(no subject)

[greatbear]

I took the day off, partially from feeling under the weather, but also to catch up on some paperwork and tasks around the house. One of these projects has been to finish up installing the new stereo in the Stratus. Leave it to me though, it was not just a simple headunit swap. I picked up an Alpine IVA-D310 headunit, along with a Sirius tuner module and iPod adaptor interface module. For the time being, I had planned on keeping the stock amp and speakers that came with the car, since it actually sounds pretty decent, being biamplified on all four corners and with an acceptable amount of power. Try as I might, though, I could not get the new headunit to play nice with the stock amp. The stock HU has it's own power amp, but that feeds the separate amp where an active crossover takes over and sends highs to the tweeter amps and lows to the woofer amps, and these signals then head out to the individual speakers. The new HU has a similar internal amp and output configuration, but it's playing hell with the amplifier.

In the screechiest, tweeters-only way possible.

I had a pile of instruments checking signal levels, voltages, and whatnot, and there is no differences at all between the stock head and the new thing. Except there is no woofer action at all. Makes no sense whatsoever. So, I am going to toss the original cassette radio back in the dash, and pack the new mess back up in the box and tackle it some other day. After mucking around with the new setup, it's also become clear that I will probably be adding a subwoofer to the stupid thing because it's set up with a non-defeatable crossover that needs a sub by default. I really did NOT want to get stupid insane with this thing. I got the DVD headunit mainly because of the big touchscreen and expandability, possibly adding navigation at a later date. My 'boom car' days ended in the 80s. So, unless I bail out totally on this system, I'll have to buy speakers, a small sub and whatnot to get it going. Right now, I am contemplating the former.

I never thought I would say that. I used to live and breathe this stuff, winning trophies and coming up with some crazy setups of my own as well as for others, before there was such a 'hobby'. Then again, I was half the age I am now and with scads more enthusiasm. I'm not lacking in abilities, just motivation. Maybe I'll get bitten with the bug again.

Comments

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

It's not the Infinity, but it's the 'premium' version. It had a cassette headunit, but is lacking the in-dash 6-disk changer that plugs into it. Had I known this would have been such a pain, I woulda scoured some of my favorite junkyards for the changer instead. Thing is, I want iPod control and Sirius, and wanted it to be 'stealth'. The IVA-D310 when closed up looks very subdued to the point of seeming like a 50 dollar headunit (but not tacky like one). Having the big touchscreen helps with my big paws, and would be perfect for a navigation system too.

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

Ah just curious.

I'll be happy with a modest priced CD unit in the truck than what I have now.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

It's surprising what you can get for about 100 bux nowadays. CD player with mp3 capability, decent 15 or so watts from four channels, bright displays, etc. The midrange gear has gotten a bit crazy with the animated displays and Transformers-inspired robo-styling. It screams Too Fast Too Furious Steal Me Now. In a car like my Mini, the headunit matches the styling of the rest of the controls, every aftermarket HU I have seen in a Mini sticks out like a sore thumb. Blaupunkt has some subdued designs, but not like in the past.

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

The deck I'd been looking at is from Panasonic and had that classic shaft style to it and plays MP3, had a jack for an mp3 player and runs $120.

Ones with out the mp3 capability but same features otherwise are less.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I know the deck of which you speak, that is a perfect setup for a truck. Big controls, easy to use. As much as my truck bounces around when I drive, I wish the controls were a bit easier to deal with than they are, but that's where the remote comes in handy.

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

Yup, good power I think this deck does 25 per speaker too so it's more than enough to generate good, clean power and bass with some halfway decent speakers.