Stereo/DVD: SC-xxx AUX INPUT HACK

[bobbych]

once done, tape them all up so you now have 3 wires coming out the end, 1 earth, and 1 each l+R

[bobbych]

next you need to feed the cables through the rear of the stereo.

Now look at your tape deck circuit board on the right. At the front right is a RIBBON cable which comes from the TAPE HEAD

You will see 5 solderd connections to the board, we are interested in the most forward one

[bobbych]

if you follow the point around the board you see it splits into 3 legs

[bobbych]

what I did was TAP into these two points with my L+R cables.
Now this is where I am not sure if this is correct, but having prodded the bare cable onto EVERY point on that board, that track is the ONLY one that gives good sound.

But, by connecting only 1 cable, you still get sound from BOTH SPEAKERS.

if you connect BOTH, you get BOTH speakers still but better sound

So, I am NOT sure at this point if we are now in MONO sound, but when i tested it, it sounded pretty good, so i left it.

So i need someone with knowledge of how tape decks work to tell me if this is correct?

but for now i have it like that and the sound is great, but could be MONO

[bobbych]

now with it like this, I then looked for a good earth. There were a few on the board, but any i tried left a loud HUMM inbetween tracks.

But i did find, by placing your Earth on the CHASSIS, it goes away, no HUMM at all

So i basically connected my earth to this screw on the case and now, my AUX is working great, with no HUMM, but it could be in MONO, altough i have to say, it does not sound MONO

[bobbych]

so if anyone else wants to try this, let me know what you think of the sounds

[BillB]

Hi, glad to hear you've got undistorted sound at last! As the PCB doesn't seem to be marked with L and R it's hard to determine whether you're getting true left and right although if you know a particular song where there's significant left only or right only content then you'd be sure - some of the Beatles stuff springs to mind but I'd have to listen to suggest a good example. Anyway, well done, glad you got there in the end. What do you use for a dummy tape BTW - I ask as I've found that one with just the tape removed keeps auto-ejecting so I have to use a "proper" tape adaptor which I already have? Regards.

[bobbych]

Bill

i did try and search my ipod for specific songs to test but could not find any, so will have to have a think. I am sure it will be MONO tho, and would like to try and get to the bottom of it

as for the tape, i dont use one. I simply connected the deck to the car with the lid off, and hand operated the cassette drawer in, so it thinks it has a tape, but does not. it works great, as long as you do not eject it, which i will not

failing this, i do have a normal cassette adapter arriving tomorrow, which i could use instead, and remove my soldered wires, if it proves i cannot get true stereo

If anyone knows a good TEST song with specific L+R differences, let me know, so I can test it

[bobbych]

Originally Posted by BillB

Hi, glad to hear you've got undistorted sound at last! As the PCB doesn't seem to be marked with L and R it's hard to determine whether you're getting true left and right although if you know a particular song where there's significant left only or right only content then you'd be sure - some of the Beatles stuff springs to mind but I'd have to listen to suggest a good example. Anyway, well done, glad you got there in the end. What do you use for a dummy tape BTW - I ask as I've found that one with just the tape removed keeps auto-ejecting so I have to use a "proper" tape adaptor which I already have? Regards.

the PCB does have 2 areas marked L+R as i showed you a few days ago, but those areas are at the rear of the PCB were it meets the Riser

I did solder to those first, but the sound was again, distorted. so i had to move them, and those points are the only places i could get clear sound. But it seems odd, that only 1 connection from the tape head, had such an output, and not 2 , for L+R

[bobbych]

ok, i found a song, the Carpenters, close to you, dont ask! but it does have deffo split channels at the start, but in the car, they sound merged, so it seems i have a mono output. Looks Like plan B now, the cassette adapter is going in tomorrow. After that plan C, a new head unit with dedicated AUX