trip to Radio Shack for wire taps (18-22gauge) and zip ties.

 

Good luck. Just do it, it's easier than it seems.

I've had my Jazzy installed for over a year and I absolutely love it!

 

Recently though it's developed a problem. I'm only getting sound out of the left speakers (front and rear). Initially, I thought the contacts inside the iPod jack were bad b/c I've heard of this becoming an issue. But I had the iPod checked out by a repair shop and they said it was fine.

 

Does anybody know what could've happened to the plug-in for me to lose the right channel? Perhaps some wiring went bad? A short somewhere? I'm clueless and I didnt put this in so I'm weary about tearing it open myself to see whats wrong. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

~Gary

I got mine yesterday and decided to give it a go last night. I have absolutely no previous experience with anything like this and it took me three hours (I really took my time, though). The directions were great. The only time I had to drop an f-bomb was when I dropped a screw. I was also nervous about tapping the power from the lighter, but I went to Radio Shack and got some wire taps (yellow wire for positive, black for negative) and what do you know it charges too. It's all put back together and really sounds great.

 

The only thing I'm still trying to figure out is where to run the wire. I've got it coming out of the ashtray now, but I have some proclip stuff ordered to mount it on the passenger side of the cubby. When it comes in I think I'm going to try to run the wire up the inside of the trim on passenger side, maybe notch the trim out a little on top to get the wire out and see if I can hide it that way.

 

All in all, a very easy install. One thing I did that made it easier was got a bunch of plastic baggies and post its for all the screws. When I took them out I wrote down what they were from and how many there were and put them in seperate bags. That and make a trip to Radio Shack for wire taps (18-22gauge) and zip ties.

 

Good luck. Just do it, it's easier than it seems.

 

many thanks for your excellent suggestions and your encouragement

 

I couldn't get to it today due to Radio Shack (2 different stores!) not having the wire taps in stock. I'm hoping to give it a whirl this weekend, weather permitting. thanks again!

I got mine in on Monday. I'm going to atempt this tomorow if I can fit the car into the garage.

Okay. I'm in the middle of the install. Everything going good. Put it back together, plug in white plug and see and hear it counting CD's. Turn key on and no power to the HU at all. Do I need to plug everything back up to get power to the HU? I've taken radio/cd apart to make sure ribbon cable is secure....same prob.

 

Any suggestions?

Okay. I'm in the middle of the install. Everything going good. Put it back together, plug in white plug and see and hear it counting CD's. Turn key on and no power to the HU at all. Do I need to plug everything back up to get power to the HU? I've taken radio/cd apart to make sure ribbon cable is secure....same prob.

 

Any suggestions?

 

That's the only plug you need to test it. Did you try the power button on the stereo?

LOL. um. Actually yes. I am in PM with nate. I figured some of it out. I wrote,

 

Nate,

Well I got it working and It's playing from the Laptop as I type this. It does seem to be the faceplate. If I push in on it, it lights up and I was able to get it to load a CD and work. I've tried removing the face plate and reattaching it but it does the same. It's almost as though something is preventing it from seating properly. Because as soon as I let up pressure on the faceplate it goes dark. But, still works. I have to apply a lot of pressure to get it to work. Is there any secret/tip/clue to ensure the pins on the faceplate are correctly aligned?

tks, Mitch [unquote]

I've examined the blades and the slots on the front and the faceplate under a magnifying glass. Nothing appears to be bent or broke. Just something keeping the faceplate from seating correctly. I don't know whether to button it all up and take it to the dealer. Or to tighten it all up in hopes that it'll start working once I punch it in the mouth.

 

Not panicked. Just frustrated cuz it was going so easily.

Well I was hoping it was just a easy fix / install mistake, but it sounds like you're suffering from a case of the dissappearing display - which isn't actually related to the aux-in board at all - it's a warranty issue that several members who have never done anything to their radio have suffered from too. Search "blank radio" or equivalent & you'll find several posts. If you can't get the display to come back to life once all buttoned up, you might have to take the board out & get the radio replaced under warranty. It's blanked out on me a few times, but only for split seconds - it's never gone away completely like that, but for others it has. I suspect there's a stacking of tolerances that causes the plugs to just barely be touching under the right/wrong circumstances - which may be where you're at.

Thanks Nate. yeah I've seen those posts about display issues. In no way do I think it has anything to do with Jazzy, Just a matter of me having had gone into the center console. I'll keep working with it and keep you posted.

Well It works. Once I pushed it out of the garage and got a jump. I decided to go for a ride and charge the Battery. I turned on the HU and the HVAC and it all worked. Thanks for the help. Now I just have to drill some holes and use some grommets. Any body know were to find female 1/8" jacks. Preferably that you don't need to solder. I want to make some flush mount inputs.

 

 

 

 

CN; It works.

I finally bit the bullet today and tried the install. It was a long day (5 hours or so) but this included soldering the charging wires to the cig lighter and some drilling to get the ipod connector through the back of the compartment above the stereo. As per bizzles80's advice, I took my time and used little sandwich bags along with post-its to keep track of all the screws.

 

I have mixed feelings about the end result. When it works it sounds amazing. 1000 times better than the FM Transmitter I was using. However, the connector that goes into the iPod/iPhone (I'm using both) isn't a strong connection or an exact fit. If I go over a bump or touch the cable the connection will loosen and the sound will only come out of the right channel. I have to fiddle with the connector and/or remove it and plug it back in to get back to left and right channels. This happens more frequently with the iPhone, perhaps because the area surrounding the iPhone's connection is not as wide or flat as the traditional iPod. I'm guessing the iPod touch would have the same issue.

