Xantia S2 Clarion Radio Aux. Input

[DHallworth]

As everyone who has had a Series 1 and Series 2 Xantia will know, the 3.5mm auxiliary input was removed from the Series 2 Radio's.

I've just tonight found a way of utilising the existing internals on the radio to add an auxiliary input to the radio.

This will render the cassette player useless however it works perfectly and gives crystal clear audio using my iPhone as an MP3 player. I didn't have time to test this tonight but I believe it should also function as a handsfree kit for your iPhone etc using the car speaks and the internal microphone on the phone. The only downside if you need to have a dummy cassette in the player for this to function but otherwise it's perfect.

If anyone is interested in this, let me know and I'll take pictures and make a how to guide in the next few days.

Cost wise it'll work out at around 6 quid for a decent quality cable and around 30 minutes give or take of your time. You'll need basic soldering skills for this to work.

The only unit that this will work with is the Clarion PU-1562A. This is the unit with the full face that stands proud on display, not the one with the sliding flap over it.

David.

[DHallworth]

To add to this, I've got a feeling it's the same setup in the Series 2 XM that uses it's own Clarion radio as well.

David.

[Mandrake]

Hi David,

Sounds interesting, I think mine is a Clarion, and I've wanted an aux input for a while for my iPhone. I thought about disabling the cd changer in the boot and using its inputs, however I haven't taken out the radio yet to see what sort of connector goes to the cd changer...

At the moment I just use a cassette adaptor and the quality is ok but could maybe be better - and yes it does work for hands free calling on the iPhone using the built in mic of the iPhone It looks like when you plug a standard 3 pin headphone jack in (instead of the 4 pin on headphones with built in mic) the iPhone realises and puts the built in mic in speakerphone mode...I think this has only been the case since iOS 5 - in previous versions the mic would be muted for calls with a standard 3 pin plug, but I noticed it started working after one of the major iOS updates...

[citroenxm]

You soldered the wires to the input ports on the back of the sound board? ive already done this but as you say a tape needs to be in to keep it switched to tape mode..

otherwise what else have you done?

[Eddie Nuff]

Can you get R4 on an Iphone?

[DHallworth]

Paul,

Wish you said you'd done it as I've been wondering how to do it for a while now!

The Range Rover has a Clarion unit in it, and it's that one I've been looking at. When I took the lid off the Xantia radio I found it was the same cassette mechanism making this possible.

Eddie, can you elaborate... What is R4?

David.

[citroenxm]

The couple of problems i found with this though.. the gain is not high enough so the radio volume has to be virtually full blast.. the input over rides the tape... so if you use an audio cassette as a dummy make sure it IS a blank one!! because if you unplug the mp3 while the tape is playing the tape audio comes through and its full blast!!! other wise it does work ok...

[DHallworth]

Paul,

The reason I think you're having problems with the gain is because you've not removed the PCB on the top right hand side of the cassette mechanism as you take the lid off the radio.

What it's doing at the moment is trying to put two outputs through the same feed so as a result you're loosing the quality. The one I've done works perfectly at normal volume in the car.

The other thing you can do is open up the cassette by removing the 5 screws around the edges and take all of the ribbon out of the tape. The unit only needs to be able to detect the wheels turning on the cassette. Nothing more is needed.

If you do both of those it'll work like a proper aux in with no issues what so ever on the gain/volume side of it.

David.

[Mandrake]

I wonder if there is a way to fool the tape sensor as well so a dummy cassette isn't needed. I hate the noise the dummy cassette makes on my cassette adapter...

[DHallworth]

I wonder if there is a way to fool the tape sensor as well so a dummy cassette isn't needed. I hate the noise the dummy cassette makes on my cassette adapter...

From what I've figured out and from what I've read over on the Range Rover forum then unfortunately not.

There are two detection mechanisms for cassettes, one is a switch that closes when the tape is inserted, the other uses three little holes that are dotted in the wheels on the cassette. This is how it detects jams, when one of the wheels stops turning it will flag an error with the cassette.

To be honest, with all the innards removed from the cassette, there's not a huge amount of noise from the mechanism anyway.

David.

[Eddie Nuff]

Eddie, can you elaborate... What is R4?

Sorry, bit of an in-joke It stands for Radio 4.

I'm a bit of a dinosaur where digital music is concerned, it's the radio or vinyl for me.

[DHallworth]

Sorry, bit of an in-joke It stands for Radio 4.

I'm a bit of a dinosaur where digital music is concerned, it's the radio or vinyl for me.

Ahh... in that case... you can!

You just use the internet connection on the phone to stream the radio. Might cost a bit on data usage though!

David.

[Eddie Nuff]

You just use the internet connection on the phone to stream the radio.

Erm! . .

Calls, texts and getting me out of bed . . . owt else is wasted on me