Alpine iPod Head Unit

[Daryll]

Today is the day I'm getting my new head unit fitted by the monkies at hellfrauds, if I wasn't suffering from sleep deprevation I'd probably be wetting myself with excitement!

It's the new Alpine ***9847 cd tuner mp3 player with a built in iPod dockable system meaning I chuck my iPod in the glovebox and I've got 4gb of tracks at my disposal!!! woohoo

Anyone with an ipod and looking for a headunit, this is a must and not a bad price at Ԛ£269.99 fitted!





Alpine's KCA-420i iPod interface "talks" directly to the iPod through the controls of your Alpine Ai-NET head unit.
Alpine's interface is the onlyone to allow direct search from the head unit to the iPod and display track info.
Charges iPod battery when connected with head unit on.
Features of CDA-9847R Head unit:

High power 45w x 4 internal amplifier
3 Pre Outs for external amplifiers
CDR/RW
MP3 & WMA playback (on CD)
CD Text and Tag title ready
12 digit character for MP3 text info
Quick search button for direct access to folder and iPod
Rotary encoder for easy artist and album searching
Ai-NET Versatile link
iPod control ready
OEM Sub display and steering remote ready
Telephone mute
ISO connect ready
Bass engine - Bass and treble controls
Quad illumination (red/green/amber/blue)
White LED back lighting
Features of KCA-420i:

Ai-NET lead included
iPod dock connector lead included
No additional power wires required
Easy to hide box
Compatible with any 2004 or 2005 Alpine Ai-NET Head unit
Alpine logo appears on iPod screen when connected and ready to play
Compatible with iPod (3G onwards) & iPod mini with firmware versions 1.1 (iPod mini) or 2.2 (iPod) or later

[placey]

christ - how it all moves on. in my day you had to get round the front and fit the starter handle and crank it all over to get going!

ok maybe that's going a bit far - but i have owned cars with sliding windows and front quarter lights rather than wind ups!

paul

[E30BeemerLad]

I was too much of a pikey to buy this headunit, so I got a cheaper Alpine that ain't even MP3...

So my missus who has the ipod uses an fm transmitter, but they are pretty cack and the tuner sounds shite on the head unit so still driving around with door pockets bulging with CD's

[Daryll]

The door pocket issue was the reason for getting this one.
It's the dogs danglies, added advantage of non jumping cd's when hitting holes in the road when your car is on the deck.
Highly recommended to those with large cd collections and stiffened suspension!

[tbmw]

have the very same head unit and ipod interface in mine and can't say enough good things about it

[Mahmood]

Daryll - please let me know how you get on with this, the quality of the fitting and the sound quality as I am very interested in having this done also.

There's a Halfrauds near me and this seems better that lugging my 10 Disc Changer to the car at regular intervals.

Cheers

Mahmood

[nadz325i]

i was looking to get a cd changer for my alpine h/unit to, then i came across this from alpine and thought wow, forget the cds lying about in your car, collecting dust/scratches etc. then i came across the same interface and im after this setup to.

im thinking of gettin the setup up a 20/30gig ipod,

how have you installed it? have you got a cradle or just dumped in the glove box? pics would be good..

[Bally]

after seeing this I have ordered mine today , looking forward to the install trying to get a clip or holder for the ipod to stop it moving about in the glove box, I have a cab and do not want to cut panels or anything to fit speakers, I have been told not to bother with amp or base box in boot because the metal panel between boot and cab will not get much bass to your ears , but you will got lots of rattles etc, any advise on this , also looking to upgrade speakers with samer size , I have tweeter pods for doors any advise on goood quality speakers to go with the above set up, Thanks

[Hani]

I've got one of these setups in my car. There are two problems i find with the system:

1. It can only handle like 500 artists, when i had 600odd artist on my ipod the headunit would only see the first 500, so any artists begining with S-Z would be seen. I guess most people have less artists though so may not be a problem for some.

2. I have one of the headunits with the glide touch interface, and you basically have to slide your finger over it for like 5 minutes before you can get to the artist you want. If you press too hard and select the wrong artist you have to start from the begining again. I'm pretty sure i'm gonna crash some day.

Apart from those two issues i'd say its a good piece of kit and the sound quality is perfect not like the tuner things.

[placey]

hani

very interesting post you've put up there - cheers.

so i'm wandering: i tend to buy records and mix them down to cd for car listening in about 1 hour chunks (i get fed up in my cellar by then) - these mixes have no name to speak of. how would an ipod cope with that? would i be able to put loads of these mixes into an ipod? or would they be too long for it to deal with? and how would i reference them - would i have to number or name them?

bally - there's a few threads regarding upgrading of cab sound systems already - the e30 is well understood by now and you can have huge sounds without cutting metal or spending a fortune - read away and enjoy.

paul

[Hani]

the ipod controller on the headunit can search using song album or playlist. So i guess play list or album would be the best choice not sure of the playlist limit as i have only got about 10.