Has anyone actually tried the SiK imp?

There have been many posts -with pictures- regarding the SiK Imp, before the "forum crash" happened. People have liked it very much! Apart from the amount of cables&connectors you'll need to hide in your car, it works as advertised...
Ground loop problem seems to occur on an individual base, regardless of the brand of the car, the head unit or the car charger with line out. Most people were able to get rid of it using a ground loop isolator from Radioshack.
Belkin is not an absolute crap by the way... I used it and then switched to Monster iCharger. In my setup, the lineout level was much lower than the radio and the CD. I have an AUX level function on my head unit, where I could make up for the difference by increasing it stepwise. In a setup without this function, Belkin's volume control may come in handy...
Good luck with your order and install.

Fortunately Volki, my Clarion head unit has a sensitivity adjustment on the aux line in, so I should be able to set it to a level with higher gain to accomodate the lack of impedance control on the SiK. You mention that you use the Monster - does anyone have an opion on which is better, SiK or Monster? For speekez, I was wondering the same thing - will the SiK or the Monster work with an iSkin case? Thank you for any replies...

Hey speekez,

Impedance is resistance. Any volume control is esentially a variable resister, allowing you to vary the ammount of obstruction placed on the flow of energy. Both the monster and the SiK provide a straightforward line out, without allowing you to vary the resistance.

To quote someone who knows more about this than I do, here's what M.S. posted in another thread back in December:

"Line out" merely means that the signal is nominally 1 volt P-P. It often implies a fixed level, although there are frequently adjustments available. There is almost always an amplifier present, even if it's just a buffer amp provided to give the correct source impedence, which is typically several hundred ohms, intended to drive a relatively high impedence ("line in", typically 10K-50K ohms impedence).

A power amplifier, OTOH, is designed to drive a low impedence load, usually less than 10 ohms for speakers, and less than 100 ohms for headphones.

The Belkin does not provide power amplification, but merely a buffer amp and level control to allow matching to a wider range of line inputs. It does in fact provide a true line out."

So, there it is - it may be a bit technical, but I hope it answers your question. As for the dock connectors fitting the iSkin opening, I am not sure because I have not acquired either my car charger or iSkin yet. In fact, my iPod is still on its way - I was just trying to obtain some info and get everything ready to go before it arrived. But about the iSkin opening, it's my understanding that the iSkin is made of just plastic, so would it not be possible to take an exacto knife to it and cut some slits to accomdate it? Or maybe make the hole bigger? If someone could posit an answer to this I would be grateful. Good luck, speekez...:cool:

homestar -- that's for the background info. ;)

rrrad -- since you actually have the Sik cable in possession, could you tell me if the size of the dock connector on the Sik cable is the same size (height/width) as the dock connector on the standard Apple cable that comes with Ipod. If not, is it smaller? Larger?

that will help me greatly!
thanks

rrrad

thanks for the info. it was very helpful and I ordered one tonight :)