MP3 players and Head Units

[— kung fu jesus —]

I have an older HU with an iPod cable I ran from the back of the unit to the passenger cabin. It's alright, it works. When Apple changed the voltage on their socket, I had to get an adapter to work with my iPod Touch. That adapter is very sensitive and doesn't lock to the iPod.

I have been thinking of upgrading to a new HU.

Because I already have a smartphone, it would be really convenient to charge the phone and play music off it at the same time.

I am looking for opinions of using one device for music, telephone, etc. versus two separate devices like I do now. I am looking for pitfalls, disadvantages and advantages besides those above.

[— Agent☣Orange —]

What smartphone do you have? The reason I ask is because so many aftermarket head units tout iPhone/iPod connectivity.

[— kung fu jesus —]

Android. HTC EVO, probably moving to a Droid Maxx.

I was thinking about this. Watch the videos about the phone integration, using the screen on the phone to swipe through songs. I remember seeing this at CES this year.

I think it would work great with the customized phone mount in my car:



If I needed more memory, I would just use a thumbdrive.

[— Agent☣Orange —]

Your link doesn't work but here it is at Sonic Electronix:

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...-KD-X50BT.html

I think that's an excellent choice, damn!

It is much like my Kenwood KIV BT901 in terms of functionality.
http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...KIV-BT901.html

Mine is really dedicated to iPhone/iPod in that it can both recharge my idevice and access the whole collection of music, video and podcasts from the head unit. My iWhatever can hide in the center console where I ran the cable although I could move it to a vent like yours but no reason to right now.

So I guess my question is: do you want to contol your head unit from your phone or vice versa?

[— kung fu jesus —]

The first HU you linked to is practically the same as the one I did.

I have no center console (Nakamae) and no cubby in the dash.

The HU doesn't have to control the radio, but if it does and charges the phone, great.

I use my phone a lot for navigation, too.

I only have two speakers, but am considering replacing them and *maybe* getting an NB windblocker with the speakers in it to augment the sound.

[Tkblazer]

Steve, I have the JVC head unit and the same HTC evo phone. The combination work great together and it is just what I have been looking for. I use the front usb port for the Bluetooth dongle and I have an Ipod plugged into the rear usb port. Something to mention since you use navigation a lot, the voice prompts only play on the car speakers when you are using the bluetooth input on the head unit. So, you will have to either be listening to pandora or music stored on your phone.

In regards to speakers, I have two alpine type s speakers in the doors powered by a used alpine two channel amp I bought off ebay for $50. This setup plays nice and loud even at highway speeds with the top down.

[— kung fu jesus —]

AWESOME.

I am a little confused, though. I use the navigation app on my phone. Can I use that HU to play music off the phone while I use the nav app? I am ok with keeping the iPod, I'll just relocate it to the glovebox.

Do you run the ipod on bluetooth or straight off a tether connected to the HU?

I suppose I could use the tether out the back of the radio for the iPod. I hardly ever remove it from the car anyways. I could connect the phone to the HU off the usb for charging.

Does pandora work on the phone on usb or on bluetooth?

What I REALLY don't like is charging the phone off the 12v outlet. I hit it with my knee a bit. I figured if I could just integrate the phone a bit more, now that there seems to be more available for androids.

An HU with BT and a microphone also kills another bird. I use a clip-on BT set on my visor, but it doesn't work well with the visor OR the car (it picks up too much background noise). I am used to and prefer to use handsfree BT devices in the car. NC doesn't require it, but it's just safer. If I am not connected to a BT set for the phone in the car, I refuse to answer it.

[— kung fu jesus —]

Anyone have preference or opinions of component vrs two-way speakers?

[jux]

Generally, you'll get better sound from components than from 2-way speakers (especially those of the traditional, coaxial design). Either way, please consider a small amp to power them; distortion is a speaker killer, and clean sound from an amp will add to the longevity of your chosen speakers. If you don't want to do putting extra holes in your door panels, consider looking at brands like CDT and others that offer a "convertible" component setup, where the tweeter mounts over the mid-woofer. Nifty stuff, though I imagine it would technically break up the midrange sound waves...but whatever.

I prefer components in a closed-cabin vehicle. Given the general amount of noise in my Miata(s) and the sources of the various noises (tires, wind, rattles from wherever), I'm not inclined to do much to suppress the added noise to improve the cabin. As such, I went the semi-cheap route and stuck with what I'd consider some very nice Focal 2-way speakers. They sound great imho, even if I don't have an amp on 'em.

