Yet another.. Aux Input question
 

I am reading mixed messages...

Some people connect "Line Out" on a device to the "Aux In" on the stereo.

Some people say it sounds great. Some say it sounds terrible.


Others say you should not do it because it could damage the product.


I am not the most electrically incline but...

I thought "Line Out" went to a "Line In" and an "Aux Out" went to an "Aux In".

Line out = Lower Resistance, no volume control on accesory itself
Aux out = Higher resistance, volume control on accesory

Am I correct?

Are the two confused by manufacturers or mislead by advertisers?

Product says for Line Out "8 ohm load, 5 w max recommended". Is this bad to connect to the tC Aux in?


Any electrical experts?

i think u might be referring to a Line Out Converter which u splice into ur stock harness and it gives ur RCA's so u can hook up and amp..the Aux In is in the center console under the tab that says "AUX IN" it so u can plug in a male headphone jack and plug in ur ipod or cdplayer to it..but u have to control it from your ipod / cdplayer. the line out converter doesnt give u extremely clear sound quality but it gets the job done...hope that helps

5 mW or 5w?? I think most Ipods produce 10mW from the headphone jack ( could be wrong)

IN most cases line out and aux out ARE THE SAME when you are talking about consumer audio. Same thing for Aux in or Line in, and yes in the car with the Scion/Pioneer radio, it's line/aux out on your MPC device to the Aux in on the cars console. ***Very important: Use a stereo cable (mini plug has 3 sections). If you use a mono cord (Mini plug does not have 3 sections) it WILL sound like crap!
Matt

Ok...thanks onemat. Thats what I was wondering. These specs are bluring lines more and more. It seems even a few years ago you had to be careful with your outputs.

I have had a few portable CD players and a MD player that has multiple ports. They have a headphone port, a Line Out, and Aux Out. Of course each one is for a different connection and has different sound and power levels. That is where I got my "knowledge" of the different connections and what they are for.

I'm sure it means more to an audio engineer or someone deep into audio.

I have my ipod connected to the dock connector ('06 iPod HU) so it is not an iPod that I am looking at.

I am looking at a few different two way systems (CB, 2 way Handhelds, etc) and I noticed one had a that statement about 5w. I dont know if that is one of those things they say just to cover their own butt or what.

From the Midland 1001z manual:
"EXT SP: When a speaker is connected to this jack, the internal speaker is by-passed. All received signals will be heard through the external speaker. The speaker connected to the “EXT” jack should be rated at 8 ohms and 5 watts."

..although they are selling 10w and 15w powered speakers with it. So I dont think they would do that if you could ONLY use 5w of external power.

OK, let me explain one more item. Line-out or Aux out has a very small amount of power. It is intended to be Amplified by another device, such as the radio you are sending the signal to. "Headphone Out" is a little different than "Lineout". Generally speaking in consumer audio, Line Out is a fixed low power signal that get's amplified by whatever you are sending the signal to, such as your Scion car radio. . A headphone out is not very powerful but more than line out. It's output is controlled by the volume control on whatever device you are using. It IS sometimes used as a alternative to "line out" but if you turn the player's volume up, you are actually distorting the signal which you are then feeding to your bigger radio or car stereo, etc. If your MP3 device only has a headphone out, you CAN used it feeding a stereo signal to the Aux-in on the scions but your Headphone volume should be kept very very low...never use it turned up high, you'll screw up the little preamp circuit inside your car radio. You can still turn up the tunes using the car's Pioneer deck. Matt

SO, if you want to play an MP3 player or portable tape player through the Line-In input jack in the car, I would recomend using a player with line out versus the headphone circuit.
Matt

More research done....
CB outputs about 4w through its line out. Ipods are about 100mw. (according to someone on a CB forum)

I assume this might be too high to run on the line out of the tC. I'll have to do some more research.

Breaker Breaker Crabbyman... I wouldn't run ANY CB into the Aux in on a Scion radio. There's so much distortion and weird sounds out there thatr some truckers put on there mikes making a loud ping whenever they key the mike. It also sounds like in the case of midland's line out that it is actually SPeaker level out which is a lot louder than line out in a MD or CD player. I wouldn't want to damage my car stereo with that. If I was going to run a CB, I'd run it totally independent of my good car stereo. That's a big 10/4 rubber duck!

Haha..rubber duck! I'm still a wetfoot in CBs...so everything is new to me. ..but isnt rubber duck an insult?

The external speakers they have available are 5-15 watts. So it is not too much. I heard 10 watts was plenty loud to fill a whole sound with.

I am just trying to find the cleanest and stealthiest install possible. I didnt want to use an external speaker since they all are eye sores IMHO. I thought that I might be able to do the Aux input and just flip it over to that on the HU.

