Mp3 Player AMP?

I am currently going ti make an Mp3 Player for my car. It is going to be an in dash unit. It will be built around a small 3.5" form factor embedded system (**broken link removed** <--This One</a>)

The only problem I have is running the sound straight from the computer's Speaker Out to the car speakers. I know I need an amp between there (or least I have been told). What kind of amp would I need, and is it possible to get one small enough to fit in a 178x50x135 (mm) DIN size box?

This is the only thing I am stuck on... so ideas are highly welcomed. Thank you.

Interesting.

You say the MP3 player will be 'built around' this,
well it looks like a small motherboard, probably for
a laptop.

You say that your only problem will be an amplifier
to drive the speakers in the car.

So what will you use as media to hold the MP3's ?
Probably CD's, so you will also need a CD player.

Maybe a hard drive, you can get them quite small with
large capacity. How well they will stand up to the
vibrations in a car i don't know.

And the program to de-code the MP3 compression.
If you are using a HD then i suppose that program
could be on there too.

If you're using CD's then i suppose the de-compress
program could be on each CD.

Or maybe you could put the de-compress program into
ROM, but its quite a lot.

How do you propose to pick a tune from your MP3's ?

Maybe one of those odd little panels that VHS players
use could be adapted, and its buttons re-wired.

Maybe a very simple double seven segment display, and
a few press buttons could do it.

I would be interested to hear more about this.

Regards, John

Since you are stuck only on building a power amplifier, I suppose that your MP3 thingy is working, am I right?

Anyways, I would suggest that you use one of the TDA series ICs for car radio applications (eg: TDA1554, 7265, 7350, 7375, etc.).
Go here --> https://www.st.com/stonline/products/selector/203.htm
and choose an amp that best suits your needs (a.k.a. power output )
Happy building.

I have everything else..

Sorry, all wanted to know was how to get the audio from the motherboard to the my car speakers, so I didn't tell of the other features. But here are the other specs...
I have a laptop HDD running Win98 Lite, which has Winamp installed to play all formats of music (Mp3, CDs, WMP ...)
Songs can be laoded via both a USB pocket drive or the slime CD-ROM (**broken link removed**)
I have a 20 x 2 LCD to display the track/ Mp3 info. ( Here ). Which I have a winamp plugin for.
To contorl all this I have a 5 button serial interface setup. (**broken link removed**) Plus I also have a remote control that runs Winamp commands (**broken link removed**).
To power all of this, I have a DC-DC converter that is 10-13V Input 5V output.
So the only thing that obstable now needed to be breached is how to get the audio to the car speakers.

Re: I have everything else..

SurfSire said:

Sorry, all wanted to know was how to get the audio from the motherboard to the my car speakers, so I didn't tell of the other features. But here are the other specs...
I have a laptop HDD running Win98 Lite, which has Winamp installed to play all formats of music (Mp3, CDs, WMP ...)
Songs can be laoded via both a USB pocket drive or the slime CD-ROM (**broken link removed**)
I have a 20 x 2 LCD to display the track/ Mp3 info. ( Here ). Which I have a winamp plugin for.
To contorl all this I have a 5 button serial interface setup. (**broken link removed**) Plus I also have a remote control that runs Winamp commands (**broken link removed**).
To power all of this, I have a DC-DC converter that is 10-13V Input 5V output.
So the only thing that obstable now needed to be breached is how to get the audio to the car speakers.

Click to expand...

Does your car-stereo have a cd-changer input? if so, there are 'fake-changers' available for many car stereo's; they make your radio believe there is a changer attached, so your radio will switch to the changer input... just connect the line-out of the motherboard to the cd changer line-in and music will play as normal...

Another option would be to buy a radio with a aux in...

just a question, do you have a lcd screen to display the pc's vga ?
if so, can you tell me the make. Been looking for a small lcd that takes vga for a long time

Re: I have everything else..

Exo said:

just a question, do you have a lcd screen to display the pc's vga ?
if so, can you tell me the make. Been looking for a small lcd that takes vga for a long time

Click to expand...

I know not of any that are specifically vga. The LCD I am using is serial interfaced. I know of some for PAL/NTSC input, TFT, and even digital CMOS, but none other than that.
**broken link removed**

Re: I have everything else..

SurfSire said:

Sorry, all wanted to know was how to get the audio from the motherboard to the my car speakers, so I didn't tell of the other features. But here are the other specs...

Click to expand...

The mobo has regular AC97 audio and a stereo audio socket. I'd be tempted to make life easy, and just go and buy a regular car audio amp. You can run the speaker out to the amp no problem at all... you just need a stereo mini-phono to RCA cable.

Edit: If you want to DIY, there's a few circuits and kits floating around online. Depends one your needs and how much sound you want to make.

I agree with Ricardo.
Compared to the other problems with MP3
an audio amplifier is a very minor difficulty.

I would like to see pics of the finished item.

Best of luck with it, John

Surfsire,

You can find a lot of information about mp3 car audio here:

www.mp3car.com

It seems it would be easier to just get a regular car amp like Ricardo suggested.

Exo,

Yes they make a small LCD that takes vga now. I believe it runs around 400-500$. Don't really remember the price. Xenarc makes it.

**broken link removed**

I am not sure if anyone else has come out with one but google it

-Dennis

Thx for that link
If i can get my hands on one of those i can finally start building a pc into my car