Using my Fuze in the Car--How do I hook it up?

MP3 players Sansa Fuze
1

I just bought my first mp3–the Sansa Fuze.  I want to use it in my 2005 Hyundai Sonata.  I bought a Satechi FM Transmitter and Car Charger from Amazon.  The sound was terrible.  It sounded like AM radio.

What is the best way to play the Fuze in my car and get good cd-quality sound?

Thanks in advance for anyone who can help.

John

2

FM transmitter results are hit-or-miss. Some people have reported good luck with them, but many haven’t. A lot depends on how many stations are broadcasting in the area where you live and the closeness of the frequencies.

As far as playing your Fuze through the car’s sound system, that depends on what you’ve got to work with. Is there a USB port or AUX IN jack to plug the Fuze into? You would do this via the headphone jack on the player, not the 30-pin USB port on the bottom.

If you lack these options, and your car’s stereo system has a casstte player, there are adaptors that people say work pretty well. Better than the FM transmitters. Then there’s also FM modulators that are supposed to be better than the transmitters. More expensive and more involved, but if it works and works well, then they’re probably worth it.

3

@ozweepey wrote:

I just bought my first mp3–the Sansa Fuze.  I want to use it in my 2005 Hyundai Sonata.  I bought a Satechi FM Transmitter and Car Charger from Amazon.  The sound was terrible.  It sounded like AM radio.

 

What is the best way to play the Fuze in my car and get good cd-quality sound?

 

Thanks in advance for anyone who can help.

 

John

Well, you dont tell us anything about your car stereo.   If you are lucky enough to have a cassette player then BOOM Use this Sony Cassette Adapter for MP3, MiniDisc, and Discman Players.    It is flawless and sounds great.   You can plug it up to anything with a headphone jack.      If not, hopefully you have an ‘audio in’ Jack, it looks like a headphone jack, a lot of newer stereos are including them and if you do then BOOM you need this PCMICROSTORE Brand 31 Inch Retactable 3.5mm Male to 3.5mm Male Stereo Gold Connector Cable for Apple iPhone / iPod / Touch / MP3which also plugs into headphone jacks on your mp3 player of choice.  Failing those two options, you will want to burn CDs to play in the CD player.

4

FM transmitter results are hit-or-miss. Some people have reported good luck with them, but many haven’t. A lot depends on how many stations are broadcasting in the area where you live and the closeness of the frequencies.

As far as playing your Fuze through the car’s sound system, that depends on what you’ve got to work with. Is there a USB port or AUX IN jack to plug the Fuze into? You would do this via the headphone jack on the player, not the 30-pin USB port on the bottom.

If you lack these options, and your car’s stereo system has a casstte player, there are adaptors that people say work pretty well. Better than the FM transmitters. Then there’s also FM modulators that are supposed to be better than the transmitters. More expensive and more involved, but if it works and works well, then they’re probably worth it.

You have to realize these little guys don’t have much horsepower. Their amplifier is only designed to properly drive ear/headphones. We’re talking milli-watts here. It is not going to drive a multiple speaker set-up and sound worth a darn without the aid of another amplifier like from your stereo.

5

Thanks for the detailed advice.  I appreciate your time.

I have the factory installed cd player–which means I would have to burn discs to play.  However, I’ve just ripped hundreds of cd’s to my Fuze for I could play them in my car! 

Is there a way to hard-wire some time of adapter?  Can I have anything installed?

Do I have to buy a new cd-player with a line-in?

Thanks for your help.

John

6

Yeah burning CDs is truly a pain.   I suppose you could spend $$$ to have a custom job of wiring but its probably simpler and cheaper to get a new stereo.  

7

thanks for the advice. 

It seems nuts, but the cheapest way might be to have a new cd player with an MP3 input installed for $99.

I’ll look into the FM transmitter, but can you try those things before you buy them?  I already have to send the other device back.

Anyone else with a suggestion?

thanks

John

8

I assume you have a car sterio place near you (Even Best Buy does the trick) Go in and ask about an FM Modulator. Not a Transmitter. They should have something for under $100. It was suggested that I get this

http://www.amazon.com/Scosche-Audio-FM-Modulator-Universal/dp/B0007THIDQ

 I have not ordered it yet for myself However A friend of mine bought one and we did the install (He is an electronics engineer and I have the ability to hand him tools) which was not too hard. Check it out.

9

@ozweepey wrote:

thanks for the advice. 

 

It seems nuts, but the cheapest way might be to have a new cd player with an MP3 input installed for $99.

 

I’ll look into the FM transmitter, but can you try those things before you buy them?  I already have to send the other device back.

 

Anyone else with a suggestion?

 

thanks

John

This is the best sounding option I know of.    Line-in is available on most every car stereo made today, and the one installed this summer sounds better than other methods of connection I’ve tryed, plus the new deck has more features than the older factory stereo.

