silly iPod related question- FM transmitter for cars

kayagum · Post by **kayagum** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 1:24 pm

OK- do any of you use those FM transmitter doohickeys for an iPod so you can listen to it in a car? Which brands do you like?

The fact that most car radios (even brand new ones) don't have a line in just goes to show you why so many car brands suck, and are Chapter 11 bordering on Chapter 7.

dwelle · Post by **dwelle** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 1:27 pm

they suck.

i hate mine...

trashy · Post by **trashy** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 1:45 pm

I think it really depends on your car stereo. The transmitters themselves are pretty much all the same, hardware-wise. The software may differ some and they may vary in features which may make them more or less usable. But as far as whether or not your car stereo picks them up, I think that has way more to do with your car stereo.

In short, they work or they don't. There's no way to know until you buy one.

John Jeffers · Post by **John Jeffers** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 2:03 pm

I've tried three or four. They ALL suck. The sound is terrible, and you will probably get bad reception despite the fact that the transmitter is less than three feet from the receiver.

Every car stereo manufacturer should include a 1/8" stereo line in jack on the front panel, FFS. What would that add, $2 to the cost of the radio? No, instead they want you to spend $200 on their iPod integration crap. I never thought I'd be wishing for a tape deck in my car so I could at least use one of those cassette adapters.

EDIT: fixed a misspelled word.

trashy · Post by **trashy** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 2:16 pm

John Jeffers wrote:I've tried three or four. They ALL suck.

this is what I mean. They all suck because your car stereo sucks. for some people the first transmitter they use works really well...

John Jeffers · Post by **John Jeffers** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 2:19 pm

Maybe, but I've never heard one sound good in anyone's car.

eeldip · Post by **eeldip** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 2:24 pm

yea, i think they are like 50-10k or something

or less. kinda lo fi. they work much better in places like red bluff than they do in places where there are more radio stations.

you just cant beat a "line in".

stinkpot · Post by **stinkpot** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 3:10 pm

I have the one from Monster. Icarplay i think is what it's called. It's pretty good, and it charges my ipod. You can choose from 8 stations if one fuzzes out. No, it's not as good of sound as listening to a cd or if i had a line in, but it does the job. There's generally so much noise from outside that it doesn't matter that much anyway. If you're in a big city, you may be disappointed. I live in the suburbs of Chicago and it does well until I get into the city, then it's hit or miss.

Tip: If you can unscrew or disable the radio antenna in any way, it will help the reception on your transmitter.

If you do get one, get one that plugs into the car. The battery operated ones are completely useless.

There are kits you can get to put a line in type of thing in if you're car is one that supports that kind of thing. Mine is not, so transmitter it is.

getreel · Post by **getreel** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 3:11 pm

I have a Monster one of those and it super-sucks. Eerything coming off the iPod is low in level and noisy. I can't say how much I hate the FM adapters. I have a brand new Nano but I still carry CDs in my car because of the crappiness of the FM transmitter I have. It could sound much better because the iPod is pretty decent sounding at home through computer speakers or phones. I think these things are just cheap and crappy. I guess I'm going to have to replace my head unit in the car to get good sound out of the iPod there. Good thing I saw this thread because I was thinking of trying another brand but it looks like they all kinda suk.

trashy · Post by **trashy** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 3:20 pm

stinkpot wrote:I have the one from Monster. It's pretty good, and it charges my ipod.

getreel wrote:I have a Monster one of those and it super-sucks.

this is what I'm talking about.

the brill bedroom · Post by **the brill bedroom** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 6:09 pm

Supposedly they work better if you live away from the city- less competing signals. I bought one and it blows- very low quality signal with static. I'm also getting pretty crappy service from my Sirius satelite radio and I wish to God I could figure out how to make it better. I've tried 3 frequencies and they all get other signals busting in.

nlmd311 · Post by **nlmd311** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 6:58 pm

I have one of the older Monster transmitters. Kind that powers from the cigarette lighter and has the larger display. Allows you to search through pretty much the whole FM band rather than just a few preset stations. That, I think, is the big difference between getting one that is usable, and one that is trash. I think I paid $70 something for it new when I bought it. That said, I have had mine just about a year now and when I lived in Miami, it worked off and on depending on the area but mostly on.
Here in Atlanta, I haven't had a problem with it except when passing through the downtown area.
On long road trips it is great. Once you are on the highway you can just find a station and leave it for a few hours.
The nice thing about the one I have, like I mentioned is that you can pick any station from 88.9 up through 106.9 or something like that. Sweep and find a few stations that work in your area, or the areas you are traveling to and from and then set those on the presets. I think there are three. If one starts going out, go to the next.
The sound isn't amazing, but it works. I've only ever had or been driven around in cheap, horribly insulated cars to start with so driving down the road at 40 already presents enough ambient noise to cancel out any crap being introduced into the signal.

-Darrill

Jim_Boulter · Post by **Jim_Boulter** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 11:35 am

Mine sucks. Totally. I've been thinking about posting in the DIY section to see if anyone had ideas on increasing their output or something to make them useful. As is, they just aren't. Unless you're one of the lucky ones for whom they are. Mine isn't any good in my home, even. Just decided to try it out in the house when I got it, and it totally blows. I'm glad I only wasted $20 for one.

stinkpot · Post by **stinkpot** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 1:05 pm

stinkpot wrote:
I have the one from Monster. It's pretty good, and it charges my ipod.

getreel wrote:
I have a Monster one of those and it super-sucks.

this is what I'm talking about.

Agreed. It totally depends on your car stereo. It just happens that I got kinda lucky, but had to go through 3 different transmitters to find one that worked. Just get it from somewhere that will let you return it if it doesn't work well.

And like I said, if you can disable your radio antenna, it will help reduce interferance a lot.

Obviously, if you can do a line in, do that. It'll be way better.

trashy · Post by **trashy** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 8:41 pm

Jim_Boulter wrote:Mine sucks. Totally. I've been thinking about posting in the DIY section to see if anyone had ideas on increasing their output or something to make them useful.

well, I know some guy on some-other-board-that-shall-remain-nameless who pulled out his car stereo, found the preamp to the radio signal and made an aux in...

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silly iPod related question- FM transmitter for cars

silly iPod related question- FM transmitter for cars

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