How To Install The Honda Ipod Connector

[Dimplyred]

Originally Posted by Chalks

Did mine yesterday - took 5.5 hours, with rain breaks. Had no screws left in the pot when I'd finished and inflicted no damage to the car. My hand suffered 2 cuts though. Very pleased with my efforts.

The problems I had were not really knowing how hard to pull or push things to get them off and back. It takes a leap of faith sometimes !

From my experience I would add two things to the knowledge base:

1) Mark the driver's seat and back position with duct tape on the base runner and doorframe so that you can get your perfected driving position back quickly on completion.

2) Don't bother to remove the gear knob - the boot is held to the cover with three easily removed screws. The boot can then be wrapped over the gear knob to protect it.

Sound quality is fabulous and that's the bottom line. No FM transmitter comes close.

Very pleased with mine too, as you say the sound quality is great. I bought it knowing of it's limitations, however I am glad I did.

The best bits about installing it yourself are you can take your time and be careful and also the thought you have saved some money.

[alanwalne]

Does anyone else agree that the sound from the ipod is clearer and has more depth than the inbuilt CD player. Weird considering that MP3s are more compressed than CDs.

[pjr]

Can't say I've noticed, although I always used to use MP3 CD's before I got my iPod connector - And they are the same MP3's as are on the iPod anyway.

I'll have a listen tonight, with an original CD, and the same album from the iPod to see if I can hear any difference.

[Dimplyred]

Originally Posted by alanwalne

Does anyone else agree that the sound from the ipod is clearer and has more depth than the inbuilt CD player. Weird considering that MP3s are more compressed than CDs.

Chalks and I were comparing it to an mp3 player FM transmitter not a CD.

Check out his post at the end.

[pjr]

Originally Posted by Dimplyred

Chalks and I were comparing it to an mp3 player FM transmitter not a CD.

Check out his post at the end.

I had what was a pretty good FM Transmitter - the Macally FMcup, but you noticed a bit of hiss during quiet tracks, or between songs.

The hardwired solution is so much better.

I've also tried listening to a normal audio CD, and the same album from my iPod, and whilst there is a difference I couldn't put my finger on what was different - I thought the iPod version was very slightly flatter (which I would expect, with the sound being compressed into MP3), but was also less crashy sounding.

The one real difference is about a volume difference of around 4/5 to get the same amount of loudness. (iPod needs say 15/16, where CD is 10/11 for the same volume)

Not as bad as the FM transmitter which needed 23/24 on the volume to get the same.

[Dimplyred]

Originally Posted by pjr

I had what was a pretty good FM Transmitter - the Macally FMcup, but you noticed a bit of hiss during quiet tracks, or between songs.

The hardwired solution is so much better.

I've also tried listening to a normal audio CD, and the same album from my iPod, and whilst there is a difference I couldn't put my finger on what was different - I thought the iPod version was very slightly flatter (which I would expect, with the sound being compressed into MP3), but was also less crashy sounding.

The one real difference is about a volume difference of around 4/5 to get the same amount of loudness. (iPod needs say 15/16, where CD is 10/11 for the same volume)

Not as bad as the FM transmitter which needed 23/24 on the volume to get the same.

I've never played an original CD in my Civic, I guess I should really just to compare.

As I say though I'm really pleased with the ipod connector and glad I got it.

[pjr]

Noticed something strange about the display from the iPod connector just now.

If you play a normal audio CD, you get the track number and the time in minutes & seconds.

If you play through the iPod, you get playlist & track number, but if you press and hold the seek/skip buttons it displays the time (like it does for an audio CD). It only stays on the display while fast forwarding/rewinding through a track, and none of the buttons let you change the display to this permanently. So there is more display capability than has been implemented

I very rarely played audio CDs in the car either - nearly always MP3s. And I never play CDs now, since I got the iPod wired in.

[Dimplyred]

Originally Posted by pjr

Noticed something strange about the display from the iPod connector just now.

If you play a normal audio CD, you get the track number and the time in minutes & seconds.

If you play through the iPod, you get playlist & track number, but if you press and hold the seek/skip buttons it displays the time (like it does for an audio CD). It only stays on the display while fast forwarding/rewinding through a track, and none of the buttons let you change the display to this permanently. So there is more display capability than has been implemented

I very rarely played audio CDs in the car either - nearly always MP3s. And I never play CDs now, since I got the iPod wired in.

