Good FM modulator for what I will need to use it for.

ydnap · Post by **ydnap** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 11:37 am

Hey chaps

OK, so with me leaving pretty soon I am scrambling to pack stuff I can make use of when I get home, so that I dont feel completely potless and toyless.. I dont really have much to speak of aside from the car, so will want as many toys and luxuries for when I get back as I can.

I have decided to leave the monitor for the PC here, its too heavy and would never work there. And have sized up a monitor (19" WS LCD) for when I get back and a TV FM card (pci) so that my PC will be the main center of entertainment.

Now. I have that awesome Infinity double din unit that I love so very much (looks shite sounds phenomenal) and those really sexy 6x9 components. I am going to build a stereo with those, shaped like a bose 901 (if you guys remember how theyre made).

This unit will sit on a really nice qual speaker stand and be my home stereo. I reakon with about $850 worth of audio gear in it and a really nice look I can make it all good.. Dont need a sub as there are alot of oldies around there and dont want the law out, and these 6x9s provide more than enough bass and punch.

Theres one problem.

The head unit has no RCA in to speak of* and the radio wont work. (well Im pretty sure it wont) that leaves me with tape and CD, fine, however I would like to be able to wire the entire PC into it and have it play the sound.

Now, on the back it has a DIN sort of plug that is traceable to the circuit board and it rats out the pin locations and what they are called. This is used for the CD changer that I dont have, but I was wondering if I could possibly wire RCAs into that and get the HU to see the inbound sound output from the PC?

If not, can anyone suggest a good fm modulator that I can send the sound from the PC into my stereo?

It needs to be a reasonably good one with as little audio degradation as possible and, needs to be sort of now because theyre pretty much illegal in the UK (or were when I left, not sure about now, people were using them and amplifying them for pirate radio stations..)

Any suggestions? does anyone know how to wire a set of sound outputs into this changer din and trip it to take an input? Im sure its possible tbh and I can tell you what all of the input labels are, at which point I can solder wires to them.

Thanks guys, really dont want to get home and be totally bankrupt of all my luxuries + broke

ydnap · Post by **ydnap** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 1:00 am

So a car audio forum full of audio nuts and noone can answer my question?

gkitching · Post by **gkitching** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 7:25 am

I can help you with the fm modulator. Audiovox makes one of the better ones. Can't say I know of any truely hifi fm mods. Kind of a contradiction in terms if you know what I mean.

But if you other idea doesn't work out, I can have one off in a day.

Post by **stipud** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 7:48 am

ydnap wrote:So a car audio forum full of audio nuts and noone can answer my question?

I just dont think anyone wanted to read your post. It was a bit long winded, and mostly pointless.

Next time try to make a post that says "Can someone recommend me a good FM modulator?" and that's it. We don't need to know your life story to be able to suggest one for you

ydnap · Post by **ydnap** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 8:18 am

stipud wrote:
ydnap wrote:So a car audio forum full of audio nuts and noone can answer my question?
I just dont think anyone wanted to read your post. It was a bit long winded, and mostly pointless.

Next time try to make a post that says "Can someone recommend me a good FM modulator?" and that's it. We don't need to know your life story to be able to suggest one for you

Did you read it all? It wasnt easy to explain what I wanted to do.

What I really want to do is hijack the 6 cd changer bus and use that to send audio in. I asked if anyone knew how to do this because Im pretty sure that it could be done.

What I need to know is the tech terms for R in and L in and ground, and the wire that makes the HU go into the 6 disc changer mode (well, or think one is there so it goes to that audio input).

Which is pretty techy stuff, I dont see anyone complaining when Cecil gives someone a 2000 word reply on how to wire their amps and stuff and what ohm loads to expect etc.

ydnap · Post by **ydnap** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 8:20 am

gkitching wrote:I can help you with the fm modulator. Audiovox makes one of the better ones. Can't say I know of any truely hifi fm mods. Kind of a contradiction in terms if you know what I mean.

But if you other idea doesn't work out, I can have one off in a day.

How much are we talking?

I took the HU apart and have soldered wires to the contact points on the back (I obviously dont have the OEM plug because that was left in my buddies tib) so it would be nice to get it soon, try it out and then know if Im wasting suitcase space.. Suitcase space is kinda precious to me lol..

gkitching · Post by **gkitching** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 9:17 am

$40 shipped. While you're still on this side of the pond that is.

ydnap · Post by **ydnap** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 10:10 am

OK thanks. Should have some cash within the next few days.. Spent all bloody morning doing the auction write up for my car. That wasnt fun.

ydnap · Post by **ydnap** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 3:42 pm

So Im super super serial. Noone here knows how a CD changer bus works and what wires do what?

I'm dissapointed.

Manbearpig.

