TJ and I are looking to buy a portable speaker/sound system for the beast of a car we just purchased. I was told there are a few that hook up to an iPod and sound good as well. Anyone have suggestions?
The car has its original radio only. There are no bells and whistles (side from the purple lighting system installed and the spinning hubcaps.) But I need music.
i have a cheap radio in my car and it(like many) has RCA jacks that hang down that i can access from under the dash. they are inputs that you can plug an i-Pod directly into and have unlimited and skip-free music all day long! buy extension RCA jacks from radioshack or equal and have it at your fingertips too
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yep, 91 honda civic hatchback. burns some oil these days but still gets 34 MPG. it carries tools, 2×4’s, drywall, bikes, my kayak without a single complaint with its 145,000 miles. i bought another civic hatchback but i rarely drive it (2002 w/ 14,000 miles)and i have the mini too.
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in lieu of replacing your stereo, you can get one of those FM transmitters. Since it broadcasts on a low power FM transparancey, you car radio’s FM tuner would pick it up when dialed to the appropiate “station” (usually something low, like 89.6).
I have one, and it’s ok. I’m not crazy about it, but it cost me around $60. I’m willing to suck it up than pay for $150 or more for a new stereo. There are kinds of models, from the basic to ones that charge as you use, utlizing the cigarette lighter.
If you go with a new stereo, Alpine makes one that has a direct iPod attachment with controls on the stereo itself to control said iPod as it sits snuggly in your glove department. It also has a 3 line display to display said iPod’s menu/screen. That’ll run you around $300 or so I believe.
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I bought the Monster Cable version of the ipod radio thing, its been working great so far and it keeps your ipod charged while playing.
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Sir Kerned John, thank you SO much for the information. I will check it out certainly. I hope Toby can set it all up. When it comes to removing the doors and wiring everything correctly, I’m not your woman.
David, what’s Monster Cable?
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Oh, we’ll have a nice stereo in there, all right. Along with new seats, new rims (non spinners, of course), a new AC (or charge – whatever is needed) and a new door to replace the one with a rust hole.
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hey guys. congrats.
a monster cable is like an ‘i-trip’ device(ask someone else. its one of those doohickeys that picks up an unused freq? and then plays your ipod on it. but you have to install the software prog first.).
monster is much better because plugs into your lighter socket and plays AS WELL AS charges. very cool. my sis had one and it worked really well, even in the wilds of southern maryland.
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Definitely get the FM transmitter that plugs into the cigarette lighter over the one that runs on batteries. We have that one (Belkin makes it I think) and it eats batteries! The cassette deck one works great but I am guessing your car stereo is pre-tape deck.
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its this ghetto thing that plugs into an ipod, then plays music on an empty fm station
its pretty gay, but until you get a stereo it works well enough
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Michelle – You’re very welcome.
To clarify: the iTrip and the Monster Cable iCar model (that we referred above) are all versions of a FM transmitter. they range in pricing based on whether they feed off of the iPod’s battery (iTrip) or plug into the cigarette lighter (Monster Cable).
TobyJoe – that was the Alpine model I was referring to. I believe you can pick it up from any major electronic goods store
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Mihow 
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