I've decided that it's time to buy a head unit for my Corvette. I've had my eye on the Alpine 9833/9835 for a while, but never pulled the trigger when they were still in production. I figured I'd wait until the new model came out so I could save some money.

Boy was I wrong. The new 9853/9855s are such junk, that now what few used 9833/9835s show up on ebay sell for MORE than they did when they were new. I got outbid on one last night that wound up selling for $380 with no remote control.

Meanwhile, brand new 9855s can be had on Ebay for $315 all day long.

I'm trying to see what else I can get that meets my needs:

1. Sirius compatible
2. Good sound quality
3. Not stupid looking

2 out of 3 seems to be easy. It's finding all 3 in one package that's nearly impossible. Some of the new Kenwood head units have 24 bit burr brown DACs and sirius compatability, but they're horrible looking. Eclipse look horrible. Not fond of how the Clarions look. New Alpine is junk.

Maybe I'll hire a mariachi band for my back seat.

 

Did you get your JVC working again? I know your not a fan of Pioneer, but they have several units with 24 bit burr-brown DACs. Not the tops for SQ, if you'll be using ext. amps you'll cut their amp IC out and that'll help, some. They do Sirius, and some models don't look to bad. Scrappy will tell you the 8600 looks good. And it's not to hard to make the 8600 an 860, if you're into the 3 way x-over.

 

I'd love to see an entire mariachi band fit in the backseat of an F-body.

Seriously, why are the new Alpine decks junk?

I think that they dropped pre-out voltage to 2V on all the CD decks. I also remember that the 60W-per channel V-Drive amplifier is now gone. Is the "Glider Interface" a problem?

Are there other problems?

I hope you are able to locate a 9833/9835.

 

YES and YES...

 

Needaz,

I finally bit the bullet and sent the JVC head unit and DVD player to the local authorized JVC repair joint because I'm too busy to deal with it.

THey fixed the DVD player and reported back that there's nothing wrong with the cd player

Next time it pukes, you want a side job?

I've looked at the pioneers. I really don't like how they look, but I might need to learn to live with it. THe 8600 and 860 has 24 bit Burr Browns? I didn't realize this.

 

Hope this link works.
http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pn...etailComponent

Note that where it says 1 bit D/A converter, it should just read D/A converter (as in the type of converter). They've had them listed like that forever, it's been brought up, just not fixed. Also note that the only difference in the 8600/860 is the three way x-over, and associated parts. I'm not a fan of how Pioneer handles time alignment, you'll want to check that out (audition), before you buy. I haven't gotten a good explanation on how they do things here, but you seem to loose some dynamic range when using there time alignment.
Not to change the topic, but a real quick opinion question. What do you think of the 3 way x-overs in HUs and bi-amping components?

 

It depends on the components. My original reason for wanting the 9835 was so that I could tinker with that, but since I bought a Kicker SX600.4 with a full digital crossover, I don't really need that option in my head unit anymore.

Anyway... back to my point. It depends on the components. If you've got a set of components that have smooth rolloff characteristics, the active filters can work very good. Most poly cone woofers have smooth rolloff characteristics. But... once you get into stiffer cone materials like carbon fiber, kevlar, and especially aluminum, you get some very nasty breakup that usually needs to be eliminated with a notch filter or a very steep slope. The steep slope can be handled by the active filter, but quite often you can't get the woofer and tweeter's sound to integrate as well with steeper slopes. There are also some drivers that need a passive network to provide a gentle response reshaping in addition to the actual high or low pass filter that you're not going to get with an active.

But overall, if you're using drivers with softer cones (poly, some paper, etc), you can probably get very good results with the active filters.

By the way, what's your opinion on the quality of the new Kenwood or Clarion stuff? The Kenwood XXV-01D and the higher end clarion stuff is starting to attract my attention.

 

The Kenwood’s aren’t that bad. The 01D look nice, haven’t had one yet though. I do see a lot of the ribbon cables to the faceplate going bad with the Kenwood. The buttons on the new ones are a little small. The high end Clarions have always be good, same problems with the ribbon cables though they have gotten better. Just don’t like how most of them look, they remind me of some of the stuff out in the 80s. Don’t get me wrong, most of units that use these cable have a problem at some point, just some come sooner. Sony is the worst.

 

None of the new head units look even reasonablly attractive to me except for the Clarion 9255, which I can't afford, and which doesn't have Sirius.

One thing I like about a kenwood is that I can get an FM modulator to work with the same sirius tuner that I need to add to the radio. That means that in the winter when I park the Corvette, I can swap the sirius over to my winter vehicle without tearing the head unit out of the corvette. Alpine may offer this too, I'm not sure.

