View Full Version : Playing in-car w/o a head unit
weezer0321
03-29-2005, 12:06 PM
My head unit has been dead for about a year now, and being in school, I haven't had the money to replace it. I was wondering if there was any way I could make my iPod play through my sound system in my car without using the head unit. Perhaps by fusing the speaker cables together through a headphone jack and using the amp as a power source. I don't know a lot about car audio so I am just looking for a more experienced opinion, I am just going crazy in my jeep without music!!
AndyH
03-29-2005, 12:33 PM
Some amps have RCA line-in ports on them. You could use a miniplug-to-RCA cable and feed that from either the iPods headphone port (or better yet, the Line-Out from the dock) into your amp and play it through the car that way.
weezer0321
03-30-2005, 01:08 AM
Ok, so I hooked a miniplug-to-RCA cable up to the line in port on the amp and I got NOTHING. Is there something else I need to do? I dont know why that does not work. I found an archived post about someone doing what you mentioned (http://forums.ipodlounge.com/archive/topic/83885-1.html) , but it did not work for me...or am I missing a step.
AVService
03-30-2005, 08:22 AM
If you do have an amp but don't have a radio/head unit then I would think there is a trigger missing that the radio uses to turn the amp on.
Without the trigger the amp would just sit there provided no power.
The trigger will likely be just a switched power lead of some kind.
weezer0321
03-30-2005, 01:34 PM
What would this trigger/lead look like? I suppose it is just a wire or more like a plug? Like I have said before, I am quite the novice when it comes to car audio and do not know where this lead would come from or go to.
AndyH
03-30-2005, 01:44 PM
The manual that came with the amp should have that info. If you don't have the manual, look on the manufacturer's web site.
AVService
03-30-2005, 03:54 PM
Considering that you have never mentioned anything specific about your setup it would be difficult to tell you exactly what to look for.
We don't know what car,what head unit or what amp you have.
I would use a multi-meter to find a lead into the amp that gets power from the head unit.
If I were you I would leave this to a pro to determine.
weezer0321
04-01-2005, 05:24 PM
Well I did it. I ran the remote lead from the wire harness to the remote in on the amp for my power and it worked wonderfully. I just need to adjust the gain and that will be tricky considering the placement of the amp. Thanks for everyone's help!