What CC knows about stock Jeep radios

[NickyV]

I will be paying attention!

[ghetdjc320]

Just ordered up an RX-173 that seemed to be in good shape from eBay. will be tearing that one apart as well. There is one glaringly obvious solution that occurred to me for the am/fm radio bleed through when adding an aux input, a switched 3.5mm socket. It's a super simple device that passes through signal on normally closed contacts when there is no plug inserted in the jack and automatically switches inputs when plugging in a jack. Instead of using those two pin connection on the pre-amp board, why not just intercept the am-fm radio signal to the board? 

 

I do like bluetooth options as well but unfortunately apple still does not support any real HD bluetooth options such as Aptx HD. Therefore the best solutions tends to be a USB C DAC. Installing the DAC close to the head unit 3.5mm port would shorten the signal path. The connection would be USB to the DAC then switch to analog and go to the RX series radio pre-amp board where the am/fm radio would normally plug in. It's just a 3 pin JST connection for the stereo signal. If done properly with quality components, that would be the best audio signal one could get to the stock RX series internals. The DAC analog output may have to be attenuated down to the appropriate line level voltage to match the am/fm radio levels when switching.

 

On the output side, a nice DSP would work great to not just make up for the stock amplifier limitations, but also to tune the cab acoustics. I'll post up how this works out. I think the current RX-172 I have I'll just gut entirely for a future raspberry pi setup with an OLED screen but the RX-173 I'll use to optimize a factory component system. 

[fiatslug87]

That sounds like the Scosche IPFMRDS I have in my three MJs. Made for iPods but a lightning adapter lets me use my iPhone.

 

 

[ghetdjc320]

5 minutes ago, fiatslug87 said:

That sounds like the Scosche IPFMRDS I have in my three MJs. Made for iPods but a lightning adapter lets me use my iPhone.

 

 

Ive used those in the past. But those still use the FM radio tuner to carry the signal. I'm wanting to run the DAC signal direct to the pre-amp board and disconnect the tuner output altogether.