Post by **stipud** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 3:54 pm

You've got the labels, we don't. Try it and find out! You might have to send it some sort of trigger voltage as well, so that it will enable the CD changer input.

At the very least send us pictures of your board so someone like Cecil can reverse engineer it. Nobody here owns your headunit, so it would be a complete stab in the dark otherwise.

ydnap · Post by **ydnap** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 3:59 pm

Well the head unit is an infinity number. and it looks *horrible*. However, it sounds absolutely amazing, better than the $350 $ony unit I have been using since I removed it.

I like the fact its simple, love the fact that the bass and treble are analogue and rotary (they click in and flush mount too) and the fact it plays tapes. I mean we all know that when it comes to sound looks dont count for shit.

What I was thinking is that the specific bus will obviously be slightly differerent, but they would all be the same in principle. I think youre dead right about the trigger, there is a button on the front that says CDC but obs it wont switch to that..

I'll pop the lid off in a min and put the names it has on the board for the inputs. Funny enough all of the others were listed too (like +12v, GND AUT ANT, ILLUM + and so on, FR+, FR- FL+ and so on..)

Back shortly, hopefully some of the terms they use can be decrypted by one of our resident gurus

The great part is it has balls too, Im not sure what the power out is but I would suspect about 25-30w RMS a channel.. Im going to put the 6x9 'subs' on the rear and tweets front, so that I can fade out the bass for later in the evening

ydnap · Post by **ydnap** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 4:26 pm

OK here is a pic of the plugs, I think that the white one would be to power up the changer and the din type one would be the bus cable..

OK, all of the pins on the din thing are traceable to clearly labelled solder pins.

Sorry the pic is shit, but I will list them verbatim as to what they say, from there hopefully someone can help me fathom what to connect where.

Some I have a good idea I know already, but it doesnt hurt to get it checked for safety

Oh, this head unit is ONLY for the tiburon, it actually says "GK HYUN ONLY" on the bottom. So finding info from infinity is impossible.

OK, the 7 + gnd are as follows..

GND - I would summise this is ground

GND - right next to the one above and on the same circuit.

BAT - This is possibly the +

CDON - obviously the one that tells the head unit that when there is no cd in there to open it's input and allow sound to come in and be amplfied?

BUS - probably the one that allows the head unit to control the changer?

AGND - no idea. hmmmm audio ground??

R - probably the right audio input?

L - probably the left audio input?

All I really need to know is what trips the CDON. Its obviously some kind of power signal yes?

I'll get better clearer pics of the board tomorrow..

ydnap · Post by **ydnap** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 5:11 pm

ooooook.. So I found out that 2 years ago aload of Tiburon owners partook in a group buy and got adapters for $20. However there was 500 of them, buying one costs $89

The thing that fucking irks me is all it seems to be is something looping out of that plug and back into it to tell the head unit to accept the input and the RCA wires (which I know where they go).

Pic. Please, if someone knows what trips the CD on please help me ! I can do this shit in ten minutes for absolutely nothing if I just know whats being fed back into it to make it open its fanny lips.

Im imagining its 12v or gnd, but, if an electronics expert can confirm that a ground will or will not make it trip then I can know for sure.

1moreamp · Post by **1moreamp** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 6:08 pm

CDON will either be tied to ground or B + ...I am figuring B+ based on the looks of your adapter you have pictured < there is no control line so I am thinking they trigger off the B+ from the deck> But don't hold me to this, I could be wrong

I suggest you use .at least a 10K ohm resistor from this wire to either ground or B+ The resistor will prevent excessive current draw if your wrong.
A 10 K ohm resistor will be Brown, Black, Orange for its first three bands, any tolerance is ok

I know a web site that has all the Mitchell books, if you have time to burn DVD's...PM me for details. Most probably this unit is either Panasonic or Clarion..... Once you figure out who made it theres a document for it out there, of this I am sure.....C

Oh the AGND is the Audio Ground for the RCA shield connection, and its usually not connected to the other GND connections for noise reasons...

ydnap · Post by **ydnap** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 6:19 pm

Thanks man.. Do you have any of those? Ill pm you in a sec....

Here is the unit, its branded as an infinity

1moreamp · Post by **1moreamp** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 6:24 pm

On a side note Pandy, Most Modulator units are pretty OK for what they are. There is a adjustment inside that sets the mod level, and this can be adjusted for slightly better SQ by lowering the input drive signal a bit......

ydnap · Post by **ydnap** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 6:26 pm

yeah.. thing is with all the computer equipment it might suffer interference..

I have a set of 6ft RCA to headphone cables here, really nice quality too, so I was thinking of chopping off the RCAS and soldering them into the head unit, then the PC could literally plug right in.

I have heard that the sound quality when you hijack the CDC interface is tenfold better than a modulator

ydnap · Post by **ydnap** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 6:22 am

anyone?