What I'm trying to do now is decide how bad I really want something like the XXV-01D or the Clarion DXZ855MP or if I'll be just as happy with something that's 1/2 or 1/3 the price. As bad as I want to justify having one of these because of their high voltage pre-outs and their burr brown DACs, the truth is that all that crap has a very minor (if any) effect on sound quality. An Alpine 9831, a Pioneer 770 or a cheap clarion should do the job for me, but I'm one of those people who wants the best even if I don't need it.

 

I always go for the BEST, the best I can get at the best deal that is. Doing the work I do and side work I'm always looking at what can be had for what. I just put an DEH-P8600 (I fixed and may modify to 860, but probably not) in my truck, I've got a MRV-T505 (I fixed) that will go in after I cut the floor and run a set of Alpine comps in the doors. In my next truck I’ll make new door panels for better speaker locations. I also have a perfect condition Clarion APX400.4 and a DPX1000.2 that I have all the parts to bring them right up to replicas of the Arc Audio units, just need the time to put them in (that’s a big project). Those will go into the IROC with your kicks (hopefully, may load them with Alpines) and one (maybe two, but going to try one ported) RE 8. I’ve got two sets of the SPR-17ls 6.5 Alpine comps *** sitting at home.

Back on topic, I like the look of the 855mp over the other Clarions out right now. But the 01D has it in the looks for me. In reality both unit are so close, it’s going to come down to the extra stuff. You know, the stuff most don’t even use. I’ve always believed that proper grounding is more important then pre-out voltage. Do you already have siruis? The new Pioneers will do XM or siruis. The AVICs will both. There’s something to kick around, the AVIC-N2. Just keep in mind it uses GPS to tell if you’re moving and will not put DVD video on the front monitor with out changing some things.
My vote is going for the Kenwood ta this point.

 

The 8600 is dead-sexy... but what do you mean it's not to hard to make an 8600 an 860?

some internal modifications or whatnot?

Also, I think that the Time Alignment sounds like crap... crap crap crap... I used to like it... before I realized what it sounded like with it off. Wow... the music is much fuller and clearer... the bass just sounds a tiny-bit sloppier from the sub, since it's not playing it early for me anymore...

I thought that 8600 and the premier version were the same, other than the fact that the premier's come with two-year warranties... what gives?

I can vouch for the AutoEQ though... works well... I just turn off the AutoTA that it turns on when you go through the setup process...

 

I decided on the Kenwood XXV-01D. I found it from an authorized dealer for $400. There's no way I could pass that up... that's only about $20 or $25 above Ebay prices, and it'll have the full 2 year kenwood authorized warranty, and since I have a tendancy of having head units break, that's key.

 

Have to let use know how you like it. Want a S/M on that one too . And NEVER loose the faceplate. Scrappy, there are some parts that need to be added, some parts that need to be moved, and some parts that need to be taken out. I haven't done it to this model, but I have modded other Pioneer models in the past with good luck. It should NOT be attempted by someone that is proficient in SMT soldering. And all you get with the 8600 is the 3-way x-over mode.

 

so you mean that on each speaker I can set the high-pass and low-pass cut-off's? (after the modification,) or what exactly is the 3-way cross-over?

 

Front would be the highs (high pass), rears would be the mids (high pass and low pass for a band pass), and the sub output would handle the lows (low pass).

 

sounds to me the only thing I would get is the ability to set a hpf and a lpf on the rear... because I already have a separate hpf for front and rear, and obviously a separate lpf for the subs, with 6/12 db/octave cut-offs, and up to 18 db/octave for the subs....

although I think I'd love that bandpass ability for the rear... to truly turn them into rear-fill, and take the highs out... so focus would remain in the front at all times...

 

i member the hell i had to go through to get my 9835... had to buy it offa my friend and now i cant even listen to it because of some electrical probs the grand am is having... i now listen to a sony cd walkman equipped with sony headphones

 

Damn good unit. I have a 9833 in my car. One of the single best investments I have made. Only complaint is the slow MP3 load time

 

yea i love mine, and really dig the sound quality, better than anything else ive heard but my complaint is that the radio reception sucks

 

Alpine's FM reception is terrible.

I just yanked the 7863 out of my IROC and put the JVC SH909 back in, and I had totally forgotten how much better the JVC's tuner was. Crystal clear sound the whole way to work, instead of constant drop outs and static with the Alpine.

 

909? oooh big spender!

that's a hell of a unit... 256 color screen, right?

I think the mp3 load time was too slow for me...


that's the same as the SHX900, right?

 

wrong unit. The SH909 is their top of the line Digifine cd player from about 3 or 4 years ago. I think I paid $200 or $250 for it. Other than being broken all the time, it's a really good cd player for the money in terms of what was available 3 years ago. It's got 24 bit burr brown DACs and a semi tasteful appearance.



It matches the DVD player (also shown in the pic) although with some luck, when I find one that's semi-affordable, it'll get replaced with a Rockford 8250.