I still may do some testing...who knows..

..wonder if it is possible to make a filter similar to a Line Ouput to cut down on the power going in.

I sold Stereo from 1972 until 1988. Many people tried to run the CB through the car stereos and burned up expensive speakers and preamp sections of their head units. If you're running a Midland or a Cobra, the little surface mount speakers they sell should be plenty loud enough. I'd have to stare at a TC for awhile to decide how I would mount the unit and speaker. I have a one of theose portable CBs I used to take on long distance trips, just in case I needed to get road conditions from the truckers. It's been a long time though.
As far as the Rubber Duck, I don't remember if it was an insult, I just thought he was one of the characters in "Convoy". I had a buddy who owned a few hamburger joints and we called him "Hamburger Man" on the CB. I was "Pronto" cause I was always on time. Oh the memories! Catch ya on the flip side goood buddy!

I'll update the post when I start the project. I have 2 places that I am looking into installing that I think are pretty good.

I'll have to figure out how/where to mount an external speaker....again, I am all about the discrete and stealth builds.

Still debating making a filter/converter/line out converter to just try it on the Scion radio. Worst case is I would have to get a replacement radio. ..might give me a reason to get a DVD player! ;)

LOC are easy to make..its just finding the right resistors to put into the circuit.

...you figure this info would be easy to find.


Does anyone know the what the specs on the aux. in system is?

..only info I could find is the Scion CD is a 4 ohm system. I dont know if this applies to all components of it or just the speakers.


Anyone have indepth info on the electrical side of things for the Scion iPod HU?

The amplifier in the Pioneer is designed to drive 4 ohm speakers. Ohms are a unit of resistance. It has nothing to do with the Aux input which is a standard low level input, designed for use with small devices like MP3 players. Remeber the Aux input is in stereo, so the cable used should be stereo. If you use a mono cord you win up with sound on one channel or just low lever, bad sound. As for filters, you should not need to put any filter or other device in the aux input. If you hear engine noise on your speakers with the standard factory radio then the existing filter housed in the radio is bad, and that should be covered by your warrantee.
Matt

What I am looking for is the voltage, amps, and resistance of the stereo auxiliary system. Any and all electrical information on the stock HU would be nice.

I want to figure what resistors are required to get an appropriate level to put in the auxiliary in. I was told I could measure the system by using a stereo 1/8" male to male cord. I tried...and either my multimeter is messed up or they told me wrong.

Another option I have read about is a potentiometer so I can use it for more than one device if need be. Just make on the fly adjustments. The problem still comes down to what is the input impedance of the auxiliary connection?? 10k ohms? 5k ohms? etc. The article I have says 10k ohms is the common input impedance for an amp.

I'm still doing more research as I want to make it as close to the actual values as possible even though the input has some variance allowed.

Why would you need to know the input impedance of the line (aux) level in? It is designed to receive a low (unamplified) signal, measured in milivolts, not watts or volts. Even the older higher level phono cartridges had far to much power (200 milivolts) for a standard line in circuit. I do not know why you need to know this stuff. If you need the specifications, I'd call a pioneer repair station and see if they have it. I think it's too early though. Usually it isn't published except for in the repair manuals. In the case of Pioneer Car s, they usually don't have repair stations repair these types of units. they replace them. The units are so cheaply built these days the profit covers replacement during the warrantee period. I wouldn't expect to see a repair manual on one of these radios for a while.
Matt

I'm a nerd and like to know more information than is needed.

I just figured maybe someone out there had measured it for some odd reason for a DIY or install.

Unlike home audio and pro audio manufacturers for years never gave the straight poop on car stereo specs, especially in regards to amplifier output. They used to measure at the center of a sine wave, at one particular frequency and say "This 8-Track player has 200 watts a channel peak" Poewer was rarely shown at 20 - 20k Hz like it is today. The same with the early am/fm cassette decks. The biggest abusers were people like Pioneer, Sony and Craig. But just before the rise of CD machines, manufacturers like Concord and later all the majors started featuring real specs and offered line level out so they could sell amplifiers and get a bigger yet cleaner sound. In the eighties few car decks had line in or aux in. Now we've got all kinds of cool mp3 players, mini-disc players and even DVD, so there is a need to have line in. Today, most name brand car stuff uses the same line level in, it's a standard so they can be compatible with what ever is out there. Like I said before, if you send input to your aux from and amplified headphone jack it will work but iit will not be as clean as using line out on your source player., and If you are using the headphone out jack I would set the volume way down and use the Pioneer's amp to turn up the tunes. I would suggest you going online to "stereophile" and asking about line-in or line out spec there: http://www.stereophile.com/news/10500/

Matt