Previous Experience - Jeep and Crossfire
When I
purchased my Crossfire, the quest for auxiliary audio input
options turned me into a
crazed audiophile. Along the
road to finding a way to install another music source, I
discovered the wonderful (and recently, quite affordable)
harman/kardon drive + play, a nasty thing
called FM modulation (wireless and wired), and soon became
disheartened. But the flaw was not with the
harman/kardon drive + play. That unit worked
brilliantly and was very satisfactory when wired directly to
the head unit. The problem was the factory Crossfire head unit
had no provision for an auxiliary audio input. With
the Crossfire, the
only way "in" was through FM Modulation. And FM
modulation was the culprit. It's a last-ditch option
to get music to play from the factory head unit and speakers
when there is absolutely no other way to do it. It's a
"better than nothing" solution in my opinion. It
lasted 10 minutes in my car, to give you an idea how
unsatisfactory I found it to be. It was not better
than nothing.
So for the Crossfire (and for that matter, the Jeep), I purchased a
replacement head unit and
numerous music sources. In a sense
it grew out of
all proportion to my original intention, though I am very
happy with the result. I shopped aggressively and
managed to get most items for significant discounts from
retail. Still, my original motive was to simply "plug
in" my iPod and call it good... I did achieve that
goal, but also quite a bit more that was overkill for Maria
and the MINI Cooper.
MINI Cooper
The good news
for MINI owners is that since the MINI
Cooper has a nice little socket on the back for the purpose
of adding an auxiliary audio input, auxiliary inputs are
well within reach of the do-it-yourselfer with about $40!
I did not have to go
down the crazy hi-fi road for Maria. I was able to
purchase a simple plug-in lead and provide a simple 3.5 mm
plug to use for playing the XM radio and iPod. It took
barely 1/2 hour to add the input to the car! I do like
the drive + play so will install that to give iPod control
and one-stop switching to the
XM radio that I have left over
from the last car. That involves just plugging in the
drive + play via the 3.5mm plug, the XM radio into the drive
+ play, and wiring of the drive + play and XM into the car
(power and antenna).
