Webb

Webb

Well Known Member
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Does an IPOD have enough output to drive an audio panel (GMA 340)?

Seems it would be easy to install an input jack on the panel and plug one of those little guys up when you want some air tunes on a trip.

Webb
RV7A
 
iPod

You might want to do a search on "ipod." There are over a hundred hits. Pay special attention to the issue of the older iPods not working at altitude.

John Clark
RV8 N18U "Sunshine"
KSBA
 
I feed a PM-8000B audio panel with an ipod all the time, and it works flawlessly.


And yes, the hard drive based ones do have trouble at altitude. I have three ipods, an OLD OLD ipod mini (flash based) that doesn't have trouble at all (but I broke the screen on it), a recent 30G ipod (hard drive based), which resets itself often above 9000' or so, and an iphone (flash based), which works fine. The only problem with the iphone is Apple went and made the headphone jack recessed, and the recess is smaller than most plugs' barrels. It's a pain tracking down cords that'll fit it, but I found a source.
 
Intercoms do music well.

I have an AUX input cord wired to my PS PMA6000S intercom that plugs directly into an ipod that works very well. Most all intercoms have music input. The PS models automatically mute the music when the comm radios speak up. The Aux input of these intercoms are designed for the low output of musical devices.
 
Enough Output????

John Clark said:
You might want to do a search on "ipod." There are over a hundred hits. Pay special attention to the issue of the older iPods not working at altitude.

John Clark
RV8 N18U "Sunshine"
KSBA
Click to expand...

Thanks John. I saw those hits . Let me be a bit more specific.

Does one of the new IPODs have enough output to drive a Garmin GMA340?

Webb
RV7A
 
Webb said:
Thanks John. I saw those hits . Let me be a bit more specific.

Does one of the new IPODs have enough output to drive a Garmin GMA340?

Webb
RV7A
Click to expand...

All ipods operate at roughly (if not exactly) the same audio line level. The 340 should have a dedicated aux or music in that will accept line level audio. No problem.
 
Will work with GMA 340 Music Input

Talked this through with an avionics guy, as I was considering hooking the IPOD to another unused GMA 340 input, like NAV 2, so I could route the XM radio to Music 1 on the GMA 340. The avionics guy said the IPOD would not work to another input without amplification, so the plan now is to route both the XM radio and IPOD to Music 1, with a switch to select between the two. The pro said that IPOD to a 340 music input works just fine, as others have said here. (There are two music inputs on the 340...the second goes only to pax headphones, not pilot or co-pilot).

Cheers,

Bob Mills
"Rocket" RV-6
N600SS
4SD
 
rvmills said:
Talked this through with an avionics guy, as I was considering hooking the IPOD to another unused GMA 340 input, like NAV 2, so I could route the XM radio to Music 1 on the GMA 340. The avionics guy said the IPOD would not work to another input without amplification, so the plan now is to route both the XM radio and IPOD to Music 1, with a switch to select between the two. The pro said that IPOD to a 340 music input works just fine, as others have said here. (There are two music inputs on the 340...the second goes only to pax headphones, not pilot or co-pilot).

Cheers,

Bob Mills
"Rocket" RV-6
N600SS
4SD
Click to expand...


yep, 100% right. The PMA-8000B is the same way; two music inputs, #2 only useful for pax output. Not exactly what I wanted! :( I ended up putting in a switch, and the other side of that switch is wired to a DB9 connector in the panel that the 496 plugs into which carries power/RS232/audio.
 
Pre-amp for GMA 340

I have GMA 340 in my ship. When plugging in IPOD or CD player the volume is too low. On GMA 340 installation manual, when grounding pin 15 on J2 the input is supposed to have a 20 db gain. However, this works only if MOD 5 is incorporated (I have no idea what it is). Obviously, it is not incorporated on my unit.

I took the advise of GMCpilot on a previous thread and built a pre-amp. The pre-amp is from Velleman-kit, kit # K2572. You can get it from the following website or others (do a google search):

http://store.qkits.com/moreinfo.cfm/K2572

It costs $16.95 and can be wired directly into the 12V (or 24V) ship power. It has a adjustable gain of 40db.
 
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Did the preamp work?

So did this work very good or not. i have the same problem on my gma 340, very disappointing, as it was important for me to have stereo music. I am looking for options or advice. Thanks.
 
XM

Save the iPod for the ground and get XM. Plenty of diversity with great sound quality through the 340. I'm using the Clarity Aloft headsets and the sound quality is fantastic.

This will save the hassles of trying to adapt something that might not be the easiest task.
 
I have tried a portable cd player, and a sirius radio, both of which deliver very quite sound through the headsets. You can hear it and it sounds not bad beside a 1970's Sanyo radio, but it just has very little volume I guess it would be okay listening to Kenny Rogers, however how in the heck am I going to fly to Crew Fest and crank my favorite MOTLEY and BUCKCHerry. It ain't going to happen with this setup.
 
Benefits of PMA8000B upgrade

Dear Jarvis:

While certainly not what would be considered a "cheap" fix for your audio woes, upgrading to the PMA8000B or to our brand new PMA8000B-MP3 may not be as expensive as you might think.

First, we not only have plenty of gain, there is a volume control right on the front bezel, so you can manage the volume level of your music easily. Second is that our music inputs are differential gain amplifiers, what this means is that you won't have ground loop noise.

Then there are all of the other benefits, if you go to this link you can quickly learn what they are:

www.ps-engineering.com/compare.shtml

Finally, we just introduced, and will begin shipping by mid-August, our PMA8000B-MP3 with a built-in 1 Gbyte MP3 player.

Here is press release

http://aero-news.net/index.cfm?Cont...27/2008&ToDate=07/29/2008&Category=/index.cfm

And the direct link to the product page www.ps-engineering.com/pma8000mp3.shtml

The costs? MAP is $1695 and to get the built-in MP3 is $150 more.

Remember, you get a complete install kit with the PMA8000B so you can easily sell your GMA340 on ebay as a complete ready to install unit.

I hope this information might have been some help.

Sincerely,
Mark Scheuer
PS Engineering
www.ps-engineering.com


jrvssgl said:
I have tried a portable cd player, and a sirius radio, both of which deliver very quite sound through the headsets. You can hear it and it sounds not bad beside a 1970's Sanyo radio, but it just has very little volume I guess it would be okay listening to Kenny Rogers, however how in the heck am I going to fly to Crew Fest and crank my favorite MOTLEY and BUCKCHerry. It ain't going to happen with this setup.
Click to expand...
 
Connecting the iphone with the PS, to have music, telephone, and fading music to hear a call, is very easy. Just use a three connector wire and it will do both stereo music and telephone from the front jack.
At first, i made myself a four to three wire, with an inline switch, to switch from music to telephone, since the iphone is four connector and the 8000b three, but finally the iphone does the switching by itself. No need for a special wire.
The music play in stereo, fade for a call to be replaced by the ring, you answer the call on the iphone, push the TEL button on the PS, and you are online. After the call, to return to stereo music, just repush the TEL button.

I am now back to my generation one Bose from the Zulu iphone pairable. Pretty amazed that the iphone can take care of switching the mic to left stereo by itself, from a four connector jack to a three connector plug. Sound quality of the PS Engineering is just perfect, music or phone.

Louis
 
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