FM transmitters . . .

MS22

MS22

New member
I am wondering about the sound/reception quality of using an FM transmitter to play music throught your cars receiver. I recently upgraded to Napster To Go and have an iRiver H10 mp3 player. In order to play the contents of my mp3 player through my car I would need to use an FM transmitter so do so. Apple also has this for their iPods. Does anyone have any experiance with their sound quality or anything else? Any responses would be greatly appreciated.
 
Its not great sound quality. You get static and its not the clearest sound. Your best bet is to see if you have an input jack on your headunit that you can just connect your mp3 player directly to. If its a stock deck then you probably don't have one. Some aftermarket decks even have adapters you can plug into the cd changer outlet and then plug that into the mp3 unit. The Kenwood I had in my Camaro had one like that. It sounds a lot better if you can connect it directly to the headunit. But hey, I'm just smooth with the ladies. What do I know about car audio? :naughty
 
Fuzz is right - isn't he always?!?!?!? I have the Monster iCarplay FM modulator for my iPod. Not the best sound quality. On the other hand, it's a lot cheaper than the adaptor to get a line in on my stock unit (which I don't plan on replacing). It's also plug and go.
 
MS22: The car audio geek has arrived!

You have one of 2 options like Jared has pointed out. 1 is the FM Modulator (Which are hundredes of times better than they used to be!) Or If you have an aftermarket headunit there are many other options!

I personally use my ipod with my alpine Head unit plugged into the AUX port... My headunit was approx $200.00 and the Adapter to allow me to play through the aux port was another $14.00

If you go with an FM modulater DON'T buy the ones that plug into your cigirette lighter (they are garbage) they make ones that you can hard wire they plug inline with your Antenna and when you tune to that station it comes in almost crystal clear...you tend to loose some of your highs but thats all!

I use both ... My Mercury Sable has the stock Head Unit in it ... and it serves me well ...Im not looking for "Incredible" sound just want to hear my tunes ... be able to turn it up a lil now and then and get me from point A to point B!

In my Mustang I have the Alpine head unit ...And its well worth it to have it ... It's Louder , Clearer, and easier to use!

I hope that answers some of your questions
 
Thanks for all of the replys guys I was unaware that some head units can accept a line-in from mp3 players. I really didnt want to sacrifice the money I put into my speakers (4 - 6.5" Infinity components) and head unit (JVC Arsenal 900 series) by having to tune into a radio signal. I am going to call crutchfield and see if they have the accessories I need to hook up the player to the unit directly.

Focusedonsound: I'll probably get both like you have so I can bring my tunes into other peoples cars - the summer usually means alot of day and weekend trips in other cars and music is always a problem.

Thanks again everyone!
 
i got sirius radio and it comes in just fine doin the same thing ur talking about.

better then regular radio.
 
I have found that when I use the FM modulator with my iPod it injects a lot of high frequency noise into the the signal, which in turn causes my amplifier to overheat.
If you are planning on buying some sort of RCA interface to connect your iPod you might want to consider waiting another few months as Alpine is going to release a deck that has the actual iPod interface, this will allow you to plug your iPod into a connecter that will not only conduct the signal at almost CD quality (think sound quality of a CD changer) but also charge your iPod from the same cable and possibly allow you to use the deck to control the iPod.
If this product takes off you can bet that other manufacturers, such as Eclipse and Clarion, will start their own lines of head units with the same type of interface.
 
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