LASTYYLE

does anyone know how to make use of the aux input on the SL?
where is it in the car?
and what kind of input will it accept?

thanks in advance!

miroj

Isnt it in the glove box ?

blueSL

Yes, on the right hand wall of the glove box, I think it's a 3.5mm jack to take the output of things like MP3, mini-disc players and iPODs. I think it may have been deleted (along with some other things) in the current year model (heater buttons on the top centre console, key-dependent seat memory, any others?) but you have an 03, same as mine and it's definitely there on mine.

Not that I need it to listen to my John Denver CDs...

carlosfernandez

Does this jacks are in the american version? does the jacks are hide in the right wall?

uk1

The most useful thing it accepts is an MP3 player. I connect an Archos 380 which gives 80gig of MP3's and also improves the sund as you have a degree of independent sound control out of the COMAND system, which I think is crap. Perhaps they took the socket out of 04 models as they are introduing the ability to (as I understand it) replace CD with MP3.

There is an aux menu on Comand which allows you to set sound quality and preferences.

What I want is a driectly replaceable USB hard-drive unit to replace the cd 6 changer that also lets me use the COMAND head unit with MP3 tags etc.

I have arond 15000 tracks and around 1500 albums on the archos.

miroj

15000 tracks ? You either plan to circumnavigate the world or flee with the sum total of Napster and iTunes library.

jasab

How do you power the mp3 player, batteries?

uk1

1. It's rechargeable

2. Just a copy of what's on my main jukebox PC. You'll be suprised how they mount up. allofmp3.com is very affordable.

carlosfernandez

Would you post a pics of your mp3 in your glove compartment. thanks in advance.

uk1

It's just one of these sitting loose in a glove compartment!

http://www.archos.com/products/prw_500571.html

carlosfernandez

thanks for the link but I really want to see the mp3 connected in your glove compartment, just to figure out how I can do the same.

uk1

I'm sorry - you've clearly misunderstood. Any MP3 player with a headphone socket can be plugged into the aux socket in the SL glove compartment. Taking a picture of it is barmy.

RajS

CarlosFernadez -- Really, this is simple -- you have a SL500 -- just open up your glove box -- look to the left sidewall and you will see a small "headphone" type jack there. Go to a Radioshack and buy a cable with two male ends to it ... one side plugs into the headphone jack of your MP3 player and the other end (exactly the same as the other side) plugs into the jack in the glovebox.

Turn on the MP3 player -- hit play on it and hit the SVC button on your Command unit. Select the AUX option I believe and you will hear sound. Most likely you will need to turn the volume to MAX or near MAX setting on your MP3 player.

The cable should cost <= $ 10 anywhere

vraa

The cable looks like this, and this is what I use to hook up my iPod mini

uk1

Ricky,

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you are using a mono cable. It will sound better with a stereo cable.

Jeff

carlosfernandez

Thank a lot I finaly found the jack and star serching for an I pod or mp3 for my car.

tiggerfink

I would wait until the dealer knows if the Mercedes I-pod kit will work in your car. Since you have the jack, it may be a software upgrade in the Command. I would rather scroll through the music list through the instrument cluster.

blueSL

If you were able to control the iPod through the COMMAND, they would really move the game forwards and render, for example, the CD changer completely redundant. But isn't that jack is just for the audio signal?

The other thing is that the cable shown by ricky is just a mono cable - a stereo cable will have three connections.

vraa

Don't worry about it, I just had to find a cable to show folks, you are right however, it is a mono cable.

I have tons of stuff lying around my room. The joys of being 17 (YES, finally 17 on Feb 5th!)

vraa

blueSL, can't stereo also be passed through just one connection?

blueSL

In the analog world (which is what is flowing down that wire), connecting left and right will just add the two together and you end up with mono (L + R). To separate the two out, you need as difference signal (L - R) as well. This is how conventional FM radio works; the difference signal is transmitted on a sub-carrier out of audible range; for mono users, they just use the L + R signal and filter out the L - R signal; for stereo users, the stereo decoder takes the sum of the two: L + R + L - R = 2L to give the left hand channel and the difference of the two: L + R - (L - R) = 2R to give the right hand channel.

See, all that algebra you learnt in school did come in useful one day...

In the digital world, it's easy because the signal is sampled (quantized), typically at 44100 samples a second and you just transmit L and R samples alternately and let the hardware at the receiver separate and sort them out.

In the context of that audio jack in the SL, if you use a mono cable, you will get mono sound. That aux jack is designed for tape/mp3/md headphone outputs...

vraa

Please blueSL, I just finished my PreCal homework!

If we'll get mono sound, can't we trace where that aux is plugged into from the COMAND, open up the COMAND and just wire out a L and R from there instead so we get both L and R?

blueSL

The solution is to use a stereo lead with 3 connections on each, just like a pair of headphones.

vraa

A paid of headphones?

All my headphones have the same connector that I just posted above? I'm confused.

vraa