Alpine CDA-9851 - sheer bliss!

[pInK]

Last night we bid farewell to 2005 along with my stock car stereo and rear deck speakers, replacing them with an Alpine CDA-9851, iPod adapter and Kenwood KFC-6879ie 6 x 8s.

Extracted were a pair of 10-year-old Kenwood 6x9s with magnets the size of a fist, weighing in at about five pounds apiece. They still pound admirably and I may use them elsewhere in the car, but were precariously suspended and simply had to be removed before some awful electrical mishap took place.

The replacements were smaller and rated to handle less wattage, so their initial sound seemed soft. I wasn't able to crank the volume to the astral levels of their predecessors without distortion. However, they fit into the 6x8 openings without excessive jerry-rigging, and that was the point.

It was only 6 pm, so we forged ahead with the stereo installation, and the difference in those speakers pre- and post-Alpine was INCREDIBLE! Even the music coming from the crummy stock door speakers was mind-blowingly accurate and powerful. It's as if they were waiting for high quality input before showing their true colors.

There's a lot to this head unit, but we were eager to road test and grabbed my sweetie's nano. As New Year's fireworks burst on either side of us, we cruised the streets surrounded by the most amazing deep bass and sharp treble we'd heard in years. Not since my last Alpine tape deck - circa 1995 - had I been immersed in sound that flawless. Ten years is too long to wait for great music.

I'd loaded it up with everything from jazz to Ozzy to find the weak spots, but the system met our challenges beautifully. The sound quality was indistinguishable when we switched to CD as source. It was too dark to read the manual, so I rode shotgun, merrily pressing buttons to see what they did.

Today, I over-tweaked the bass and treble and somehow wound up with fuzzy muddy mush, but the "reset" button came to the rescue! Live and learn. :) Now I'm programming in the radio station titles. It displays CD song titles and AAC tags with two types of scrolling.

Next week the door panels are getting treated to new Kenwood KFC-1389ie speakers. I'm still experimenting with locations for the iPod. We hid the adapter inside the dash under the head unit - a fabulously stealthy location. Since the cable exits under the glovebox with lots to spare and the dash is all reassembled, I'm free to take my time choosing a permanent mounting spot anywhere nearby, either hidden or within reach.

I lost my first treasured Alpine to thieves, so have no need to flaunt this setup. As nice as it sounds, once the faceplate's removed, there is no indication of anything Alpine, Kenwood or iPod-related. I wanted it to look as if nothing special was done to the interior, so people will be more likely to leave it alone.

So that's how I spent New Year's Eve - playing with noisemakers.

[pInK]

Followup - of course I've found things that bug me by now... looking for an artist or song in the middle of the alphabet requires scrolling thru all the others (unless I find out otherwise). Other iLounge posters did already warn about that though! :) Also the button colors advertised in some shops as adjustable are not, so I hope you like blue. S'okay with me, though I'd have preferred red.

It sounds so good that I've gotten the urge to upgrade my whole doggone sound system. Xmas gift certificates all went toward an Alpine 40W/4 channel amp to power the 6x8s and subs.

I'm jerry-rigging a subwoofer box because my old 8" Phase Linear subs were "infinite baffle," meaning they should just hang free from the back deck, and nobody seems to sell 8" enclosures anymore anyway. Well, I'm not chopping up the metal in the back of my car to mount subs... boxes are way too expensive anyway and building one is a pain, so I went to Wal-Mart and got a wooden three-compartment storage closet accessory with a door. It looks like it will fit perfectly. Ha! We'll see...

[Nutmeg7]

Originally posted by pInK
[B]Followup - of course I've found things that bug me by now... looking for an artist or song in the middle of the alphabet requires scrolling thru all the others (unless I find out otherwise).
Yeah, it is annoyingly slow. If it really bugs you, & you bought it somewhere where you can return it (i.e. Crutchfield, Best Buy, Circuit City) you could take it back & get the new CDA-9856 (due out in a month). It'll save you a big chunk o' change, since you don't need the KCA-420i box anymore to connect the iPod....

