Hidden Amplifier

[paulrockliffe]

I have a classic Mini that I'd like to add an amplifier to, what I'm after is essentially an amplifier that takes either bluetooth from my phone, or wired from my Phones USB cable. Not fussed either way on that as my phone will be plugged in to charge and the wiring isn't a problem.

I want to be able to control the volume with a remote mounted dial, ie a variable resistor,or whatever.

I could be persuaded to add something like this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wireless-Bluetooth-Stee...

to give a bit more control, but it isn't essential.

I'm not sure exactly what I need to be able to control the volume and I'm not sure what to search for as it's not really a normal setup. Can anyone offer advice on how to control the volume of the hidden amp, whether I should look to mimic what a head-unit would usually do with a slave amplifier, or whether I'm looking for something else?

Cheers

[sausage76]

The amplifier will have to be connected via a headunit and it is that which controls the volume and sounds output.

So get a headunit you can control with the phone, and then the volume and you'll be fine.

[gmaz]

How about this with a remote.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nobsound-168Plus-Bluetoot...



I can't work out how that steering wheel controller works between your phone and the bt amplifier. Can your phone connect to both at the same time?

If so then perhaps this

https://www.amazon.co.uk/TOOGOO-Multimedia-Bluetoo...

and this

https://www.amazon.co.uk/TTMOW-Amplifier-Bluetooth...

Edited by gmaz on Wednesday 10th April 14:05

[paulrockliffe]

sausage76 said:

The amplifier will have to be connected via a headunit and it is that which controls the volume and sounds output.

So get a headunit you can control with the phone, and then the volume and you'll be fine.

I know that's the normal way of doing it, but I don't want a head unit. I guess my question was more like how does the headunit control the volume and can I replicate that with a variable resistor or similar?

I don't want to control the volume with my phone because it's a pain in the backside to use the buttons when the phone is mounted on the dash. All I really need is a quick dial I can turn for volume.

There are a few bodges I can do to get there, such as amps like the one linked to below your post, but that would involve opening it up and getting the soldering iron out to remove the volume control, then putting it on a wire. I'd prefer not to do something like that if all I needed to do is add a variable resistor across two of the pins of a slave amplifier.

[paulrockliffe]

gmaz said:

How about this with a remote.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nobsound-168Plus-Bluetoot...



I can't work out how that steering wheel controller works between your phone and the bt amplifier. Can your phone connect to both at the same time?

If so then perhaps this

https://www.amazon.co.uk/TOOGOO-Multimedia-Bluetoo...

and this

https://www.amazon.co.uk/TTMOW-Amplifier-Bluetooth...

Edited by gmaz on Wednesday 10th April 14:05

If you have BT 4 (I think) on your phone, then yes it'll talk to multiple devices at once. I think any phone less than 3 years old will do that, so how that remote works is that it talks to the phone and doesn't interact with anything else. It's just acting as a remote control for the phone.

Those amplifiers are on my radar, but I think I can get better value for money from a standalone amplifier. I'm going to have the phone plugged in to charge anyway, so I'm happy to use a wired connection (from USB) to get the sound to the amplifier. Just not sure how to do that exactly.

[gmaz]

OK, maybe this for external bluetooth

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bluetooth-TaoTronics-Hand...

There's not much choice if you want an amp with built-in USB socket for charging and music. The amp in the first link I posted has USB, but I expect that will only work with mp3 files on a USB memory stick.

[paulrockliffe]

Thanks, I was looking at whether it's possible to rewire the the USB cable so that it's getting 12v to charge the phone, then taking the sound output to the amplifier on the normal analogue connections rather than USB. Does USB carry audio over analogue?

[NDA]

This is not a solution to the original question - but it may spark a new route.

I bought one of these and use it very successfully in a car with no bluetooth. It could find a role in your application.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/JUSTOP-Bluetooth-Receiver...

[paulrockliffe]

NDA said:

This is not a solution to the original question - but it may spark a new route.

I bought one of these and use it very successfully in a car with no bluetooth. It could find a role in your application.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/JUSTOP-Bluetooth-Receiver...

Yeah, there's a few options that would let me add bluetooth to an amplifier that doesn't have it and that might be a simpler approach than trying to mess with wires, especially if,as I suspect I need a DAC to get the sound out of the USB cable.

I actually have something like that, but with call controls and a clip on it that looks like an iPod Nano, I used to use it in the gym so I could use the treadmill without my earbuds falling out.