 

My friend has that exact deck... he has problems with it being noisy with his RF mono amp...

other than being very simplistic, and a very limited eq (as well as cross-overs,) it's a sturdy deck

I've never heard him complain of it skipping, or playing mp3s poorly... as my 8600mp seems to be doing.. (I'm sending it in pretty soon here...)

 

hey Jim... I bet you've had time to mess with placement.... so you think the tweeters are definitely better higher up on the kicks like that, versus the other standard way?

 

I've discovered that the noise floor is unusually high on that head unit too. I've had to turn my gains WAY back to keep the noise between tracks from being audible.

Anyway... I like the tweeters down low better. I just haven't had time to make another set of my new kicks to replace these old ones, but to be honest, I've found that tweeter placement really isn't as critical as it would seem. Because of the shape of the car, you're getting so much reflected energy anyway, that their position seems to be largely irrelevant as long as you aim them in a way that you get equal energy from both. To get good imaging from both front seats, both tweeters will be somewhat off axis to both listeners for best imaging.

 

I guess if one was on-axis, and the other was off-axis, one would seem much louder than the other? so might as well make them both off-axis... while maintaining the same clarity?

I figured that the tweeter on the bottom could be more easily blocked by feet, but in the long run, can give a better angle towards the cabin interior...

 

hey jim, how did you get that cd player mounted flush like that? mine sticks out about 3 miles and looks like hell, did you have to cut stuff away behind there?

 

7863... isnt that alpines radio without an internal amplifer? i member that model was going for like 800 bucks... i was interested in that one but im not sure alpine makes it anymore...

 

No, it was their first "60 watt" head unit from 2001 that had a tendancy to overheat when you actually took advantage of the 60 watts. However, I don't ever use the internal deck power, so except for a short in the FM antenna line somewhere, this one is working peachy.
Here it is in it's new home (my truck):


1MeanGTA: I made my own mounting panel out of 1/2" ply wood and mounted it BEHIND the stock mounts in the center console with 1/4" spacers to push the panel back. Now that the JVC is back in the dash, I've got to push it back another 1/4". In a Camaro, this is pretty easy to do. You just need to remove the metal bar that holds the back of the stock radio in place, and depending on your head unit, you may need to remove the heater vents that blow out of the sides of the center console.

Here's a picture of it from back when I had my kenwood in there:

 

I love the look of old trucks! What model/year is it?

Not bashing you personally, but for some reason Alpine headunits have always looked very under-the-radar. Kinda boring. This can be good though, because thieves might think it's not worth stealing... unless they see that it's an Alpine!

So that new alpine is worthless? the one with glidetouch at BestBuy? I was messing with it, and man that has one hell of a screen! I also like that active crossover stuff, but that damn glidetouch didn't even work right. When I 'pressed' 1, it went to 6.. and the actual glidetouch panel was pretty flimsy.

I wonder if I went with a p80, if I would regret it? I love my Auto EQ, but I could care less about Auto TA... which sounds horrible to me, in my car.

 

Yes! The only thing the P80 has going for it is the 60W from the deck.

 

Needaz, they said they weren't allowed to give me any information as to where my headunit was going... I know it's going to Dallas though.

It would be awesome if it got sent to you, seeing how it cannot be repaired again...

unless bestbuy gives me another warranty of some kind after I get it back...

I think that if they say it's not repairable, I will take the store credit, then I'll wait for some badass headunit to come out, or dish out the money for a dvd nav system.

until then, I get to use my mp3 cd player...

 

The truck is an 87 GMC Sierra Classic 3500. 454, th400, 33" tires. Great on gas.

One of the reasons that I'm drawn to Alpine (besides their reputation for being so good up until recently) is because of their simpler appearance. I hate flashy decks with a bunch of useless Whiz-Bang features that clutter it up. Those things look out of place in any car, but especially in a thirdgen. One thing about this new kenwood is that other than the screen, the appearance is pretty plain. 2 ***** and only a couple buttons. Fortunately, the screen is configurable so that you can fill it up with text instead of having some dog and pony show screen saver filling up the screen.

 

yeah i remember how much easier it was to get my deck in my old 90 iroc, but it still stuck out a bit, just not as far. i think its tighter back there in a firebird.

any of you ever tried an eclipse deck? they're expensive as hell but nice, real nice. friend of mine has one with 16v preamp outs, i think he paid 600 for it on ebay. looks very simple too actually, moreso than alpines.

 

16 volts? most amps don't want over 7... that's insane...

sounds like a gimmick

Yeah Jim, I agree... I would rather have a totally customizable screen, pick artist, song, clock, whatever, and put it wherever I damn well please... not like the decks I've owned, where it has a few presets and if you don't like it, tough.

