2005 Sport Stereo & iPod2Car experience

[frankvh]

Hi all,

My thanks to the many who have posted in this forum; it's very helpful. I just wanted to pass on my experience with the stereo in my '05 Sport model (with the 10-speaker single-disc JBL stereo) and the Peripheral Electronics iPod2Car unit.

Initially I wanted the Scion MP3 headunit. But that's not possible because the JBL is a 2-piece unit. A head-unit in the front of the truck, and an amp in the back. All the speaker wires run to the amp, of course. And the amp is digitally controlled by the HU; everything like volume, fader, etc, is done by digital signals (wires TX+ & TX-) from the HU telling the amp what to do. To install the Scion HU would have involved ripping out the factory amp & performing a major rewiring job. Too much work for me.

So I purchased the iPod2Car from a local store, and the Y stereo install cable from the toyota dealer. Using info posted by others the install went smoothly. However....

The volume was too low. I had to really crank the stereo's volume to be able to hear the iPod.

Turns out, from reading a Toyota Prius forum, that flipping DIP switch 6 on the iPod2Car unit to ON greatly increases its volume. Worked great for me, and made the iPod volume pretty close to the radio volume. Close enough anyway. Highly recommended if you're doing this install.

And no, the song titles do not appear on the HU's screen. On the positive side, you don't need to create any special playlists on the iPod, so it's super easy to use. Just select the artist / album / entire set of songs / whatever and play away.

Hope this helps out some folks.

Frank.

 

[Bill42]

Where did you run the line to hook it up to your iPod? Does it really sound that good? I have tried two other non-connected methods that really sucked.

As to the interface. So, if I select a playlist or whatever than I just use the steering wheel up/dns to change selection, right?

Thanks. Was waiting for simple solution to attach my iPod. Same issue as you. Thought I had ordered Base Stereo so that I could do Scion HU switch. But actually ordered JBL 10 speaker with CD.

 

[frankvh]

I put the iPod in the little pocket compartment in the dash, just under the A/C controls. Like others have done (search this forum). Keeps it accessible, yet hidden from view. The iPod2Car comes with a long cable for connecting to the iPod so I just tied the excess up and put it behind the A/C controls (plenty of room for it back there).

It does sound good. I'm very happy with the sound quality.

Yes, the steering controls work. You have the usual volume up / down, and you can step forwards & backwards in the tracks using the up/down arrow buttons on the steering wheel. Anything beyond that (like selecting a new album or artist or whatever) you'll need to select on the iPod itself. The iPod controls still work normally even when it's plugged into the car, so that's pretty easy.