[pInK]

Originally posted by Nutmeg7
Yeah, it is annoyingly slow. If it really bugs you, & you bought it somewhere where you can return it (i.e. Crutchfield, Best Buy, Circuit City) you could take it back & get the new CDA-9856 (due out in a month). It'll save you a big chunk o' change, since you don't need the KCA-420i box anymore to connect the iPod....

It's from Crutchfield but whether the scrolling speed is annoying enough to warrant redoing the whole install is undecided. I didn't spend anything to have it put in, but still, time is $. If the upgrade was something totally stunning and fantastic (as the difference between the 4G and 5G iPod was), that'd be different; I immediately traded in my 4G when that happened. Like voice command scrolling. No, wait - telepathic scrolling! I'd jump on that in a heartbeat. :)

[krabby5]

I just replaced my stock with a head unit with aux in's and hooked up my iPod via the Blitzsafe Universal adaptor...

sounds ok until you go on the highway....not loud enough

then after I played a cd, I realized how much worse the iPod sounded in the car

you must have some magical device if your iPod sounds as good as a cd in the car...

Don't get me wrong, with my Sennheiser head phones the iPod sounds rediculously good, but in the car....it's just ok

cheers

[Nutmeg7]

Originally posted by pInK
If the upgrade was something totally stunning and fantastic (as the difference between the 4G and 5G iPod was), that'd be different
I think the IVA-W200 looks pretty wicked cool, but then again, I can't justify spending $1100 on a head unit....
alpinefullspeed.com/iPodFullSpeed/seeItWork.html

Originally posted by krabby5
I just replaced my stock with a head unit with aux in's and hooked up my iPod via the Blitzsafe Universal adaptor...

sounds ok until you go on the highway....not loud enough

then after I played a cd, I realized how much worse the iPod sounded in the car

you must have some magical device if your iPod sounds as good as a cd in the car...

The Alpine connection is a digital connection, so there's much less loss of sound quality & volume than there is with analog connections. I'm assuming the Blitzsafe is analog? My husband has a very similar system to pInK's: a CDA-9855 with the same Alpine iPod adapter in a 2004 Toyota Matrix (same power as pInK's but with a few more audio processing features & a different screen). We drove from Delaware to Boston in heavy rain/snow & could hear fine without having to crank the volume particularly high....

[krabby5]

How does the iPod hooked up to the Alpine if you don't use aux inputs?

[pInK]

Originally posted by Nutmeg7
I think the IVA-W200 looks pretty wicked cool, but then again, I can't justify spending $1100 on a head unit....
alpinefullspeed.com/iPodFullSpeed/seeItWork.html


The Alpine connection is a digital connection, so there's much less loss of sound quality & volume than there is with analog connections. I'm assuming the Blitzsafe is analog? My husband has a very similar system to pInK's: a CDA-9855 with the same Alpine iPod adapter in a 2004 Toyota Matrix (same power as pInK's but with a few more audio processing features & a different screen). We drove from Delaware to Boston in heavy rain/snow & could hear fine without having to crank the volume particularly high....

Nutmeg7, I seriously almost got the 9855 - it's sweet! - but after making a list of other stuff that might need upgrading, had to put the extra $ toward the amp instead. My old one's lost somewhere in the attic and I don't feel like hunting for it; had pushed it to its limits so its probably burned out anyway... any excuse for a shiny new amp. ;)

The Matrix likely has less road noise and more interior padding than a Mustang, so yours probably sounds nicer than mine straight out of the box. It used to be fun just to roll down the windows and listen to the exhaust, but since I'd kind of like to hear some *music* over top of that, I'm going to end up lining my whole car with Dynamat (which will weigh my car down, necessitating more horsepower, which will make it louder - I can see this project never ending!)

krabby5, the Alpine system doesn't use the aux in but has a specific Ai-net plug in back that hooks up to the ipod adapter. The cable for the AI-net is heavier gauge than normal RCA patch cables - it's almost as thick as a PC power cord - so it might transmit more signal.

