Sweet! We should call this the

[Coach]

spharis lounge. I have a feeling he will be posting here on a regular bais.

[Tequilasun]

spharis lounge. I have a feeling he will be posting here on a regular bais.

The dude knows his stuff for sure.

So the first real question: I want to hook my Ipod up to my boat. I have the Clarion XMD 3. What's my best option?

[Coach]

The dude knows his stuff for sure.

So the first real question: I want to hook my Ipod up to my boat. I have the Clarion XMD 3. What's my best option?

Clarion makes a I-pod adapter for that HU (I think). The adapter will charge the I-pod at the same time. If it is older you have to hook up a RCA adapter with the headphone jack on the other end to the Aux input.

[Tequilasun]

Clarion makes a I-pod adapter for that HU (I think). The adapter will charge the I-pod at the same time. If it is older you have to hook up a RCA adapter with the headphone jack on the other end to the Aux input.

Ok, off to Google I go.

[mtnsmith]

If it will work, the adapter/controller interface is the ea1251. The link for the item is below. I did the rca to stereo mini into the aux input and it works great for the $3 that the cord cost. I also posted the owners manual a while back in case you did not get one with your boat.

http://www.clarion.com/us/en/product...294998542.html

Here is the manual link:

http://www.tigeowners.com/forum/show...ht=xmd3+manual

Upon further digging, the i-pod controller should work. I could not find much on the US site but Clarion's european site said it would.

[evil0ne]

The iPod adapter is probably the cleanest way to do it, but I think I would prefer the headphone to AUX in. The only reason is Clarion piece does not provide for full control over the iPod. Since you will still need to push buttons on the iPod you might as well just do the AUX in for $100 cheaper.

[chpthril]

The iPod adapter is probably the cleanest way to do it, but I think I would prefer the headphone to AUX in. The only reason is Clarion piece does not provide for full control over the iPod. Since you will still need to push buttons on the iPod you might as well just do the AUX in for $100 cheaper.

I'm with Evil here, thats what I did, and put the Ipod in the cupholder next to the glovebox. The biggest expense was the OtterBox for the Ipod to keep it safe.

[Tequilasun]

Ok, I don't consider myself cheap, but I'm not paying for that Ipod controller. Cheapest I found was 70 bucks.

So this 3 buck option. It has a headphone jack on one end, and rca's on the other?

I also saw on ebay some that had the ipod connector on one end and the rca's on the others. They said they would charge El Ipod for me. Anyone tried one of these? For around 30 bucks plus 10 bucks shipping, I'm not sure I want to be guinea pig.

Thanks guys for the help

[chpthril]

Ok, I don't consider myself cheap, but I'm not paying for that Ipod controller. Cheapest I found was 70 bucks.

So this 3 buck option. It has a headphone jack on one end, and rca's on the other?

I also saw on ebay some that had the ipod connector on one end and the rca's on the others. They said they would charge El Ipod for me. Anyone tried one of these? For around 30 bucks plus 10 bucks shipping, I'm not sure I want to be guinea pig.

Thanks guys for the help

Sounds like it will work like the docking stations, but dont know where the juice comes from to charge.
For about the same $$$ you can get a waterproof/protective case and the headphone/RCA cables. With a full charge, our Nano usually last all day.

[NICKYPOO]

Be the pig Tequila. Tequila Pig? I've done the Radio Shack headphone/RCA plug deal. While it will work, it doesn't work that well. Plus the fact that it charges is well worth it.

Maybe SP can speek of the differences in the out put of the headphone jack vs. Ipod connection and how they effect sound quality. I'd try, but i'd just end up with my foot in my mouth.

[Tequilasun]

Sounds like it will work like the docking stations, but dont know where the juice comes from to charge.
For about the same $$$ you can get a waterproof/protective case and the headphone/RCA cables. With a full charge, our Nano usually last all day.

I wondered that myself. But I looked at a different one, and the have a fused power wire that connects to the Ipod connector. They all look like they are trying to be professional builds, but they are homemade jobs.

I'm sure I could make something very similar as well. If I knew where to get the ipod connector.

Nicky. The Clarion Ipod Module apparently doesn't control all the functions of the ipod, so I'm not sure it would be worth anything to me. I'm starting to think that having the Ipod out like Chpthril is saying is the way to go.

I already have an otterbox for my phone, just have to get one for the Ipod as well.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Kenwood-Eclipse-...QQcmdZViewItem

[mtnsmith]

Yeah, I read some pretty bad complaints on the i-pod controller, it limits you to 6 playlists since it treats the i-pod as a cd-changer and that is how many cd's their changer holds. Plus list 1 is already defaulted to playing every song on your i-pod in alphabetical order by artist, so really you only get 5 playlists and they have to be very specifically named clarion 2, clarion 3, ...That rca to i-pod plug that charges also looks a little hokey. I bought a pretty good connector from Monster that sounds good enough for me. A company called h20 audio makes a pretty neat i-pod case but the otterbox is about half the price.

[evil0ne]

I'm glad I'm not the only one that would like to pay for an iPod controller but thinks the cheap way is better.

An expensive example of the cable I'm talking about is pictured below:


Found a cheap Dock to RCA on BoxWave's website


Add one of these for the long weekends and you're set.


Another way to go is the FM mod way but the others will be a cleaner signal.


Speaking of signal quality I believe the best method is using the iPod dock connector because it provides a constant level of output whereas the headphone connector is affected by the iPod’s volume level.

[NICKYPOO]

I actually have the entire Pioneer iPod interface with the wired marine remote with display set up. You control the iPod from the remote and all your playlists work. The only thing I don't like is that it takes a few seconds for inputs to get through the system. Other than that, it's a pretty cool little setup. I built a box to house the iPod and the two interface modules for the iPod and remote and have it mounted in the observers compartment.

[spharis]

FM mods are terrible. You will have interference.

All the others, the sound quality is going to be the same on them, they work about the same way. The output from the ipod is a frequency, and it is similar to RCAs coming out of a head unit and into an amp. Don't waste money on the expensive cables. The cheap stuff will sound just as good. Only buy the expensive stuff if you are going to be abusing the cables as they have a little better casing/enclosure.