Getting the Radio working

[Guest]

Thought I'd write up something about Japanese radio for those that don't know. In Japan the FM signal only goes up to about 90, whereas in Australia we go to 100 (approx). So this means that the FM on the radios in Japanese cars wont work in Australia. However there is a product called an FM expander which actually subtracts MHz from the Australian signal so it will work. It is common to subtract 20 from the signal so that 93.7FM will now be 73.7FM on your dial.
Now when buying the FM expander u can ring ur local car radio dealer and ask if they have any spare ones from people swapping out decks from Jap imported cars. (But be aware I have found that they charge u $50 over here in WA) which is a scam because they don't pay for them. Plus they dont give u a box and install instructions (which u don't need anyway).
If u find a nice stereo place and can get them for about $15-$20 do it. Or if u have a JayCar shop near u they r only $24-$25 brand new. Makes the $50 look a bigger scam.
I'll post up pics of my install when I do it this weekend. Its very simple.

 

[hawks]

What about CD players, will Australian CD's work in them ?

 

[bradc]

hawks - yeah cd's and stuff will be fine, but you will need a band expander if you want the jap radio working correctly.

 

[Sydo]

Interesting.
And there is no antenna?

 

[Peter_D]

Jap Radios

Imagine my surprise when I turned the radio on and all I heard were the same old Australian accents. I was so much looking forward to listening to Japanese commentary on my Japanese radio in down town Brisvegas.

 

[Guest]

Interesting.
And there is no antenna?

Antenna is in the passenger window I beleive ... Bradley C ...

 

[bradc]

yeah passengers side boot window

 

[Guest]

Correction on the first post, Jaycar was about $44 and SuperCheap Autos was $24 ... I have been to to many places sorting out little things for my car lately ...

 

[SiliconAngel]

Surely you'd just replace the head unit??

 

[Guest]

Not when u have a touch screen MMCS ...
Also depends how keen u r on spending money on audio gear. Not to mention that if it already has a Japanese replaced head unit ...

 

[snickells]

I've already bought a replacement stereo for when I get my leggie as I really wanted an I-Pod with all my music on it sitting in the glove box so I don't have to lug CD's around in the car any more. Even though the one thats in there looks funky as hell

 

[Guest]

This is wat I'm doing ...

 

[SiliconAngel]

Steve most half-decent stereo's have rear auxilary inputs - while few of them are RCA (don't want to make it TOO easy for us!) most have jacks for stacker connection. If you can find the pinout for your particular head unit you can just plug some wires in and install a 3.5mm jack so you can plug your iPod, Discman or whateverthehellyoulike into it That's what I've done with my Pioneer head unit and it works great!

A VERY useful piece of kit for portable audio to external (non-headphone) speakers is a headphone amp. Helps by increasing the signal level of your line input, so you don't have to go to max volume and push up the gain on your speaker amp just to get decent sound levels... and end up with nasty noisey sound as a result! >.<

Paul that's awesome... Just make sure to upgrade the tape deck, ok??

 

[snickells]

Trevor, I really wanted the head unit to actually control the i-pod, so I bought this little beauty. It powers the i-pod too so you can jam it full of music and then leave it hidden some where out of the way.

 

[SiliconAngel]

Ah ok, pretty cool

You know what I still fail to understand, though? Why car head units are still mostly CD only... I mean, it costs almost EXACTLY THE SAME money to make a DVD head unit as it does a CD head unit - the actual parts that go into them are worth less than $5 FFS! Sorry, it just really bugs me when I walk into a car stero place and they have fifty CD head units and three DVD ones and there's utterly NO GOOD REASON for it...

On the subject of audio, I got an email today from a sound engineer friend of mine who's buying some MTX Audio speakers and amps from the states for less than half what they cost over here, so looking at buying some insane hearing damage

 

[trounced]

when we got our delica there was no point in replacing the head unit as the tape deck also had a 6 stacker cd under passenger seat, installed the fm expander and she works really well, it is actually kenwood gear that was installed at the factory. so not all head units are useless.

 

[BuzzPuppy]

Soooo where's this FM expander mod-log?

I'm a bit stuck with the Pioneer Carrozzeria unit. Any help (and yes, I've been searching) would be appreciated

 

[mallen]

This is wat I'm doing ...

LOL @ Simply Red, that's some hard car driving music takumi

 

[SiliconAngel]

LOL do YOU have iPod attached MMCS, Matt? That's what I thought...

But you're right, Paul could have chosen something a little less... gay for the photo

 

[mallen]

LOL do YOU have iPod attached MMCS, Matt? That's what I thought...

But you're right, Paul could have chosen something a little less... gay for the photo

ROFL!!! Errr I don't even have a iPod :redface:

No MMCS but it looks like there is an aftermarket TV screen and all that so I'll let you know when I get the car. It's due in a few days, not sure if they deliver over the weekend though...