Don't be frightened people. I've done it. Thank you radioman193 (see
http://www.xmfan.com/viewtopic.php?t=21997 ) for the pinout diagram. I lost my KDC-C717 CD changer service manual (circa 2001) and found his post thru Google (whoo - whoo).
Short (connect together) the wires for pin 1 (purple) & pin 9 (grey). This will safely enable the AUX mode of the head unit (in this case, a KRC-509S tape deck w/ CD changer controls).
The left (white) & right (red) audio input wires are in their own grey coloured wire jacket along with the audio ground.
The +12V power wire is the thicker of the two red wires inside the blue CD changer cable. The power GND is the bare copper wire within the blue cable assembly.
My iPOD now runs cleanly thru my car stereo. I will miss the track/CD up & down functions but with 40G of iPOD storage, it would still be quicker to use the iPOD's scroll wheel anyway. I used an iPOD docking station cable and cut the firewire connector off. Then stripped and peeled back the wires. The white wire is your +12V feed and the black wire is Earth.
Anyone who paid $20.00USD at Crutchfield for the CA-C1AUX is a fool or has no sense of adventure.
Now about the factory head unit in my other vehicle (2000 Chrysler Infinity System - square head unit w/ AM/FM/Cassette/ single CD :
I have successfully "created" a direct line in audio on my factory Chrysler radio. Here's the details:
1) remove all screws attaching the plactics front face (4), the FM tuner module(4), the power amp heat sink(4 long & short screws), and the top and bottom metal covers (4 on top & 4 on the bottom
2) disconnect the tuner module from the chassis via a 10 pin header
3) disconnect the cassette player section via a 20 pin header (be carefull, the headers are very tall and exposed and can be bent very easily)
4) now disconnect the ribbon cable attached to the tape head (this eleiminates the possibilty of noise creeping into the audio path - see below) and desolder the 6 header pins on the PCB that the tape head's ribbon conector was attached to
5) At this point measure the 2 potentiometers marked L & R on the PCB that carried the signal coming from the tape head. Remember the side of the pot that had the lower resistance (this is your "line in") and don't touch the pots.
6) Now get yourself a decent quality 1/8" stereo to dual RCA cable. Cut and strip back the wires on the RCA end and solder accordingly. The grounds on you audio cable must be soldered to the GND of each potentiometer to minimize again any chance of noise creeping in.
7) take the bottom side metal plate cover of the radio and drill an extra hole if neccessary (this depends on how thick your audio cables are. The audio cable can only enter the radio via the bottom plate cover of the radio.
8) Now re-assemble the radio with the covers. The tricky part here is the white ribbon cable that transports the audio from one PCB to another plus other functions. You must carefully stretch the cable so that you can re-connect it. Also use some electric tape to cover up the exposed side of the tape head ribbon cable.
9) Now put the radio back in the dash, pop a tape in the cassette well, connect you iPOD and enjoy hiss & noise free audio on the road!!
10) note : a 90 or 110 min. cassette will be needed in order to fool the head unit into thinking that a tape is being played (the tape decks motors will run and you will experience a 1 sec. mute whenever the "tape" autoreverses.
Anyone who need more info please email me.
