05 Expedition Stock Radio & Auxiliary Question

[Notrega]

Pardon my ignorance - but I have spent most of the morning looking through this forum for a clear answer and found some work arounds but not what I am looking for.

I just purchased a 2005 Eddie Bauer Expedition with the in-dash CD changer, no navigation, with steering wheel controls, and rear DVD player. I don't really want to drop a couple of $100 for a new head unit to do this unless there is no other way. On another note - IF I did go aftermarket, would I be able to keep the installed DVD player and steering wheel controls?

I am looking to add either a 3.5mm audio input or bluetooth to stream music only. I have no real interest in using this to talk on the phone, I HATE talking on the phone but love Pandora and podcasts...

I also don't really intend to use the CD player at all - All my music is in the cloud or on my phone.

I saw this thread Adding 3.5mm Aux Input on Rear DVD Equipped (non Nav) Expy's and think this would work.

This is the head unit - it has an AUX button, which I believe connects to the rear DVD, but it also has a SAT button and I don't have satellite radio.


Is there an input, maybe the SAT input, that is not being used with my current set up, besides the one on the rear DVD player, that I could hijack for this purpose?

Would a Milennia MIL-BTREC Bluetooth adapter work if I had an empty input?
Milennia MIL-BTREC Bluetooth® adapter at Crutchfield.com

What are my options??

Picture of awesome truck in my signature -

 

[Mikes05expy]

If you go with an aftermarket HU you'll need a steering wheel control interface to retain your steering wheel and rear controls, something like this https://www.shipsound.com/mobile/product.asp?itemid=9654. I'm not sure if it's the exact one but something along those lines.

I was also looking at doing the 3.5mm adapter kit but I ended up getting lazy and just getting a 3' rca to 3.5mm cable and running it to my phone through the auxiliary. It works just fine for me until I get a new HU, plus it was only like 8 bucks. If you went that route a 4' cable would work a little better. Hope this helps at all.

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[Notrega]

If you go with an aftermarket HU you'll need a steering wheel control interface to retain your steering wheel and rear controls, something like this https://www.shipsound.com/mobile/product.asp?itemid=9654. I'm not sure if it's the exact one but something along those lines.

I was also looking at doing the 3.5mm adapter kit but I ended up getting lazy and just getting a 3' rca to 3.5mm cable and running it to my phone through the auxiliary. It works just fine for me until I get a new HU, plus it was only like 8 bucks. If you went that route a 4' cable would work a little better. Hope this helps at all.

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I have this cable - where are you plugging the RCAs into?

 

[Mikes05expy]

Into the rca jack on the dvd player.

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[Notrega]

Into the rca jack on the dvd player.

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Thanks Mike - I guess that will be what I do until I figure something else out... I hate the wires hanging down though...

Anyone else with ideas/solutions??

 

[AcesOverEights]

thats about the only way to get your music into the the stereo with the stock deck, the 3.5mm to RCA cable.

But if you do get an aftermarket deck,
Yes, you can keep your steering wheel controls and dvd player with a new deck, provided the deck has a wired steering wheel control input and an AUX input for the DVD

I did it, its easy.

I bought a Axxess ASWC-1 ($49)
Its a "smart" steering wheel control interface. It can tell somehow what kind of deck you have and what car its in. I didnt have to set it up at all. Just wired it up properly and it worked. It was really slick.
For the rear dvd you need the harness to keep the DVD. Its cheap ($18)
Wire that up, the RCA's go to the AUX input on the new deck, and the rear dvd playes through the truck speakers like it used to.

 

[Notrega]

thats about the only way to get your music into the the stereo with the stock deck, the 3.5mm to RCA cable.

But if you do get an aftermarket deck,
Yes, you can keep your steering wheel controls and dvd player with a new deck, provided the deck has a wired steering wheel control input and an AUX input for the DVD

I did it, its easy.

I bought a Axxess ASWC-1 ($49)
Its a "smart" steering wheel control interface. It can tell somehow what kind of deck you have and what car its in. I didnt have to set it up at all. Just wired it up properly and it worked. It was really slick.
For the rear dvd you need the harness to keep the DVD. Its cheap ($18)
Wire that up, the RCA's go to the AUX input on the new deck, and the rear dvd playes through the truck speakers like it used to.

Many thanks - I guess I will go looking for a new head unit, adapter, and harness. I think I will eventually replace the stock speakers as well...

Any recommendations on an aftermarket head unit? I have lurked over on Crutchfield but not sure what to get that will meet the needs...

 

[Mikes05expy]

Thanks Mike - I guess that will be what I do until I figure something else out... I hate the wires hanging down though...

Anyone else with ideas/solutions??

No prob. I didn't care for the wire hanging down at first either but it doesn't get in the way of anything. For the price I figured I'll just deal with it till I get a new deck.

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[Big W]

I run the RCA to 3.5 and plug it into the aux input on the rear DVD. I did end up getting a 10' cable and running it through the headliner and down the a-pillar. My kids kept pulling the wires when it was hanging down. I know that there is a FM modulated adapter that gives you the 3.5 jack. Sound quality is not the greatest though.

 

[Big W]

Reading the link in the first post gave me the idea that I need to clean up my install a little.

 

[AcesOverEights]

Many thanks - I guess I will go looking for a new head unit, adapter, and harness. I think I will eventually replace the stock speakers as well...

Any recommendations on an aftermarket head unit? I have lurked over on Crutchfield but not sure what to get that will meet the needs...

Thats really a personal choice. Id say stick to a big name brand, Pioneer, Clarion, Kenwood, JVC etc etc
Just pick out what features you want. Then find a deck that has all of them. Personally, I went with a Pioneer AVH-X2600BT.
I wanted a touchscreen double din with bluetooth and android compatibility. (I'm stuck with this stupid Galaxy S4 for a while)

If you want to atleast retain the factory DVD and the steering wheel controls, you need to make sure that you have an AUX in and a wired remote input.
There are other adapters out there to keep the steering wheel controls if your new deck doesnt have a wired remote input, but I cant speak to how well they work.

 

[sarge816]

Wife wanted to stream pandora in our 05 EB with the same radio / dvd setup as yours. I looked at all the options and the easiest was a bluetooth to FM adapter using her smartphone:

Amazon.com : Incredisonic IFM-500 Bluetooth FM Transmitter

Basically, it links to your phone with bluetooth and then the built in FM transmitter send the signal to your vehicle FM radio head unit. You just find an area on the FM dial that is free of a station already, dial it in on the transmitter, and set it in memory of the head unit (just like any other station), pretty slick.

I was a little doubtful about it since it was so cheap but it got mostly good reviews and I decided it was by far the least trouble if it worked. We purchased it Dec. 2012 from Amazon and it has worked great. It even has a 3.5mm aux input if you prefer to go that route. Although some will say the sound quality isn't as good going through FM (they are right) it is pretty irrelevant if you are using stock head unit and speakers, especially if you are streaming lower quality content like Pandora radio. As reference, to my old iron ears streaming Pandora sounds in between the FM radio station and CD player for sound quality.