[Closed] Anyone using/use/used a FM transmitter with their car stereo?

they are fine as long as you enjoy listening to a song then picking up a random station then listening to a song then picking up a random station/static then getting fed up and not bothering. those tapes with a lead are a better bet if you enjoy the listening to music then the sound of your phone searching for signal.

mine is fine, stays on one channel 99.9% of the time

the hifi pervs who are more interested in sound than music will say they're inferior but they're all cocks

With an FM transmitter you'll be limited in terms of sound quality by the FM bandwidth itself. Personally I'm no expert but I'm using one of [url= http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_762017_langId_-1_categoryId_165635 ]these[/url]

It seems to be one of the better ones on the market. A couple of the guys I work with have similar things and they just don't seem to be as loud as this one. It does need to be 'played with' slightly if you drive any sort of distance due to the chachanging frequencies of commercial radio channel on different areas. But that said, once you find a 'quiet' bit of bandwidth sound quality is not bad at all. Certainly no worse than you'd expect to hear from a commercial radio channel.

Hope this helps.

Just tune it to the extreme of the frequency and it should be alright. Mine is on 108.0 and is fine most of the time.

I've got an iTrip, it's good but not as good as a cable connection

I tried several about 4 years ago and they were all shite. I wouldn't recommend any of them, but they may be better now. But as far as I am concerned, getting proper stereo connectivity was the best thing I did.

They're not great, but on the motorway out of towns etc they're OK ish. depends where the aerial in your car is

my itrip was truly awful. it's sitting in a draw in the kitchen.

my itrip was truly awful. it's sitting in a draw in the kitchen.

That is what the little voice in the back of my head keeps saying. Might have to pop down to my local ICE shop and see what they say.

Some people think they're fine and some hate them. I don't think it's all sound snobbery. I had a couple of crap ones and then I had a perfectly good one. I suspect (based on nothing but my guess) that a lot depends on the model and the location of your car's antenna.

Your ICE shop will probably tell you they're crap: a) they're professional sound snobs and b) they want to sell you things!

They're a bit shite tbh, not just sound quality (which is crap as well) but the signal keeps disappearing.

Better option would be to see if your new cars stereo can get an aux input fitted, much less hassle.

imo car audio is always going to be a bit crap anyway since you have so much road noise to deal with.

My current stereo has USB (Ipod Direct Control) and Line In so that side is sorted. It's just balking at the idea of hacking bits of a dash.

Basically I would mean turning this:

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Into this....but hopefully cutting the plastic a bit betterer:

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Starting with this:

http://www.fitaudio.com/?View=entry&EntryID=69

Does not look as tidy at all....but I do not listen to CDs or the radio so need to get my Ipod in somehow!

You may find there is an 'aux in' kit that will simply plug into the back of the existing radio. I searched for 4500 which I think is the radio you had, could only read snippets on Google as the relevant forum wanted me to register to read the threads. But there were comments about adding Aux in, possibly by using a converter that connects to the CD Changer input.

I bought an Aux in kit for a current model Ford Focus and fitted it to my Transit, but its a different radio to yours.

Other alternative is pop down your local scrappy, get a spare facia and butcher that before you go to the bother of trying to remove your existing one and possible cocking it up!

On the FM transmitters...I used to have a Soniqcast Aerio MP3 player, had built in FM transmitter. No problem with sound quality, it was pretty much the same as FM, but you inevitably will end up trying to retune to a new signal whilst driving. I could never find a reliable signal whilst on or within the M25. Can be amusing though, got stuck in traffic in a short tunnel once, after a few minutes of static from all radio channels, I put my Aerio on, then watched my neighbour frowning when I randomly skipped songs 🙂

Avoid the FM transmitters dude. I bought a really really really good one a while back and it's still shit. 🙁

I've got one that cost about £6 off Ebay - as Alasdair says above, tune it into a channel where there are no other stations (mine is on 87.5) and then you don't get any problems where you pick up other radio stations.

[url= http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CAR-MP3-PLAYER-FM-TRANSMITTER-USB-SD-SLOT-IPOD-/230503361092?pt=UK_AudioVideoElectronics_PortableAudio_MP3PlayerCarKits ]ebay link[/url]

I use mine with a 4GB pen drive plugged in, sound quality is ok for the cheapness!!

[url= http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/itripdock ]Have one of these[/url]. Works ok, not got a good enough stereo to worry about sound quality. Plus there are **** all radio stations to interfere with it up here.

I bought an Aux in kit for a current model Ford Focus and fitted it to my Transit, but its a different radio to yours.

I have one but don't use it for all the reasons listed above. AUX IN is the way to go I'm afraid. Completely unusable in America bc there is no free space in the frequency range at ll as far as i can tell.

