iPod for '99 Taurus

I just bought a used '99 Taurus and am looking at different options for listening to my iPod in the car. FM transmitters don't work so well as I am in Seattle and there doesn't seem to be enough "empty space" in the radio frequencies to get a clear signal. I do have a cassette deck, and the cassette adapter does work pretty well. I am curious, though, as to my other options. It seems like something like this:

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would work pretty well, as my car does not have a CD changer installed but it seems as if it was set up for one (there is a "CD" button on my radio).

Anyway, my question: I know nothing about cars, wiring, etc. How difficult would it be for someone with zero prior knowledge to install one of these? I am assuming that the end result would be an aux in in the dashboard area somewhere, where I could plug my iPod in directly.

Any help that you could give me, either as to the difficulty of such a task as well as other options I might have for listening to my tunes in my new car, would be appreciated. Thanks!

Reply to
rossination
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It doesn't seem to be able to control the iPod with the radio controls. That adapter will do that

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A little more expensive, but better integration.

As soon as my battery arrives, i'm removing the CD changer from the trunk and will use the radio to control the iPod instead.

Reply to
El Bandito

I don't know what kind of antenna option you have, but in my wife's Escort and [when I owned it] my Focus, I got the best results when I removed or retracted the FM antenna. That cut down the annoying background chatter and let the FM txmitter punch through reliably (I live in NYC, by the way!).

I never listen to any radio at all, only the iPod - so it was fine for me to unscrew the antenna on the Focus. On the Escort it can be manually retracted by reaching out the driver's window.

In ascending order of sound quality, the usual three options are:

- cassette adapter [really poor frequency response]

- FM txmitter

- hardwired connection to line-in - this is head and shoulders above the previous two options and you'll NEVER go back.

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That particular device has a little bulkhead-mounted box which would go down by your feet (or the passenger side footwell), and it has two RCA jacks on it.

The trickiest part would probably be getting at the wires. I'm not familiar with that vintage of Taurus but on older models the radio was quite easy to remove. In order to install this particular kit you also, however, have to remove the footwell trim panel and that might involve removing the shift knob and trim around the gearshift [of floor-mounted

- my old Taurus was on the steering column]. So it could be daunting.

It might be less work to buy a complete replacement stereo system with an aux-in jack right there on the front. You'd just pull out the old radio, install a wiring adapter harness, and plug it into the back of the new radio.

The simplest would probably be something like this:

This has a standard 3.5mm front aux input jack.

Reply to
zwsdotcom

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A cheaper (and much easier option) is to get yourself a cassette adapter.

Reply to
El Bandito

The OP says he already has one.

Reply to
zwsdotcom

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One important item to remember is that the actual radio and amp is in the trunk, on the left side, just behind the wheel well. The dash display is just that, the display and casette. The antenna is also back there, and has a short connection down. RF adapters might work better if you can put them near the back corner of the car, and use a longer cable to connect it to your iPod.

The Crutchfield adapter looks interesting, but you will need to run a long audio cable to the back. You would also need a simple adapter to convert from the 1/8 mini-jack to the two RCA jacks needed for it's input.

Reply to
Andrew Rossmann

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I didn't think regular headphone's worked on an ipod. wife has an ipod shuffle here (wanted it small for running) And i can't hook up regular headphones to it, or plug it in to the stereo w/ rca/headphone pluyg

Reply to
Picasso

I don't know about the tiny shuffle, but regular iPod's have standard

1/8" (3.5mm) stereo plugs. I've used some 20-year old full-size headphones with my 30G iPod. It's not the best output though, as the volume is not fixed, and can have issues from the amp and EQ. The ideal output is from some line-level outputs on the dock connector, which bypasses much of the audio processing. On the other hand, for a car, I doubt you'd be able to tell the difference, especially on MP3/AAC lossy- compressed audio.
Reply to
Andrew Rossmann

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