Cheers,

10

I used an FM modulator (as mentioned above) in my Jeep. Got it at Walmart for 20.00 or so dollars. Worked great. Only problem was that I had to turn of the vehicle to return it to regular radio. The switch would turn it on, but even turning it back off did not reset it to the radio. It was wierd, but it worked great. Plugged right into the antenna line between the antenna and the radio.

I now use the input jack from my headphone port. Works good, sounds good. Easy to use.

Message Edited by brackneyc on 01-30-2009 09:48 PM

11

@niko_sama wrote:

Line-in is available on most every car stereo made today, and the one installed this summer sounds better than other methods of connection I’ve tryed, plus the new deck has more features than the older factory stereo.

 

Cheers,

Line-in is a fine option, except that the only option for line-out on the Fuze is a big bulky dock. You can use the headphone jack, but the sound won’t be very clean. The best option sounding I know of is a stereo with USB input. You can either use the Fuze with some of them (if you use MSC mode, they should all work), or USB flash drives are very cheap these days. The downside is you have to use the car stereo for navigation.

12

@bdb wrote:

@niko_sama wrote:

Line-in is available on most every car stereo made today, and the one installed this summer sounds better than other methods of connection I’ve tryed, plus the new deck has more features than the older factory stereo.

 

Cheers,

Line-in is a fine option, except that the only option for line-out on the Fuze is a big bulky dock. You can use the headphone jack, but the sound won’t be very clean. The best option sounding I know of is a stereo with USB input. You can either use the Fuze with some of them (if you use MSC mode, they should all work), or USB flash drives are very cheap these days. The downside is you have to use the car stereo for navigation.

I’ve found the headphone out to sound quite good…asides from being quieter volume-wise than my CD player. But my particular home set-up may be more forgiving than someone else’s, plus I imagine in a car there could be other electronic interference in the mix.

13

@brackneyc wrote:

I used an FM modulator (as mentioned above) in my Jeep. Got it at Walmart for 20.00 or so dollars. Worked great. Only problem was that I had to turn of the vehicle to return it to regular radio. The switch would turn it on, but even turning it back off did not reset it to the radio. It was wierd, but it worked great. Plugged right into the antenna line between the antenna and the radio.

 

I now use the input jack from my headphone port. Works good, sounds good. Easy to use.

Message Edited by brackneyc on 01-30-2009 09:48 PM

Sounds great.  Except - I’d like to know if anybody else has had success with the FM modulator - without having to turn the car on and off to switch back to radio.  That would be a major PITA and I’d really like to know how to get a clean signal onto my car stereo. 

In Chicago suburbs ( USA ) I think all the rdio stations we have would be problematic

14

@fireball wrote:

@brackneyc wrote:

I used an FM modulator (as mentioned above) in my Jeep. Got it at Walmart for 20.00 or so dollars. Worked great. Only problem was that I had to turn of the vehicle to return it to regular radio. The switch would turn it on, but even turning it back off did not reset it to the radio. It was wierd, but it worked great. Plugged right into the antenna line between the antenna and the radio.

 

I now use the input jack from my headphone port. Works good, sounds good. Easy to use.

Message Edited by brackneyc on 01-30-2009 09:48 PM

Sounds great.  Except - I’d like to know if anybody else has had success with the FM modulator - without having to turn the car on and off to switch back to radio.  That would be a major PITA and I’d really like to know how to get a clean signal onto my car stereo. 

 

In Chicago suburbs ( USA ) I think all the rdio stations we have would be problematic

Thats probably why a transmitter wont work. I have not tested the modulator in my own car. My friend installed a switch that turns it on and off with out having to turn the car off. I do not know how its wired. But It works really well for him.

15

@bdb wrote:

Line-in is a fine option, except that the only option for line-out on the Fuze is a big bulky dock. You can use the headphone jack, but the sound won’t be very clean. The best option sounding I know of is a stereo with USB input. You can either use the Fuze with some of them (if you use MSC mode, they should all work), or USB flash drives are very cheap these days. The downside is you have to use the car stereo for navigation.

 

Has anybody tried these. 

 

 

 

Crutchfield offers a model that you ( I"m guessing use an adapter to turn your headphone jack to RCA ) connect RCA cables direct to your car’s CD controller jack.  When you want to listen to your player - just click on CD function and you are good to go. I’ve ordered a few car stereo’s from them in the past 0 with install kits - and their kits are plug and play - with good instructions and support to get things apart and put back together again.

 

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_469HO98AUX/Precision-Interface-Electronics-HON98-AUX.html?tp=422

 

 

Message Edited by fireball on 01-31-2009 06:49 PM

16

FM transmitters, if I can use a technical term here, ■■■■.

Just about any other solution is going to require some kind of rewiring, which involves labor costs. 

You can get a new car stereo that has a line-in jack on the front for $100-$150, and if you look at local ads for Best Buy or places like that, you can probably get it with free installation sooner or later.  I play my Fuze through mine (JVC).  You have to turn up the Fuze and turn up the volume on the stereo–don’t forget to turn it down if you switch to radio–but it works fine.