Thread: Hooking up an iPod to your car question...

Can anyone advise me on what I need to boost the volume level of my iPod when I have it hooked up to the auxiliary jack of my vehicle? The vehicle is designed to take iPods and such in that aux jack.

The problem I've found is that I guess I'm one of those blokes that can't go any higher than ten.

I've got the volume of the iPod all the way up and I've got the volume of the car stereo all the way up and...you can hear the tunes, but the overall volume is very low. I want to go up to eleven!

Chris L

a 500 watt amp under the driver's seat will help you a bit... you might want to upgrade all the speaker wiring and the speakers themselves

but i am not a slave to the ipod hegemony

You might consider a headphone amp. This is sort of higher end stuff but you'll get the idea.

The Mobile Line - HeadRoom - Right Between Your Ears

Hi,

First I would check the iPod's menu to see if the maximum output is not limited. It's a security feature on some iPod to preserve your hearing.

If you want to try an amplifier, I would suggest this one. It very small, only 60 $ US and only works with 2 AA rechargeable batteries. It will not run with normal batteries.




Last time I checked, one could not use rechargeable batteries with the Headroom amp. In the long run it could be expensive, as it uses 4 AAA batteries.

As someone suggested, you could also add another amplifier stage to your cars radio which may be the least expensive solution if you keep to something "reasonnable".

Is the volume OK with the radio is playing ?

Volume is speaker dependent, if your spakers are rated at 82db/1watt, a 1000 watts amplifier won't do much good. If they're rated at 91db/1watt a 15 watts amps will blow your ears off.

Regards,

McKie

Thanks McKee. Yes, the volume range is exactly as it should be for the radio (it's a new vehicle), just not for the iPod. I'll check out that small amp. I'm not looking to deck out the car with a booming system and don't have an interest in any aftermarket car amp.

Chris L

How does the Ipod hook into the car? A wire or a docking station? Either one... you might want to check that first before spending money on an AMP.

My iPhone plays via my AUX setting as well and the volume varies with the songs - it is the volume used when the song was recorded. Are the tunes loud enough in the headphones?

My phone also pairs via Bluetooth to my car for hands-free use and the volume is drastically different than when listening to music or the radio. The command voice is really loud, but when the person answers on the other end, I have to crank the volume.

be careful those jacks are setup for line level sound not amplified sound. But I doubt that will be a problem. Check out radioshack. They sell an inline headphone amp and splitter for around 30 bucks. That does the same thing. Personally if it is a new car, I'd check two things. See if there is some kind of audio mixer on your AUX port. 2nd check the resistance on your cord and see if there is a short in it.

Also, make sure you disable the sound leveling on your ipod (and itunes) because that will make any Aux volume very low - my wife and I figured that out when we used the ipod for a reception once...could barely hear the music, but once turned off, it was perfect.

Good luck.
Mark

How do you disable the volume cap on the iPod?

Chris L