Bare bones mp3
 

I just want something to play my mp3 player. When I bought the car someone had taken out the radio. A local car store has a radio unit with a 3.5 mm input for $30. What do I need to make this work? I don't know anything about needed connectors, sizes etc. Point a newbie in the right direction.

A radio with the miniphone jack should allow you to plug your I Pod directly into the head unit and get good sound from it. The cable would be miniphone jacks on both ends.

I was assuming so. What about hooking up the radio to the car? Do I need special connectors?

no nothing special is needed. You just need to know what the stock wiring harness colors mean. Search the threads there was one that mentioned the colors and what they meant. Then you just put the right color wire to the right color wire really easy. To install new Head unit will take like 1 hour if you decide to run all new speaker wire which i would do so you can bypass the fader control on the center console. Hope this helps.

Sorry. Didn't mean to be stating the obvious.

No that's totally cool man, almost nothing is obvious for a new guy.

All the color coding you need is posted in here from me countless times. :D

No, not a mike connector....you need to use the "line input"

This input takes approx 1 volt of audio which is standard for all equipment with "line out" connectors....usually a 3.5mm connector or could be dual RCA red / white connectors. (Radio Shack) ....electrically and functionally identical.

The "mike" input has much higher sensitivity ....down in the millivolt range and the impedance will not match - you will get totally distorted and basey audio.

You could also use an FM transmitter and tune say 88.1 for your mp3 audio. I have satellite radio on 88.1 and mp3 audio on 88.7

Why would a 3.5 mm input be a mic input and not a line in? I've never seen a mic input in a car stereo.

my comment with respect to "3.5mm" and "mike input" was in response to post #2 above.
I have also never seen a mike input on a car stereo.

I'm having trouble finding the switch 12v and the ground. I'm an idiot, and I'm color blind, really. I found a post how to bypass the fader, but that didn't have the colors. I think, by the way, I'm just going to hook up the fornt ones and string new wire to the back later. I'm driving back to Michigan on Friday and that's a long drive without any tunes.

I think the single black wire is the power, but I'm not seeing a brown wire for the ground. Thinking one of them might be brown, I connected to either. Nothing.

I've always heard that connector called a "miniphone." I was assuming that IF there was one on the face of the car stereo, it would be line level. Personally, I just bought one of those cassette adapters to use with mine. It sounds better than the FM transmitter does. I have that on my satellite radio and it worked okay. Later on, I hard-wired the FM from the Sirius radio directly to the antenna input on the head unit. That's MUCH better.

I was on the dieselbenz website and he had a picture of him changing his stereo, I don't have those plugs, and probably 1/4 of the wires. I'm still trying to get this baby to work, not sure on the chassis ground (no brown wire) or 12v switch.

Blauppunkt has head units just for mp3 players now.. No cd player at all.. just an aux input for front and something for iPods in the back

I think I'm going to get one for xmas as well as new speakers and some amps

http://www.blaupunkt.com/us/car_radios_41.asp

yes, correct....that front panel input will be line level input.
cassette adaptor.....not vey good....
FM or FM directly connected is very good and its not worth messing with the radio to create a line input...the FM is excellent providing you get the FM modulator antenna signal to fully "quiet" the FM car radio on the chosen channel.
A good way to test this is to put your satellite radio on a channel that has no audo....(un-modulated FM signal) like the Sirius SID channel and listen to the car radio on say 88.1Mhz or your chosen clear channel. Now move the FM modulator antenna wire....extend it....or wrap it around the car radio coaxial antenna wire. You will hear the sound or noise on the car radio become quieter as the FM signal from the satellite radio becomes stronger. If you still hear sqeaks and other noises that would indicate that you will need to find a clearer channel that is not used in your area.
Earlier models of Sirius and XM radios had a highr RF (transmitter power level) than the current models. The FCC made them reduce power because of interference complaints from some public broadcasters.
Definitely use the wire antenna provided with the satellite radio.

Although the FM modulator / transmitter is not a very sophisticated device, any transmitter will radiate its maximum power when the electrical impedance of the antenna closely matches the output impedance of the transmitter.....and a "quarter wave" antenna on the FM band (88-108Mhz) is approximately 29 inches. So the satellite radio's FM transmitter will radiate its maximum power with a 29" wire. Sure there are other factors that would normally come into play in a "real life" tranmsitter system (I can hear those comments already that the proximity of the 29" wire to other wires and metal will change the impedance ... yada yada...yes I agree!!) but at least you maximize your chances of getting the best FM signal transfer as possible.
Of course, the direct connect method will ensure maximum quieting.

When the car radio is fully "quieted" turn to a regular satellite channel and you will be a very happy camper.

I know you have already made yours work OK so this is for others looking to do the same.