1/8th inch audio input (auxillary/mp3)

[raschilling]

Hey everyone, I'm new to this website as well as RL's. Two days ago, I just bought an '08 Nimbus Gray RTS and I love it. However, I'm frustrated, like many, with the fact that you cannot easily plug in your iPod/mp3 player to the HU like you can on many new vehicles. I was wondering if anyone can tell me how to set up a 1/8th inch auxillary input without the use of a USA Spec or any iPod interface of that sort. From reading about the different options, the USA Spec, the DICE, as well as the PIE HON03-POD/S, none of them seem to work perfectly without any problems so I decided to shy away from iPod adapters and not worry about HU and steering wheel controls. My iPod Touch also seems to be causing problems with these devices as well. Any help, instructions, or links would be very appreciated. Thanks

[hofffam]

You CAN'T just add an auxilary input to your headunit. It just doesn't have analog inputs that can be connected to a mini-jack.

All of the other units (USA Spec, etc.) plug into the headunit and mimic a changer or XM radio.

It seems that the vast majority of people here who use the USA Spec units have been very satisfied.

[raschilling]

Yeah, overall the USA Spec seems to be the best option if you have an iPod touch or iPhone. I've just heard about the screen flashing issue on them and was hoping to try something different. By the way, I talked to USA Spec tech support earlier and they said they currently do not have a fix for this problem. Just in case anyone else doesn't want to have the annoyance of a flashing screen, I thought that may be of interest.

[Grok Lobster]

Soundgate hond3 adapter works fine for me.

[twincam]

I have a USA spec and it works great for my iPod. My brother-in-law was in the truck this last weekend and he has an iTouch and we plugged it in and it worked great also. I have never had any screen flashing problem.

[e_piph_a_ny]

I have the USA SPEC with my RTL w/o Nav. First was the 1st gen version (either direct mode or playlist mode) with no problems.
I had it upgraded to the hybrid version (both direct mode and playlist mode at the same time) and no problems.

[raschilling]

No annoying screen flash on your factory head unit for you guys with USA Specs?

[e_piph_a_ny]

No nav, no flashing.

[firefighter3666]

Add me to the list of satisfied USA Spec owners. If you go the USA Spec route, you can also wire in a 3.5 mm stereo jack using the RCA inputs on the module.

[raschilling]

I went with the USA Spec and it is working perfectly. Sorry about my skepticism before, I had read some posts that were not representing the majority of Spec users. If anyone is like and curious about what to go with, I am using an iPod Touch with the USA Spec but it will only work in Direct Mode, which is all most people want to use anyway. If you are looking for the text interface, the Spec does not do that but you can find this with the PIE as well as the DICE. For iPod Touch/iPhone users be careful because plugging into an adapter with a text interface will give you a message on your iPod that says "Device Connected" or something of that sort. You will then have no access to your iPod while it is connected to the adapter.

Thanks again
Andrew