Awesome FM transmitter for MP3 player-Car

[Dean]

I've heard horror stories about crappy FM transmitters that let you use your PM3 player etc. with your car stereo.

My rental only has a CD player, so my cassette adapter won't work, so I broke down and went looking for one.

Looking at some reviews, I was thinking Belikin TuneCast II as first choice, and maybe an iRock 400FM as a backup.

I found the Belkin on sale at Circuit city for $31.

This thing is cool, and works really well!

First, it will transmit anywhere from 88.1 to 107.9 and has a digital tuner to set the exact frequency with ease as well as having 4 memory locations you can put any frequency in. Most others have 1 or 4 fixed frequencies.

It also comes with a cigerette lighter adapter and it turns on and off automatically based on signal from your player.

Keeping the volume from the player lower and the tone settings flat appears to work best and then pump up the volume and tweek on the car stereo.

Sound is pretty good, but remember you are limited to FM frequency range which is about 15-15K

I would reccomend it to anybody who is looking for this type of device.

NOTE: Do not confuse this with the first Belkin TuneCast which alegedly bites. This is the TuneCast II!

[tysonK]

tunecast, tunecast II...omg.. this is so confusing.

[Dean]

Originally Posted by tysonK

tunecast, tunecast II...omg.. this is so confusing.

It's OK Tyson, I'll go over it again slowly.

TuneCast = Bad

TuneCast II = Good

TuneCast = No car adapter

TuneCast II = Car adapter

[tysonK]

how much are you selling your cat-back to me for?

[LetItRev]

Catback for sale?? I'm looking for one of those too.

[dknv]

John & Patty Evans, in renoscca, have an awesome catback system for sale. Lemme know if you want contact information. I believe there's no muffler, so it's loud. (John crafted it using mandrel-bent pieces, and for competition; that may not be what you're looking for?)

[LetItRev]

Hey Debbie,

Thanks for that infomation, but you are correct, I am looking for something street legal. I am looking at the Cobb, Vishnu, and many others.

[tysonK]

Originally Posted by LetItRev

Catback for sale?? I'm looking for one of those too.

oh no a bidding war.

[tysonK]

Franz,

I really I like the Borla Hush, I've read on the boards that it is a great medium between loud and performance.

Plus If you get then we(I) can all see how it sounds and/or performs.

I've bought stuff here before:

http://www.kastleskorner.com/store/d...21_128_138_211


And this place seems to have best prices on most Subaru Performance stuff and free shipping on most stuff:

http://www.gruppe-s.com/subaru.htm

[Evo Mike]

Humm, catback exhaust you say?
[quote]I really I like the Borla Hush, I've read on the boards that it is a great medium between loud and performance.

Plus If you get then we(I) can all see how it sounds and/or performs.

Yes, tyson, i like the borla hush as well. It's not too loud and it sounds pretty good; although the full exhaust from the header sounds even better.
I also like the Greddy Evo exhaust for the Wrx... (the name doesn't do the exhaust justice! ) but yeah, if you're looking for something that is not that loud, the borla hush is good (also becuase it looks stock) and the greddy evo is good because it also isn't too loud and it sounds great. I do know for a fact that both the borla and the Greddy do not have the crackling tip sound that some of the other cat backs have.. but hey, some people like that.
Beware of the Perrin exhaust... ppl say it's too loud and i have heard of ppl geting pulled over for it.

here's some pics of the greddy
http://www.i-m-racing.com/gredevoexwrx.html

hope it helps dude!

[tysonK]

Looks like I'm buying Dean's old cat-back. His cat-back sounds pretty nice a little be gurgly and even tone at throttle.

Thanks for the info, Hoepfully Franz sees this thread again.

Did you hear the Borla Hush in person?

I really wanted to hear how it sounds on a car at near full throttle, but I don't want to hear a sound bite online I want to hear in person.

[Evo Mike]

yes, i have heard the borla hush in person. It actually sounds pretty tame. (i believe Mike's wrx at GB has the hush system) If i remember correctly, it had some, as you say "gargle" in it, as do most other cat back systems. but that gargle get's taken care of when you go with a catless downpipe. Dean's system sounds pretty good. If you're gettin a good price on it, i'd say that's the way to go... Unless you want to be sleeper, which would make the borla system the obvious choice. Reguardless, i'd say both systems are nice. It's all you man

[tysonK]

BTW Dean this is now a Cat -back thread not a FM transmitter thread.

luckly we covered everything in the first 3 posts.

[Evo Mike]

Oh my bad dean. I can make a cat back thread

oh since it's a technical thread, i will help it out.
Anyone know anything about getting Navigation or TV tuner to run parallel to a DVD player? I dont have the time to do the research.. If anyone knows anything, just leave a post.

OH and one more thing... what's an XM radio? what does it do? how much?
just curious... dont have a car to put one in right now anyhow!

[dknv]

Ok, so who went & bought the last one @Circuit City here today,
j/k
The salesman there told me Radio Shack has something like it, so I went & bought an iRock Beamit. It works great! Wonderful for me, since I only bought the 1-CD sound system.

Dean - now I need s'more mp3's, what were those tools you told me about? And btw thanks for the great product tip!

[Dean]

Originally Posted by dknv

Ok, so who went & bought the last one @Circuit City here today,
j/k
The salesman there told me Radio Shack has something like it, so I went & bought an iRock Beamit. It works great! Wonderful for me, since I only bought the 1-CD sound system.

Dean - now I need s'more mp3's, what were those tools you told me about? And btw thanks for the great product tip!

Does the beam it have more than 4 channels? Here in Memphis, and probably anywhere over the hill, where there are many stations, finding a clear channel is difficult. The TuneCast II having the ability to pick any frequency is one of the key features.

Unless you own one of the two players that support ogg vorbis, MP3 is they way to go IMHO, and nothing beats the quality from EAC and LAME IMHO.

EAC, Exact Audio Copy for extraction: http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/
LAME for encoding: http://mitiok.cjb.net/

Howto:
http://www.chrismyden.com/nuke/modul...&file=painless
http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.ph...pic=77696&st=0

I can help when I get back and keep you from having to do ones I already have. I keep threatening to redo mine since I did them many years ago, and the quality has gone way up.

[Dean]

Tunecast II is available on-line for about $34...

http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_g...=tunecast%20II

[JoelK]

Just want to add that Dean is spot-on with EAC and LAME. I've used just about every kind of ripper and encoder, and that's what I settled on for power and quality.