Ok I am currently experiencing a frustrating problem with the stereo in my S2000. When I bought it the previous owner had installed a aftermarket sony deck and also had added speakers behind the seats. I have always felt like it sounds fine, especially compared to an s2000 without speakers behind the seats, or my dads miata which is impossible to hear anything in when the top is down.

Ok onto the problem. The Sony deck has an aux input on the front and I have used it with my ipod nano, shuffle, and also my original Motorola Droid. I am using some kind of generic audio cable i got at fred meyer which is 6 feet long (dont ask why i bought that instead of the 3 foot one i really wasnt thinking) I have never had any sound quality problems with either of my ipods or my droid (which i used pandora on). However I recently upgraded to an iphone 4S and when i use pandora or youtube on my iphone and play it through the headphone jack i get this really bad feedback noise. I can still hear my music but as I turn up the volume the kinda airy sound in the background gets worse. I have tried different combos of volume levels on both my phone and my deck and it doesnt improve. It happens once i start music playing, i can hear it as its playing or when its paused as well. If i unplug the cord and plug it back in the sound doesn't return until i hit play. I tried a different cord I use in a different car and it wasnt any better.

I have searched the web for answers and the only thing that I have found is that the internal amp inside the iPhone is somehow interfering when i plug it into my deck. If anyone has any ideas that would be awesome, I eventually want to put a new deck in and use the digital connection for it but I would like to be able to use my pandora for now while driving because I am too busy to keep up my itunes and pandora is a great substitute for that.

Thanks

edit: just tried a few more things. I loaded music on my iphone, same result. also i played some music through the speakers in my shop and the feedback wasnt there, so it seems to just be a problem with my deck

 

It sounds like the problem is with the phone, not the deck.

Does it still work ok with another music source?

 

Doesn't sound like feedback but anyway...

Try getting audio through the dock connector and you can bypass the headphone amp. I always get audio via the dock connector. Also confirm that other sources still sound fine as posted above.

 

Sounds like my issue with my HTC EVO. I was under the impression it was the aux cable....I have bought 4 with the same result. I was then informed in my thread that the iPhone woukd sound tons better because it has a line out and not just the headphone Jack. I have yet to try it with a friends iPhone to confirm though. Sounds like you need to buy a deck with Bluetooth or a front usb slot to plug the iphone in.

 

feedback might not be the right term i realize now, i guess the best way to describe is just extra white noise coming from the speakers, kinda like a airy sound (wish I could describe it better)

I used my ipod nano last night and the problem didn't occur. I also used my Android phone with Pandora right up to the point where I switched to my iPhone and it was always fine. The problem occurs no matter what i use for the source of music from my iPhone (Pandora, youtube, itunes) Also when I plug my iPhone into some computer speakers i have in my shop the problem DOESN'T occur. I can only produce the noise when its my iPhone plugged into the deck in my car.

I want to upgrade to a newer deck so I can use the USB connection but I don't have the money right now.

I really appreciate all the help, I know its a weird problem that might be specific to my car stereo/phone combination


To summarize: iPhone works when connected to other speakers using the headphone output, and my normal iPod nano works fine in my car. Its only when I use my iphone in my car the noise occurs.

 

See if there are differences between the headphone jack you plug into your phones in the car, and the other headphone jacks you use without issue.
I have one headphone jack that I have to wiggle just a small bit out of the female connector to get sound out of. I am wondering if the plug is crossing the connectors when you plug in the iphone.

 

So the problem is the iPhone - so much for Apple quality!

As operator suggests, it's probably some sort of crosstalk on the connector. As the "Headphone" jack on the iPhone also caters for a microphone (it's a 4-pin rather than a normal 3-pin plug), it's probably something to do with that.