Hey I want to make my unit portable instead of sticking it in a car.

I was wondering if anyone has seen high quality FM modulators that do not require you to plug into the stereo antenna.

I saw one a while back but can't seeem to find it again.

Thanks

Keith Kemp

I don't know that I would put the words "high quality" and FM modulator in the same line of text. No such thing. If you want portable there are cheaper units that are HDD based and are "portable" One sells for $300 not inc hdd. Check www.mp3.com for more info.

Nah empeg is for me, I'm number 75, so I should get it soon.

Have you seen any devices like that, not one from RS that is 1.99.

Even if I did get a different I'm still stuck with the same problem....


Keith Kemp

See, the problem is that any FM unit you get is only going to broadcast at limited power (relying on your amp or existing head unit to boost the signal cleanly), *AND* it's only broadcasting, no matter *how* much you pay for it, at a maximum of 22.05 kHz. That's the absolute best that FM can do, period. CD-audio is 44.1 kHz, and the quality is *very* noticable. This isn't a problem if you encode all of your mp3's at 22.05, but if you're encoding at "CD-quality" and then broadcasting via a "CD-it" or similar portable FM transmitter, you're quality is getting axed. You can still have stereo, but nothing like the clarity and cleanliness that I think you want. Plus, a head unit reciving on an FM band is getting a (relatively) dirty signal, with half the information of the signal from a CD...when it boosts that signal, you just get a *loud* dirty signal, see the problem? I know it's a whole lot easier to plug the empeg into a transmitter, but, if you're paying over a grand for the thing, I think it's *definitely* worth it to get a nice install. In terms of the portablity, are you really going to want to carry around a 5 pound box on a little handle with headphones?? For comparison, Sony's *big* car discman, the D-M805, weighs 8.75 oz (about half a pound, or just about 1/4 kg I think), without batteries, which is what you're going to have to do with the empeg. Just get a Rio! Maybe I completely misunderstood your definition of portable, but, umm, this beast was meant to be mounted in a car, and fed by a car, not carried around like a discman.

Umm, I'm reading your post again, and it seems as though you're asking for an antenna, not a transmitter. I thought you wanted to broadcast sound to your car stereo, not pick up FM broadcasts to the empeg. I'm not really going to touch that one...this component ain't a discman, and it is the biggest big daddy to the Rio that I've ever seen. Just think about the case you'd have to deal with, etc, etc, etc. Using it as part of your home stereo is one thing, but lugging this around??

Festus

signal, see the problem? I know it's a whole lot easier to plug the empeg into a transmitter, but, if you're paying over a grand for the thing, I think it's *definitely* worth it to get a nice install. In terms of the portablity, are

When you want to use it in vehicles that aren't yours its *definitely* not worth it


you really going to want to carry around a 5 pound box on a little handle with headphones?? For comparison, Sony's *big* car discman, the D-M805, weighs 8.75 oz (about half a pound, or just about 1/4 kg I think), without batteries, which is what you're going to have to do with the empeg. Just get a Rio! Maybe I completely misunderstood your definition of portable, but, umm, this beast was meant to be mounted in a car, and fed by a car, not carried around like a discman.

No one said anything about putting head phones on it and using it like a disc man. No reason why this $1k+ computer shouldn't be used in every car you drive even if you can't modify the steree.


Umm, I'm reading your post again, and it seems as though you're asking for an antenna, not a transmitter. I thought you wanted to broadcast sound to your car stereo, not pick up FM broadcasts to the empeg. I'm not really going to touch that one...this component ain't a discman, and it is the biggest big daddy to the Rio that I've ever seen. Just think about the case you'd have to deal with, etc, etc, etc. Using it as part of your home stereo is one thing, but lugging this around??


No... You were right the first time I do want to to broadcast sound to mycar stereo.

So since you think use a FM modulator is a bad idea what solution can you provide that involves a tempory hookup and does not require any modifications to the current stereo??

Keith Kemp

In fact, the bandwidth of FM is 19kHz: you have L+R between 0-19kHz and L-R between 19 and 38kHz, with a 19kHz pilot tone to tell the tuner that it's getting stereo. This is a BANDWIDTH of 19kHz though, which equates to a 38kHz sample rate - much higher than a 22k sampled MP3, which is 11kHz *bandwidth* (look up Nyquist for this sort of stuff :) ).

Hugo

altman: Well after all that technical stuff do you have any suggestions on where to find a high quality FM modulator?

A few years back a friend had one of this for his CD Walkman and as I remember it, it was a while ago, it didn't sound all that bad and I'm sure he just had some Radio Shack style one.

I don't expect higher quality than the current FM recieving, which isn't all that good becuase I live in a very hilly area and reception is very poor.

Keith

Keith Kemp

Have you considered a tape adapder?
I'm not sure if it would provide better sound quality, or if you would be keeping it in the trunk and don't want to run the wires.

_~= Dearing =~_
"WAY too happy about being #1225."

nwcr,

I apologize for the erroneous information I gave to you the first time, and I didn't realize that you would be using it in a car that wasn't yours. I myself have an FM modulator that I purchased from Tiger Software (here in the US) for approx. $40. I know it wasn't cheap, and to tell you the truth, the sound isn't that good. It's basically a little black twinkie that is powered by 2 AA batteries, tunes from 88.9 to 91.1, and can broadcast stereo or mono. Tuning it can be a royal pain, but once that's done, it works fairly well. The sound (in stereo mode) is nowhere near the quality of a CD player (in my opinion), but even has to be used in mono mode most of the time because there is much more background static with the stereo mode selected. This little thing is called a "CD-FM," but I don't really think it's worth the money at all. If you can swing it, I would definitely say get a tape adapter, they seem to sound better, are *much* less finicky (although some newer cars with auto-reverse decks, esp. JBL's seem to keep flipping the tape and not grabbing the signal). I got one at RadShack for $5-10, and use that all the time rather than the CD-FM. If you are planning on using this in a car without a tape deck...hmm, not sure about that...an FM transmitter might be your only solution. Try asking Dominic from Cambridge Car Audio, he might have an idea, and he's certainly got more experience with this than me.

Festus

I can't ever recall having seen a wireless FM modulator, but personally, I'd tend to steer clear of them either way.

Some head units we see over here have either a CD changer input on phonos, that you could switch using a relay as I've mentioned before now (Sony also make a ready built unit designed for this sort of thing), those that don't, you can usually buy auxilliary input adaptors for. Offhand, I know Alpine, Sony (XA-107) and Pioneer (CD-RB20) do them, so I'd imagine the same applies in the US and most other parts of the world.

In most cases though, the Empeg's probably going to end up being used as the primary source - that being the case, probably the best bet would be to buy a small, decent quality amp, run the system off this, using the Empeg's pre-outs, then feed an RCA (or speaker level input, through a speaker to phono adaptor) from the original head unit in the Empeg's auxilliary input.

Having said all of that, if anyone is determined to go down the wired FM modulator route and has any trouble tracking one down, then we can always supply them :-)

Dominic

Cambridge Car Audio
http://www.cambscaraudio.co.uk