I am building a simple car stereo system with a three channel amplifier (left and right main speakers and a sub). I only plan to listen to ipod in this particular car so I do not want a head unit in the car.
I'd like to hook up the ipod into a Remote Controlled IPOD Dock with line level outputs directly to the amp and control everything including volume through the dock's remote (preferably a RF remote on the dock).
I have found remote control ipod docks that say "volume control" but I assume this means they control the volume on the headphone jack output?? Do any of the docks out there have volume control on the line level output of the dock itself?
Basically I am looking to connect my ipod directly to a car audio amplifier so I need a preamp/volume control built into the dock...does something like this exist?
My other option would be to simply use the headphone output of the ipod with a headphone to rca cable and hook that right up to the amp....but I'm not sure what the results will be.
i dont know about the dock... but i have used the headphone-to-rca connection from an ipod to an amp before for some testing(never very long tho) and it seemed to work fine. also theres probably an ipod cord that has rcas on the other side. u could always just try the headphone to RCA setup. u got nothin to loose...
If you're looking for real basic, why not just get an iPod fm transmitter? There are also plenty of head units on the market today that have built in iPod controls like alpine and pioneer. Plus I think a good head unit would sound better than an ipod dock and fm transmitter.
Bumping it for a more thorough answer on sound quality and what would be needed.
My car got broken into for the head unit (that didn't even have the faceplate on it) which is why I don't want one in there anymore. Just a cable from the glove box and an ipod, that can obviously be removed, so nothing remains visible.
I did an 1/8" jack direct to amps with built in Xover. I also wired a shutoff switch for the amp remotes to keep serious pop noise to a minimum if I disconnect. The cool thing is all of my friends have ipods or blackberries so they can plug in and play their tunes without worrying about dock compatability. However, I'd really still like an external volume control as well as simple-or not so simple- equalizer for different quality recordings, ie. old dub, reggae, ska, soul vs. current death metal, triphop, jazz. those are two features I miss by not having a deck. My goal was to keep it looking stock and have a usable glove compartment. I have a mono pushbutton AC/Delco AM radio! Any ideas on a simple eq/volume gizmo that's small?