ostjone

Lol, no worries - you've given me something to think about, and maybe someday I'll make sure all my CDs are uploaded to MP3, and I will take out the CD player. For now...the other day I looked more closely at my tape adapter, discovered that the gears had popped out of place, fixed that, cleaned the player, and lo & behold I have an aux-in thru the tape deck! So for now I am satisfied - easiest and cheapest solution to my problem is the one I already had premade Prior to that I had the center stack all apart & the radio out to see if that 13-pin to 3.5mm cable I'd purchased would work, and as you suspected it did not. On the plus side, I discovered why one of my auxiliary power outlets and lighter outlet weren't working & fixed that! I think that I will run the cord of the tape adapter thru under the trim in the center console, and try to hide the ground loop noise isolator I got under there. I'll probably drill a hole and pop the plug out by the little tray thing next to the parking brake handle. I wonder if you could split or splice the existing wires from the CD player cable pins 6 and 9 to, say, a DPDT switch, and essentially have the switch be "CD" in one position, and "MP3" in the other? Or maybe the DPDT switch wouldn't be necessary, and the standard SPST switch you used could do something similar? Just uneducated brainstorming...I don't know the first thing about how wiring works

Mine is *almost* identical, but I have the weather band version. So, on mine, the "FM/AM/Band" button on the top right says "Band/Pro" - not sure if this effects its function at all. Yes, I do already have the Subaru optional CD player - was a standalone 6-disc changer also an option? That's what I was thinking was the scenario here...input for a remote 6-disc changer would be used for the aux-in. It sounds like the only way for me to retain the function of my existing CD player AND have an aux-in would be to splice into the control wires from the CD player, and have a switch that essentially "overrides" the signal from the CD player with the signal from the aux-in when activated? I'm not sure I am creative or knowledgeable enough to do that, lol. Electrical is pretty new to me; I'm in my first semester of an auto tech program, and we've just started intro to electrical. This is my first experience with wiring. Ok, that makes sense. Maybe I'll get lucky and the premade cable will work, but if not...free Amazon returns! Anyways, so your switch basically just completes the circuit of the two wires that putting a CD in normally would, is that correct? It does not have a separate ground wire running to it, just an extension of the 2 "CD 'on'" wires which throwing the switch connects? Gotcha. Right, so if the adapter I bought somehow works, great! Otherwise, I'll be copying the method you used. Sounds like the audio jack you bought had the one "female" end, and then an unfinished end, correct? Have a link to it? The sheet documenting which wire is what would be really nice! Cool, yeah I did at least know how the pointy end of an audio jack worked - just not how to identify which wire was what on the other end of it. Thanks for continuing to respond and help me out with this! I'm sure you didn't envision continuing to be involved in what was a simple project for you, but I really appreciate it. I am learning, which is always awesome.

Hey all, thanks for the great info & discussion so far! This is something I've been wanting to do ever since I got my 99 LOBW & figured out my Monster tape deck adapter didn't work in it. I haven't been able to find a cleaning tape yet so maybe it's just dirty, but tape adapters always pick up a ton of engine/electrical interference noise it seems, too (maybe because I usually put the phone on the charger at the same time). Couple of questions. Was this the stock Subaru AM/FM/WB/Tape radio with the factory option single-disc CD? That's what I have, but you mentioned Kenwood...is the Subaru OEM system made by them? Also, I'm waiting on a 13-pin-to-3.5 jack cable to come from Amazon...figured I'd try that first. This works on the principle of the head unit thinking that the aux-in is a CD changer, correct? How does it "find" that input?? I see you have a switch, but...did the actual CD changer just send a signal to the head unit when you activated it? I'm hoping the cable I ordered to try will "activate" the line when I play music from the aux source, much like headphones or external speakers would. The way you have yours set up, how did you find which wires in the female 3.5 connector were which functions (and what all wires are in that cable?)? Also, where does the ground go? I am just beginning to learn about auto electrical in school, so I don't quite have a full grasp of the concept, tho it would be no problem for me to install Thanks in advance!