Installing your own line-in?

From : roy batty

Q: is it a fairly simple matter to install a line in of your own for a factory sound system in a 99 dodge conversion van it has the cd tuner with the 3 band eq. ive done a few head unit and speaker installs over the years and am comfy with wiring. i was thinking of putting a 3.5 mm stereo minijack in somewhere for the actual connector. i suppose also there will be some kind of source selector. the main purpose of this arrangement would be to play my laptop thru the vans stereo. cheaper than buying some fm tuner input rig and surely higher quality. .

Replies:

From : roy batty

hey i just found this http//www.rcainput.com/merchant2/merchant.mvscreen=prod&storecode=rcai&product code=chry98-aux&categorycode=c think that could do the trick im fine with rca inputs instead of miniplug. roy batty tyrell@mac.com wrote is it a fairly simple matter to install a line in of your own for a factory sound system in a 99 dodge conversion van it has the cd tuner with the 3 band eq. ive done a few head unit and speaker installs over the years and am comfy with wiring. i was thinking of putting a 3.5 mm stereo minijack in somewhere for the actual connector. i suppose also there will be some kind of source selector. the main purpose of this arrangement would be to play my laptop thru the vans stereo. cheaper than buying some fm tuner input rig and surely higher quality. .

From : tbone

is it a fairly simple matter to install a line in of your own for a factory sound system in a 99 dodge conversion van it has the cd tuner with the 3 band eq. ive done a few head unit and speaker installs over the years and am comfy with wiring. i was thinking of putting a 3.5 mm stereo minijack in somewhere for the actual connector. i suppose also there will be some kind of source selector. the main purpose of this arrangement would be to play my laptop thru the vans stereo. cheaper than buying some fm tuner input rig and surely higher quality. i see a few possible problems with what you are trying to do. many newer head units require independent grounds for the speakers and a 3.5 mm stereo minijack uses a common ground which would short out the independent grounds that i believe your stereo requires. also if you are talking about a laptop computer there is no way that it has enough power to drive those speakers by itself. most if not all of them require amplified external speakers. your best bet is to come up with a low level input into your existing stereo and let it drive the speakers for you. -- if at first you dont succeed youre not cut out for skydiving .

From : tbone

hey i just found this http//www.rcainput.com/merchant2/merchant.mvscreen=prod&storecode=rcai&product code=chry98-aux&categorycode=c think that could do the trick im fine with rca inputs instead of miniplug. this is the method that i was talking about. you just need to make sure that your head unit is compatible with this device and you will be good to go. you can then either buy the rca to mini plug adapter for your laptop or make it yourself. -- if at first you dont succeed youre not cut out for skydiving .

From : wmhj

i bought a small fm transmitter from radio shack for $30. mine was manufactured by compaq. it sounds really good and for $30 it would not be worth all the trouble to me to go through the wiring you are talking about. just my 2 cents.... copper is it a fairly simple matter to install a line in of your own for a factory sound system in a 99 dodge conversion van it has the cd tuner with the 3 band eq. ive done a few head unit and speaker installs over the years and am comfy with wiring. i was thinking of putting a 3.5 mm stereo minijack in somewhere for the actual connector. i suppose also there will be some kind of source selector. the main purpose of this arrangement would be to play my laptop thru the vans stereo. cheaper than buying some fm tuner input rig and surely higher quality. .