[TheBum]

Originally posted by Nutmeg7
The Alpine connection is a digital connection, so there's much less loss of sound quality & volume than there is with analog connections.

I'm 99.9% certain that this is not true. From the evidence I've been able to gather, the AiNet cable actually has an analog path through it as well as digital control lines. That, coupled with the fact that Apple is *very* protective of their Fairplay DRM and surely wouldn't license it to Alpine nor would they likely provide an un-DRM'ed digital stream (for Fairplay-protected tracks) coming out of the iPod makes me believe that the audio is analog.

To further back up that assertion, a couple of weeks ago I plugged my wife's new iPod nano into the adapter without peeling the the case completely clear of the nano. The sound came out very soft and distorted but the distortions were definitely analog in nature (not consistent with digital artifacts). Suspecting that the connector wasn't completely seated, I then peeled the case all the way clear of the bottom of the nano and plugged it in again. This time, it sounded as good as my regular iPod. If it had been a digital connection, the stream would have dropped out completely or at least been unrecognizable.

[krabby5]

I think a big problem with my iPod sound from the car is the fact that the road noise in my car is pretty bad. It's a 2001 Stratus R/T and road noise was a complaint in this model. When I'm going under 40 or so or stationary, the sound from the iPod is actually pretty decent..I use a Bliztsafe universal adaptor

Maybe I should look into dynamat...for the doors...

[pInK]

Originally posted by krabby5
I think a big problem with my iPod sound from the car is the fact that the road noise in my car is pretty bad. It's a 2001 Stratus R/T and road noise was a complaint in this model. When I'm going under 40 or so or stationary, the sound from the iPod is actually pretty decent..I use a Bliztsafe universal adaptor

Maybe I should look into dynamat...for the doors...

Could be worth a try... there was an article in which an entire Shelby Mustang was lined top to bottom with Dynamat - even the triangular side panels behind the windows. And all they were doing to the sound system was a speaker upgrade! From the way they totally plastered that car, it looked pretty essential.

A long time ago I went to IASCA shows with friends who were competing... they used tons of sound dampening material. I figured it was to seal in every decibel and blow out the judges' eardrums :-) but it's useful to regular drivers too.

[pInK]

It should, by all rights, be the simplest task ever. Installing a pair of 5 1/4" speakers into Mustang front doors.

Two and a half hours later, I've done one dooor and decided to call it quits for the day.

First, the door panel removal. Why do they lock these things down with more clips and Phillips screws than Fort Knox? It took forever to pry each piece loose and reveal laughably thin cardboard adhesive noise reduction paper. My Dynamat didn't line the whole door. Oh well, at least 75%. I chopped it into slivers to cover crucial parts I figured would make the most noise.

It's my fault. I *chose* to add foam baffles and 300 mhz bass reducers to this already pain-in-the-rear install. The Ford-to-Kenwood adapters were backordered, so I went gung-ho and stripped the wires I had. Slit the baffle for the wires, noted precarious screwing of speaker into 5 1/4 to 6x8 adapter, and carried on with nothing but electrical tape and my trusty crimper for assistance.

Played around with the balance settings on the head unit to compare. Oh. My. Criminy. I've either done something really bad or really good.

The left stock side has tons of bass, thumpin' up until volume 12 when it gets way bent out of shape. Sounds ghetto but kinda good. Always love the low end.

The right Kenwood bass-blocked side has cutttingly sharp treble and bass like a $9.95 pen radio.

I've ditched the Wal-Mart speakerbox idea. They sell really cute shoe shelves, but Crutchfield has the real deal subwoofer enclosures. So long to the ancient paper coned subs too. Two new 10" Infinity Reference subs and a real box are on their way. If you're gonna go, go all out.

Next up: Door 2 closure and hella good subs.