I wanted to add a remote CD changer to my stock system in a 1986 Trans AM. The goals were to maintain the stock appearance, have decent sound, and spend the least amount possible. I purchased a Pioneer 12 disc remote changer with the FM modulator. The the unit mounts flat or upright. I mounted it in the storage compartment in the left rear corner of the car. The FM modulator plugs into the back of the stock radio at the antenna connection. The antenna plugs into the modulator. Picked up the power feed from the ignition side of the plug connecting to the back of the stock radio. The constant hot is also connected to the constant hot on the plug. I used scotch lock connectors, which make a solid connection, but do minimal damage to the factory wiring. The ground connection was made in the trunk area near the tail lamps. The system has two controlers, one mounts on a velcro strip to any hard surface, and the other is a hand-held remote. The only holes drilled in the car were in the floor of the storage compartment to mount the unit. It plays through the FM band on 89.3, but can be reset if there is interference from a local radio station. The unit works well, and the sound is not bad, although it is limited by the stock system. I have not encountered any interference, and can even play the CD's through the radio in the car parked next to the T/A in the garage!I have been using these systems for 5 years, and have installed them in a Dodge Ramcharger, a Ford Crown Victoria, a Mercury Grand Marquis, an F-350 diesel, a motorhome, and a bassboat. All have worked as advertised. They are availabe through online sources and retail outlets. Charles

 

Does the FM modulator not hurt your ears?

 

I have used many FM modulators, and the worst thing I can say for them is they don't give full cd sound (today who cares since neither does an ipod)

 

An FM modulator is nothing more then a low powered mini FM transmitter. It is connected directly to the FM antenna imput on the receiving radio, so it does not require much power to function, only the a compatable frequency to transmit. Can you hear FM radio waves? I can't. There are no side effects to the system, and it is not new technology. Back in the 60's, several companies made FM converters, that were simply an FM receiver that converted their signal to the AM band and played through the stock AM radios that everyone had in thier cars. They sounded pretty crappy, but that is what we had for the day. A CD player with an FM modulator is not for everyone, as some aspire to much more advanced sound systems, however for those of us who do not want to modify our cars from stock, and do not want to spend a pile of money, the system offers a choice where we can have the clarity of CD's without modifying our cars. The sound playing through the FM modulator and stock radio is much clearer then the cassette tape playing through the same unit. It is possible to get interference from a radio station broadcasting on the same FM frequency, however the unit has the ability to be tuned to different frequencies to eleviate this problem. Charles

 

All is good if you are trying to maintain the stock look... but damn, it literally hurts my ears to hear one of those operating on a decent sound system. I envy those who cannot hear the difference. For example, my brother is content with his Sirius satellite audio quality. It sounds okay, at best, on his stock F150, but on a car with components, that 32kbps audio feed really falls flat... I had it in my car for three days, and listened to it for a total of twenty minutes.

I have to try and be polite here. This is not necessarily true. MP3 can be VERY close to the original, and there are certain loss-less audio codecs out there, (like FLAC,) that are identical to the original. I would hope you aren't comparing the quality of an FM modulator to the quality of a direct Ipod connection.

I hear you on the stock-appearance though.

 

I have never heard an ipod sound as good as the same song through cd (I've done ab comparisons for people). I have heard a few fm modulators that were pretty good (price is not so good as you can buy a decent head unit for the same price) they were not the same as cd, but much better than most mp3 players (not to mention most people try and cram a million songs on 1 gb and listen through headphones they bought at wal mart so anything sounds good) it's all comparitive

 

The only FM modulators that I have used are the Pioneer units, and the FM modulators are actually matched to the CD player as part of the total package. There may be different qualities of modulators, like there are different qualities of sound systems. Some people may have hearing so acute as to be able to discern a difference. Honestly no one around here can tell much of a difference between a direct connection and the pioneer unit with the modulator. I have one pioneer unit that is a direct connection unit that was connected to a matching pioneer receiver with a compatable imputs, and it did not sound any different to me. Obviously there are some people who place a higher emphasis on the quality of thier automotive sound systems, then by all means buy what you want, but on the other note, I am sure there are others who are either on a budget, or want to maintain a stock appearence, that will be satisfied with a system that merely compliments the stock radios, which we all know are just borderline quality anyway. Charles

