BackwardHatClub

Well, I've had both of these in my car for about a month now so I figured it's time to give my review on the products.

Installation was fairly simple, getting the stock head-unit out is a bit of a pain compared to some other cars, but once you know the procedure it only takes about 10-20 minutes to get it all open. I ordered a wiring harness from schosche which was easy enough to install and fairly well labeled. My only qualm with it was that the 8 inch subwoofers no longer played, but it was of little worry to me because I'm getting new 8 inch subs and powering them with a seperate amp.


Installing the Alpine head unit (Model CDA-9827) was simple after wiring it up to the scosche harness. Had a bit an issue with clearance for the RCA cables I ran for my amp and a crossmember in the center console and I basically just had to cram it in and screw it down. There was a fair amount of room below and behind the head-unit area to place the Alpine iPod controller (Model KCA-420i). A seperate wire runs from the head unit to the iPod controller (which is a small breakout-box, 4x3x1" approx.) then a wire runs from the control unit that you plug into your actual iPod. I ran this wire under the center console area that you have to pull off to install the head unit, along the emergency brake wiring, then out the small pop-off sqaure in your center console storage area. When I want to plug the Ipod in, I just open the center console storage area, plug it and leave it in there as I drive. Once it's plugged in there is no need to touch the iPod or even see it.


The head-unit has a good look to it, with a blue background that matches well with the I-Up blue dash. It has all the standard equipment you expect from a head-unit these days (no audio-in though), nice feeling controls.


Now the part I expect most people will be interested in, how does the iPod part work? Short answer: acceptable. It definately has the feel of first generation hardware, early adopter type of stuff. First of all, scrolling through artists/playlists/albums is a matter of frustration if you have more than 10-20 of them. It takes forever. The short solution to this is to accustomize yourself to using playlists, because getting to an individual artist takes forever if you have more than a few on your iPod. Also, any list can only display about 500 entries total, so if you have more than 500 artists you will only get to see the first 500 alphabetically. For me this works out that if I was to scroll through my artist list I would only be able to see through L (keep in kind that scrolling all the way through the artist list takes about 5-10 minutes of dedicated wheel turning on the head unit).


Basically I've set up about 8 playlists of different genres with fifty or so of my favorite songs from that and I listen to those. Although, another flaw is that you can't just skip to a track number like you can and then wait for it to load that one, it loads the songs sequentially, so expect about a .1-.25 of a second pause as it loads each song when you are going through them, this is kind of annoying when you are trying to get to song 25 or so. I just press the "next" button about 20 times or so and wait till it loads up to that song then see how many more times I need to press it.



All that said, there is a definate "wow" factor to being able to control your iPod right through the head unit with no bulky wires and fiddling with the iPod directly, plus the sound quality is better than any other method of getting it into your head unit. If you are willing to listen to mostly playlists that you set up at home you will enjoy the unit immensely, everyone I've showed it to has really liked it. If you are looking for a controller that is as easy to use as the iPod itself you are best waiting another generation or two until they integrate a scroll wheel or something similar into the headunit that simulates the Apple unit better than the current one.


If you have any questions let me know.

SurfnSoCal

How does it sound without the door subs?

I will be replacing the door subs eventually...and powering them with an amp....but until then...is it going to sound crummy?

thanks for the review! I have a CDA-9855 going in soon, with the iPod adapter.

2005 Black GT

Any pics of your entire setup?

BackwardHatClub

Yeah, it doesn't sound spectacular, you can tell they are gone, but it's liveable.

HVCruiser

I am thinking of getting this setup in my Mustang when it arrives. I like the idea of running the wire to the Ipod into the center console. Some pics of this setup would be nice to look at! Also, is it possible to disconnect the Ipod, make a selection and then reconnect it? This might save some searching time that you are talking about.

SurfnSoCal

Patrick, I read on alpine's website that you can in fact to that. it is possible.

BackwardHatClub

Working on this, I'll post in the next day or two.


<!--QuoteBegin-HVCruiser@May 9, 2005, 8:12 PM
Also, is it possible to disconnect the Ipod, make a selection and then reconnect it? This might save some searching time that you are talking about.

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Yep, this will work. It's cumbersome of course, but if you really needed to get to a paticular artist you could do that.