Not strictly circuitbending, Home Mini System Aux Input Install

[ELHeath]

Ello, I own a few circuitbend keyboard but my biggest bugbear is I own a very nice sounding stereo system at home which is pretty much useless as it has no input. I have studio monitors downstairs but they weigh a lot and the leads break if moved around too much. I have a Panasonic SA-PM21 system and I've tried everything from using the radio to using MP3 player radio transmitters.

Would it be easy to install an aux input? Would it just work seperate from the interface of the stereo? Would it just blow up?

All answers on a postcard. I could just buy another stereo but it would be such a waste!

[Gordonjcp]

Has it got a CD player?  You should be able to break into the audio lines from the CD deck and add a stereo jack socket.

[ELHeath]

It has a CD player, a Tape Player and an utterly useless radio (as in it will not pick up a thing).

What would you reccomend for the actual jack plug? How could this be done?

[ELHeath]

The leads between each of the circuitboards and the Tape, Radio and CD player parts are similar to Serial leads that you would find in a computer. I'll trt and get a picture up here sometime.

[LoFi-Ninja]

Either buy one of those casette tape adaptors for mp3 players, or you can inject audio directly to the tape players tape head.. Easy!

[ELHeath]

Tape adapters are not the clearest form (unless they've suddenly got amazing in the last few years)! Anyway, the door closes very tight so that's a no go. How can you inject it directly into the head?

[LoFi-Ninja]

The tape reader head is just a metal box with some coil assembly inside. It's what reads the casette tape. 3 wires should run to it. Gnd & L & R.. So Just cut the vire of some old sterio headphones and solder it accordingly.. Plug your audio source and switch amplifier to tape.. You might need to press play on the tape deck to get sound. Should work just fine. You MIGHT get some distortion, but this should only happen on really old tape decks.. That's why people do this to old walkmans.. Simple distortion/fuzz box...

[Gordonjcp]

You can't really inject the signal into the head, because it's designed for a signal in the order of microvolts and has a massive lowpass filter on it (otherwise everything would sound very tinny).

Work out which are the left and right audio outputs from the CD deck and tap in there.  It's the right level and everything.

Gordon

[ELHeath]

Thanks! Suggestions on a stereo input jack? What am I looking for?

[Gordonjcp]

Stereo jack with break contacts.  The "fingers" go to the amp, the break contacts go to the CD player.  When you push a jack in, the plug will push the fingers off the break contacts.

Have a look at 1/4" jack sockets in your local electronics shop to see how this works.

[ELHeath]

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=982&doy=1m4&C=SO&U=strat15

Suitable?

Thanks for all the help!

[deathbender]

Looks like it should work. "Break contacts" is the keyword here if you are after the solution Gordonjcp described...

[ELHeath]

Yeah it seems like the most suitable solution, but I'll post up a pic of the wire first.

Says it is 3 break contacts.

[Gordonjcp]

Just the job.  You see how it breaks the circuit when you put a jack in?

If you wanted to break the output of the CD away from the amp and feed that *out* the jack, you'd wire that to the fingers and the amp to the break contacts.  Clever, eh?

[ELHeath]

So in effect, if you wanted to use the CD player you could just wire it back up to the jack? Nice. Here are some photos of the inside:

http://www.autonomouspeople.co.uk/Pics/Inside1.JPG
http://www.autonomouspeople.co.uk/Pics/Inside2.JPG