british ioplay and a california sony

Guys:

I'm stuck. A good friend (in England) sent me (in California) a IoPlay unit as a gift after he heard my tale of woe. My goal was to install the IoPlay unit with my Sony MEX-50 stereo unit in my 1990 Ford F-350 4WD SuperCab long bed, dually 7.3L turbo diesel (which is pretty unique).

The IoPlay was going to be my means to connect 3 different Blue Tooth devices, and solve a number of problems, all at one fell swope.

Unfortunately neither of us realized that the IoPlay people don't seem to have any idea what a wiring diagram, or a schematic is. Not a clue.

The IoPlay has "ISO plugs", such that it is a very simple "plug the plugs in" installation. Of course here in California when I ask about ISO diagrams I get a blank look.

What I need is some kind of cross diagram that shows the standard US aftermarket stereo wiring with the Eurpean ISO plug wiring. Or something like that. I have all my wires identified on my Sony, the 2 KW amps, the 12 speakers, the XM receiver, and all the rest. But I'm hesitant to just start whacking away at the wiring....

So, if anyone has some kind of cross connection info, for Sony, Pioneer, or any late model car stereo head unit, I will be forever grateful....

Thanks for your time,

Chris Difani
Sacramento, CA USA

Just athought but could you tell me how many pin connectors or better still post a diagramme or good photo of the plug that goes into the back of the Sony, I'll then cross reference with a UK equivalent of Scosche, post a part number and your UK friend can purchase it from his local car audio outlet, all your leads except io to car's OEM would then be taken care of. This is because if your head unit were UK product the plug would be pre-equipped with ISO speaker and power plugs.

Sorry, I just realised, io is US sourced anyway, or speak to Dee at Armour Auto, she's the technical manager and Armour Auto handle io in the UK (along with what's left of DEI)

I just realised, are you my old friend with thbe Pantera?

YES, that's me! And while the Pantera's not on the road yet, I did get the engine dynoed, and it puts out 674HP at 6200RPM, and 729ft/lbs torque at 4100RPM, and that's with the blower at the "low" setting.

Of course now I've got to get that darn engine into the car, but that's the story of my life... always something to do...

So, did you get moved into your new shop and all?

Chris

Right Chris this is one answer.  Look at the Sony's plug.  There will be between 15 and 18 pins. Armour Auto.com list these 4 replacements with ISO plugs:- 15pin = PC3- 429,  16pin = PC3- 433, 17pin = PC3-430 and 18pin = PC3-432. Your friend could go into any UK car audio shop to buy the right one.Contact Parrot or ioplay, they list "SOT"  Y-or patch leads from the head unit to different plugs on the cars, (ISO has been replaced by the MOST or quadlock), see if they do a conversion to US vehicles. Nothing happened my end, business has gone down the tubes because of the recession.

Howie:

Here's a picture or two of the IoPlay plugs. Personally I'm hoping that I can simply do some "cut and splice" at this end, between the Sony plug and its wiring harness.



Also my email is cdifani at pacbell dot net

Chris, get your UK friend to do what I suggested earlier, that will save you half the work.

Howie:

Thanks again for all your help, knowledge, and forebearance. I think I've got it figured out! I'm going to create my own "quick connect" plugs for this application as I've got a couple of boxes of various size Molex plug pairs. I'll pull the Sony radio out first, and then make up the Molex plugs. Essentially making my own "adapter harness".

And hopefully they'll work too!

Thanks again,

Chris

Well, thanks a lot for the information... However I have discovered that ever present "fly in the ointment" as we say here in horse country. My Sony MEX-5DI has RCA output plugs for all it's speakers, fronts, rears, and subs. Nothing like what the ISO plug assumes. And while the Sony connector plug (into the stereo head unit) is a 16 contact "chassis", there's only 6 connectors that are actually used. All the other's are empty "blanks".

So the next question is just how the heck do I wire up the separate RCA plug connectors? Thinking about it here, I would guess that I should use a "RCA to bare wire" adapter for all the speaker connections. 4 adapters to begin with, and then 4 more on the "other end" of the IoPlay connection. For a total of 8, which is going to be a big handful of RCAs.

I tell you, this is beginning to be the proverbial "pain in the neck"... which is working its way down... way down!

If anyone's got a good idea, besides the RCA to two wires adapter, I'm literally all ears!

Thanks again for all your time, and knowledge,

Chris Difani

If the sony radio has only RCA outputs, you will need to get an amplifier of some sort. The RCA jacks will not power a speaker.

Chris, all is not lost, does the Sony have aux inputs? Does the iO have a alternative line output like a Parrot? Even if not you could take two of the speaker output channels from the iO, run through an attennuator, to RCA (or phono or whatever) and into the Sony, then flip the Sony through to aux input, if no aux input, use the CD (autochanger input). Easy!

Okay, I'll believe you... all is not lost. However while the Sony does have aux inputs, it's thru their Sony bus system... which is something I'll have to buy.

The IoPlay does not have any auxiliary inputs. IoPlay has gone exclusively with Bluetooth connectivity. They have a number of adapters, but they're all Bluetooth adapters in one form or another. The only possibility of a "aux" input is the microphone 3.5MM female plug. I don't know if I can use that plug for something besides the microphone, but I'm willing to try! In earlier IoPlay models they had a couple of wired inputs in addition to the Bluetooth. But this latest model seems to be strictly Bluetooth. Or at least that's the way I "see" their web site specifications page.

Also, just a note, I have two amps on my system, one for the subwoofer, and one for the other speakers (of which there's 8). The amps total 1500 watts.

And now back to your "easy" solution. Give me a bit more detail. Remember who you're dealing with here! Electrical genius is not part of my job description. In fact I'm lucky if I can spell "electrical"... and we're not going anywhere near that "genius" word.

After re-reading your post, I think I maybe might understand it... kinda. If I'm reading it correctly, the Sony does have an "auxilliary", that I can change to thru the headunits control system.

However that leaves the question of the fabled "attenuator"... whatever that is. If we're talking about an FM modulator, that connects to the Sony's external antenna, I'm already doing that for my XM Radio (satellite radio). So that's not going to work.

But I can get the Sony "bus" expansion system. That provides extra inputs, like a CD changer, things like that.

And that's my situation as of this moment. I'm beginning to think I should have purchased a new stereo headunit, one that has Bluetooth, and "aux input" already integrated to start with. But life's a learning experience! And I'm definitely learning here!

And thanks for all your time, and knowledge, I really appreciate it.

Chris

Sony autochangers send the audio signal to the head unit via RCA or phono connectors, the propiortary (spelling) plug simply controls its functions; plug any source in and it will play on selecting "changer". Attenuators, basically drop the signal level from speaker down to a lower level of voltage which is then preamped through your head unit and then out to your amps.

I am not 100% sure but I think the units will only switch to changer if they see a changer connected to the end of the data cable. 

Bugger it Mr. Idiot, I thought you were the expert on audio  Going back a few years before dedicated  iPod interfaces,  I'm  sure we just plugged the RCA/Phonos (what do you call them in the US? The French call them "Cinch" connectors.) In to the back of the Sony from an MP3 player or Pod and selected changer, you had no track or file etc. control. Mr. Id, please explain to Chris what audio attenuators are.