My HU is old...version 9.53...and I am not interested in taking it apart and sending it away to be upgraded.

Can anyone tell me how much worse the sound quality would be using a "nice high quality" FM modulator (hardwired directly to antenna, not wireless) instead of PIE?

I am the type of person who never turns their volume up past 20, and doesn't give a **** about the difference between a 128kbit MP3 and a 320kbit MP3, or cbr vs vbr either, if that helps any.

 

The FM modulator will suck compared to the PIE or any other direct AUX feed as far as sound quality goes.

However, based on what you said about your listening habits, this might not make enough difference for you - so it's possible you'll find it OK. Give it a try - FM modulators are cheap enough.

 

I mean I don't have much of a choice right? It's either this or PIE?

 

No, that's not the case. This will work with any head unit firmware since it emulates a tape player. It's cheaper than the PIE too.

 

Aaaaah...the AuxMod. I never knew that OverLOAD finished it because it never gets mentioned very often on these forums...all you ever hear about is PIE from magellen and thew and the DIYs.

Thanks for that Tamas. I guess I have found the answer for getting great sound quality without having to send away my HU or buy some piece of **** FM modulator.

 

I have been researching this a lot today and see overload now has two options, one in stock. Check out the below link.
http://www.sylfex.com/products/AuxMod/

Also, I found this one too, a little more expensive but worth checking out.
http://www.therpmstore.com/product_i...roducts_id=142

Finally, this site that someone kindly posted showing how to access the rear of the stereo unit
http://www.staticusers.net/rx-8/RX-8...n-iceLink.html

I found them all useful, hope you do too.

 

That's because they sell that but not the AuxMod

Hey, careful! I'm not that good-looking
You're welcome. I use an early AuxMod, and it works very well for me. I imagine the later units should only be better.

 

I remember hearing about some people having alternator whining porblems with the AuxMod, I think that most people were able to fix it with a ground loop isolator. So add that to the 60 bucks.

 

tape deck, $130 bucks, toss yer FM modulator

 

I installed the Sirius Starmate Replay last weekend.
I had an Mbus-> RCA cable for the PIE adaptor which I got before I knew the SAT unit I was getting has mini-jack out.
I also heard about people getting ground humm. SO, instead of going with an RCA -> mini-jack, and possibly needing a GLI, I got an Mbus -> Mini-jack.
Sounds is great, no noise.

-BB

 

we wouldn't sell it because of the ground loop issues but overload fixed most of those, we wish him the best with his product and may buy a batch from him so we can package them for international customers who save money on customs/shipping by making big orders

congrats to overload, homebrew is cool