Mp3 Playback

I have noticed a lot of threads from members wanting to connect a MP3 player to their 5000 RDS radio cassette,there is an easy and cheap way to do this (approx £1.50p) I was considering a cd changer,but decided that it would limit me to the number of music files,where a MP3 Player would give me the option of 100s.So take the top cover off the head unit,you will see the tape pick up and 3 wires (screened) going to the circuit board.You will need a 3.5mm stereo jack socket and a suitable lengh of cable,also an old cassette stripped of all the tape.All you need to do is splice the new wires into the existing ones eg.,red=right,white=left,black=screen.I decided to make it neater by removing the front and mounting the socket on it(6.6mm hole)when conecting the wires to the socket,the tip of the 3.5mm plug is white/left and the middle is red/right.That's it! The empty cassette is the switch,when inserted it will turn the tuner off the same as if you had inserted a normal cassette.Volume can be controlled either by the head unit or the MP3player,I find that the best balance is MP3 volume about 75%,and adjust volume,bass,treble etc.,via the radio.Sound quality is excellent.there is enough power from the MP3 to drive the pre-amp on the board,and the amplification is excellent.Obviously you will need a 3.5mm jack to jack plug to connect your player and it should be long enough for you to change tracks if you need to.The other alternative would be to just feed the wire through the front of the set and connect it to the pick up (not so neat)but works just as well. Good luck.

I have had to edit this information because I have discovered a problem that was previously unknown.It appears that the 5000RDS has more than one type of pick up head,one is a normal stereo head with two channels,this is easily modified to enable MP3 playback and the sound quality is excellent.The other is a four channel quad-stereo unit,this will also work but there is considerable sound distortion,so I will have to research this to find the best place to introduce the signal.If you have the 2 channel set,then there is no problem.