This is a reposting of my aux input adapter for the Forester XT. (and only the XT) Also works for all radios with round 13pin mini-din input on rear.

I just finished my iPod adapter and plugged it in...wow what a difference over the FM adapter! I made it myself in around half an hour, then it took about fifteen minutes to install.

The list of items needed are as follows:
1. 13pin mimi din plug ($9.94) http://www.connectworld.net/cgi-bin/iec/DN13M
http://img1.imageshack.us/img1/5672/DN13M.jpg
2. 3ft of patch cord with 1/8" male stereo headphone jack on one end (a patch cord can be bought from Radio Shack and one end cut off; $4.99) http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&product%5Fid=42-2387
http://img1.imageshack.us/img1/9823/42-2387.jpg
3. OPTIONAL - Belkin Auto Kit for iPod w/ Dock Connector ($49.99...can get cheaper if you shop around online, ie Amazon is $31.99) http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=&Product_Id=149006
http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/1779/STD1_F8V7058-APL.jpg
4. A CD with a continuous blank track. I downloaded John Cage's song 4'33" 16 times on a CD (for those of you who don't know John Cage is famous for recording four minutes of perfect silence and calling it a song!).

My total cost was around $50 for the whole thing but you can do it cheaper if you don't get the Belkin. It just makes it a cleaner installation and charges it to boot.

To make the adapter:
1. Cut one end off the patch cord and make the length around 3ft.
2. The phono patch cord has 4 wires in it (2 center wires and 2 wrapped around the outside). Solder each of the 4 wires to the 13pin plug terminals according to the diagram on the thread above. That would be terminals 1,2,3,4 for R+,R-,L+,L- respectively.
3. Reassemble the plug and you're done...that's it!

To install the darned thing:
1. Carefully pull up on the rear edge of the plastic shifter boot housing. It will release from the center console revealing 2 screws on the bottom edge of the center panel.
2. Unscrew those 2 screws and set aside.
3. Now the hard part, you have to use a flat screwdriver and pry the center panel out. The Suabru instructions call for putting thick tape around the edge of the center panel on the dash itself to prevent maring. Pull gently on the lower edge of the center panel while carefully prying around the edge with the screwdriver. I found prying the screwdriver handle inwards worked best for me.
4. Unclip the 3 connectors behind the panel
5. Unscrew the 4 screws holding in the radio.
6. Pull out the radio and plug in your adapter.
7. Feed the adapter cord wherever you want it to go. I recomend through the center tunel to the storage container between the seats.
8. Reinstall everything in reverse order.
9. Plug in the optional Belkin adapter. Plug in the patch cord to the Belkin adapter.
10. Put your blank track CD in the changer.
DONE!!!

All I do now is play my blank CD, select the iPod songs I want, and the music comes out beautifully. Enjoy.

Took some pictures to show how it all turned out!

1. This shows the length of the patch cord I have left. It's extra long in case I want to use my Sonic Rio instead of the iPod.

2. With patch cable tucked in, also shows hole I drilled. Very clean.

3. The whole thing together

4. Lid closes right over cord without any problems. Belkin cord is also long enough to hit the dash if I want to get a iPod dash mount. To top it off, everything just drops into the center console when I leave the car so no one can steal it!

Just a thought. If you have the armrest extension you can cut the knock out in the bottom and thread the i-pods wire through there and keep the i-Pod in the top. Have a look here:

http://www.scoobymods.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2280

I've had some emails regarding engine noise and wanted to address them and follow up with a post.

I have recently had some emails regarding engine noise. This noise can be from only two sources (1) when the soldered connections are shorting against each other inside the connector and (2) when a ground loop is created by using the Belkin power adapter. Obviously checking your connections is the first step, but if that fails then the following article should help.

From Crutchfield;

If you have noise just when you are using a Portable (CD/MD/MP3) Deck, then the problem is most likely ground-related. Most portable players are connected to the head unit using either a cassette adapter, or through 'AUX IN' jack(s) on the front or rear of the head unit. The power for the portable is then obtained through a twelve-volt adapter that is plugged into the cigarette lighter.

The problem lies in the fact that using the cigarette lighter, which is using a different ground than the head unit, creates a ground loop between the two units. Test by unplugging the power converter from the portable, and then playing the portable through your head unit using the batteries of the portable for power. If this eliminates the noise, then you could change the ground location for either the cigarette lighter, or the receiver, so that they are both grounded to the exact same location.

A small wire connected between the radio's ground wire and the lighter's should kill this problem just fine.

WHY USE A SILENT CD?

I've had some questions regarding the function of the silent CD. It seems a bit strange to play a CD to get the input adapter to work, but in a moment it should make sense.

Why Subaru needed to put a changer input on the back of an in-dash changer is a total mystery to me, but there it is. This input has both changer controls and standard line-level inputs. By tapping into these audio inputs we can play our own music through the radio. There's only one downside to it...any music you play through the adapter plays at the same time as the radio (FM/AM, CD, or Weather). Both things can be heard simultaneously. Since no one has learned how to trigger the radio into this "changer" mode, we have to figure out something else. Thus the silent CD!

If two things are playing at the same time, if you make one of them quiet, the end result is only one thing can be heard. Simply record a silent-tracked CD. Pop it into the in-dash changer and hit play. Now when you play your music through the adapter, it's all you hear. The result is crystal clear music from your external source.

