! I am considering a $400 aftermarket option by GROM, but it really seems to be more than what I need. I'm not really interested in controlling my iPhone from the car controls, I just want the music to play in high quality through the car's sound system. I came across the below modification on a Honda site and was thinking that this may work for the Volvo S40 and I'd appreciate feedback and opinions before I try it. See the following:If you have a CD changer with your stock radio then you can very easily add an aux sound input to your radio. The sound quality is much better than those tape adapters or Fm transmitters and doesn't look ugly with that wire sticking out.
WARNING: Do this mod at your own risk, if you connect wrong wires or whatnot, I am not responsible if you mess up something. But since this is such a simple hack, it would be hard to mess up really.
If you dont have a CD Changer installed, there is still another option, but its much more complicated.
How this works is that when you play a cd from the cd changer, it plays the cd and sends an analog audio signal via 3 wires (Lch/Rch/Gnd) to the headunit. So basically with this hack, you send in your own audio signals from your Ipod or mp3 player, by connecting your mp3 player's output to the audio signal wires directly behind your radio. Since you don't want both the CD music and your ipod music playing, you play a CD with silence on it, so that the cd changer does not send any audio signals, and the radio only picks up your ipod's audio.
You will need:
- A stereo speaker cable with 3.5mm jacks (take one from some old PC speakers)
- 3 Bits of scrap wire
- Blank CD, and also a cd burner.