Switching to auxiliary input?

[lucasloredo]

Hey everyone,I just bought a used 2006 Vibe. There's an auxiliary cord coming out from under the steering column. I tried plugging it into my iPod, but I can't get the sound to come out of my speakers.I tried pressing the CD/AUX buttons and the BAND button, but to no avail.Anyone know what I'm missing?Thanks,Lucas

[blindman10]

Maybe it isn't actually attached to your radio? That's my preliminary guess. I'd remove your radio bezel and pull the radio out and investigate your wire situation and see where that aux wire goes.

[lucasloredo]

I figured it out... kind of.I took out the stereo and looked in the back. This is the set-up the car came with:There is an auxiliary cord that plugs into a red-and-yellow cord right under the steering wheel. That red-and-yellow cord goes up behind the radio and plugs into a device that said Microvision MTV-FMKR. That device then sends a cable that plugs into the back of the radio (there's a label that says C30 next to the plug).On the device itself there are four switches that can be in the either up or down position. The different combinations correspond to a frequency on the radio. The position of the switches when I found the device indicated 88.3 fm, so I plugged my ipod in, switched the radio to 88.3 and, lo and behold, it worked!I have a question though. The sound quality was great—when it wasn't cutting in and out. The auxiliary cable is extremely sensitive—if I jiggle it, the sound cuts away. Now I noticed the sound cuts out when I jiggle the auxiliary cable, but NOT when I jiggle the second cable—the red-and-yellow cord that goes to the Microvision box. Could it be that the auxiliary cable is just poor quality?Alternatively, there must be a way to plug an ipod directly into an auxiliary jack without having to go through the radio frequencies, right?Thank you all for reading this very long post, I appreciate the help!Best,Lucas

[SwissMoose]

What you have is an FM modulator. It's creating a low power FM transmission that goes 10-15 feet. So it isn't a direct wire auxillary into the factory head unit. This post does a good job of showing the options you have to get a clean input. http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=21818 I'm in the same boat with a 2006 Monsoon 6-disc and trying to decide on what adapter will work the best. New head unit that I want would be at least $220 and the highly rated PIE adapter is ~$65 and money is a little tight. Think if I put in the new HU I would go nuts and be out another $400 on amps/speakers.