ICE solution for older car - come tell me what's best please

[Zak33]

Hello all

Picture the scene - 19 year old car. Perfect in every way ......except audio media

a classic cassette deck... proper hardcore 1998.

Need to use phone loaded with music, or USB pen drive

I can wire and place speakers etc no worries

But the desire to leave that old cassette deck in place for... authenticity

What I want to know is, what devices exist to run my music through please? Do I buy an amp and some speakers, and run a mini jack to the phone? Can I get a bluetooth amp that's worth the dough? What exists without killing the cars original look?

[DanceswithUnix]

Is there a matching boot mounted CD changer for the tape deck? That would be about right for the period, though a CD player in the front wouldn't be out of character. The CD should of course skip on every bump you drive over to be authentic

This would pass at a quick glance, but is rather costly. I just think I would get something half decent and pretend it has had an aftermarket setup for the last 19 years

https://www.carbuildersolutions.com/...sd-card-player

Edit: I think the classic way out of this is to use an FM transmitter so you put a bluetooth receiver into the antenna input. That way you can tune the radio to your modern source. Can mess up the radio reception though.

Another edit: This could be cheap enough to be in the "worth a punt" category: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0713N33KS

[Zak33]

Is there a matching boot mounted CD changer for the tape deck? That would be about right for the period, though a CD player in the front wouldn't be out of character. The CD should of course skip on every bump you drive over to be authentic

This would pass at a quick glance, but is rather costly. I just think I would get something half decent and pretend it has had an aftermarket setup for the last 19 years

https://www.carbuildersolutions.com/...sd-card-player

Edit: I think the classic way out of this is to use an FM transmitter so you put a bluetooth receiver into the antenna input. That way you can tune the radio to your modern source. Can mess up the radio reception though.

Another edit: This could be cheap enough to be in the "worth a punt" category: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0713N33KS

CD player is doable, if I find a suitable era model, so it does as you say and skips ;-)

I've got a Meatloaf album on the TDK D90 so I'm not music free ;-)

The radio is and built in amp are, frankly crap, so an FM Modulator is a waste sadly

[Zak33]

if it was a really old car, the proper retro stuff looks awesome

https://www.amazon.co.uk/TCX-1-RMD-B...rd-player&th=1

but it's not that old ;-)

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

https://www.aldi.co.uk/adventuridge-...fsuBoCg3zw_wcB

[DanceswithUnix]

How good is your coding: A Raspberry Pi to store your music, and interact with it through a web interface on your phone? Fully hidden away, leave the old stereo as a cosmetic dummy.

[Ttaskmaster]

I'm in the same boat - 2003 Škoda with tape player up front and CD changer in the back.
I like the simple square button layout, but need USB for it.

Too many stereos look, to my eyes, what I imagine all the 'Hexus RGB Haters Club' see when they look at modern PCs, all angles and lines and awful colours, with not a basic backlight in sight...

[Bagnaj97]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Retro-Car-...wAAOSwGYVW-t3r

Load your MP3s onto an SD card, stick SD card in this "cassette," stick the cassette in the existing player. Assuming the current player is half decent that is.

[GoNz0]

I have an Alpine head unit with bluetooth hands free that also pairs for phone to car audio, it also has USB for pen drives. You may find you have the standard connector meaning it can be straight swapped for a new one or a cheap adapter rather than messing around with wires.

[Xlucine]

What's the volume knob like? The classic way of doing volume is to have a potentiometer in a voltage divider. The radio/cassette ouput is put across the voltage divider, with the midpoint tapped off and fed into the amp. So if you wire a 3.5mm jack across the voltage divider, you'll get the audio from your phone fed into the amp (after being attenuated by the volume knob). If the volume knob spins freely without a hard stop at either end then it's some digital wizardry so it's not as easy to feed in audio, but '98 probably won't be that advanced (steering wheel mounted volume controls also precludes the possibility of a potentiometer for volume).

Other option that's bound to work if the cassette deck works is one of the cassette to 3.5mm converters - search ebay for "cassette 3.5mm", they're pretty cheap. You'll have a wire trailing out of the cassette hole, but they work pretty well (turning phone volume to max and then adjusting car volume down to your preferred level helps to minimise the cassette hiss)

[Smudger]

Pioneer used to do a retro unit, I was looking at one for my Ford Mondeo at the time, it looked pretty good, but not sure if it had any sort of Bluetooth/USB capability.

This was it:



So no connectivity then...

Edit: It does have an AUX at the back for putting a CD changer on, could maybe do something with that? What make/model is the car?

[Zak33]

Great replies guys thank you

The SD card cassette is genius in theory but my experience of the previous generation (had a cable sticking out for mini jack) was v poor.

The retro look pioneer is nice too

The Alpine cd upgrade would break the classic authentic look of the traditional VW Polo dash with (Sony for Volkswagen Group) on the cassette flap

[GoNz0]

If you have the money then something like this http://www.classiccarstereo.co.uk/hi...oth-amplifier/

[Xlucine]

If you have the money then something like this http://www.classiccarstereo.co.uk/hi...oth-amplifier/

Alternatively, if you don't mind the faff, gut a cheap bluetooth speaker to get something that performs the same function. Add a cigarette lighter to USB converter to power it off the car's 12V, and for a tenner and a couple of hours you'll save £150

[GoNz0]

Alternatively, if you don't mind the faff, gut a cheap bluetooth speaker to get something that performs the same function. Add a cigarette lighter to USB converter to power it off the car's 12V, and for a tenner and a couple of hours you'll save £150

I doubt a cheap BT speaker would have the testicals to power car speakers, if it did once the engine is running in a 20 year old car they would become part of the background, open a window and bye bye sound.

[Xlucine]

I doubt a cheap BT speaker would have the testicals to power car speakers, if it did once the engine is running in a 20 year old car they would become part of the background, open a window and bye bye sound.

You only need the DAC function, the output from the bluetooth module can feed into another amp (like the one already present in the radio)