I have a 1986 Corvette and have been listening to my radio while driving but I remembered that they sell the cassette tapes with the ipod adapters, so i bought a cheap little 7 dollar one at walmart and every time i popped it in the cassette deck it kept spitting it back out at me. The adapter said to turn off auto-reverse but im clueless how to do that if you can even do it. Does anyone have a cassette/ipod adapter that they use or reccomend? Or should i just keep listening to the radio.

 

Those things don't work. Once I tried to "cheap out" and got a cd adapter for my radio and it sounded like crap and had no volume, so I just ripped out the system and bought some decent stuff. Do a modern cd radio with an I-pod jack. It's easy to put in a radio, use the Bose speakers and just bypass the amps and work the speaker boxes from the radio amp.

 

Yeah i figured i was going to have to do that haha.

 

Just try another higher quality cassette adapter, the cheap ones will do that. I actually use an FM transmitter and rather surprised how good it sounds.

 

I actually used one of those for a DVD system I had and it did work great, I didn't know they had them for I-Pods. It uses an unused FM station to transmit the signal, I forget the actual name of the thing but it was like 20 bucks. I still have it and the DVD set-up with the 2 7" screens. I should sell it on E-Bay.

 

It's called an FM modulator, it's about 20 bucks. You can give this a shot, they DO work good.

 

I use a cheap radio shack cassette adapter with no issue

 

See if the modulator is for an I-Pod, the sound is crystal clear because it don't need the old tape-head to work. I remember the music videos I watched sounding as good as my stereo did using that set-up.

 

Check to see if your tape player actually works. Mine had a broken belt.

 

My wife used the cassette adapter for XM before I changed out radios. This was in her Impala but either way the unit worked really well. I did not like the FM modulation, I thought the sound was very poor. Try a different adapter to see if it works better.

 

I use an FM adapter and it works just fine, except through LA where
there are NO unused FM frequencies.

Chuck

 

My experience with FM modulators is that you get what you pay for... Wireless FM transmitters usually sound terrible, but a good, wired FM modulator can sound very good. Some special modulators will even charge your iPod as well, and you can run the wire into your center console for a sleek look. FM modulators use a relay to switch between the car's antenna, and your auxiliary input, which can help with interference in dense areas.

Cassette tape adapters are a good alternative to an FM modulator, but the wire is ugly... If you don't use other cassettes, you could run the adapter's wire INTO the radio, and then out the back and into the center console... Remember, though, that the cassette decks in our cars are getting quite old now, and they could REALLY benefit from a good cleaning if you choose to go down the Tape Adapter road.

Nick

 

I installed the Audiovox FM modulator in line with the radio's antenna (just like we used to use the ones in the '70's to get an AM radio to play FM). You unplug the antenna from the radio and into the modulator then plug the modulator's antenna lead into the radio. It works great, has signal isolation coils on the input leads, no hum, very clean.

I velcro'd it to the transmission hump ahead of the heater controls. It has left and right RCA plugs for the input, I just used an RCA to 1/8" adaptor and plug my mobile phone right in. It will not charge an IPOD. It does need 12v power and ground and you have to mount the on/off switch that switches the modulator into or out of the antenna circuit somehere. I think it was 80 bucks or thereabouts.

I never had great luck with a cassete adaptor, none were very solid. Antenna transmitters the same, not solid or you had to change stations halfway home. The only FM transmitter that worked well was the one that came with my Sirius radio and they were, I think, putting out more watts than they should have so the car next to you at a traffic light might pick up your Howard Stern.

 

I use the cassette thingy that came with my XM radio. It works fine.

 

I have converted several tape decks to ipod receivers for free. take the deck out, get to the casette head, snip the 3 wires on the head (usually Red, Black, and gnd) and re-connect to a female mini headphone jack that you will plug in to the ipod headphone jack (Red is Right, Black is Left, Gnd is Gnd). run the cable out the radio somewhere to where you can access it and plug your ipod (I use my laptop because it holds more music). when you turn the deck on, it will get the signal through the jack, you'll need to adjust the volume on the ipod pretty low to where you are not overpowering it (you'll know because it will sound like crap). The ipod won't charge, but you'll have a dirt cheap ipod capable stock system, just won't ever be able to play tapes again...I first saw this in the instructables site and was skeptical but it does work well.

 

I have a Coby CA-747 Dual Position CD/MD/MP3 Cassette Adapter (search Amazon) and it works great. The wireless FM modulators didn't work well for me. Another cheapo cassette adapter didn't work either.

 

I use the GOgroove FlexSMART X2 works great. I use bluetooth to connect to my phone, so no cords and then it streams via FM to my stereo. It does have a stereo plug in port though to connect an ipad or other mp3 player.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ls_o05_s00_i00

 

I use a casette adaptor in my 96. In fact the one I am using was left with the car. I think it's a bit cheap though cause the one I use in my Grand Cherokee sounds better.

 

Thanks bac,
I just ordered this adapter and a windshield/vent mount for MY car. My wife said she would consider it my Fathers day gift. I recently had my receiver gone through and repaired. I do NOT want to do that job again. The non-bose units are REALLY buried under the passenger-side dash area.

Mick

 

I sent my Bose head unit and had it fitted with an Ipod adapter on the cassette deck face from Dr. Dons. Sounds as good as my Kenwood deck in my other Vette.