Connecting MP3 Player To Car

**larebz** · 05-01-2008, 07:41 AM

Hi there, this is probably a really stupid question and bearing in mind i know very little about car stereo's and the way they work please go easy on me :beam:

Basically i want to be able to play my mp3 player through my car speakers, now i've tried the fm transmitter things but they have been dodgy in the past to say the least. So i've now tried using a RCA To 3.5mm cable however in the back of my stereo i have 2 sets of RCA female ports (2 for the back and 2 for the front)

I can get the music playing but obviously only in either the front or the rear and very very faintly, can hardly hear it at all and when i try turning the sound up on the stereo the buzz of the speakers just blocks out the sound that you could hear faintly.

What can i do to solve my problem please? any help is appreciated.

P.S. There is 1 more alternative i think and that is getting a cd changer to rca female cable and then plugging the rca to 3.5mm cable into that, maybe that would work better i don't know.

**v8 scimitar** · 05-01-2008, 12:42 PM

Are you sure those are line ins and not line outs?

**pancit175** · 05-01-2008, 01:24 PM

Never ever, ever, EVER plug in a source signal into anything you havent yet identified other than a dedicated input. Most, if not all, rca plugs on the back of headunits are designated for pre-"OUTS" unless otherwise stated as an input or AUX. In all likely hood you may damage your device and/or the unit you are plugging it into.

**larebz** · 05-01-2008, 06:54 PM

Well like i said i know very 'little' about car stereos, if you don't mind could you explain the difference between line-in and line-out please and what they look like?

Basically on the back of the stereo there is a cable coming out the back of it that looks like this:

but without the black bit on the left hand side. And then there's 2 ports built in.

One thing to say is that i used to have a fusion sub that plugged into the unit using a rca to rca cable and that worked fine, played through all the speakers. That's why i thought it would work the same sort of way with my mp3.

**v8 scimitar** · 05-01-2008, 07:04 PM

They look the same but line out is for going to amps and a line in is for external equipment to play through the head unit. I would put money on it your unit has line outs so you have just tried to play your head unit through your MP3 player. If your lucky you wont have broken anything but as pancit said don't go plugging stuff in unless you know what your plugging into.

**larebz** · 05-01-2008, 07:21 PM

alright well everything's working fine so i think i've escaped that, thanks for the heads up though.

So back to my main question then, what's the best way to play my mp3 player in my car then?

Originally Posted by larebz

P.S. There is 1 more alternative i think and that is getting a cd changer to rca female cable and then plugging the rca to 3.5mm cable into that, maybe that would work better i don't know.

Is that an option do you think? The way i see it is that this way the stereo will recognize the mp3 player as a cd changer and play the music that way, i may be wrong though.

**froalskiner** · 05-01-2008, 08:36 PM

It sounds like the rca connectors are outputs for an amp. Your options are somewhat limited...either get a new head unit with a built in aux input, use a better FM transmitter, or get an AUX kit for your radio/car (if available).

**Bugbyte** · 05-01-2008, 10:50 PM

What kind of car stereo is it?

**pancit175** · 05-03-2008, 11:04 PM

Are there any other type of connectors on the back of your headunit, besides the front and rear preouts. If not you may be forced to get a new headunit that has the capability of an AUX input.

**StereoInstaller** · 05-05-2008, 11:09 AM

Originally Posted by Bugbyte

What kind of car stereo is it?

X2.

There are lots of decks out there that allow a conversion of CD changer ports to AUX inputs...post an exact model number, if you can find it, generally on the face somewhere.

RF modulators do suck. The ones that are wired in suck less, but still suck.