Suggestions on CD player

bjg · rice boy Joined: 31 May 2003 Posts: 12

G'Day

I just bought a stock TF Gemini and i need to buy a CD player for it cause all it has is a shit AM radio.

If i bought a CD player, will it still work with the current speakers? Cause i don't have enough cash at the moment for speakers.

And..

Anyone know of some good sites for car audio? I know shit all about cars pretty much. At the moment i've nearly finished building a small computer that i'm gonna hook up to my car, so need to find out info on car audio and wiring it up etc. I still want the CD player though.

Like i said i don't know much about cars, like really.. so any good sites or any good ways of learning you can recommend?

Cheers.

BOB the chicken · tinkerer Joined: 09 Apr 2003 Posts: 287

your better off just waiting until you can buy a descent set of front speakers and a cd player...you wont regret it either

ONLYA4 · petrol head Joined: 12 May 2003 Posts: 1114

Hang on....

"At the moment i've nearly finished building a small computer that i'm gonna hook up to my car"

haha, you know nothing bout cars but you built a computer?

Can i ask what the computer does and what you mean by you built it, im intrigued.

peanut buttered · tinkerer Joined: 11 May 2003 Posts: 74

The front standard speakers should work with a cd player. Try and get to the speakers and see what colours the positive and negative wires are. As each speaker has 2 wires going to it, a positive and a negative. Try and follow them back underneath the dash and they should go into the back of the old AM radio. Now you need to find the power wire, ground and ignition wire so another 3 wires. Power is normally red but I'm not sure of the normal colours of the other 2 wires. There also will be an antenna lead with a round plug end which will plug into the back of the cd player. Once you get the CD player all you need to do is read the manual to see which wire is which and connect it up with the original wiring you have located in your car. I could be wrong but I'm just running through how I did my cd player.

If you decide to get new speakers, seeing the stocks ones can't really handle the highs and lows of the CD player, get speakers with a minium of 2-way. 3-way are better than 2-way and 4-way are better than 3-way and so on. Stay away from dual cone speakers as they are not designed for CD players.

To have a look at some speakers and price ranges
http://www.strathfield.com/

From information about car audio systems
http://www.car-audio-info.com/

hope it helps peanut man

bjg · rice boy Joined: 31 May 2003 Posts: 12

I didn't build it from scratch if that's what you find amusing.. i just bought the parts as you do and built a computer. I'm gonna put an 80gb HDD in it with around 20,000 mp3s on it. I'll probably convert em to ogg vorbis to save space so i can fit more on.. but yeah it'll just be an mp3/ogg/etc player, but hold shitloads more than any you can buy, and at about $200 all up not inc. the HDD.

bjg · rice boy Joined: 31 May 2003 Posts: 12

No point in waiting.. i might aswell get the one i can afford now, which is the CD player. I can always upgrade the speakers later on.

bjg · rice boy Joined: 31 May 2003 Posts: 12

OK cool, ta. Now how's about i get under the dash? Just look for screws to unbolt? haha, i have no idea. I know all about the electrical side of things etc.. but when it comes to handy-man stuff i'm rooted. I'll just figure it out i suppose.

bjg · rice boy Joined: 31 May 2003 Posts: 12

Also, i reckon i'll run it from the cigarette lighter. Now that i've quit i've got no use for it. I just need to buy an AC - DC power converter and hook it up, or i could make one myself, but will be messy.. But i'm concerned at how much battery usage it'll take up. I don't wanna get flat battery every friggen month to power the computer - have to look into that. And i'll probably hook up an LCD monitor aswell or something and use a 9 digit numeric keypad and attach it to the handbrake to control the music. I can do all the programming stuff myself.

I hope that answers your question.

FLYINLoW · backyard mechanic Joined: 08 Oct 2001 Posts: 924

hahahah maybe u should go play with rockets at nasa or something

bjg · rice boy Joined: 31 May 2003 Posts: 12

Do i have to do anything special? I think the old AM radio is molded in. Does that mean i have to get it cut out?

BOB the chicken · tinkerer Joined: 09 Apr 2003 Posts: 287

http://www.hotgemini.com/cgi-bin/workshop2.cgi?action=rt&tip_id=88

go to the workshop and they should have something about wiring and shit...also check some other workshop things if you want to do something in particular

bjg · rice boy Joined: 31 May 2003 Posts: 12

Thanks mate.

YellaTE · tinkerer Joined: 26 Feb 2003 Posts: 81

Why don't u get a CD player that will play MP3's off a CD? At 700Mb per CD you'll fit shitloads onto one, plus you dont have to drive around with a PC in yr car! They aren't that dear to buy.

YellaTE · tinkerer Joined: 26 Feb 2003 Posts: 81

YOu should be able to get the AM out by pulling on the large knobs off and undoing the nuts underneath them. The rest should pull out. Also, read my other reply to this thread regarding MP3 head decks.

bjg · rice boy Joined: 31 May 2003 Posts: 12

But that's not much fun. This PC is only small - shoebox size.. and didn't cost much to build. I'm putting in a mobile HDD rack so i can leave the PC in the car and just take the HDD out of my main computer and into the PC - the one with all the songs.