Ipod, MP3 and satellite radio stereo music in the cockpit is finished and working!!
I’ve been wanting a stereo music input in my RV-3 for awhile now. I had satellite XM/Sirius radio in my previous aircraft and love listening to my MP3 collection while flying. A few months ago I did the research and selected a product. The RV-3 is a little different than a more typical aircraft as it seats one person. This means that it does not have an intercom which typically includes a music input. This means that the communication radio is wired directly to the headset jacks/sockets. I decided on the ASX-2B from VX Aviation.
The ASX-2B is a stereo headphone music amplifier that provides impedance matching and automatic muting of the music when radio communications are occurring. It also provides a cell phone interface and is completely contained in a small DB-25 connector – VERY KEWL!!
The installation is very simple if you don’t mind a little wiring. However; for some reason, I could not get it to work. Part of the issue is that I kept working on it in short spurts – 30 minutes here, 20 minutes there. Today, that all changed.
Given the difficult working conditions that kneeling on a wing and leaning over the side of an aircraft sticking ones head into the cockpit presents, I decided my best bet was a bench test. I gathered the necessary components and put it all together on my bench. It worked great! With that info in hand, I moved to the airplane.
Its been really hot here in New Mexico lately with temps in the high 90’s so plenty of sweat was involved in the install. Happily though, my couple hours of labor were totally successful. I donned my headset, fired up the MP3 player, turned on the master switch, and fired up the radio. The wonderful sounds of Sting in stereo filled my head and the occasional radio transmission muted that music and allowed me to hear the transmission just like normal.
STEREO IS VERY SWEET!
So far, I am really pleased with the ASX-2B. I have not connected the cell phone interface yet but will do that when some more time presents itself.
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