View Full Version : FM Transmitter
zaphanathpaneah
04-25-2005, 17:02
Anyone ever used one of these? Just bought one and it sucks. Can't find a clear channel in the NYC tristate area.
Aachenmade
04-25-2005, 18:21
A friend of mine has some for his Ipod (hmm well he has got three or four :) ) and they work quite good. Of course the sound quality is rediced to normal radio quality, but in a car with just factory radio this is enough...
But here in Germany we don't have that many diffrent radio stations. I would say in most playes you can get about 20 - max 30.
shopsuntec.com
04-25-2005, 21:33
iAudio will most likely come out with a portable wireless FM transmitter which also has a car AC charger for X5 as an accessory. FM transmitter quality may not be the best, but it would be great as a car charger.
IF your car has a tape deck, that would be a much better alternative.
randifier
04-26-2005, 00:07
I bought the iRiver AFT-100 FM Transmitter and amazon sent me an e-mail saying that it shipped today and that i should get it in a few days. I'll let you guys know how it work. It's supposed to work pretty well.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00067LYFW/104-3475215-2877510
En_croute
04-26-2005, 04:08
iAudio will most likely come out with a portable wireless FM transmitter which also has a car AC charger for X5 as an accessory. FM transmitter quality may not be the best, but it would be great as a car charger.
Wow that would be good.
Preumably as the Cradle is x-compatible, this could be used with an M3?
bradavon
04-26-2005, 16:01
IF your car has a tape deck, that would be a much better alternative.
That would incur wires and therefore defeat the whole point of an FM transmitter.
I hope they are sold separately as there is no chance the European models with have this feature. Having said that if you have to plug one of those in you may as well get a tape deck convertor or BEST yet buy a car player with a line in.
I've seen car players with a USB port, would this mean you could plug the cradle into it, hide the cabling and then plug the X5/M3 into the cradle? This would look very nice indeed.
En_croute
04-27-2005, 04:01
I've seen car players with a USB port, would this mean you could plug the cradle into it, hide the cabling and then plug the X5/M3 into the cradle? This would look very nice indeed.
You would need to include the sub-pack into the car-cradle.
bradavon
04-27-2005, 06:28
It would work then?
Surely the cradle has the same connections as the sub-pack though?
What would the USB port even do? USB isn't for audio input, some cars have audio in so you could connect your X5 that way and hide the wires and use a cradle. But Don't you need to use a wire to goto the FM transmitter? So whats the big deal of having a wire goto the tape deck?
bradavon
04-27-2005, 16:55
What would the USB port even do? USB isn't for audio input, some cars have audio in so you could connect your X5 that way and hide the wires and use a cradle.
Some car players have USB inputs for connecting MP3 players. I was thinking if the USB cable on the cradle which works both ways you could use it to listen to music, no?
But Don't you need to use a wire to goto the FM transmitter? So whats the big deal of having a wire goto the tape deck?
Not normally. The FM transmitter is built in so no wires are needed.
Had the same original problem here in Columbus. We have a very full FM radio spectrum and it was difficult to find a clean, empty area. Problem is once I did, it worked find in Columbus, but keeping a clean mp3 broadcast going while travelling was nearly impossible. Luckily? my stereo went out and I replaced it with one that had an aux in and no problems since...
FM radio adapters are not the best option. Here in Atlanta GA I use these with XM radio and various MP3 players to send audio to car or truck radio system.
I find that in downtown Atlanta they are absolutely useless with all the intermod and other RF. This also plays havoc with some of my scanners and ham radio in the same area. Away from downtown the adapter works fairly well until you get close to a FM station that is on the exact same frequency or adjacent to it.
I prefer to use a cassette adaptor or a direct wire to the car radio AUX input.
The FM transmitter is built in so no wires are needed.
Built into what?
yes.. I used couple of FM transmitters and they all pretty much suck..
even in rural areas, u get static.. and the volume level sucks..
but it beats carrying CDs.. I guess..
Luckily? my stereo went out and I replaced it with one that had an aux in and no problems since...
Does the auxiliary in on a car stereo connect to the headphone jack on the DAP or the line-out jack?
I think it's either one, but I'm not 100% sure.
bradavon
04-28-2005, 06:36
Either but the line out is better as it's a RAW feed unlike the headphone jack as that is affected by the internal volume on the player. Having said that considering you need the sub-pack for the line out I'd use the headphone jack.
The FM transmitter is built in so no wires are needed.
Built into what?
The X5 or Ipod.
Thanks Fido and bradavon.
randifier
04-28-2005, 17:50
I just recieved my iRiver AFT-100 in the mail today (five days early might i add... props to amazon).
The packaging was simple enough: transmitter and intruction. I didn't need the intructions because it's pretty intuitive. Plug the transmitter into the power socket, select an open station (you can preset up to three stations between 88.7 and 107.9), plug the cable into the line out or headphone jack in the player (in my case an m3), and in no time music will be pumping through your car stereo. Easy as cake.
