I'm looking to add MP3 playback capability and possibly Satellite Radio as well to my crossfire SRT-6 Roadster. Here are the options I am looking at: I'd love to get some feedback as to what option is best or feedback from anyone who has done one of the options to their crossfire!

1.) Buy a JVC (or other brand) Receiver that has a front USB port. The new JVC (don't know model) will play MP3s right from a jump drive! so you don't have to hook up an I-pod. This is great because Jump (or thumb) drives are cheap, hold up to 2 gig and don't need formatting. However.. I think the JVC will only read up to a 128MB drive (which sucks). The other beauty of a USB port is you can hook other computer peripherals up to it like Laptops, I-pods, etc.. plus the JVC unit is Sat-ready so you can add a Sirius or XM Adaptor and control the sat radio through the head unit.

2.) Buy a Sony (or other brand) receiver that has a front Aux input and is Sat-ready. This gives you the ability to hook up your Dell player or other brand stuff or your laptop if you run Winamp or Windows Media Player or some GPS program like Delorme (which I use). However, you are stuck with having to bring your I-pod everywhere, mount it, have a charger, etc...

3.) Buy a third party Adaptor to connect to an I-pod which controls your I-pod with the radio controls and charges it for you. This is great because you can keep the stock head unit and only add the $100 adaptor. The bad part is that I don't think most of them work with any brand but the Apple I-pod line... meaning I'll have to buy an apple and carry it with me.

I also was told by Crutchfield that the speakers needed to be rewired when swapping out head units. Anyone know what this is about?

 

option 1 sounds like it has potential, but not if they're limited to 128MB... why not just get an MP3 CD player (which can hold 700MB per disc). you can even get a matching CD changer that is MP3 compatible -- 6 or 12 discs with 700MB each.

options 2 also has potential, as long as you don't mind holding your ipod while driving and navigating through it to find songs, etc.

i like option 3, but as you said you need an IPOD (no dell dj or whatever you have)... but it is the most complete option (control it through the deck, direct audio connection, charges it while you play, etc.).

the speakers are driven by an external amplifier so you should probably use the PRE-OUTS when you hook up your deck, not the speaker level outputs.

 

I like Option #1... didn't realize that USB ports are available on head units.

JVC's web site state that their "Arsenal" units have "USB Memory Slot for Music File Playback (MP3/WMA) Up to 1GB", which is about 250 files and more than a CD would hold.

 

After doing some more investigating, it looks like a 4th option is possible. There is a unit made by JVC that plays DVDs with MP3s on them. This would give you 2.2GB of music per disc. This unit also seems to have an Aux out (Headphone jack for IPOD) and a Video out so you can hook up an Auxiliary Screen to watch movies! I'm starting to lean this way due to the expandability to Video. Anyone have or seen one of these units?

 

yup, JVC calls it "giga MP3"; it should give you ~4.7 GB of mp3s on a single disc; and do you mean an aux IN or an aux OUT?

here you go:

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-YyIUvJT...ga&i=257KDAVX1
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-YyIUvJT...x2&i=257KDAVX2

if the illumination wasn't blue i would probably have one already --

 

Actually I was talking about this model... which is half the price.

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-97nWgkC...0&I=257KDDV420

Or one model up that has a USB port like the other one I saw.

http://mobile.jvc.com/product.jsp?pr...002&pathId=128

Best Buy had a DV5100 which I think was last year's model which has an Aux input on the front plate. They were selling the floor model for $160! but it was f'ed up.

 

If you don't use or need an ipod, just get a head unit that will play mp3 discs and is sat. ready.
I have one for sale still.


https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...ad.php?t=10258

make offer.

 

IMHO an CD-R doesn't hold enough content. The minimum I'd go for would be a DVD-R. The beauty of these DVD systems is that they are expandable and a video screen can be added so you can watch DVDs.

 

Blue illumination isn't a problem for me, it's the black faceplate. Otherwise it would be a winner.