How to connect an mp3 player to the Volvo SC series head unit

[Simon J]

Having finally bought an iPod (some of us just aren't early adopters!) I've recently spent quite a bit of time checking out the possibilities for connecting it - or any other external audio device - to the SC series head units in our cars. There have been a few threads on this before but I've uncoverd a few new possibilities which are considered in the pdf document via the link.

I'd be interested to hear of any other possiblities that others may have discovered that I have overlooked.

Simon J

EDIT: How do I upload a pdf file??????

[Simon J]

OK, here it is as a zipped pdf! (I hope!)

[imac]

>OK, here it is as a zipped pdf! (I hope!)

Uuumm...

You can make up an adaptor which will accept the RCA plugs or you can use a short distance FM transmitter/reciever. The latter would be technically illegal I believe.

[Simon J]

Both of these options are covered in my note: making up an adapter isn't as easy as it sounds; and yes, FM transmitters are illegal in the UK but you can achieve the same effect using an FM modulator.

[SG]

I've just picked up on this thread and had a read through your PDF.

The iceLink you need is the standard Alpine mbus version, to which you need to attach a Volvo-to-mbus adaptor. When you see a car-specific iceLink kit, all it is is one of their standard modules bundled with an adaptor that converts the car's CD protocol into an standard aftermarket one (Alpine, Sony, etc). The Alpine mbus iceLink is readily available. The tricky bit is getting a Volvo-to-mbus adaptor that will work with the iceLink. There are lots of these about, but the only one I found that worked with the iceLink was a Soundgate one.

Although control is passed to the head-unit, you can still control the iPod from the click-wheel if you want (at least you can on my non-plus version). The newer iceLink Plus allows you to assign playlists to each of the CD buttons on the head unit, but I think you have to download software to the iPod and I didn't like the sound of that. I wouldn't put too much emphasis on the whole head-unit control thing. I've found that I usually just set the iPod to shuffle my Favourites playlist and leave it.

One other thing - I've also got an iTrip (FM transmitter module) that I use in my other car. It's surprisingly good and I don't think I would have bothered with the iceLink if I'd had the iTrip at the time. They're only ~£25 and I would be tempted to buy one and try it before forking out £100s on a wired kit. The trick is finding a quiet frequency band. Tip: the European iTrip frequency list only goes down as far as 88.0MHz but if you download the Japanese frequency list from the iTrip site, you can go down to the SC901's 87.5MHz limit.

[Simon J]

Thanks for this. I'd read about the trick of adding frequencies to the iTrip! Certainly in Belfast, where home is, the radio signals are very strong as we never need to put the aerial up on the car for any of the local FM stations and BBC Radio 2 in particular is very strong right across the 88.0 to 91.0 range which cuts right across the iTrip spectrum I suspect. So being able to go down to 87.5 could be the answer.

And having fitted an iceLink in my daughter's Citroen (an easy, if expensive, plug and play)I too am not convinced of the value of head unit control. The iceLink Plus does allow control from the iPod as well as from the head unit (I've just checked the instruction manual which I'd downloaded some time ago!)

So I guess the missing peice in the jigsaw is to identify the SOundgate adapter. Can you provide a part number or reference? And a source of supply?

Simon J

[SG]

The part nos are ALPMSTRV3 (the unit) and ALPMVL1 (the cable). I originally got mine from www.ihavetohave.it (who also supplied the iceLink) however the site since appears to have been bought over.

I did email Soundgate directly (sgsales@soundgate.com) and they were willing to ship to the UK. IIRC, I think it was going to come to ~$90 + shipping + taxes. I think www.ihavetohave.it charged me £50.

One word of caution though, Soundgate have links to a UK company called Soundlinx who, confusingly, also do their own protocol converters. I tried their version of the adaptor and it didn't work with the iceLink.

[Simon J]

This seems to be the adapter.

The part number you gave is different to the one on their web site, but when you look at the picture of the item, the number is the same after all!

This costs about $75, with shipping, duty, Vat, etc., it would be about £80. They say that this comes with the required cable.

But not very cost effective buying one bit from the US and the other from someone in the UK - much better to have a single source of the complete kit.

I'm inclined to think the iceLink FM is perhaps the best value for money at £70 (half the price of the iceLink Plus or the Neo iON) complete with the dock connector interface and integrated charger. It's likely to be much less prone to interference from radio stations than the iTrip as the aerial is disconnected when it's in use.

http://www.volvoclub.org.uk/dc/user_files/1183.jpg

[SaffronC70]

Try this :

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?...=27&doy=search

Nice and discrete.

Chris
________________________________________________

http://chriswhiteuk.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/sava.jpg with a few go faster modifications . .

http://chriswhiteuk.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk

[Simon J]

Thanks, in fact I'd already linked to that in the note I did. The one disadvantage of it is the need to have an additional switch to swap between the external player and the radio. The Dension iceLink FM does that automatically when the iPod is switched on or off. But for players other than iPods, this would do the trick.