Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Audio On board mini computer (aka PDA)

Ok guys I've been struggling over what I've been wanting to do with my stereo and this post will be long so I apoligize, but please bare with me here. When I bought the car the stereo wires where all cut the speaker wires where replaced with your standard home speaker wire and I didn't have a head unit.

My first plan was to buy the wire plugs that where cut off and restore the origial premium audio system.

Then I decided why not install a small computer and hook it up to a touch screen LCD display and play off my mp3's and if I decided I wanted to listen to the radio I could switch over to the stereo function on the LCD screen. So I began looking at what Kenwood and Pioneer had to offer, but with the LCD touch screen/DVD/CD/radio decks costing over $999 I started to look at other options. For a while I was looking at old school tablet PC's that had screens that where 10" displays. However the overall dimensions of the tablets where pushing the limits at 13"x15" so installing it reasonably in the car now became a hassle.

However with all this mess I overlooked the simply solution... why not hook a cradle to support my PDA? Only problem was how would I listen to the radio or a CD if I wanted to. The solution was simply after I thought about it on my couch for a while. The audio/Video selectors people use to hook up more then one thing to their TV audio jacks would work perfect.

So now that plan is to hook up an aftermarket CD player and then build a cradle for my PDA to fit in next to the CD player. Only thing is I need a 4 channel amplifier that will replace the current factory unit and be able to mount in the same place. Anyone have any ideas fo an amp??