Hi all. Just got my 2007 G35 a few days ago and I'm loving it. Only problem I'm having so far is with the aux input of the upgraded stereo system paired with my Creative Vision:M MP3 player. When both the player and the stereo are full volume there is barely enough volume to hear the songs at freeway speeds. The Vision:M has always had a low output level but I've never run into a car stereo that didn't have enough gain to compensate. Anyone know if there is some hidden feature in the upgraded stereo system to increase the input level of the Aux input? Any ideas would be welcome.
Cheers,
-Dave

 

Stupid question, but do you have the plugs pushed in all the way?

 

OK, I just sorted out the problem - it was a cable issue. The 2 cables I originally tested my MP3 player with had a significantly lower output than another 2 that I found from searching around the house today. I wasn't expecting such a difference in output volume between cables, maybe a bit, but not as dramatically different as it was. I guess that goes to show you how important it is to match a cable's impedance with the particular low output component your interfacing it with. Sorry for the posting without researching it further.

 

That's actually very good to know. What's a good brand of cables?

 

The cables I used today to test the MP3 player were just garden variety types and they did the job OK, but I can say that I have had good luck with Monster Cable in this application. It's a bit overpriced but I like the build quality of the cable I bought for my other vehicle's aux input (I didn't try it in the G35 yet because it's a hassle to disconnect from my other car's head unit and I didn't have the time this morning). I will be disconnecting the Monster Cable from my other car later today to check it with this setup and make sure it gives me enough output. If all works well I will be visiting my local Frys today to pick up another one for the main reason that it seems to hold up nicely for this situation where you are constantly plugging and unplugging the device. My other car's Monster is holding up quite nicely after a year's worth of abuse.

Cheers,
-Dave

 

I've noticed that the output from my iPod is also fairly low. Maybe I'll try some better cables.

 

I use a monster cable in my current car and it works great. It's well constructed and has held up very well through a couple years of abuse. It's true they are expensive but I still think they are worth it. Then again I paid less than half price, I bought it when I still worked for Future Shop Can you say gross margin?

 

I think my friend at Best Buy told me there's a 9-10x markup or something, so Monster Cables that cost $5 go for $50 at stores. If you plan on moving your cables around a lot, def. get something heavy duty like Monster Cables because they're incredibly well built. At home, however, I find that cheaper (but still nice quality) cables do the same trick for home electronics.

 

You must have had a cable issue where it wasn't making mating up properly and making good contact. No way you're going to get that much difference in gain from a short piece of wire.

 

Staff price for me (a bestbuy Canada employee) was cost + 10% and monster cables would usually end up costing about half, there's about 100 points of GM in monster. That's why they push it so hard.

 

Hey guys, check out http://www.monoprice.com - they're amazing, I use them for all my HDMI stuff because it's so incredibly cheap. The analog gear they sell is also top-notch nine times out of ten (depending on exactly what you order), and they generally have specifications hanging around out the wazoo.

Happy hunting!

 

+1 for monoprice...I use them and they're awesome.

 

Really? I'm using monster cables with my Nano, and the volume is huge; guess maybe it is the cables.

Stupid question, but have you checked your iPod volume?

 

Use an Ipod dock with a line out. It gives you a much better signal thru the 16 bit port than from the volume control.

 

I agree that at the outset it seems a bit odd there would be such a large discrepancy in output volume with a single 3' cable. However, the 2 cables that had lower output were fairly new and the tips had the exact same configuration as the other 2 cables that had produced a much higher level to the head unit.

Interesting side note that I went online to the Creative tech forum where many were complaining about the low output of both the line out and the headphone out of the Vision:M, which is what I have. One of the Creative tech guys said to fix the problem you needed to buy one of their cables and the output would get hotter. Sounded a bit iffy to me, but then this happened to me today when experimenting. I'll have to investigate this further and ask some of my other tech buddies to see what the reason for this might be. I suspected impedance issues, but I really don't have much of a clue about this one yet.