Newbie - Advice on connecting my ipod to my ibiza!

[chrisljohnson]

I have seen a number of topics on this but none of them seem to really answer my question! I have a seat ibiza sport (55 plate) with steering wheel stereo controls. The stereo currently in place is the factory fitted one that very helpfully has no aux connector! I would really like to plug in my ipod and as I have heard bad reports of FM transmitters I am thinking of either;

Buying a new stereo unit with ipod connector. As I understand will need extra leads to get the stereo to work with the internal ibiza wiring and steering wheel...sounds complicated and expensive.

Buying a patch lead that uses my old stereo and uses the 6 CD changer port. I understand I would only need 1 lead but these are around £80. Sounds expensive for a single lead!

Now I am leading towards getting a new stereo with bluetooth etc, but do any of you have any suggestions of what I need and what I should avoid?

Cheers ears!

 

[wacko_jacko]

go for the alpine X series i got the 100 and its awesome. connects straight to the stereo and u can pick songs through the stereo

 

[silversport]

Yes, deffo go for the new HU, if you get an iPod specific like wacko jacko has suggested you will be able to control your ipod through the HU and the iPod will also charge off the HU. As for connecting to the steering wheel controls, its only 2 leads that are needed, and is pretty simple to connect up. They are about £35 for the 2 leads, will try and find a site with them for you.

You will need:

The radio interface, depends on which make of Hu you go for,
http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/ste...-47_719.html?cadid=f36ehpk0l0nlpvenl3h1ovam35

and if im correct, this,
http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/296...-p-3512.html?cadid=f36ehpk0l0nlpvenl3h1ovam35

Also check out this thread,
http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=175762

 

[vRS_Dave]

Yes, deffo go for the new HU, if you get an iPod specific like wacko jacko has suggested you will be able to control your ipod through the HU and the iPod will also charge off the HU. As for connecting to the steering wheel controls, its only 2 leads that are needed, and is pretty simple to connect up. They are about £35 for the 2 leads, will try and find a site with them for you.

You will need:

The radio interface, depends on which make of Hu you go for,
http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/ste...-47_719.html?cadid=f36ehpk0l0nlpvenl3h1ovam35

and if im correct, this,
http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/296...-p-3512.html?cadid=f36ehpk0l0nlpvenl3h1ovam35

Also check out this thread,
http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=175762

Im about to send those products back to CAD because they dont work with my Alpine unit.

 

[silversport]

Im about to send those products back to CAD because they dont work with my Alpine unit.

really??? hmmmm, i have read on here that it hasnt worked for a few people. Is yours a facelift? as i think for the facelift its different??
correct me if im wrong though.

 

[halftone]

I recently bought the alpine x100, and all the leads that were supposed to work. NONE did, it was worse than the standard HU having that in, yeah it connected to ipod for music, but the aux didnt work for video, and the steering controls didnt either.

I returned the head unit 2 days after it arrived.

 

[chrisljohnson]

Oh dear! So this appears to work for some people and not for others? I might just pop in to one of the local car audio stores (I am based in Cambridge) and see if they can suggest anything. I surprised that the steering wheel controls seem to be an issue, I naively thought they would all be fairly standard!

 

[keefy]

If you are in Cambridge, I would pop into Discount Autoparts at the top of Newmarket Rd (the Grafton Centre Roundabout end).
Parking is round the back and to be honest a bit of a ball ache to get to - you have to take the first right (opposite the Renault Garage) into Coldhams lane and then first right again. I think it's then first right again (but it's been a while since I was last there).

They have quite a good stereo section at the back of the shop and whenever I needed any bits they were always pretty helpful.

I'm in a similar position to you at the mo'. I have no aux input (by the handbrake) in my Ibiza as it's too old and can't decide whether to try the Denison cable or get a new stereo. I did try an FM transmitter but it was absolute pony.

 

[chrisljohnson]

Yeah, def the same position as me. I will give them a try and see what they can suggest. As I said before, I have heard a few people who have said that FM transmitters aint up to much!

 

[keefy]

A mate of mine has the Griffin iTrip and has no problems with it set to it's lowest freq setting of 87.5MHz. The one I got wouldn't go down that far and I couldn't get a clear signal with it at all.

I think it has something to do with the car it's put in as well - how well it's all shielded, quality of the FM receiver etc. I keep meaning to borrow his iTrip off him, but never getting round to it.

 

[Alex 17]

My 08 ''freerider'' Has got the ipod dock under the handbreak..? Dont other .. I thought it was standard

 

[djboast]

Yes, deffo go for the new HU, if you get an iPod specific like wacko jacko has suggested you will be able to control your ipod through the HU and the iPod will also charge off the HU. As for connecting to the steering wheel controls, its only 2 leads that are needed, and is pretty simple to connect up. They are about £35 for the 2 leads, will try and find a site with them for you.

You will need:

The radio interface, depends on which make of Hu you go for,
http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/ste...-47_719.html?cadid=f36ehpk0l0nlpvenl3h1ovam35

and if im correct, this,
http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/296...-p-3512.html?cadid=f36ehpk0l0nlpvenl3h1ovam35

Also check out this thread,
http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=175762

I have exact leads for sale on EBay at the momment and it all worked perfectly. I was very impressed. Got the complete set up Alpine IPod head unit and all the leads required to do this. Do a search for ICT 29-638 on EBay.

 

[DFMM]

I can thoroughly recommend the KENSINGTON IPOD-specific FM transmitter. It feeds power to the IPOD, and takes the output to the transmitter, which has 3 frequency presets. As it is powered from the cigar socket it has oodles of power ( those with pen-torch battery-power are useless ).
I have been using the KENSINGTON UNIVERSAL for 5 years in my TOYOTA YARIS, just using the Li-Ion cell in my Sony E005 2 Gig unit, using just 2/3 volume, and the KENSINGTON unit boosts it to full quality.
My son-in-law uses an IPOD with a dedicated FM unit of the KENSINGTON type, using just the one lead & plug ,---- NO PROBLEMS, and it saved him ripping out a built-in head-unit in his SEAT ALTEA, just to install his combined DAB radio & MP3 compatible CD player, for him to play compressed CD's on.
I just compress my CD's by 20%, and fit 13 disks onto my 2 gig flash-stick type MP3 unit. The Sony E005 charges very fast from a 1 amp USB adaptor from MAPLIN. ( £10 well-spent ).
My KENSINGTON UNIVERSAL was £35 from TESCO.

 

[gruffs]

I have an older alpine HU with the ai-net input.

I got a cable to plug into the iPod which uses 2 RCA connectors outputs. This then plugs into a cable that has RCA on one end and ai-net on the other. So, my HU now thinks my iPod is an aux input.

The controls are still on the ipod but do a decent playlist for the car and leave it on that.

Beware iirc, the amplifier for the aerial is in the HU in the ibiza. So if you change the HU, your radio reception will be Cr@p.

The bonus is, i can take the cable out of the car and plug it into any TV to show a film/photos/music etc in any location.

I got all my parts from Discount Auto Parts and they were very helpful.

HTH