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Car Audio

Razor

Razor

Sep 22, 2002
1,856
10
Dallas
#1
If any of you "Car Audio Guru's" can help I'd appreciate it...

I have an Alpine CD/Head unit in my truck, couple of years old...and I'm trying to find a head unit to replace it. I saw a unit a year or so ago, that had a 3.5mm input jack on the front face of the head unit.

I can't find anything by Alpine that has this but do any of you guys know of a nice head unit that has this capability? I think it'd be cool to be able to easily plug just about any periphial into the front of your in dash unit.
 
#2
I believe many of the Sony units have the jack on the front. If you don't mind having it on the back, you get a lot more options. I just bought a Pioneer DEH-4800 that has a 3.5mm jack on the back, and I've been very pleased with it so far. Honestly, I would have preferred RCA jacks, but I've had no troubles with the mini jack yet.
 
#7
Thanks for the replies everybody. I don't mind spending upwards of 300-400 dollars on a nice new head unit. Main reason for wanting a front mounted 3.5mm jack is simply convenience.

I'd like to get away from all of these FM modulators and be able to directly plug in my Sirius unit, or my IPOD, depending on which one I want to use.
 
#9
JacksonsMen said:
i would stay away from front mounted 3.5mm jacks (or 1/32", headphone, whatever it is) theres really no use for one and its an open port that can cause malfunctions if contaminants get in it
Click to expand...

Yeah, who needs an external jack when you can get the craptacular sound quality of an FM modulator. If someone wants to plug an external source into their HU then there is indeed a use for a jack.

Really though...what's the chances of contaminants causing malfunctions through an external jack. Anything you're going to be plugging into it is also going to have a jack that all those contanimants can get in anyway so it's a moot point even if it were something to worry about.

bc
 
#10
Hmm, here's a thought: if you want to work on it a bit, why not to get a 3.5mm _male_ cable and run it from behind to the middle console or some locker?

I mean, if you have a hole in the front, you still need to get a 3.5mm cable from the player to the input, and have no place to keep it in. Make a hole for the male cable through the bottom of some locker and you can avoid the misc. cables running everywhere - and get music from any player with headphones out without extra cables.

Plus, most car stereos have extra aux in, so this way you can choose from any headunit on the market.
 

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