If you are like me you are an Avalon owner who has been going crazy looking for a way to hook up your iPod / iPhone to the factory JBL Audio System with Navigation that will not void warranties and won’t cost you a small fortune. This is my solution and I wanted to post it here so you have it as an option should you need it. Enjoy and good luck!
If you have an Avalon with the navigation system, the navigation control drawer replaces the factory remote cassette player that comes with Avalon’s without navigation. If you look on the head unit there's a tape input.
Go on e-bay and grab a used remote cassette player (part number 86260-AC010 for 2005 through 2007 Avalon’s) for between $10 & $30 dollars. Search for “Toyota Avalon Remote Cassette Player.”
The connection for the remote cassette tape player is on the wire harness for the radio head unit. So even if your Avalon did not come with the remote cassette player the connection is there (they only make one wire harness to save money; that remote cassette player connection just hangs there if you have the nav).
Go to your local, reliable car audio installer and have then mount the remote cassette player in the glove box and connect the wire harness to the back of the remote cassette player (believe it or not, the wire is long enough). This should cost you between $125 and $150.
Get a cassette adapter (cassette with a wire and a mini jack - same as the headphone connection on your iPod / iPhone) for $3 to $5
Get a car charger for your iPod / iPhone. This should run you $15 to $20
1) Put the cassette adapter in the tape player, run the wire out of the glove box and close it
2) Plug the wire / jack end into your iPod / iPhone
3) Put the charger in the cigarette lighter input in the center console and plug the other end into the iPod / iPhone. This will charge your iPod / iPhone as you listen to it.
4) Hit the Tape input, and your iPod / iPhone will play through your car audio system.
Here’s the best part: Since the remote cassette player is a Toyota product, this is a completely “factory” solution and you don’t have to cut or modify ANY of the wiring, so you will not void any warranties, etc. There are NO staticy FM modulators to deal with! You'll have to control the iPod / iPhone from the iPod / iPhone rather than the car audio controls, but that's not a big deal. Also, make sure that the volume on your iPod / iPhone is up about 2/3rds of the way (if you turn it up all the way you might get some distortion as you would with any cassette adapter). Another plus is that you can play any device that has the "mini" headphone jack on it, so if your kid has a portable DVD player you can pump that through the car audio system rather than listening to the crapy speakers on the DVD player. You could even put a 1/4 adapter on the mini jack and plug in your guitar!
So all-in this solution will cost you $153 to $205.
I have the factory ipod dock connector.Wit that tape ting the sound quality to WAAAAAAY less.And i ave a sound system so i cant deal with distortion.and you dont get radio control or wheel controls of the ipod
That's a pretty ingenious solution to the 'how do I connect my iPod' question. But I've got to agree with the guys above - just buy an iPod connector for a lot less money. You'll get near CD-quality sound and it integrates nicely into the display unit (scrolling text), provides power to the iPod and you get use of the steering wheel controls. It's a plug-n-play solution and the volume is completely controlled by the head unit (and plays at the same volume as the CD player, AM and FM).
Again, ingenious solution - but, compared to a proper iPod adapter, a solution that's akin to going 'round the sun to meet the moon.
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2007 Avalon Limited - Love this car!
Last edited by Tom in Tacoma; 03-13-2011 at 08:54 PM.
I have the factory ipod dock connector.Wit that tape ting the sound quality to WAAAAAAY less.And i ave a sound system so i cant deal with distortion.and you dont get radio control or wheel controls of the ipod
can u change albums or do u have to make playlists with that factory interface??
can u change albums or do u have to make playlists with that factory interface??
You can search by album artist songs playlists.BUT once u get over so much memory of music you can search into al;bums or songs cause i guess the unit cant read that amount of music.BUT i also have 160 gb ipod classic.I made a few playlist to make it alil easier to browse.i really would like a double din with full ipod control etc but that might have to wait till later in the summer.Much faster full browsing.Also charges and shows text info/w scroll
DAMN!...Wish I Woulda Got That One....I Got A 32gb Ipod Touch With Almost 200 Whole Albums...I NEED To Browse By Album lol...Maybe Ill Switch In A Few Months
DAMN!...Wish I Woulda Got That One....I Got A 32gb Ipod Touch With Almost 200 Whole Albums...I NEED To Browse By Album lol...Maybe Ill Switch In A Few Months
When i picked up the AvaDon i asked them to "Hook me up" with a ipod unit since i seen they have these in there Avalon catalog and they sent me one right to my home,since they didnt have any on hand.And thats all i really use for my audio.When I had my System and CompuStar Alarm/Remote start etc installed I had him drop the unit in also.Bang One day Job 3 units installed.Like 6+ hours in the cold.What a guy.lol
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Avalon iPod / iPhone Hook Up (2005 through 2007)
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