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Equipping the Overland Vehicle Vehicle accessories - Making your home away from home comfortable, safe and reliable.
Photo by Marc Gibaud, Clouds on Tres Cerros and Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia

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Photo by Marc Gibaud,
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Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia



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  #1  
Old 16 Aug 2007
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I'm looking at updating my landy music arrangement from it's current cd/mp3 player.

is there a device that allows you to bypass needing a head unit at all so you can just plag your iplod into a amp type thing which connects to the speakers and away you go? No need for a cd player/radio/head unit at all?

It's needs to be good quality etc
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  #2  
Old 16 Aug 2007
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Exactly what I've done.
Buy the cheapest amp you can find and a pair of decent speakers. Find or fabricate a piece of wire with a stereo mini-jack. Just put it away somewhere (under your dashboard), connect power, connect the speakers, plug in your device and your set. You can plug in everything with a headphone output, cdplayer/mp3player/gps/phone/radio/pda/laptop etc.

A few cons:
  • no volume-control other than on your mp3player (can be a bit difficult)
  • no on/off switch, it stay's on as long there is power in your (starter)battery! (just put a switch in the power lead, I used a unused switch on my dashboard).
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  #3  
Old 16 Aug 2007
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What is the sound quality like? Normally when you just plug a iplod into a stereo you have to turn the volume up really high to be able to listen to it...?

And the amp draws a lot of power I think?

But worth looking at I think!??
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Old 16 Aug 2007
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The sound quality depends mostly on your speakers. We are talking about a landy right? I bet you could not hear the difference between a cheap or highend car-amp when your engine is running. Offcourse you can always push things further, take a look at the pimp-and-tune-my-ride magazines.

Just take a look in your local halfords or even better a shop with alot of electronics-stuff (radioshack?).

These small amps don't draw that much power, but I thought I just mentioned it to you. Same goes for the very little LEDlight wich indicates it's on, You wouldn't believe how much light these freakin litlle bulbs produces when your camping in the desert (hee, where is that green glow coming from underneath my dash?).
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Old 16 Aug 2007
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sophie-Bart View Post
....We are talking about a landy right? I bet you could not hear the difference between a cheap or highend car-amp when your engine is running....
Oops, did'nt want to sound that rude
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Old 16 Aug 2007
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I have very high end speakers - 6 by 9's with tweeters nicely placed, and double sound proofing kist and noise killer paint everywhere - so it's pretty good ;-)

But to be honest I mostly stick ear plugs in and listen to music when camped up - so I like good sounds for reasonable money...
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Old 16 Aug 2007
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Just try one, the amp like pictured is something like 15 Euro, I bet you can find something like that and I'm sure you would be able to source a secondhand somewhere (with shealded leads, channels and goldplated connections). Also you can find those Ipod docking stations with line output and (usb) power-in.

Aah, noise killer paint is that the aftermarket or standerd brand ?
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Old 17 Aug 2007
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Originally Posted by roamingyak.org View Post
What is the sound quality like? Normally when you just plug a iplod into a stereo you have to turn the volume up really high to be able to listen to it...?

And the amp draws a lot of power I think?

But worth looking at I think!??

Because the output from the ipod is pre-amp phono, it's only between 1~3volts, so you might need to run it through a small mixer unit before it goes into the main amplifier.

That way you'll get yourself volume/bass/treble.

You can hide the amp away soemwhere in the vehicle, and just have the mixer on the dash or cubby box. and you only need to run a twin phono cable between the two, so no bulky looms around the place (obviously youll need the bigger speaker cables from the amplifier)


Darrin... did you get that wheel carrier fitted OK?
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Old 17 Aug 2007
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I see - do I just google for car audio mixer? Any brands spring to mind?

Savage Matt did a fine job of cursing me for putting in a back wing fuel tank whilst he tried to insert spanners into triple right angles to remove and bolt on all of the bits. Heoric springs to mind (in the end we just lifted all of the bodywork up with a big hammer and whacked it down again afterwards - the joys of having rough body work ;-)
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  #10  
Old 17 Aug 2007
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Hi Darrin,

Years, actually a couple of decades ago, I used to have a small 80w power amp with built in graphics equaliser that plugged into my walkman in a car - worked a treat and sounds just like what you need - there must be equivalents around at the moment.

I ended up sticking it under the steering column to it was easy to access.
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Old 17 Aug 2007
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Yeah, graphics equalisers seem to go out of fashion about the same time as carperted dashboards. Shame all round....
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  #12  
Old 18 Aug 2007
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darrin, have you heard of a device you plug in to your mp3 which transmits a radio signal. You then tune in your standard car radio to hear your favourite tunes. Approx £6 from motorwayservices.
GAELFORCE
do waterproof speakers
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Chris
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  #13  
Old 27 Aug 2007
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plan
most stereos have an extra jack at the back. You have to pull it out, connect the head phones jack to the back and best sound u can get.

The itrip works ok untill u get into towns or especially europe where just about every one owns there own channel there.

Best bet, get the docking station that connects to a hi fi. It comes with remote!! most important. Again just connect the output to the aux input on the back of the stereo
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