You may find there is an 'aux in' kit that will simply plug into the back of the existing radio. I searched for 4500 which I think is the radio you had, could only read snippets on Google as the relevant forum wanted me to register to read the threads. But there were comments about adding Aux in, possibly by using a converter that connects to the CD Changer input.

Unfortunately on the 4500 there is no aux or available connections to run an aux from . Spent several hours and a phone call to my local ford garage yesterday. It would be the simplest way as well....

I've used a few. As before, when you get a clear frequency, they are excellent. For drives around the same area, one frequency will normally stay clear. On longer journeys I needed to change frequency. However, I have heard that 'down south' there are very few clear frequencies...

I hate cables in the car - can't stand having adaptors plugged into 12V sockets or aux cables or tape adaptors. With an FM transmitter, the ipod can be set and tucked out of the way. Short of replacing my stereo FM transmitters were the best option.

I hate cables in the car - can't stand having adaptors plugged into 12V sockets or aux cables or tape adaptors. With an FM transmitter, the ipod can be set and tucked out of the way. Short of replacing my stereo FM transmitters were the best option.

Likewise mate. At the moment the car stereo I have has usb and 3mm line cables that come out the back of the unit and I have fed them through to the glovebox where a iPod lives. So easy, turn car on and iPod boots up and can be controlled through the head unit.

I think I am going to bite the bullet and get the dremmel out.....or hacksaw blade......or credit card and get one of these......£75 shitting quid tho 🙁

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The main problem is your location and where you commonly drive, as expecially round London/M25 its a constant channel swap - but elsewhere its normally fine.

This one works (my wife has one), just press the button and it finds the next/nearest free station:
http://gizmodo.com/341117/belkin-tunebase-and-tunecast-more-formally-announced

But had one of these installed in my car:
http://www.ipodcarkitdirect.co.uk/Dice

About £160 all-in. I can up/down songs on the iPod though the stereo/wheel controls and see what is playing on the car 'screen'. Can't though control the iPod fully - old car.

Plays direct through the stereo, and charges too.

Sorry, dude, meant to ask...why is it such a ballache to get the stereo out? Surely there's a way without hacking the dash? I thought they were all standard sizes, no? Sorry if I'm being a clod. 🙂

Ford's steros are semi integral to the car to avoid them being nicked I guess. You need a new panel.

One thing to check is whether that stereo is compatible with fords CD multichangers - if it is you can get a do-dah that turns the cd changer input into an ipod plug.

my itrip was pretty rubbish, could never find a station that it worked on without being rubbish so I burned some cds 😛
then..got a new radio with an aux cable (and a usb) so my problems are sorted!
my friend has one where you can plug ipod into a tape, that works well (but only if the stereo is old enough to have a tape player on it obviously)

Sorry, dude, meant to ask...why is it such a ballache to get the stereo out? Surely there's a way without hacking the dash? I thought they were all standard sizes, no? Sorry if I'm being a clod

The stereo has 2 bits of plastic that go across the stereo to make it look like it is 3 separate bits. Very good as an antitheft measure. A pain in the arse to change. As Ewun said, there is a replacement fascia with a double din fitting in it, but it is £75.

One thing to check is whether that stereo is compatible with fords CD multichangers - if it is you can get a do-dah that turns the cd changer input into an ipod plug.

Some intensive googling is not turning anything up. Otherwise I would be on it like a shot. Options seem to be:

FM Transmitter 😡
Cut Fascia and try not to **** it up.
Get proper fascia and spend an extra £75 I could be spending on some thule stuff.

Amusingly the worse thing is not cutting the fascia as that is the easy bit, its reconnecting all the wires you need to pull when taking the thing off in the first place.

The aerial in the car makes a lot of difference. Mine only works reliably if I unscrew the aerial so the transmitter is the only thing it picks up.

I've been using one for years and it works really well. That being said I don't live in and around London so there are far fewer other radio stations that could interfere with the reception.

Sound quality isn't an issue either. You'll be in a car which will masses of road noise so it really isn't important.

On a similar note - does anyone know if you can get a Bluetooth receiver to plug into an aux socket in the car? Then I can listen to tunes on my phone in the car with no cables

Jamie YGM

fwiw I have a Belkin FM transmitter and it seemed so bad I almost gave up using it until I spotted that I needed to have it close to the antenna rather than the radio. One audio extension lead later the transmitter was in the back window. It has worked brilliantly ever since with stations having to be quite strong to cut in

Tried a couple and they never picked up properly. Then bought a Kensington reduced to £12 in TK Max last month and its really good even though my ariel is at the rear of the car. It will run off the ipod or from the cigarette lighter. Like listening to a normal radio station.

I would suggest trying to borrow one or 2 from friends/work colleagues etc to see which works best with your car set up.