Robwalker Posted October 24, 2010 Report Share Posted October 24, 2010 Ok, so the plan is to erridacate the need for a head unit. I only ever use my ipod for music and i dont see the point in having one. The plan is to go from my ipod, bluetooth to an audio reciever, then that into an amp, then out to only a few speakers ( in specific these ones) Now i know most car amps are to power hundreds of watts because of the sub or whatever, however i just want to listen to music normally. I may put another two similar speakers in the back but thats about it. A huge £100 amp seems a bit too much for such a small job. Is there anything anyone can recommend that'll be a but more suitable? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurtisRider Posted October 24, 2010 Report Share Posted October 24, 2010 Seeing as ipod compatible headunits are so cheap these days...why bother? By the time you factor in the cost of an amp, the wiring kit to power it, that bluetooth thing and the hassle of installing it vs buying a headunit and just plugging it in you may as well just do that? Answering your question, just get a cheapy amp off ebay, plenty to be had for 10-15quid thatll power a few small speakers fine you can run a phono to jack lead so your ipod will play straight into the amp. Those alpines wont be overly great, only a minor upgrade over standard car speakers and will struggle if they are being relied on as your mains and enjoy music turned up more than a normal person. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robwalker Posted October 24, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2010 Seeing as ipod compatible headunits are so cheap these days...why bother? By the time you factor in the cost of an amp, the wiring kit to power it, that bluetooth thing and the hassle of installing it vs buying a headunit and just plugging it in you may as well just do that? Answering your question, just get a cheapy amp off ebay, plenty to be had for 10-15quid thatll power a few small speakers fine you can run a phono to jack lead so your ipod will play straight into the amp. Those alpines wont be overly great, only a minor upgrade over standard car speakers and will struggle if they are being relied on as your mains and enjoy music turned up more than a normal person. Well in the entire time i've had the car i've never had a headunit, and i quite like the look of it without, but i think i'd be pretty cool to just wack out an ipod and bust out some tunes wirelessly lol. Im not after anything loud, and if the car had come with the originals then i'd have probally stuck with them lol. Cheers for the advice man, i'll have a ponder on ebay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
l33th3tr33 Posted October 24, 2010 Report Share Posted October 24, 2010 In my experience of working on so many cars, if you have half decent speakers in the first place, start off with a decent headunit and you'll be sorted. The amount of people that spend hundreds on speakers, subs and amps and wonder why they have shite sound when they have cheap hundred quid headunit is unreal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dann2707 Posted October 24, 2010 Report Share Posted October 24, 2010 I wouldn't bother with Halfrauds. And component speakers will impress alot more than those coaxials. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robwalker Posted October 31, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2010 (edited) Thanks for all your help guys, i ordered some bits and they arrived mid-week when i was away. Everything is looking pretty good at the mo:- The amp from ebay - £60 Deliverd. Yeah i could have got a cheaper one but i fancied a bit of quality Edited October 31, 2010 by Robwalker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robwalker Posted October 31, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2010 The bluetooth receiver - £18 And a video to show it all working rigged up to a small speaker in my room. http://yfrog.com/c8mov01144z Im pretty pleased with it all overall so far, however i was hoping the bluetooth reciever would also be 12vDC, but its 5vDC. Anyone know the best way to drop it down to 5v. Its only going to be drawing a max of 0.2A so i was thinking maybe just a resistor? As i cant see too much heat being produced? Im open to other ideas though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Burrows Posted October 31, 2010 Report Share Posted October 31, 2010 I'd be interested to know how this all works when its finished. I spent £300 on a decent headunit that would control my Ipod, and its Ipod only, no cd player etc. I really didn't want to spend that much but it is the only one that allows you to control your ipod easily while on the move. Others were too slow to be safe I thought. I didn't think you could get decent sound quality unless you had a proper Ipod headunit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skoze Posted October 31, 2010 Report Share Posted October 31, 2010 I'm also interested, depending on what i do with Bernard i might put some kind of chooooonz in, but there really is no-where to stick a head unit - this amp idea could be a good alternative. I've thought about it before, just never known anyone else to do it to see what it's like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robwalker Posted October 31, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2010 i'll keep the thread updated, its nothing i'd ever heard of before but couldn't see any reason why is shouldn't work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomm Posted October 31, 2010 Report Share Posted October 31, 2010 Looking good, that amp looks good quality. It might be worth adding a line-input as well (3.5mm jack) so when someone else comes in your car, they can play their tunes (if they don't have Bluetooth). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shamus Posted October 31, 2010 Report Share Posted October 31, 2010 Is this amp going to be hardwired in to the old headunit harness? Where will you put it so it's accessible for volume/power switch? Surely you'll end up putting it in the headunit slot anyway? Clever idea but as mentioned by Tomm, a 3.5mm jack wouldn't be a bad idea at all (and a charging station for your chosen source of media so you don't arrive everywhere with a flat 'generic MP3' player) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTM Posted November 1, 2010 Report Share Posted November 1, 2010 Its actually a very simple way of doing it this, although I wouldnt have bothered with the bluetooth thing, would have just run a 3.5mm jack/phono cable to where I have the Ipod situated and just plugged it in. As for volume etc, you just put the Ipod on max volume, then turn the Amp up till it starts to distort and back it off a touch. Then you just use the Ipod for volume control with the amp hidden away Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robwalker Posted November 1, 2010 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2010 Ah yes the volume problem. Well i made the mother of all f**kups and assumed that volume could be controlled from the ipod. However this is not the case. I plan on routing the volume knob to just to the right of my steering wheel so its hidden and volume control will be done from there. Im a bit of a neat freak and not a great fan of exposed cables, and the simplicity of just putting the ipod wherever i can reach it (doorcard / people in the back seat / pocket / dash ect.) was part of the plan, so bluetooth seemed the best option. And as for the other peoples music, i may put a 3.5mm socket in the passenger dash, that could look pretty cool? Oh and once i have all the circuitry worked out, its all going into a box and into the glovebox (screwed down) to route from there. Still accessible but hidden well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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