Tsx536

I've heard about this Ipod interface for awhile, and it's finally out now. It's the most advanced aftermarket interface that I have seen so far. For those that want to try it, it goes for $199, but doesn't come with an AUX interface. I'm anxious to hear some reviews of this thing. There is one or two reviews on Circuit City.com.

http://www.circuitcity.com/rpsm/oid/...Review.do#tabs



The Acura Ipod interface is also coming soon, at this point we don't know if it will work for pre 2006 TSXs though.

vasu

what's the acura ipod interface you're talking about?

As far as the Drive + Play, i've got one on preorder.. still waiting for it to actually ship though...

CCColtsicehockey

thats sweet to bad there is no aux out only fm modulator which kinda sucks

vasu

The Drive+Play has AUX out, Wireless FM modulation, and an optional wired FM modulator

It also has an AUX input for passing through another source, such as sat radio or dvd player, etc.

-vasu

Tsx536

Yeah my bad, maybe my post wasn't clear. It does have RCA outs, but it doesn't come with a Blitzsafe or SNHOND3. You'll have to buy that seperately.

kyotousa

so 300 USD for this set up XD

GIBSON6594

Also keep in mind that this only works for the 3G and 4G ipod. Won't work with the video

vasu

In the manual for the Drive+Play, any ipod with a dock connector is supported. So 3G, 4G (iPod Photo included), 5G (iPod w/ video), iPod mini, iPod nano.

The only ipods this doesn't support are ones without the dock connector, which are the 1G and 2G ipods (firewire port instead of dock connector), and the iPod Shuffle.

-vasu

GIBSON6594

Hmmm, from the Circuit City website:

"Compatibility: The Drive + Play works with 3rd and 4th generation iPods, color iPods, iPod mini and iPod nano."

Circuit City

vasu

Crutchfield just got them in and I just placed an order for shipment today .. i also called harman/kardon to get some physical dimensions for it

Height = 2 3/8" -- 2 7/8" with mounting base
Width = 3 6/8"
Depth = 2 3/8"

I think i'm going to mount mine in the cd bin/cubby

Tsx536

Nice! The reviews from circuitcity sound pretty good. I'm anxious to see what you think about the menu speed and how fast the browsing is.

vasu

Of course the CC website doesn't list the new iPod video, it was released after the Drive+Play product page went up .. but it is supported

-vasu

GIBSON6594

Yea, they should probably update their site, they might be losing sales...

Tsx536

Did you order a video ipod Gibson?

GIBSON6594

I did

vasu

I was really hoping that there would be an 80gig variant of the iPod released at the event last week. I've got about 65 gigs of music and want more room to grow, so a 60gig ipod is too small. I really want just a massive music library in my car

I might buckle and get the older 60gig model on the cheap, and just omit some things .. but in the mean time I'll be using my 4gb nano in the car until i decide what i want to do about a larger solution

oh and on a side note my drive+play shipped!

xaznperswaesonx

haha if someone can intergrate the harmon controllers as the shift nob .. that'd be perfect!!!

stphy32

Did you order yours already? Since your were so about it!

Tsx536

Yep...I just got an email a couple of minutes ago. Mine just shipped from SHANGHAI, China!

Did yours ship yet Gibson?

Tsx536

Cool...that's good news too

Any idea where you're gonna put the interface knob?

GIBSON6594

No, but i'm on the Apple site every three fucking minutes checking. Apparently today is the day most of them are going out. I didn't order until last Thursday, so mine may not go out until tomorrow. But i'll keep checking

Congrats on yours shipping

vasu

i read from someone in new york that they got their ipod the day after it shipped from shanghai .. pretty speedy!

as far as where i'm going to mount the knob, i got two ideas.

1) either the front base of the armrest area (the area perpendicular to the cup holders, below the armrest lid). I'm going to have to play with the knob a bit there to see how i like it. THis would be the coolest looking area to put it, but it might bump into a drink in the cupholder, and bending my hand right at the front edge of the armrest might not be comfortable. Again, i'll need to put it there for a minute and play around to see how it is

2) There's a good ammount of border around the shifter gate .. i was thinking of putting it around there .. in other words, the area between the cup holders and the shift gate, probably to the left or right where there's more free space.

anyone have other suggestions?