[Tkblazer]

I am a little confused, though. I use the navigation app on my phone. Can I use that HU to play music off the phone while I use the nav app? I am ok with keeping the iPod, I'll just relocate it to the glovebox.

Sorry to confuse you. There are four sources to play music from: radio, ipod, aux and bluetooth. I have found that it is easier to play music off your phone using bluetooth since it is one less cable to have to hook up to your phone and radio. You could however use the front USB port to charge your phone. Through the bluetooth connection, you can stream mp3 music stored on your phone, listen to Pandora and hear turn by turn directions from navigation.

Do you run the ipod on bluetooth or straight off a tether connected to the HU?

If you have an ipod, you simply use the factory ipod usb cable and you can connect it to either front or rear usb port. Pick one since the other usb port will need to house the bluetooth dongle.

Does pandora work on the phone on usb or on bluetooth?

through bluetooth, however I have not tried using it through the AUX connection

What I REALLY don't like is charging the phone off the 12v outlet. I hit it with my knee a bit. I figured if I could just integrate the phone a bit more, now that there seems to be more available for androids.

After reading this, it looks like you may have to use the front usb port to charge. I haven't tried using a usb hub to split the power but it may be possible so you can keep the bluetooth dongle up front and charge the phone from the same front usb port.

An HU with BT and a microphone also kills another bird. I use a clip-on BT set on my visor, but it doesn't work well with the visor OR the car (it picks up too much background noise). I am used to and prefer to use handsfree BT devices in the car. NC doesn't require it, but it's just safer. If I am not connected to a BT set for the phone in the car, I refuse to answer it.[/QUOTE]

the JVC comes with its own BT microphone

[— kung fu jesus —]

Thanks!

So, forgive me here, but you need a USB dongle to use BT on this HU? BT isn't built in?

[— kung fu jesus —]

OH! This picture cleared it up. I misunderstood!

Screen shot 2012-06-02 at 7.31.11 AM.jpg

I did a little research on this, thought it through a little more. I understand the reply now.

In that research I came across a thread about this HU somewhere else:

I did some test on behalf of JVC to test USB hub on Rear USB port. I run 20 different test cases with different scenarios, and everything works flawlessly.

I have tested the USB hub in rear USB port. I run JVC's rear USB cable to my gloves compartment. Then attached USB hub with 4 ports. In one port I have BT adapter came with the receiver and in second port I have attached USB flash drive with lots of music files.

When you turn on Car receiver, it shows USB Rear and BT Rear under Sources.
It plays music from the USB flash drive and all BT functionality(Talk, Stream music, dial call from Phone, dial call from receiver,etc) works as advertise.

Now i can avoid cable cluster in front, and use BT and USB music player from my Glove compartment.

I am not sure what's not working that JVC has to advertise this unit as USB hub not supported.

This was good news to read! I think If I split the rear USB, I could run the iPod, phone and BT dongle on it, run a micro USB line through the centerstack for charging the phone while in the cradle. I suppose I could also make a USB port integrated into the centerstack, instead. I need to think this through a bit...

[— kung fu jesus —]

Aaaaand an update...

I ordered the radio from Crutchfield. I found a promo code for $20 off 100 or more (enter 3A171 at checkout). The radio was already on sale for $99.99, so I added speaker baffles for $7.

The total came to $87 shipped.

I am looking at Polk 651 (not the 651S) and an MB Quart 2 channel amp (2 x 60 at 4 ohms). I think I will have refreshed my stereo quite well for about $200 is I pull the trigger on the rest.

Any recommendations on a good, small 2 channel amp? The RMS on the 651 is 100w, peak at 200w. I usually like the peak to be at least 3x the output of the signal.

[— Agent☣Orange —]

Stick with a quality amp and you can't go wrong. You'll probably want something in the 75w-150w RMS range and the price goes up depending on power. Don't fall for cheap amp claims of 1000w max. You may cinsider a 4-channel amp to start with because you might want to add rear speakers later, or, the rear channels may be combined dor a future sub someday. I just mean don't lock yourself out of future expandability.

[— kung fu jesus —]

Good points. Thank you!

At what power range do I need to be concerned about capacitors? I don't want this to get heavy.