Radio/Stereo: SC805 AUX input hack

[960kg]

Not biased at all but you did read in my post about others which i would not comment on!

I tried that way and it sounded like a wasp in a bottle Lol....but seeing as this type of thing is what i do with reel to reel tape recorders playing with pcb`s i did my own and it does sound as good as you will get.

Depending on which player you have of the SC...series the 805 is an Alpine manufactured unit and does have superb sound.

I believe the SC 801 there is a grey cosmetic model and an earlier black model for the 850 motor but they are different construction inside!

On the SC805 if you start taking out the tape section the whole unit won`t work because the circuits go through each section and it is not within the scope of us DIY`s to work it all out........in any case until you have actually Hacked this SC 805 you will not see that when the tape is actually pushed into the machine for your iPod or smart phone to play that when you want the CD section or even the Radio section the Empty Tape will stay in ...it only pops out if you choose eject!!.......so it does no harm at all to just leave as is and get a super sound with the actual machine looking as it always did......you simply go from Radio to CD or even Tape ( which is your smartphone ) without doing anything else.

I am only trying to help and of course choose your own way but post back with your findings for others to learn and save any wasted efforts.

Also if you use one of these the jack plug from the hacked unit will plug into this bluetooth dongle and you can then be wireless to use the smartphone only or Ipod (not iPhone if it has no bluetooth)

Very handy for the kids in the back of the motor with there own speakers even!

[SwedishBus]

Well, my two decoupling capacitors have turned-up this evening in the post, so I hope to get the soldering done tomorrow, get some pictures of the "final solution" to the packaging of those capacitors (I'm hoping that they will fit - ever so subtly - just inside the heatsink/backplate of the SC805. Then hopefully I can report another success for this method. I have to say, for the SC805 of this design, it makes much more sense to use the channel pick-up points shown by 960kg, rather than tapping-in near the tape-head. My suspicion is that a lot of the noise issues seen when a dummy tape is used is down to;
a) signal wires running close to the pre-amp stage for the tape-deck
b) poor soldering
c) giving feedback through the now-redundant tape stage

I have great memories of fixing an old Cossor (I think that was how it was spelt) reel-to-reel tape machine that I bought off one of my English teachers as a lad; I had the remains of a Philips and (something else) from my Dad, and managed to codge the lot together to make something remarkable close to a working machine!!

[SwedishBus]

Finally got around to doing the soldering-in of the 2.2uF capacitors this lunchtime. I have shown below the leads soldered to the mainboard (just above the bottom of the SC805) and the method of securing them to the PCB; because there are so many sharp legs still sticking through the PCB, I have used liquid PVC tape solution to glue the insulated fly-leads around the sharp bits. You can also see where I have brought the ground fly-lead through, to be soldered at the aerial socket connection to the main PCB.

The capacitors fit perfectly into the rear of the SC805. The second photo shows the liquid tape being used not only to insulate the soldered joints between the incoming Ipod 3.5mm jack lead cables to the capacitors, and onwards to the fly-leads from the first picture, but I have also used the PVC liquid tape to glue the capacitors together a little. This means that when the back-plate goes back onto the SC805, the capacitors support each other - and hopefully not chafe against anything they shouldn't. The third photo shows the finished back-plane and fly-lead exit, although I have yet to finish the job off with a dob of silicon rubber to make it look neat and give it durability. The lead just runs back under the centre console to the handbrake area for the time being.

So the big question/s; what does it sound like?

Answers;
a) It sounds fabulous. The 2.2uF that 960kg recommends are spot-on. No loss of really low-down bass whatsoever.
b) No problem of tape motor noise from the front of the unit - I removed all tape and extraneous bits of metal around the read-head area of my slave tape unit. The unit just gets on with the reversing bit on the spools, then away it goes.
c) No problem of motor noise through the audio channels whatsoever.
d) No issues of interference from the proximity of the leads and capacitors to the other gubbins at the rear of the SC805
e) It has highlighted a slight problem at the driver's door speaker, which improves when driven hard by some decent bass for a few minutes (a bit of soldering at the plugs needed, I think)!!
f) The modification is able to take full-volume output from the headphone 3.5mm socket on my Ipod, no distortion at all, and this level of input from the Ipod seems to suit that internal level from the radio and other devices - you don't need to fiddle with the volume if you want to briefly switch to the radio for a few minutes during Ipod playing.

[Crying freeman]

Nice one bud!

[960kg]

Nice one also SwedishBus.......you can`t beat a quality sound if done properly!...

....i can`t tell if the wires you used to solder on the pcb are Screened Wires or not but if you get any hum or interference it will be these wires picking up signals from other components that the wire travels over!

Nice to see you made improvements as well, so many pick holes without trying and using there own brains.

The caps. are great a bit smaller than mine so really usefull for hiding within the unit.

Just one more bit of help.......if you set the SC805 on CD mode with speakers front to back balance and bass etc. so the CD being played sounds what you want ....then when on the iPod or smartphone just use the mode on the phone for altering the sound such as Dance, Rock, Jazz, Classical or Pop.....the phone on it`s own may sound dreadful on Dance but when on the hack (Tape Mode) it may sound just what you want .......so just have a trial run!

[SwedishBus]

Originally Posted by 960kg

....i can`t tell if the wires you used to solder on the pcb are Screened Wires or not but if you get any hum or interference it will be these wires picking up signals from other components that the wire travels over!

The wires are not screened, just a good quality cable. TBH, that was something I was worried about, but it turns out that I was wrong, there's nothing coming through anywhere it shouldn't!

Thanks for all of your advice, not least the sound-balances. The Ipod normally plays into a AV-surround amplifier set-up whilst I'm working, and I've found that the "Concert Hall" is better in the workshop than my gear in the house! TBH, there is such a variety of production qualities in the music I am playing in the car (hence it took me 3 hours to "run-in" and test the SC805 yesterday!!!) that I just have to pick a happy medium - some of the early 80's production is so heavily biased for compact cassette, both bass and treble at the SC805 will need to nudge down!

[CNGBiFuel]

Did this hack a sometime back. One of the best ways to update your car. Cheap to do as well. Thank you for putting this up. Not sure why some have issue with the tape still in there? So what? You can't hear the motor and once running press 'Tape' and you'll never see it again anyway. Unless that is what you want?

Yatour my a&%$e! Although I have both on mine, this is better.

[Seacombe2379]

bit of a bump.

Just done this mod but slightly different using a cheap M18 Bluetooth module that sits perfectly between buttons 3-4 between the pcb and outer shell.

There is 5v power for the module and a way to route the wires needed to go back to the underside of the board.

I MIGHT offer it as a service if there is demand.

[SwedishBus]

Since doing this on my petrol V70, I have needed to do the same on the TDI.

I went the "quick and dirty" route with Yatour on the TDI, but it was a one-hit-wonder for a single road-trip; I just didn't get on with it, it wasn't as good, and to cap it all, the Yatour bits started to run the main battery flat from week-to-week, so I ended-up just pulling the main bulk of it out of the glovebox. The main issue, after the battery-flattening issue, was that the iPod control just didn't work as it should, and I ended-up having to manually control the iPod as if I was in the V70 petrol with the mod above.

[Seacombe2379]

I did look at the yatour I thought it was far to expensive for what it is and as you say it has its issues