As for the sound quality, I'd say it's pretty good considering it is a transmitter. There isn't any interference from neighboring radio stations and I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, so the airwaves are crammed with stations. There isl a hiss during the dead air between songs, but that is to be expected from one of these gizmos. I would have preferred my car have an auxillary input, but I don't have one, so this is the best I can hope for.
One of the features I like about the AFT-100 is that after 30 seconds of no audio signal it automatically turns off and once it picks up the audio again it'll turn on, so I won't have to worry about it draining my cars batteries with what little power it needs. Also, since it plugs into the cigarette lighter or power outlet, unlike some other transmitters (e.g. the iTrip for iPods) it will not drain any additional power from your player.
All in all I'd say I'm happy with it.
The X5 doesn't have a built in transmitter, it just has a built in receiver, and I don't remember the iPod having either.
zaphanathpaneah
04-29-2005, 06:26
I think the only player to have a built in transmitter was the iRiver H120/140 series of players. I liked them but they had no fm recording and that is a must have for me.
Bounce,
I always connect the aux with the headphone jack. I have a couple of different models and previously have owned even more (iAudio, iRiver, Rio). On most models, the line jack is a line in for creating recordings, rather than a line out. Rather than having to worry about it, I just use the headphone output on everything. The sound is awesome!
Rod
Sorry 8ounce, not bounce. Haven't had my coffee yet this morning...
zaphanathpaneah,
The H120/140 iriver series didn't have a transmitter, it would have been sweet if they did, but no, they just had a receiver. and like you said, no fm recording :(
iRiver makes a transmitter but it's an external accesory, as far as I know, no MP3 player has a built in transmitter, and I would be surprised if one did..
No, there was at least one, I think it was Neoros? Seemed rather crappy otherwise, though.
bradavon
04-30-2005, 09:06
The X5 doesn't have a built in transmitter, it just has a built in receiver, and I don't remember the iPod having either.
One of the American versions of the Ipod certainly does or did as I saw it in action in a mates car.
If that was a feature in the ipod I am more than positive they would mention it here
http://www.apple.com/ipod/specs.html
If your friend had this feature, it was not built in and required an upgrade, or it wasn't an iPod.
bradavon
04-30-2005, 15:26
On second thoughts it may have been external BUT was definitely an Ipod. Do Ipod make a separate FM transmitter?
zaphanathpaneah
04-30-2005, 19:20
There is an ipod fm transmitter arround. What is sweet though is that many car stereo manufacturers are incorporating in their head units ipod compatibility by way of a ipod sync jack or something. Though there will never be that for iaudio's players it would be nice for a head unit to have an input jack on the front. Does anyone know of one?
There is an ipod fm transmitter arround. What is sweet though is that many car stereo manufacturers are incorporating in their head units ipod compatibility by way of a ipod sync jack or something. Though there will never be that for iaudio's players it would be nice for a head unit to have an input jack on the front. Does anyone know of one?
Sure
I bought one from CC for the Honda.
It is a JVC CD/MP3 cd-rw FM/AM receiver
Model KD-SX9350/KD-SX990
It has a little port on the face plate over on the right. Plug in your audio cable and select AUX from the menu and you are good to go with any external device like my iRiver. All the receiver audio functions work on the external audio just as if it came off of a CD.
ki4je
bradavon
05-01-2005, 04:19
How are these connections better than a standard 3.5mm aux connection???
That's what these are. Clarifying what 4phun says, that's what the head units he mentions have--as best I can tell, you don't control the player from the head unit but simply play the player's sound throught the head unit and its aux. connection, using the player's buttons. (In other words, these are not the new ultra-connected head units, which can control the player and show on the head unit display what the player is playing.)
bradavon
05-01-2005, 17:38
In other words, these are not the new ultra-connected head units, which can control the player and show on the head unit display what the player is playing.
Do you know of any links for those? Thanks.
On second thoughts it may have been external BUT was definitely an Ipod. Do Ipod make a separate FM transmitter?
An external FM transmitter would work on any audio device.
bradavon
05-02-2005, 06:22
It appears they do the ITrip.
The iTrip is made specifically for the iPod. It plugs into the top of the iPod and almost looks like a natural extension. It will not work on any audio device, due to the spacing and unique nature of the iPod connections.
Ipod gets alot of 3rd party support because they're so popular, there are transmitters that work on any audio device, which are ultimately better because you wouldn't need an iPod to use it.
randifier
05-03-2005, 00:02
In other words, these are not the new ultra-connected head units, which can control the player and show on the head unit display what the player is playing.
Do you know of any links for those? Thanks.
Cnet's weekend project last week was integrating the iPod into your car. http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-10163_7-6212328-1.html?tag=nav
It's pretty cool, but I don't know if they make equipment compatible with iAudio, or any other DAP for that matter. Does anyone know? Being able to control my m3 from my car stereo would be quite sweet.
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