ok, here is a problem I have. I just bought a Riovolt SP250, a really nice MP3 CD player for those of you that do not know. I bought it to use in my car and elsewhere. (I had a best buy gift card, I had to buy something). I bought A cassett adapter to hook up to it so that I could actually use it in the car. The problem is, this thing sucks really bad. The sound quality is terrible. A lot of people would not notice, but compared to CD's the low and high end is all muffled.

So, my question is, how would I go about getting my cd/Mp3 player hooked up to some sort of line-in, with better quality? One option would be to buy an adapter that broadcasts the signal over FM radio, and you play your radio, but I don't think the quality would improve much at all with that.

What I was wandering is if there is any sort of line-in behind my Bose headunit. I have a 97' /w Bose. And if there is not, would it be possible to wire up a line-in frome somewhere inside the headunit? I can solder and all that great stuff, and I could probably figure this answer out eventually, but it would be much easier to ask first.

 

as a matter a fact, most head units have an input on the back, but i am not too sure about the bose headunit since it already has both CD and tape built in. But i dont see why it woodnt have one. If anything, get a non-generic type of cassette adapter, and turn off the bass and treble controls on the mp3 player, if any are applicable. and use the head unit as the volume control, not he mp3 unit.

 

the cassett adapter is a sony, and the base and treble and volume is controlled by the Bose unit already

 

I'm not so sure it's the tape adapter that's causing the SQ difference. I had a CRX that had a really nice system in it with a Pioneer DEHP8200R deck and man did that rock. The car was broken into, and to replace the Pioneer, I got the JVC MP3 player (I forgot the model but it's the silver one). Man was there a difference. The JVC is packed with all the features you could want, but the SQ was like a$$ when I would play MP3s. The higher the bitrate the better the SQ but still not as good as CDs. It always seemed that the highs suffered the most. Another thing with the JVC, some MP3s played louder than others. That always ****ed me off... I would be talking to someone in the passenger seat and it would switch songs and I would have to immediately turn down the volume so I could hear who I was talking to.

MP3 players are very cool. I would use an MP3 player to replace my walkman and have a player at home to listen to MP3s on my stereo at home. But in my car, I would prefer an actual CD to MP3s. Maybe I'm a little weird like that, but it's just my preference. IMO, I would rather have a good CD player than a good MP3 player.

 

No, you are an audiophile, but you just don't quite know it yet
You can try getting your MP3s at 192 bit rate or better. It's not CD quality, and never will be, but it's more acceptable.

DW

 

192 is the MINIMUM I will burn to a CD. I prefer 256-320. I sucks when the song changes from a 256-320 because you can hear the difference. It completely takes out the intensity it has. I had 200 CDs stolen out of my car and I thought I could replace most with MP3s... Nothing ****es me off more than to hear this awesome song on my CD and then hear it again on MP3 and it's all screwed up. The highs aren't as intense and the bass doesn't hit like it did before. All that money into MBQuart, Cadence, etc and my music sounds like crap. Kinda like that XM ad in the magazines... "You can take a completely digital deck, run it through the most high tech processors and pre-amps available, deliver it to 1000 watts of pure power but if your listening to crap, it's still going to sound like crap." 4 weeks after the CRX was completely repaired and repainted, this a$$hole tries to beat a yellow light and hits me while I was stopped at 35mph. Totaled my car, screwed up my neck, and I'm still fighting with the insurance company after 4 months (and haven't seen a dime for anything).

Now that I have a Maxima, my life is better.

Damn... I guess some of this is OT but oh well...

 

Man, sorry to hear that. Things will work out, and at least you are alive and your ears are still good to hear good quality CDs with

DW

 

ok, I have not done it yet, but tonight I am going to take one good song that I currently have on original CD, and make an MP3 cd with that song in 192, 256, and 320 kbps on it. I will listen to all three MP3 songs, then listen to the audio CD in the headunit.

I will be back in a while with the results and some sort of a conclusion.

Now does anyone know if there is a line in on the back of my headunit? And it would also help of someone could give me some detailed instructions on how to get to the headunit and remove it. I have the Haynes service manual, and that did not help much. I was concerned that I would break my dash while I was trying to pry up in the proper places.

- David

 

this is beginning to look hopeless. I thought about being able to tap into the input from the CD changer on the Bose system, untill I ran across this information:

Q: My Maxima has the BOSE audio system with the CD changer controls and I'd like to install an aftermarket CD changer since the unit Nissan sells is so expensive. Are any aftermarket units compatible with my audio system?

A: Matt L. provides the following information, but be sure and see the update if you plan to play CD-Rs...

In the FAQ it is said that the only way to get a CD changer for the Maxima w/Bose is to spend about $600 or to buy it from Canada. Well, after extensive, and I mean EXTENSIVE searching and asking around, I finally found the OEM 6 disc CD changer Clarion/Bose unit. It can be purchased at the following sites:
http://www.nissanparts.cc Current Price: $379
http://www.nissanpartsusa.com Current Price: $316

Please update your FAQ. It will save future visitors the headache that I went through over the past few weeks.

