AUX in Cracking iPod FM transmitter

[Plattamus]

Just taken delivery of this iPod transmitter after it was vote best of it's type on the autoexpress product review:-

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/product...nsmitters.html

Sits in the Cup holder (great idea), Charges the iPod, brilliant sound quality (after trying numerous others with very disappointing results) - £30 from Amazon :-

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Full-channel...179206&sr=1-21

(The only downside is that all track control etc is via the ipod itself)

[pjr]

Any chance of a picture of it in place in your Civic ? How well does it fit in the cupholder ?

From memory, The Gadget Show also voted it the best FM Transmitter earlier in the year.

[Plattamus]

Dear PJR

Unfortunately I can't post any picks as I'm missing one Civic (doesn't arrive until August !!!)

I work with a bloke who owns a Civic so I tried it in his car:-

The transmitter sits well in the front-most cup holder (under the slidey cover) and then plugs into the cigarette lighter.(it doesn't sit flat in the one nearer the arm rest)

It's got a pigs tail coiled wire which is probably a bit too long to be perfect in the Civ but if you coil this up it's not a problem.

While the device is in place it's too tall to close the sliding cover so when parked up you will have to remove it as it does look like something worth nicking.

It's quite neat and compact though so when not in use it fits into either the centre armrest or the glove box with ease.

I've tried this in my outgoing Citroen C5, my mate's Civic and another bloke's A-Class Merc.

The sound quality in all 3 is terrific

[Dawson]

Have you compared it to any other FM transmitters?

I'm interested, but I think a wired solution might be better value for the sound quality.

[pjr]

Originally Posted by Plattamus

Unfortunately I can't post any picks as I'm missing one Civic (doesn't arrive until August !!!)

Thanks for the info - Don't know if I could wait as long at that for delivery!

Was a bit concerned that with the Ipod sticking up out of the cupholder it would get in the way when changing gear.

[Plattamus]

Pjr, Long Delivery time is due to it being a company car !

It won't interfere with gear changing , not even close.

Dawson,
I've tried 2 other transmitters, a Belkin Tunecast II (signal very weak,like a radio station with poor reception) and one of the TeckNets (ditto quality) both costing around £15.

The Macally seems to transmit a much stronger signal than either of these.On one frequency it actually clashed with a local FM radio station but when I turned the device on the signal from this transmitter just overpowered the radio and produced a fine quality signal.

I've tried to experiment to see if I could hear a difference in sound quality using the same track on both CD & iPod (via the Macally) and I changed my mind about 3 or 4 times as to which was best. It's either as good as or so close that you can't tell the difference.

You can play full albums etc using this (as per a normal iPod) as opposed to making Honda playlists, though you have no control via the steering wheel ?

[Obo]

So this has been tested in a civic? My FM transmitter is also a holder and charger and plugs into the cigarette lighter and it doesnt work (CZ said it wouldnt!) it appears it's too far from the aerial to pick up a reception so it concerns me that one sitting in the cupholder would suffer the same fate!

Mine also fouls the gear stick!

[sprkeh]

I used my iTrip, works no bother and reception is crystal clear. Stickin to MP3 cd's though just until I can get the iPod hardwired in and change tracks with wheel controls.

[Plattamus]

Obo

'So this has been tested in a civic?' -

What you mean a sort of definitive, does-it-actually-work-in-a-Civic, proof of concept,acid test.........No, I haven't done one of those !

The only day I had access to the Civic I didn't have an IPod with me.

I could test for the physical fit (mentioned above) but not for performance.

The only thing I can say, in terms of the distance away from the aerial, is that it works a treat in my C5 which has the aerial at the back of th roof,above it's windscreen and is a much longer car than the Civic i.e. the Cup-Holder To Aerial Distance is greater in the C5 than the Civ without doubt.

It's worked great in the other 3 cars that I've tried it in as well.(though they have probably had a smaller CHTAD)

If I get chance to test this in a Civic (before mine arrives in August) I'll let you know.

[Obo]

Originally Posted by Plattamus

Obo

'So this has been tested in a civic?' -

What you mean a sort of definitive, does-it-actually-work-in-a-Civic, proof of concept,acid test.........No, I haven't done one of those !

The only day I had access to the Civic I didn't have an IPod with me.

I could test for the physical fit (mentioned above) but not for performance.

The only thing I can say, in terms of the distance away from the aerial, is that it works a treat in my C5 which has the aerial at the back of th roof,above it's windscreen and is a much longer car than the Civic i.e. the Cup-Holder To Aerial Distance is greater in the C5 than the Civ without doubt.

It's worked great in the other 3 cars that I've tried it in as well.(though they have probably had a smaller CHTAD)

If I get chance to test this in a Civic (before mine arrives in August) I'll let you know.

YUP thats exactly what I meant my fm transmitter worked sweet as in my focus but doesnt work at all in my civic

[pjr]

Obo,

I've taken a chance and ordered one from Amazon - due to arrive by the end of next week. I'll test it out and let everyone know how I get on.

However, just because it works up here, it might not work everywhere, depending on how crowded the airwaves are.

Figured that I can always return it, if it doesn't work in the Civic.

[Plattamus]

Obo One,

Which FM transmitter have you been having trouble with ?

[jdcampbell]

Chaps

Don't forget your 10% discount code from Auto Best Buy. The FM Cup is available at £29.99 less your 10%, along with all of the other Auto EXPRESS 2007 product honours winners - AND you'd qualify for the free car wash shampoo offer on the front page!!