I noticed that a couple of days after I installed it too. Another feature I think is missing, is being able to scroll through the tracks using the dial on the left hand side of the head unit. It works with an mp3 or wma cd and is very useful for finding a track number quickly but not with the ipod.

[alanwalne]

Originally Posted by Dimplyred

I noticed that a couple of days after I installed it too. Another feature I think is missing, is being able to scroll through the tracks using the dial on the left hand side of the head unit. It works with an mp3 or wma cd and is very useful for finding a track number quickly but not with the ipod.

Perhaps the arm rest mounted 8 disc autochanger (which the iPod cable emulates) is not MP3/WMA compatable so this function would not exist.

[alanwalne]

Originally Posted by pjr

Can't say I've noticed, although I always used to use MP3 CD's before I got my iPod connector - And they are the same MP3's as are on the iPod anyway.

I'll have a listen tonight, with an original CD, and the same album from the iPod to see if I can hear any difference.

My main listening is iTunes downloads which are a different Apple specific format, I have not bought a CD since I got my iPod 18 months ago.

[pjr]

Originally Posted by alanwalne

My main listening is iTunes downloads which are a different Apple specific format, I have not bought a CD since I got my iPod 18 months ago.

When I ripped all my albums I had to do them as MP3 rather than AAC as Mrs PJR has a non-Apple portable media player at the moment, which doesn't support AAC.

However, thinking of getting her a Nano sometime, but couldn't really face re-ripping all my CDs again - my iTunes library has about 7000 songs in it, so 500+ albums!

[alanwalne]

Originally Posted by pjr

When I ripped all my albums I had to do them as MP3 rather than AAC as Mrs PJR has a non-Apple portable media player at the moment, which doesn't support AAC.

However, thinking of getting her a Nano sometime, but couldn't really face re-ripping all my CDs again - my iTunes library has about 7000 songs in it, so 500+ albums!

That explains it.

All CDs I have ripped to iTunes, I have done automatically, so may be AAC format.

[Dimplyred]

Originally Posted by alanwalne

Perhaps the arm rest mounted 8 disc autochanger (which the iPod cable emulates) is not MP3/WMA compatable so this function would not exist.

That's true, I wonder if the auto changer has exactly the same limited functions.

It would be very useful if we could quickly search through the tracks within the playlists though wouldn't it?

[pjr]

Originally Posted by Dimplyred

That's true, I wonder if the auto changer has exactly the same limited functions.

It would be very useful if we could quickly search through the tracks within the playlists though wouldn't it?

Not quite the quick search that I think you're after - like the left hand knob when playing an MP3 CD - but the 'Scan' button on the headunit plays the first 10 seconds of each track in a playlist - Pressing 'Scan' again cancels the autoscan feature, and will play from that point on in the playlist/album.

[pjr]

Originally Posted by alanwalne

That explains it.

All CDs I have ripped to iTunes, I have done automatically, so may be AAC format.

IIRC AAC is the default setting for ripping within iTunes - I changed it to MP3 and the bitrate I wanted, to maintain the compatibility I mentioned above.

[Dimplyred]

Originally Posted by pjr

Not quite the quick search that I think you're after - like the left hand knob when playing an MP3 CD - but the 'Scan' button on the headunit plays the first 10 seconds of each track in a playlist - Pressing 'Scan' again cancels the autoscan feature, and will play from that point on in the playlist/album.

That's worth knowing, thanks.

[R-15655]

Hi Guys,

Installed my Ipod connecter today (Carlink - mentioned else where on this site), just want to say THANK YOU to all the guys who have posted write-ups on how to do it

Took just over an hour (I work in car diagnostics), worth every minute, sound quality is great!

Thanks again guys.

Regards

R.

[malbo007]

Originally Posted by pjr

When I ripped all my albums I had to do them as MP3 rather than AAC as Mrs PJR has a non-Apple portable media player at the moment, which doesn't support AAC.

However, thinking of getting her a Nano sometime, but couldn't really face re-ripping all my CDs again - my iTunes library has about 7000 songs in it, so 500+ albums!

All you need to do is highlight all the songs in your itunes library, right click and select convert to AAC. itunes will automatically convert them all for you, it may take some time, but you could leave it going over night!!

[pjr]

Originally Posted by malbo007

All you need to do is highlight all the songs in your itunes library, right click and select convert to AAC. itunes will automatically convert them all for you, it may take some time, but you could leave it going over night!!

Yes I could do, although that could result in a drop in sound quality by converting from one compressed format to another. I might try it with a couple of albums first to see if I can hear a difference.