-vasu

Tsx536

Thanks! I didn't order until about 3 pm Western time last Thursday, so I'm thinking you'll get your confirmation email soon. Good luck man!

Tsx536

Wow..the day after it shipped from Shanghai? Well I only got standard shipping, so I don't think mine will come that fast. I wonder what kind of shipping that person got.

Yeah the area by the base of the armrest sounds like a great spot. You're right about it potentially intefering with drinks you have there though. I don't really have any suggestions right now. I guess I would have to see how big the interface is first. What about the screen? Is that just going in the storage bin?

vasu

I'm going to put the display module in the storage bin (maybe with a sheet of abs plastic around it to give it a flush look), the main/central module is going to go in lower armrest compartment. The knob has a mounting diameter of 1.81" so it's not that big and doesn't take up too much space. The knob itself connects to a swivel mount, which then connects to a mounting plate. From what I can tell from the manual, the swivel mount can be omitted, so it probably wouldn't be more than an inch thick, if even.

From what I can picture, it would be possible to have the knob sit flush so the base of the armrest, maybe protruding out half an inch .. and it'd glow blue of course

-vasu

Tsx536

Wow...if you can install it without the mount, that would look great! Sounds like a very good plan you have there. Can't wait to see pics!

choop

Any pics of this yet??

My dad is giving me his '05 TSX and I want to get this for my ipod. I'd love to hear more of your experience with it. Do you still like it?? I'd love to see what it looks like in the TSX!!

Thanks for any help you can give me.

-- Chris

EuroAccord2.4AT

nice dad ... what did I do wrong in my youth???

vasu

here's a thread i had made about my drive+play install, the linked pictures in that thread are broken, but I'll post another url for it:

Writeup/discussion: https://acurazine.com/forums/audio-video-electronics-navigation-22/%5Btsx%5D-project-drive-play-322341/#post4517850
Pictures: http://flickr.com/photos/vasu/sets/1180726/

I talk about this a bit in the posted thread, but here's a recap of my thoughts on the drive and play:

It sounds great as long as your power input is clean (if you just plug it into a cig lighter socket, you'll get a ton of noise). After having it for 5 months or so, I'd also recommend getting a line driver for it since the level output isn't all that high, so you'll have to really turn the volume up. I usually listen to CDs around 20-25 and the drive+play at 35-40.

It works great with everything as you'd expect, but I really dislike the menu operation. Lets say you're listening to a song from the latest Beck album, "Guero" .. when you turn the car off and back on, the drive and play will resume playing that song from where you left off, but if you hit the menu button, it takes you to the MAIN menu. on an ipod, if you hit menu when playing a song, it takes you up a level to the song listing for that album, hit menu again and it takes you to the album listing, then artist listing, etc. This is only a bug that occurs when you turn the car off and back on, the drive and play completely forgets where you are.

This is really annoying when you get back in a car, becuase if you want to go back to the song listing of the album you're currently listening to (from the now playing screen), you need to hit menu to go to the main menu, then scroll to artists, scroll to the artist name, scroll to the album name, and scroll to the song name and click. On an iPod, you just hit menu, scroll to the song you want and click. When you have 10500 songs in the car (as I do) over nearly a thousand albums, this becomes a huge annoyance.

The other little bug (which I thought iPod update 1.1 for my iPod with video would fix) is if the drive and play can't get the track name from the ipod fast enough, it kinda freaks out. Often times, you you scroll too quick and click a song name before the drive+play "catches up", it'll list the artist and song title as the same. So you'll get Beck/Beck instead of Beck/Hell Yes, for example.

these are minor annoyances though for anotherwise fantastic product.

-vasu

sauceman

It's an old thread that really should have gone in A&V. Closed now.