So, basically I am losing my ability to have the kids listening through headphones in the back, to a DVD, CD, etc..., while the wife and I are up front listening to fm, CD, etc, on the front speakers, correct? By the way, I talked several times to "Mary" at PIE electronics, @ 1-800-526-8590, and she was very accessible, and very helpful, so you might try again. She also put me through to a "Tec" at one point, who confirmed that what you said here is entirely possible because of the way that the X3 works. Also, the unit that I believe that you are talking about is the PIE X3, which seems to be available on line for about $45.00 to $50.00, but does not include the cables from it to the head unit, or from it to the IPOD, or whatever. These cables run about $20.00 to $25.00 each, and are application specific, which is why they are not included (in other words, your Toyota needs a different cable than your Excursion, and your IPOD needs a different cable than your MP3 player) I hope this helps someone, ... our journey continues! Mike

Another thought that I had while driving last night - Can you "turn off" the PIE unit (Does it even have an on/off switch), and if so, does everything then return to stock functioning? If this were so, I wouldn't be too concerned about this problem.

 

Big Orange - Given what we have discovered about the PIE unit on the last couple of posts, I am still not entirely sure what I want to do here. So, question: How is the sound quality with the Alpine unit? Once you have it set up, do you get much static, etc., while driving around? How about when traveling out of town to other areas?? Thank you for your input, it is much appreciated! Mike

 

I think the sound quality is good and I work as a professional musician so I want my music to cound good. My suggestion is to go to each of the four frequencies, see which one is the clearest (no noise) and pick that one.

 

I have fought this for years on my 2000 and had a cassette adapter to run ipod and had considered trying those nice "controllers" for ipod>
Forget all of this crap!!!! I bought a Pioneer Deck for $130.00 and @20.00 dash kit and it does everything and more> Who needs a Cd changer when you have an ipod?
If you have DVD then I have no clue

 

I have an 03 Eddie Bauer with 6 disc in dash changer and rear DVD and want to be able to connect my sirius reciever and ipod and am not concerned with controlling it through the factory radio. I read about using the AUX inputs with and adapter.

Can I connect it right at the back of the radio and forego the DVD player?? This way I will not have to run a cable all the way from the rear DVD to the front. My truck has an additional DVD installed in the 3rd row run from a separate receiver mounted in the left side of 3rd row.

Thanks!

 

If you can solder there is a way to add an aux port to the 6 disc in dash. I just did it on mine and it works great. Only thing is it cant charge your Ipod. It's only 3 wires to solder and a couple of bucks for a jack or you can use the jack from a set of head phones.

 

Got any instructions or photos on this? I have to pull out my radio anyways because there is a CD stuck in it. I have been using the AUX port from the DVD player and it works OK but I hate having the cord dangling down.