aharper

I got a couple audio things sorted out in my car.

First, I was having some trouble with the bass in the car. I had cut my ski pass out and then used black trunk carpet to cover the pass so that it gave me a factory look (contoured to the plastic piece that is back there) with nothing in the way to stop the sound. I then simply turned my sub to fire downward instead of toward the inside of my car? made all the difference in the world. Seriously, super simple solution to something that was driving me nuts.

I listen to an iPhone for music in my car so that I can use my Droid as a normal phone, nav, etc. The iPhone isn?t hooked up to service so I just play what I own there, if I want to listen to the Amazon cloud or Pandora I have to use my Droid. I wanted the iPhone to dock somewhere and started looking through this forum for ideas. I found that spec.dock deal which was sweet and a couple others here who have built something similar. I called a fab shop up and they wanted $250+ for fabricating me a dock in my ashtray? no thanks. I pulled the ashtray apart last night and made some cuts to accommodate wiring, the depth of my dock, etc. I then taped the top of the ashtray shut (with the dock inside), taped my connectors and used that spray in foam to fill all of the gaps under my dock. Once it all dried I removed the tape, cut away the excess foam and had a solid, flat surface for the top of my dock and the wires went out the back. I have a shiny black automotive decal over the top right now for asthetics but ordered a flat black decal that I can cut up so that it better matches the trim for the cig lighter and such. Wiring is straight forward? power to cig lighter and audio to the aux port. I can pull the iPhone out and shut the ashtray. What I?m looking for now is a couple things (cuz I?m not an iPhone guy)? what can I use that will allow me to track fwd/back from the lock screen? Also, what app will allow me to have the screen on at all times while charging? Lastly, what app will allow me to dim the display so that I have full brightness during the day but only 40% or something between, say, 8:00p and 7:00a?? I need to buy an e-grip type deal for the top back of my iPhone to prevent any sliding on the wood behind it. Total cost for this was around $4 and approx. 1.5 hours of time (this is without a couple additional hours away from the car allowing the foam to dry) to cut the ashtray, take the console apart, etc. I already had the dock and just had to buy the foam.

Lastly, I still want to play my Droid on the car but don?t like the idea of wires. So I spit the input into my aux connector so that one side of my Y heads to the iPhone dock and the other side into a bluetooth gateway that is hiding under the passenger?s seat. I simply pair to that gateway and wala, Bluetooth audio in the car. I?m using the Motorola DC800 for Bluetooth. I had the BT gateway already so no cost for this.

Anyway, figured I?d share in case anyone was looking for a similar solution. The only pic I have is the link below (linking b/c it?s large).

http://i687.photobucket.com/albums/v...0/IMAG0004.jpg

rctmthouse

Was thinking of doing this w my iPod before but then I realized some kids will try to break in and steal it, worst th can break in but damage the lock so I just leave it in the glove compartment. Still need to figure out how to charge the damn thing while in use though.