I searched this forum and didn't find any posts listing my problem, so here goes:

I'm taking the E on a Christmas road trip and plan to listen to some language cassettes. I went out today and bought the cheapest cassette walkman I could find and a male-to-male 1/8" (stereo) adapter for the aux input.

When I plug the adapter into the walkman's headphone jack (and change the input on the HU to Aux), I get a humming through the speakers, but no appropriate sound (when I stop the walkman, the humming stops, when I press play it starts again). When I then plug the headphones into the jack on the walkman, I can hear that it is playing the tape just fine.

I tried plugging the adapter into my laptop and it worked fine...i.e. I can hear the laptop's audio throught my E's speakers, but not the walkman's.

So it seems I have a functional adapter, a functional walkman, and a functional stereo, and yet when I put them together I don't get sound.

Has anyone encountered this before? I could go buy another (slightly more expensive) walkman to test it, but considering the date, I really don't want to have to return anything for a refund right now. I'm leaving on Thursday, so I'd welcome any input. Thanks for any help!

The only things that come to mind offhand are things you've probably checked for, but I'll chime in anyway...

Is the walkman turned all the way up?

Is the cable really stereo? (does it have two black rings in the shaft, making three silver contacts?)

It the cable pushed all the way in to the walkman? Some devices make it hard to firmly seat some cables.

That's all I can think of :(

And the head unit is in Aux mode? Have you tried it with another device, like an MP3 player or a CDman?

try the headphone output (line out) from your laptop (if it has one) into the aux port in your E. play canyon or whatever you can find and see if that works.

If I read you correctly, you do get sound by connecting laptop headphone jack to the car AUX, but not if you connect the tape headphone jack to AUX.

I'd try it again, playing with the volume level on the tape player. Also make sure the plugs are well seated at both ends.

Strictly speaking, the AUX should be connected to the 'line out' of the tape or laptop. However you often have to make do with the headphone output. The impedance (resistance) match isn't quite right, but it usually works.

If you try to power the tape player off the cars power socket, you might get some extra buzzing, due to a feedback loop.

paulj

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I've tried them all.

PaulJ, you're right in your understanding of what I've tried. I also just tried my wife's gameboy and it also worked just fine through the Aux input.

I think it's probably just something strange with the walkman. I saw a higher quality one on sale today that I'll pick up tomorrow (It even had a rewind button!). If that one doesn't work, then I'll definitely be back here to complain!

If I read you correctly, you do get sound by connecting laptop headphone jack to the car AUX, but not if you connect the tape headphone jack to AUX.


ignore me. i have problems reading sometimes :oops:

Hi. I have an iPod, and I took it on a loooong road trip this past September, expecting to entertain my mother with all kinds of tunes. I had a jack that seemed like the right one, but when I connected it up, I only got one track (like Aretha without any backup). Mom didn't like the four CDs I happened to have with me...

Never had tunes on the trip, but when I got home, I went to a stereo specialty store and got a jack that LOOKED the same, but wasn't. It was stereo to stereo. Hooked it up with that and all was and continues to be well. Might this be your issue? btw, the fancy-dancy new jack cost all of five bucks.

Update:

Well, I tried everything suggested but no luck with the El Cheapo-brand walkman. So I went out and bought another one (a sony on sale for a whopping $10). Plugged it in, and Bingo..works just fine. I guess I'll have to return the other sometime well after New Year.

Thanks again for the help.

Corey

Sometimes we really do get what we pay for! Glad you got it working! :grin:

The first thing that came to my mind was that the walkman only had a mono output. This can sometimes mess with things when you try to plug a stereo cord into a mono socket. But since you got the second morgage on the house and went with the higher priced one and all is well, drive careful and have a great time on your road trip.