Doug

[Civic_Fan]

Hey guys, i've just recently registered here, must say its great to finally find a site i can share my civic experiences with other owners.

I'm interested to know though, i have a belkin radio transmitter which worked fine on my Hyundai Atos but gets incredible interference in my civic, apart from not sounding as loud as an audio cd.

Now my question is what is this item talked about above whereby you can directly connect the ipod into the car and control it via the steering wheel? Does it sound as clear and loud as a normal cd or does it still work by frequencies ?

Secondly i'd like to take this opportunity and also ask about my sound, see my civic goes all the way to 40 volume wise is this its max level, perhaps there is some kind of limit i can't overide, at the moment it seems like the standard speakers are a bit weak, and i'm thinking of fitting in a new set of speakers amps etc any recomendations? am i missing something here ??

Help mee !!

[Bog]

Originally Posted by Civic_Fan

Hey guys, i've just recently registered here, must say its great to finally find a site i can share my civic experiences with other owners.

I'm interested to know though, i have a belkin radio transmitter which worked fine on my Hyundai Atos but gets incredible interference in my civic, apart from not sounding as loud as an audio cd.

Now my question is what is this item talked about above whereby you can directly connect the ipod into the car and control it via the steering wheel? Does it sound as clear and loud as a normal cd or does it still work by frequencies ?

Secondly i'd like to take this opportunity and also ask about my sound, see my civic goes all the way to 40 volume wise is this its max level, perhaps there is some kind of limit i can't overide, at the moment it seems like the standard speakers are a bit weak, and i'm thinking of fitting in a new set of speakers amps etc any recomendations? am i missing something here ??

Help mee !!

Do a search of the site and look at the Wiki, there is loads of info about Ipod/MP3 connections and speaker upgrades

[Obo]

We'll see when PJR's turns up then.

Originally Posted by Plattamus

Obo One,

Which FM transmitter have you been having trouble with ?

It's an unbranded one it's black it's a holder and charger and fm transmitter in one, I will have to see if I can find the packaging. It's range is 88.1 - 88.5 which is Radio 2 always worked fine in the focus. I havent tried it in the boot yet but it doesnt work on the centre cig lighter Radio 2 takes over where the signal isnt strong enough! I hardly use the ipod anyway I much prefer my creative mp3 player the sound is so much better so I wont be spending out anymore money on a new one just yet.

[rishiap09]

the Logic 3 one is very good... i have one in my car and in an audi A4 and it sounds very clear. No distortion and you can hear the bass, mid n treble very clearly.

[czechplastik]

Problem with the Civic is that the aerial is built into the rear spoiler, which is a fair bit away from where most people would be using FM transmitters, (if its in the boot how would you change albums etc?). I had the same problem with my Megane, the aerial was in the back as well. So I went for an alpine HU which gave full control from the HU and charged the IPOD which was kept in the glove box. Unfortunately the Civic dash makes this impossible, especially in the EX.

[pjr]

Ok, so my Ipod dock arrived today - Just spent the last half hour playing with it to see if it was any good.

First impressions were very good - seems well made, and came with 5 different dock adapters to cater for the different sizes of Nano/Mini/Ipod available - I think that the one pre-fitted was the correct one for my 5G Ipod video.

There's not much to the instructions, and I didn't really refer to them. There are 4 buttons on the front - On/Off, Channel +, Channel - & Quick Switch. The Quick Switch button lets you choose between 4 pre-set channels, and the +/- lets you modify these up or down in 0.1 steps.

There are two connectors behind the dock connector - one for the 12v supply from the cigarette lighter, and one for any 3.5mm stereo input. The charging facility doesn't work if you use the 3.5mm input.

So, it was just a case of setting the dock into the front cupholder, connecting the power supply (the connector of which isn't any bigger than the cigarette lighter, so no problems with it pulling the cigarette lighter socket out )

Then it was a case of finding a clear frequency - 88.0 worked here, as it was at least 0.3 away from the nearest broadcast station.

The first thing I noticed was that the sound was quite a bit quieter than from the radio/CD - to get an equivalent volume, the dial needed turned up 10/12 more than normal - i.e. 25 rather than 13. There is also a slight hiss in the background, which is more noticeable on quiet tracks. Some people might not like this - but you don't hear it as much when driving as the road noise masks the hissing to some extent. The volume control on the Ipod itself doesn't do anything when docked - the only volume adjustment is done via the head unit.

Not that I'm an expert, but the sound reproduction seemed accurate across high/mid/low frequencies - there was just as much bass as normal (probably not a good measure given the standard speakers)

Driving about, if you concentrated you could hear the background hiss, and a good test was to pause the Ipod and listen to the pure static - it disappeared if the volume was turned down to about 14.

The LCD frequency display is backlit blue, and the Ipod is automatically paused if the ignition is switched off - I think this is a power saving feature, because if the Ipod is paused it will eventually go to sleep, thus saving the battery if there is no power going to it.

In terms of location in the car, the dock sits quite securely in the cup holder, and the coiled cable can be hidden inside the cupholder as well - so looks quite neat. With the Ipod sticking up out of the dock, it does come close to your hand when changing into 2nd/4th/6th - doesn't actually get in the way, but you notice it to begin with.

On the whole, pretty pleased with my purchase

[Obo]

A good review there PJR. I tried my transmitter in the boot today and it worked perfectly, so we got my bf's battery operated one and that seemed better but it still wasnt perfect, even on the back seat ... though I'm not 100% convinced this wasnt down to the batteries!

This one seems like a good buy for the civic I have a Macally ipod speaker and found that to be good value, maybe I'll invest in this one in the future.