Hi Ridax:

I'm not sure that I like the idea of gutting a B&O to put an Ipod inside? The question in my mind is is this really beneficial? Why can't you have the IPOD hidden away much as you would a CD changer? I'd only do this IF the changers were reversible!

But here's an idea.....

I think if you could put an Ipod Touch inside the cassette bay of the 9500 this could be interesting. It could lay flat and unobstructed with the door. It would only be worth doing if we could interface the tape deck controls with the 9500 touch panel.

Derek 

I guess the taste is different and I like the look of the iPod as well as the B&O system.  Different, but both stylish in my opinion.  I don't need to have the iPod visible necessarily, but I would want it to be easily dockable/removable and putting it down into a cassette compartment and connecting the dock connector at the same time, doesn't sound like an easy physical operation.  would just like to put it down somewhere or push it in somewhere, in one move, not everytime working with fitting it into the equipment.

There is a lot of older B&O equipment that is broken or not so useful anymore,  so gutting a B&O item as you say, wouldn't feel that hard to me.

Well in the case of the 9500.... the thought would be that it IPOD would not be portable.

You'd slide the cassette panel open and use it to access the IPOD when necessary. If it is to be a dockable/removable solution, I'm not sure that there is a good B&O unit that would lend it self to this... It would just serve as a  fancy drawer. For example say if you were to gut your Becord 7000 tape deck just so that you would have room to put an ipod in it. You'd slide the drawer out, make the connection, put the ipod flat and close the door. Where's the fun/novelty in that?

If the Ipod Touch could be made to operate under a piece of glass..... there might be something for say the 1600 system. You'd put the Ipod under the wedged glass panel and control it by touching the glass on top. But the ipod would be permanently integrated. The idea here is that you'd gut the tuner section have a big LCD panel underneath the glass that would come to life once the unit powers on; go away into blackness once powered off.

You are right..... they are both stylish in their own right; but probably less so as a Frankenstein product :)

Not to be negative at all about your efforts....just convince me that at the end of the day it looks/functions better!  

About the best aesthetic effort that I've seen is the B&O Mac Mod.

Lets keep brainstorming!

Derek

The point is I want to have a docking station for the iPod that is better integrated (physically) than the standard iPod dock.  As it is now, the iPod dock is on top of the Beogram 7000 (record player).  It is neither practical nor attractive.  Let's say you had a unit looking and working llike the Beogram CD 7000 instead.  You push the panel and out comes a shelf with an iPod cradle and you put your iPod down there and the shelf would refuse to withdraw as long as an iPod is docked there.

Well, maybe I should gut the Beocord 7000 and just disable the drawer motor while the iPod is there....

I appreciate you not liking your Ipod resting on top of your beogram. I'm not sure that such a radical modification makes sense for what you want to achieve... seems like a bit of an extreme sacrifice.

But if a cool drawer is what you want....... the Ipod touch is probably more suitable because you can put it on its side. You can create a collapsible bracket for the ipod to rest on. When the drawer opens the bracket folds up (ie like the tray in the CDX) and the Ipod folds up at an angle facing you. When the drawer goes in, the bracket collapses allowing the ipod to lie flat and the drawer to close.

What would the sacrifice be?  A Beocord 5500/6500/7000 doesn't cost much these days, if you find a separate one, you can get it for £39 or something...  That's the only sacrifice there is and some hours of hardware hacking (if that would be sacrifice).

There is not so much point with the iPod touch I think, as I believe the connector is still at the short end.

 But actually I think you all miss the point...  the point is that there has been OTHERS discussing this in the past and I just point out that now I happen to have a PCB that would fit quite well for this purpose, if someone wanted to do it, as it both provide the iPod connector, the wires for powering the iPod, the audio signals and the chip that can datalink/IR the iPod.

 I even don't use my iPod that much.  Haven't used it for several months, except for development testing.  Didn't buy it to use it, to start with...  But now, I guess I have to do that B&O iPod rebuild as I started this discussion.... 😉

Philosophically I'm opposed to "gutting" for lack of a better term otherwise perfectly functioning pieces of equipment to harvest a case.. (Unless of course it can not be reasonably repaired) This is my personal opinion; other people feel otherwise and I don't have a problem with this other than maybe cringing 😕.

As for your initiatives at providing a viable interface for the iPOD to the datalink/IR, that is simply fantastic. I may even buy one! There are two things older B&Os need to help them maintain relevance in the digital multimedia age: 1) more source inputs 2) control/access to a high capacity music storage device and with your interfaces you've provided that! Very cool!

Help me understand though, functionally is there a difference between this board and your modified IPOD dock?

Derek 

My view on "gutting" a B&O piece is that better gut it and reuse it for something than just store it in the garage and let it rust there.  I know most of us here like B&O pieces, but even so, we can't use possibly use, display or salvage all B&O equipment.  There will always be B&O equipment that are not appriciated by its owner anymore.  So better get one and gut it and put it in use instead.

 As for the PCB I have made, it is no principal difference in the solution to the modified iPod dock.  But this PCB is much better suited for those that want to do their own solution in some way, rather than have a ready modified Apple dock.  It has easily accesible solder terminals for DC power, Line Out signal, ready made position for the chip and IR receiver logic.  Who want to gut an Apple dock just to get the PCB, that would also need a lot of modifications to fit the purpose?