New Head Unit Ideas

[chris_m006]

Fitted an alpine cda 9833 head unit into the rex today but it seems to only produce sound on the front centre, and rear sub speakers (bose sound system).

I'm wondering is there anything special that has to be done to enable the other speakers to come to life or can anyone recommend a good head unit with built in x-over to just send bass to the rear and maybe in double din size as the surround i bought looks a bit tacky to be honest.

Many thanks,
Chris :Thumbs-up

[gmogle]

Hmmm, thats strange, I bought and fitted a 9855 Alpine unit, works fine in all the speakers. Think it has a built in cross over. Did you buy one of those ISO adapters ? Or did you wire it in ?

Must admit mine doesnt have the BOSE kit in it, just some aftermarket jap front and rear speakers. So not sure if that makes a difference.

Havent really had a chance to play with my radio properly, fitted it boxing day, had to drive to the missus house and back. After that the car went in the garage and hasnt been out since due to the snow. lol

Gareth

[chris_m006]

I thought so too, I just bought the ISO connector and hoped for the best!!

Sounds pretty good but bass cracks up at volume and only central speaker works at front. The glove box had a pioneer cd/md player manual when it came off boat from japan so maybe something like that should be my aim?

[gmogle]

Did you have a previous radio in it ? Did that work fine ?

I stupidly didnt take any pics of my radio as I was doing it, I found the colours on the ISO connector matched exactly that of the radio and were in exactly the same places. Was this true of yours ? Also did you check the wiring at the other end, from the car speakers etc, were these on the block there ? Did they match the connections on the ISO block ?

Again though I will be honest and say I havent ever seen the wiring of the original BOSE system so couldnt comment any further. Not sure if the wiring is different.

One thing I did do though was wire in a switch to the power aerial lead, therefore I can choose to have the aerial down when listening to cds rather than it being up whenever the radio was on.

Bit drastic buying another radio,

Gareth

[Freddy]

Slight off topic but how is the Alpine 9855 Gareth!?

I'm thinking either the 9855 or the Nakamichi CD 500. Would like feedback for atleast one. :)

[chris_m006]

Yeah but I got 2 cars and the other one has an old school tape deck and i was spoiled by my mp3 head unit!!!!

Might take it out again tomorrow and see whats going on, pain in the ar$e but i suppose its better doing it right!!!

Think the guy in Japan who owned it had some crazy things in it, there are about 6 spare leads all numbered and it had like funny wire/bands on front screen like alarm/car phone aerials!!! Funny you should mention power aerial when i plugged it into mine it goes up when listening to radio and down for CD, one stroke of luck i suppose!!!

[gmogle]

Lol you are very lucky then mate about the aerial, cant stand it and think it ruins the FDs smooth body shape.

Freddy, I think its awesome, got the KCA Ipod adapter too and have plugged my Ipod in, using the MX (media expander) it makes it sound incredible. Now I dont confess to knowing much about setting the sound up on them but think its awesome as standard.

That said there are only 3 animations....booo.
I also hear there is a colour screen version coming out but its over 500 squid.
Think the 9855 is brilliant though, everything I wanted and more. However as said above I havent really had much time to play with it because of this blinking snow.

tbh Chris its better to take the whole thing out and start again and dont put it in until everything is working.

Gareth

[Freddy]

Sounds good Gareth.

Where did you mount the KCA adaptor and is plugging in the IPOD as easy as I'm thinking?

[gmogle]

Freddy, I'll PM ya, after all the topic is about Chris' radio probs.

Gareth

[chris_m006]

no worries guys!!! Thinkin of going for one of the deals going on ebay at the min for the newer type alpine's woth the ipod link so any info on that one would be much appreciated!!! I have the itrip on top of mine at the min to use the radio frequency but its a bit pants to be honest! Any pics of how you mount yours or anything?

Gareth cheers for the info, will be taking all out tomorrow, just hopin someone responds who has the bose system to see if its any fifferent from norm as it consists of 3 mid/high range speakers and 2 subs, all being run thru a single headunit with no amp, any stereo ive ever installed i always used amps and crossovers, kind of baffled and scared to remove panels at moment as the whole interior of my car has no rattles or squeeks and is very tight, can't be breaking clips exploring too much LOL!!!

[gmogle]

Lol whenever you take panels off there is ALWAYS a squeek / rattle that appears

Found this which may be of interest (wiring diagram of BOSE)
http://www.rx7club.com/showthread.php?t=25090

and this one also for similar probs to yourself
http://www.rx7club.com/showthread.php?t=42023

Gareth

[Freddy]

Cheers Gareth.

On another note; Chris have you tried fd3s.net

Theres a section in there about the BOSE speakers and working them with aftermarket headunits. If I remember correctly, one of the authors mentioned that the BOSE surround does not work well with today's up to date headunits.

Give it a shot.

:)

[gmogle]

Could be this that you need to do:

Just to make it very clear for others, connect the power ant/amp turn-on wire from the new stereo's wiring harness (BLUE with WHITE usually) to the LIGHT GREEN/BLACK wire on the larger of the two factory wiring connectors, and Enjoy the boom.

Gareth

[chris_m006]

cheers guys, will print out the wiring diagram and hire in an electrician for a day to interpret it!!!

Think i'm firing up the amps but something must just be slightly wrong that its not doing the bizz with the door speakers!

Will investigate further and post when i'm done

Help is much appreciated!!! :wave