 

lulz thats because ipods dont have good sound quality silly... i agree with mp3's being able to be as good of quality as cd's.. certain codecs like mentioned and the right mp3 player and it will sound good, also is based on your speakers/headphones you use with your mp3 player

 

All of the disagreement about the FM modulators got me wondering if the quality is that bad, or if some of you have just gotten a poor quality FM modulator and formed you opinions from that experience. Here's the experiment, however unscientific. I have a 2002 F-350 Crew Cab, ordered from Ford with the CD-6 and Premium Sound. OK, it's not that great compared with some of the systems one can buy aftermarket, but for a factory system it's decent. The CD-6 has it's CD player and a Pioneer 12 Disc changer with it's FM modulator. We tried playing CD's in the CD-6, then changing the CD to the Pioneer unit, and yes there is some difference, mostly in the volume. We could not discern a difference in the clearity. There were three people listening, and everyone was in agreement. The sound quality did not change much, unless the radio was not tuned exactly on the signal from the FM modulator, then the sound quality was real bad. Charles

 

When I started doing car audio an in dash cd player was not the norm, and have done a bunch of the modulators, they do degrade the sound a bit (mostly highs seem cut off and the lowest lows) but I also was working where Alpine was the low end for installs (we rarely used anything from them but radios and that was only if the customer demanded it since we hated the interface then)

 

The problem there is you are on a stock deck... Are there even tweeters? I know that on my brothers f150, you can't hardly tell when a low-quality mp3 is playing... because they all sound the same through those stock paper whizzcone woofers

 

I am sure you are correct about the stock systems and stock speakers. Honestly, I do not know what kind of speakers the truck has. The only thing that I am saying is that the sound through the Pioneer system with the FM modulator is comparable to the what the stock system is capable of producing. The CD playing through the stock radio in my 1986 Trans AM with the original OEM speakers sounds clearer then the OEM cassette tape player, which is not saying much, but it's OK with us. My primary goal is to keep the car as original as possible and still have the capabilities of playing CD's. We live in the rural mountains of western North Carolina, and there are no radio stations up here, so the CD changer is a logical choice for us. Charles

 

Fm modulator on a stock radio are more then sufficient. That being said i can hear a difference with my pioneer cd changer hooked up threw the ip-bus cable and my Inno using its internal fm modulator. How much of that is xm vs cd i don't know but later i plan on picking up one of these so i can direct connect my Inno

 

z28z34man dont bother buying that, if you have old computer cables laying around PM me and i'll let you know how you can make your own AUX IPBUS cable..instead of the $30 to spend for the ipbus adapter for my pioneer unit.. i spent $0

 

A lot of that is XM. The compression they use is horrendous... Sirius is the same way, unfortunately.

 

it has to have a threw port for my cd changer other wise i could rig one up ez enough

 

If you want to get great sound with your stock headunit and need an AUX input I highly recommend JL's Cleansweep interface. It takes your high level outputs, flattens them out with a digital EQ, and then gives you a pre-amp output. It also accepts 4 channels and gives you 4 channel output, unlike FM modulators. It will seriously make your stock headunit sound like it's aftermarket. They're a bit pricey though, I just bought one for my '02 Sonoma because I wanted a stealthy install. They're about $350 from an authorized dealer, or you can find them on eBay for about ~$175.

 

it's cool to keep the stock look, but then how do you get a good display to view your mp3s, or Ipod menus?

I could never go back to that basic 6-8 'character' Alarm clock-like display...

 

I don't use the display. I have twelve CD's loaded in the changer, and they play in order. The display is hidden under the dash, out of sight, so as not to detract from the stock look of the car. I guess we all have different needs from a system? Charles