And then here's an even cheaper price found by Dan

I just wanted to let you know that I found the changer cheaper at another site. Here's the address.
http://store.autotoys.com/cgi-bin/wfp53024.storefront/

You have to search a little, but they have it for $225 with shipping included. I'm planning on buying one soon, and I'm buying it from there. Well, I hope this helps.

BUT:

Matt has since offered the following update:

Because I have been getting so many e-mails from people excited about the info I posted on the factory CD changer, I decided to submit an update to your FAQ.
Upon further research I have decided NOT to buy the factory CD changer that I mentioned in this FAQ. The reason for this is that I have been told that it cannot play CD-R media. Although I find this very hard to believe, I was informed that this is true from several sources including e-mail from a website that sells the changer and phone calls to Courtesy Nissan in TX, another local Nissan dealer by me in NY, and Clarion themselves. If anyone out there reading this owns the factory unit and can verify that this information is incorrect, please let me know. Until then, I can't discount what I've been told from so many sources.

On a side note, one of the websites told me that the USA Spec brand CD changer WILL play CD-Rs. I don't know much about the brand name, but it is designed to easily plug into the factory Bose system and you may want to check it out.

Personally I have dropped the idea of adding a CD changer to my car and in favor of trying to figure out the best way to add an MP3 player which I believe is a far better choice.

-Matt



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's my former information, which I'll keep here for a while:

There is no alternative to the '95-96 Nissan factory CD Changer if you want to control it from the BOSE head unit. You could do a frequency-modulated unit with a separate remote, but some folks report problems with the Bose dual antenna. The cheapest route to get a Nissan changer appears to be to buy it in Canada.

I did the following research back in 1996:

I confirmed that the 96 Maxima Bose head unit is by Clarion. You can get info from Bose by calling their OEM line at 508-879-7330. Patty at Bose told me that the direct connection from the CD Changer is a 16 pin DIN. This is much different than some of the other configurations that I came across from those of you that had done similar stuff to other systems.
Clarion's OEM group can be found at 800-347-8933, but this also seems to be an OEM warranty line, and I had a difficult time getting tech support. I finally talked to an OEM unit supervisor who them transferred me to Steve Ponful in Clarion Q/A. He told me that the OEM Clarion CD Changer uses a balanced signal cable. This means that there is not a common ground between the channels. Thus the 16 pins? This increases S/N ratio and reduces cable noise pickup. He said that just changing pinouts would not work, and that you'd have to build some type of transformer. Which would be more expensive than the delta cost of a freq. modulated unit and the Clarion/Nissan unit

Brown and Brown Nissan in Tempe (wholesale Nissan parts) says there's not much of a wholesale discount for the changer. They sell it wholesale for $598.

Another idea I tried was looking for folks that make adapters for CD Changers. There's an outfit in Florida called Stinger who makes adapters. They have a web page, and can be reached at 813-572-9255. I found the web page (which I didn't save) with altavista (searched for "cd changer" and alpine). The guy at Stinger said they had not even set up official links to it yet. <!> In any event, they do not have an adapter for the Nissan/Bose. He also told me that the difference is more than a pinout change, and that a logic box of some sort would have to be built.

Finally, I discovered that there is a lot of disrespect for Bose units. I saw a guy that is selling the entire Bose unit, yanked from his Maxima after less than a month. ($1000 by the way, no CD changer). A lot of folks say don't bother with my search, just junk the Bose system.

Personally, I'm interested in the convenience of the CD Changer, but not $598 interested. And I'm not particularly interested in having to keep track of a freq. modulated system remote or gluing a cable-remote to my dash somewhere. So I'll just putter along with the system like it is with its single disk player and put my car money into suspension upgrades instead.





It looks like the input for the CD changer is some wierd prorietary crap.

ugh......this seems hopeless

how is the quality on those FM modulators?

 

I found another possible usefull chunk of information:

PIE announced plans to manufacture "handshake converters" for Nissan
factory stereos this year.
Quote from their website:


Prior to this new breakthrough technology, many vehicle
manufacturers, including Ford, had closed loop audio systems
which precluded the introduction and installation of
aftermarket CD changers other than FM modulated systems.
Protocol converters open a much needed new and profitable
door of aftermarket sales for the Mobile Electronics Dealer.
Look to PIE for a complete line of Protocol Converters in
1998 for vehicles including GM, BMW, Mitsubishi, Nissan and
Toyota.



I looked on PIE's website, and could find very little information on the Nissan adapter. I emailed the place asking where I could find a local dealer, I may drop by if there is one in Austin (doubtful).

 

Try this place, too;

http://www.discountcarstereo.com/oem/NISSAN.htm

They claim to be able to fit almost any cd changer to your proprietary bose system.

By the way, if you're into SQ, then stay away from FM Modulators.

DW