 

So I'm not sure if it's a bum connecting plug or if it's a known limitation. Like I said when it works it sounds amazing. But when the connection loosens and sounds disappears from the left side it gets annoying fast.

 

Other than that, the design of the aux board is phenomenal and the install instructions are very well done. I just wish the ipod connector plug was a little more solid and reliable.

 

Anyone else using the ipod connection plug and having a similar issue?

1) Spent most of yesterday mod'ing the MP3 radio I bought on ebay with 50$ shipping not knowing if it would even work or not but wanted to do this on another system other then my own.

2) Swapped radios as amazingly it sounds awesome.

I was suprised the XM was still rather low compared to FM radio stations but that might be a problem with the unit. I will have to try with my Ipod.

Nonetheless... I no longer have to FM modulate which is a problem in NJ as there aren't many free spots where I can have my XM without interference.

Thanks JazzyMT!

For those of you with low output electronics. I know jazzy mentioned the boostaroo already, but here's another option.

 

http://tangentsoft.net/audio/cmoy-tutorial/

 

You can also find prebuilt ones on ebay for 10-50 depending on seller and options.

Kelvrick - Thanks for that idea. Searching led me to this handy little product which is probably exactly what I needed. I liked the CMOY amps but most all of the ones I found, along wiih the boostaroo are all battery operated. Having the 2Gen iPod shuffle I HAVE to use the headphone jack. requiring me to have the Volume up into the 20's Radio is quite loud at 10.

 

 

 

http://www.electric-avenues.com/amplirider.html

For low volume levels, I can also recommend the following:

http://mobile.jlaudio.com/products_cleansweep.php?prod_id=446

 

And PAC Audio's Turbo 1 & Turbo X pre-amps:

http://www.pac-audio.com/products/productsCatagory.asp?mmSearch=Audio%20Video%20Accessories

 

I've tried both of these & they both work well. PAC's tend's to add a bit more bass boost than JL Audio's even though I tried the Turbo1 which isn't listed as having a "bass boost". I think it's also actually better at amplifying cleanly than JL Audio's and costs 1/3 as much. Technically - the CL-RLC has a better listed SNR, but that's not the way I hear it... The Boostaroo headphone amp amplifies more than both & adds very little distortion if you need the amplification (higher signals will become overmodulated). You will definitely want a GLI installed with JL Audio's preamp - PAC's might not need one by itself, but it wouldn't hurt - the Boostaroo is battery operated, so it doesn't need one.

 

tu11ym0n - If you continue to have problems with the iPod docking cable, send me a PM & we'll try to get it resolved. I've heard of a couple issues with loose connectors & you might just have a bad one - it's certainly not intended to work that way, but I don't know many people with iPhones either, so that might be part of the issue.

I've had my Jazzy installed for over a year and I absolutely love it!

 

Recently though it's developed a problem. I'm only getting sound out of the left speakers (front and rear). Initially, I thought the contacts inside the iPod jack were bad b/c I've heard of this becoming an issue. But I had the iPod checked out by a repair shop and they said it was fine.

 

Does anybody know what could've happened to the plug-in for me to lose the right channel? Perhaps some wiring went bad? A short somewhere? I'm clueless and I didnt put this in so I'm weary about tearing it open myself to see whats wrong. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

~Gary

Anybody know what could possibly be the problem here? I'm going nuts driving in my car w/o my iPod!

Anybody know what could possibly be the problem here? I'm going nuts driving in my car w/o my iPod!

Well, as I've told others - it's almost certainly the jack on the aux-in board itself. Unfortunately, over time & vibration, that connection just isn't the most reliable and can become loose - causing one or both speakers to cut out intermittently or permantently (usually just one, intermittently). It doesn't happen often, but it happens often enough...

 

The best thing to do is to just desolder the jack and solder the wires directly to the circuit board. If you want to send it back to me with the cable that plugs into it, I can either do that for you, or just solder a new jack onto the board.

 

As far as removing the board yourself - I really believe that just about anyone can do it if they take their time.

Well, as I've told others - it's almost certainly the jack on the aux-in board itself. Unfortunately, over time & vibration, that connection just isn't the most reliable and can become loose - causing one or both speakers to cut out intermittently or permantently (usually just one, intermittently). It doesn't happen often, but it happens often enough...

 

The best thing to do is to just desolder the jack and solder the wires directly to the circuit board. If you want to send it back to me with the cable that plugs into it, I can either do that for you, or just solder a new jack onto the board.

 

As far as removing the board yourself - I really believe that just about anyone can do it if they take their time.

Ok, I'm gonna have to get it out and perhaps send it back to you. I dont have any soldering equipment. So that puts the kabosh on that. I guess we'll be in touch. Mucho thanks. I appreciate it.

Thank you all for your advice. Unlike my previous Infiniti, using the XM cassette adapter which was actually louder then the cd player and twice as loud as FM...

1) Subaru FM sound is almost as hugh as FM or CD.

2) But using the aux input via JazzyMT was 1/2 even when all the way up.

Hence:

I already have a bid on ebay for the CMoy Pocket Amplifier