What's your budget for all this? I think you can do a lot better than the low end alpine headunit and the alpine amps. If you're going with an mp3 capable headunit, why do you want to install an ipod?

 

Yea I mainly just want the ipod directly connected into the headunit... as far as amps I might decide to get the 300/4 just not sure if it was worth the extra cash so I am contemplating what to go with... as far as headunit I don't really care to get a dvd player at the moment but I don't really have a limit set on it... I do however want to do some big engine stuff like cylinder head, supercharger, full exhaust, etc. just deciding when and what... but all together I don't want to spend more than 6k

 

The alpine iPod thing is nice, but the navigation through your tracks is pretty clumsy. You're going to want to make playlists of all the albums you listen to, as they're easy to scroll through.

 

what would you suggest then if alpine is not good?

 

Clumsy isnt the word your looking for...I think maybe slow is? However, the rate it browses songs is like 1 per second. Still quicker then the time it takes to fumble around looking for a cd you wanna listen to.And if that rate of speed ever becomes unbearable..(someone shoot me if i ever get THAT lazy) then I can just disconnect the ipod from thr KCA and scroll the lists directly and then plug it back in. whoa...how inconvient
Secondly, whats the big deal about making playlists? It takes a few seconds to do on itunes, at home, before you leave. The longest im ever in my car at any given time is an hour...tops. Average time is about 20 minutes to a half hour. ipod allows you to make on the go playlists on the ipod itself by merely holding a button in for 3 seconds to allow you to add it to a temp playlist...so now I have up to 10,000 songs at my fingertips, that I can create ANY kinda playlist in seconds and just plug and play...sounds better then any other options currently available...actually, it sounds superior...yea, ill stick with the "clumsy" alpine/ipod interface set up

 

If your set on Alpine for a head unit I would look at getting last years model CDA-9833 for about the same price as the 9851. Those new alpine decks only have 2v pre-outs compared to last years with 4v. (Higher preamp output voltage means better sound from your amp(s), thanks to better noise resistance ). You will also get Alpines -Drive hybrid MOSFET60 internal amp in last years model compared to a much weaker amp in the new one. Alpine is shifting towards mass market audio this year hooking up with bestbuy and their products are sufering. I wouldnt consider any 2005 model alpine deck "high end" until you hit the 9855 and above...

 

Also wanted to give you a heads up that Pioneer and Clarion are both releasing ipod interface controllers for their new decks like the alpine model.

 

Thanks for the heads up. DOes the 9833 support the kca though? And ive seen clarion and pioneers HU's...both nice looking set ups. But I like the way ALpine designs their button clusters to be closer to the driver instead of asymetrically spread out. Plus, that clarion HU is kinda weak...and their hasnt been any reviews on how well it handles 40 gig ipod's

 

Hop onto crutchfields website and add the 9833 and kca ipod interface to your shopping cart then load up their instant online support. Ask the guy if they will work. Probably the best way to get all your questions answered.

 

I personally would suggest the Pioneer HU with its adapter...



~wC

 

So far, from what ive seen, the alpine's are pushin more power

 

hmmm...found the clarion solution on e-bay for about half the MSRP

 

that may be but the alpines are hampered by the AINet limitations of having to use custom playlists and are limited to only 255 songs...

~wC

 

Ok, this is true...although Ive outlined the pros and cons of that above (or maybe that was a diferent post) YOu cant use that as an arguement when you dont know how well the clarion or pioneer units handle say...a fully loaded 40g ipod

 

Heres what I said about the playlist thing...think about it

 

uh but the whole point here is why should I have to do anythign special with it to begin with...I should just plug and play...the pioneer unit gives me that ability no forethought to what I wanna listen to just boom go...and like I said it is still limited to 255 songs...

now as for On-The-Go playlists have u ever done one?

probaly the one thing the iPod is weak is at...you try adding a hundred songs to an O-T-G plalist by your calculations that is 300 seconds or 5 minutes...well I drive my car almost 365 days a year those 5 minutes or so I'm doing creating this OTG playlist every day would add up to over 30 hours of creating playlists otg..sorry the Alpine unit loses here...

~wC

 

What youre saying MIGHT make sense if you listened to music on shuffle all the time. I however have about 3,500 hundred songs of all different genres. Sorry, I have diverse taste.
I'd RATHER make a playlist...and even 255 is to many for me for the amount of time on any given day out of those 365 days...unless, like you, you prefer to listen to the same thing over and over.
Who wants to scroll thru the ipod for every damn song you want to hear? Not me.
Sorry but you AND the pioneer lose here.

 

I'm failing to see how the pioneer loses?

if it does everything the Alpine does + more how does it lose?


~wC

 

The only important thing you said their was "i'm failing"
I think I just broke it down for you as to why the pioneer loses in MY choice for a solution. Whats funny is, youre arguing on behalf of it, and you dont even KNOW what its capable of yet or just how fast it DOES scroll thru files. do you? Theirs goes your foundation

 

and neither do you in terms of scroll speed however I have talked with Pioneer and know that it doesnt require special playlists or have a limitation...therefore it wins in terms of useability...

~wC