That aside, since my deck DOES have the dog and pony show, I may as well use it!

 

http://www.cartoys.com/Default.cfm/p...M_FM_CD_Player

a lot of sound quality competitors run these, but they aren't made anymore. can be found for 4-600 usually on ebay

 

I'd think for $600 you'd at least get a graphic equalizer... kinda lame.

it doesn't even support mp3... you have to upgrade it.

 

hmm nice radio none the less and i like how alpine is colored in gold... I agree with ya on alpines low flash appearance, they dont "brag" about what the radio features, my 9835 only has 3 tiny badges, one that says i-personalize, anther on the far right that says xm ready, and one close to the middle up at top sayin it can play Mp3s or wma, but that stuff isnt huge, and thats what i like, a radio that doesnt look ritzy, but once you crank up that dial you hear crisp clear sound...

 

it has a very, very nice eq built in. you say they need to be upgraded? i know my buddies plays mp3's but i dont know if he had to flash update it or something.

 

it has a 5 band eq in it, and each band can be adjusted. Ive never had to update mine, i just wish i was a electronical wizard because id make the fm reception better, but until i get an i pod all ive got are my mp3s and fm...

 

I miss Alpines old decks already. Ive got an ancient CTA-1505 in my Cavalier, with their s-624 non mp3 changer, becuase i got that stuff a long time ago.

Im borrowing a friends 9813 for the Firebird, until either he needs it back, or i find something i like and can afford. I definetely liked the stuff they had out like two years ago, i havnt seen a single deck this year i could bear to look at, lol...

 

For a 5-band eq, I hope it wasn't more than $500... either that, or it's really old, because even my lowly 8600 has a 13-band EQ

 

umm... what do you need 13 bands for? i mean i do just fine with my 5 and im sure with any good speaker i can get exellent sound quality. 13, sheese... that must take at least 1 hour to configure, then your gonna spend about anther 3 hours tweaking it to perfection because you have 13 to mess with, its gonna sound harsh somewhere... i kno i musta invested about a total of 3 hours off and on with my eq.... BTW you can change the frequency responce of each band to suit your tastes, and it has its own built in cross overs for your speaks and your subs, with temp, and voltage read out, plus i pod ready... (no dumb fm reception thing)

 

You do good with 5, he does good with 13, and i do good with a parametric 3.

None of us have competition SQ setups anyway, with 30 or so, but a lot of people do.

My point is, your asking what he needs 13 for, and i could ask what you need 5 for. Its a silly question, and again, none of us are even tuning for really good sound anyway.

****, ive got an 11 band in my daily hoopty , after the 5 in the deck, lol...

 

the more the better, if you ask me...

btw, I use the included microphone to create a flat response... I only slightly modify the eq after that... usually I lower the 80hz a tad because my subs are too punchy at that frequency.

so I spend about two minutes on my sound setup... and I have the cut-off's and curves all memorized, which makes it easier.

I was simply pointing out that for that much money, I would assume that it would come with more bands... I'm not saying that your deck sounds better or worse than mine.

I thought the alpines were the ones with the microphone, and it went through this big complex configuration... it then puts the info on a smartcard, and you put it in your PC, and it does all this active cross-over stuff... then burn it to CD and back into your apline deck...

 

well i imagine theres a reason so many sound quality competitors run eclipse 8053's. its because the sound quality of these things when matched with a high end amp like a zapco is insane. no uber expensive badass amp, dont really need 8/16v preamps.

 

The head unit came on Friday. All brand new, complete with serial number from an AUTHORIZED Kenwood dealer for $400. For those interrested in any Kenwood stuff, this guy is an authorized dealer and his prices are right in line with the best prices you'll find on Ebay.

The place is called Precision Installations. Their website is useless, but you can get the guy's email address from it:
http://www.precisioninstallations.com/

 

How did you find out about what this guy had in stock? Does he just order anything from Kenwood and sell it to you?

 

He had an XXV-01D listed on Ebay. I emailed him and asked him if he was really an authorized dealer and if this product came complete with the serial number intact, and how much he wanted to buy one directly instead of wait for the Ebay auction. He replied and I bought one from him. I also checked Kenwood's site to verify that he is in fact an authorized dealer.

 

the cross-over adjustability of that deck makes me want to toss my pionner in the garbage...

I always wondered if the Kenwood decks really did anything with speaker information. They ask you what size you have and where they are, etc...

wow! you can change the EQ differently for front and rear speakers... simply asounding! I think the Pioneer does that, when I run the AUTO EQ thing, because it says, "Adjusting Front EQ"(then Rear)

I can't change that manually though.

My favorite of all. Dual Zone. I was able to do 4ch surround sound with that... you just make a cd changer cable and hook it, along with the AUX RCA on the back, into a computer, or something that offers true 4ch output.