PC-CD DRIVE to CAR STEREO PLAYER

I have an unused CD-drive I HAVE Speakers.What else do I need to convert my pc cd drive into a stand alone app.

 

A PC.

 

Hey guys,
I found this on another forum.http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread/t-12106.html

BEGINING QUOTE

Ilianh
I have this 52x LG pc cd drive, any ideas how could it be converted to a standalone cd reader? if possible..
Ilianh
I found what probably is a dac nearby the headphones out.

Its a SO8 package and its written 3543 1t65 or ( IT65) on it.

anyone heard of this?

anyway, the drive has digital out, what if I use a external DAC? anyone think its possible?
omar
Hi
I have an experience of using the CDROM to be the transport, actually I'm using this tranport now.
The most important thing is that your CDROM must have a "PLAY"
key on the front panel at least, or you have to build a controller of it.

Second, you need a power supply to connect to the CDROM, the easiest way is using a PC power supply, but my suggestion is that build a power supply(12V and 5V) for it by LM317 or 7805.

Third, if you want to get high quality sound, using the digital out(2-pin) instead of earphone plug or analog output(4-pin). But it means you need a DAC.
AMT-freak
A little µC is advisable for controlling the drive via the IDE port, not only to provide basic functions such as skip, search, pause etc., but also to setup the drive not to spin up the CD to 52x speed - you want a quiet environment to listen to music.

I've bought a book on the IDE interface to figure out an easy way how to do this with an ATMEL controller. I'lm limited in time at the moment, but I'll post software and hardware when I'm done.

The digital out at the back of most CD-ROM drives (never seen those at DVD-drives, though) is S/PDIF format, but at TTL level. It can be converted to standard S/PDIF easily. There have been circuits on the forum.
Ilianh
thx for the replies.
Yhea, I'll make a DAC
( the only problem for now is the price of the ics.. but..I'll figure out a way to get em)

Yhea, I have no problem making a psu, got the parts here, and the cdrom drive has a play/skip and stop button.
I'll make some kind of remote control too.

The part where I lack knowledge is as AMT-freak stated, the ide interfacing, to force the player not to spin at 52x all the time cuz its really loud, and to have other functions too
(maybe track name? I have some exprerience controlling small lcds via Paralell port maybe that could be possible?)

I can make a solid box for it.. using like thick aluminium or thick acrylic.

for now the problem is all the interfacing.
sangram
I believe when a CD-ROM is playing back an audio CD, it defaults to 1x speed (unless the software requests higher speed, such as for audio extraction) anyway?
Ilianh
This one spins preety fast :\

anyway, makes alot of noise for sure.. I'll try installing is on some very thik plate of something... maybe acrylic (cheap)
Oscar
quote:
Originally posted by Ilianh
I found what probably is a dac nearby the headphones out.

Stay clear of those built-in DACs. They are no good for hifi. Use the S/PDIF instead signal and connect it to a decent DAC. There are lots of designs on the forum and around the web. Have a look at the non-oversampling designs, they are really simple and, according to some, sound great.
Circlotron
quote:
Originally posted by sangram
I believe when a CD-ROM is playing back an audio CD, it defaults to 1x speed
I use a dvd player for playing my audio cd's and it plays them at about 2500 rpm. It must read, wait, read, wait, etc.
Ilianh
quote:
I use a dvd player for playing my audio cd's and it plays them at about 2500 rpm. It must read, wait, read, wait, etc.

I've seen pc apps that force your cd drive to work like at any speed you choose, so it should be possible to force it at 1x or 2x.

But I really suck on that side :|

Any recomendation for a decent dac? (not too expensive stuff (samples?))


END OF QUOTE

The question is will it work?

love kadavill

 

i doubt cdrom spinning when playing a cd will really annoy you at all. so it should work.... um... yeah. you'll need a power resistor, though, for the 5v connection on the cdrom power connector. but yeah, sounds like it would work.

as for the da converter (even though it's not your question), it probably doesn't matter at all, since most car stereo systems sound horrible anyway. if you're lucky enough to have a good sounding one, then you can probably get away with a usb dac or something similar, although the cheapest you can get it is $150 used. the best way improve sound is by replacing the opamp with something more decent, like an ad8620. that should be plenty sufficient.

oh, and you never know if it'll work until you try it always worth a shot, you know.

 

If i dont get th dac,will it work with analog output?
Then maybe later I can add the DAC?

 

it'll be fine without the dac. but if you're willing to unsolder and solder 8 legs of a small chip, then you can improve the audio a bit for a small price.

anyway, to get audio out, i recommend you use the 4 pin audio out on the back of the cdrom (it's right next to the ide connector). it shoudl be cleaner than the headphone out signal of the cdrom drive.

 

Couple of question:
1:Will I be able to play MP3.If not what will I be able to.
2:Will I be able to search,skip,forward etc.

Also:What do you call the signal that is sent from the drive to the mb.?How does this RAW stream of data convert into music using our setup?

 

1: not without a computer
2: if you have the right buttons that were mentioned in the other post

yes, you call that the RAW signal. the computer interprets that information into PCM. the music program then sends the PCM signal to the sound card, which then goes through the DSP (the emu10k2 for the audigy series), then to the DAC, then it goes through buffers and an opamp until it finally reaches your line out.