HOW DO I RECORD A SILENT CD?

There are many ways of recording a silent CD. My latest, and most favorite, is using a free program called Audacity. Once installed, this is the procedure:

1. open PROJECT, then NEW STEREO TRACK.
2. now GENERATE, then SILENCE. This gives you 30 seconds of silence.
3. hold down the left mouse key and select this 30sec track with your mouse.
4. now cut and paste this to the end of your selection.
5. do this until you have the entire length of your blank cd filled (70, 75, 80min).
6. go to FILE and EXPORT AS WAV to save it to your computer.
7. drag and drop it to your CD burner and burn it.

That's it!

With a full-length silent tracked CD, you can select repeat on the radio and it will turn over all by itself with only a slight pause. Have fun and good luck!!!

Update from James:

New and Improved Cable!

I just received an email from a friend regarding a pre-soldered cable he found online. We had to figure out what wires went where, but it turned out perfectly in the end! The #13D cable is available from Buxcomm (http://www.buxcomm.com/AFconnectors.htm - about halfway down the page) and retails for $5.90. It has a 6' multi-wire cable pre-soldered to all the connections and is color-coded.

They also offer a 1/8" Stereo Phono Plug for $0.85 just above the cable. (black)

If you don't want to solder anything, Radio Shack has a Solderless 1/8" Plug for $3.99! (gold)

Now you only have to solder 4 wires! The sequence is this:

1 - Connect the Brown (1) wire to the Phono Plug's "Right" pin
2 - The Orange (3) wire goes to the Phono's "Left" pin
3 - Then connect both Red (2) and Yellow (4) wires to the Phono Plug's "Ground".

CABLE/GROUND ROUTING

a. Unscrew the shifter knob, then pull up on the surrounding plastic panel to remove.

b. To pull the center console cover off (between seats) remove these 2 screws:

c. Then screws 1 and 2 (3 and 4 are for the center facia covering the radio) and pull up where marked (there are two press-fit clips underneath holding it in):

d. Lay console cover against driver's seat while running wires so you won't have to remove the parking brake handle. You can route your cable/ground wires along the right side of the center console without interfering with the parking brake:

GROUND WIRE (Center console lighter)

a. After removing the center console cover, the lighter's wires will be exposed (you can see my black iPod cable running up along side the lighter). Blue=positive (12v), Black=negative (ground):

b. Use a wire tap and connect your wire to the lighter's black (ground) wire:

c. Run your cable along the right side of the console to the radio.

d. Underneath the radio is the radio chassis ground (black w/yellow stripe). This ground connects back to the radio's primary ground wire (black w/red stripe) located in the main harness plug on the rear of the radio:

e. Using another wire tap, tie into this wire to complete your ground.

f. Optional: to really get a solid ground, remove the radio, unplug the main harness, and tap into the primary ground itself (black w/red stripe) instead of the chassis ground.

- James 11/15/04

This is just an additional picture that may help people attempting the AUX input mod for the FXT.

Here's the additional picture on how to wire up the 2.5mm Pin Plug.

http://www.eastbaysubaru.com/pics/Stereo_Pin_Plug.jpg

Radio Shack 1/8" Stereo Phone Plug
Part Number 274-284

It's a pack of two, so you can butcher the first one if need be :D

-Brian

Hey Peaty...I've had a couple of emails from people who needed help burning the silent CD track for my Forester Aux-Input/iPod Solution. Here is an update to my post:

I used Audacity on a Mac and burned with iTunes, so I can't really say if the procedure with Windows is the same, but I'll walk through it nonetheless:

1. Make sure you're using a plain-old CD-R, no DVD's or CD-RW's. I used a Verbatim Digital Vinyl/CD-R 80min/700MB disc because they look like little vinyl records! ;)

2. In Audacity 1.3.3:
a. open Audacity
b. a blank (Mono) workspace might open with the program, go ahead and close it
c. go to TRACKS, ADD NEW..., and STEREO TRACK
d. go to GENERATE and select SILENCE...
e. a time popup will appear, change the pull-down next to the time to hh:mm:ss
f. select the time of the CD-R you're burning to in hours and minutes
g. now you have to EXPORT (under the FILE menu)
h: name it whatever you want. Choose the File Format WAV, AIFF, AND OTHER UNCOMPRESSED TYPES
i: under the OPTIONS section, choose format WAV (MICROSOFT 16 BIT PCM) then OK, and SAVE

4. check the size and length of the exported recording, it has to fit on the CD-R (in my case 80min/700MB). If it doesn't, re-record with a shorter or longer track time, depending.

5. In iTunes 7.6.2:
a. make sure the Advanced Preference for Importing is set to WAV ENCODER and BURNING is set to AUDIO CD
b. go ahead and open the track using iTunes
c. make a NEW PLAYLIST and drag this song to it
d. now with the blank CD in the drive and this playlist selected, you should be able to see the BURN option on the bottom right of iTunes
e. now go ahead...BURN IT!

That's it, you're done.

A couple of key points: the Subaru radio won't read any compressed file types. You can't drag-and-drop files on to the CD and use the system to burn it. You have to use iTunes, Windows Media Player, or any other AUDIO (not data) recording program. And you absolutely MUST finalize your burn session (unless your computer automatically does it like iTunes does). Have fun