I was thinking since some of us have laptops to program our proms and run emulators, or any reason could we hook our laptops directly to an amp? Maybe with a certain audio card? I want the in terior and exterior of my car to look bone stock but would like to have better quality then cassete. And info or thoughts would be appreciated.

 

yes you can.

but before you do.. keep in mind that the amp is expecting a low power input.

since alot of people that use laptops plug headphones into them, they have a small amp inside.


turn the Main volume all the way down on the laptop.. then plug it in and slowly bring the volume back up... if its too high, theres a slight chance that you could damage the amp.... (or your speakers and stuff...)



but yea, ive done it before.. when my stereo got stolen, i ran my car system off of a mini jack that i plugged into my minidisc player.. or a walkman.. depending on if i wanted "CD" or radio.. lol.

 

yup, or maybe your laptop has a "line-out" and that would suit this configuration perfectly.

 

Thanks every one. This is good news. I just bought a laptop and it should be in soon. Not sure if it has a line out but anyways I'm glad i can hook this up.

 

plus there are adapters I believe that can convert to line-level audio signals...

 

If you can't find a decent outline connection you could always look into a Soundblaster MP3+ unit. Basically their a USB device that function as a sound card with RCA outputs.

http://www.soundblaster.com/products/mp3+/

They run around $40 at Wal-Mart. I was looking at them for a future carputer project so I could play mp3s directly from the computer into the head unit line input using RCAs.

 

I have the external audigy2 in my home system... it sounds fine. I think it could easily be used for a carputer setup. I would recomend it as the sounds quality of the ol headphone jack is TONS better. Well - i do have it running optical to my receiver for my home theater... but im sure its better either way.

Other option I've heard used on a kit car, so as not to install a stereo is to grab an I pod, and hook it to the rca's on your amp. then take the ipod with you when you leave the car.

 

hell an ipod costs almost as much as a badass mp3 headunit

 

you cant take your badass mp3unit with you when you run...

 

Your running with a hard drive in your pocket? Those things brake way to easy for me, they have a way high return rate.....

 

yeah the hdd models aren't so good for that

I'd rather invest the ipod $ into getting a higher end deck...

 

I'd rather invest it into mutual funds... & cd's LOL - would be good to have that kind of security - samir nieenanajad...

I've turned to home audio since I sold the camaro... but for the Porsche's - I probably wont spend too much $ on the stereo - more on the engines

 

A friend of mine had a pretty good idea for his Toyota Tundra... he bought/received (i can't remember which, but it doesn't matter) an mp3 player a while ago. He also bought a lower end Alpine headunit. All he did was use a pair of RCA's that he brought out of his dash under the headunit and plugged it into his mp3 player.

if you don't like having RCA's hanging out of your dash, just run a longer pair to a hidden/acceptable location. It is much easier than burning mp3 cd's.

All you do is download, plug, and play....


I'm thinking of doing the same thing. Btw, his is not an iPod and cost muuuuch less, just wish I could remember what kind it is.

 

not exactly a revolutionary idea... but the main problem with that is you cannot see the name of the song or control the player via your headunit... that's why it's nice to get a good mp3 deck, or at least a third-party mp3-player that can interface with your headunit

kenwood has one like that, and people have cracked the Sony Unilink so people can plug in carputers to those...

 

That's a sweet looking trans am, you have a website for it?

 

I have a question on possibly another option. I recently bought an MP3 unit that has an aux input in the front of the head unit. I was thinking of trying to get myself a short cable with the correct jacks and hook my laptop up to it when people are in the car so they can choose the music or if we play dvds on it we can put the sound through the cars system. I was just wondering if I needed a special cord lto convert it to a line out or something. I only have a headphone jack on my computer.

 

You can either buy a connector, or set your volume on your laptop/dvdplayer to like 5%...

p.s. usually decks with aux inputs on front are either JVC or AIWA... since AIWA is dead(DUAL).. I bet it's a JVC..

my 0.02 is to use the rear inputs and have a cable running under the carpet... less clutter

 

Nope, it's an AWIA. Just got it after X-Mas. It was a present from my parents.

So that connection is looking for a low input as well? Ok, I'll have to remember that! Thanks.

 

hell yeah I'm good...

anyways... yeah you can buy a line-level convertor if you want, but I'd just try and lower the volume first to see what happens...

 

For those with Pioneer head units; Pioneer makes an aux adapter to hook into their BUS connector. The head unit would treat it like a CD changer. Of course, it's just RCA plugs, but you'd be able to use the EQ & volume control and etc in the head unit.