hellspare

Been 8 years with my Alpine 9886. I love everything about it but maybe time for a replacement!

My setup since 2008:
Alpine 9886
Precision Power 356cs
Alpine speaker/sub amps
Alpine 10inch type r

I am perfectly fine with the sound in my car I just need more features!

I'm sick of taking home my usb to add new songs and I use an android so no luck with the ipod cable.
I want a front aux and bluetooth. Literally googled for 30 minutes but couldn't find a single site with the bluetooth adapter for this prehistoric headunit.

Is there another way to get bluetooth with this headunit? Or any suggestions for an upgrade?? Hopefully something that is comparable in terms of sound quality and has the features I want. Thanks in advance!

osu1978

I have the Kenwood X998 with modifry dci. Tons of features including hd radio and you can basically set it to whatever color scheme you want. Sometimes it freezes and I have to quickly detach the face plate but it works fine after that. Bluetooth works great with the mic placed under the AC toggle button. Also have an alpine type r 10" with focal components and the x998 lets you set the crossover point for all speakers including the sub.

aphex4000

I recommend the Alpine-CDE-HD149BT. The feature absent from your list is the front aux port, however there is one in the rear that you can make accessible in the front with an extension. I primarily use the BT connection for streaming audio from my phone, or listen to the radio.

Details on Alpine website:
Alpine

haga888

I have the same bt-149. Another thing to keep in mind is it's one of the better screens Alpine makes so you can actually see it with the top down.

hellspare

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

I wanted the aux in front so I don't have to route the cable through the passenger side. I never have my radio door up anyway so that doesn't matter.
The Alpine Bt-149 looks nice, though a bit pricey. I'm guessing it has an inferface for pandora? I mainly use soundcloud to listen to music, will this pair up well?

haga888

It has a Pandora interface. I've never used SoundCloud so can't speak to it. I just Bluetooth stream from Apple Music most of the time. It's a good head unit but I hear you on the cost.

modifry

My 2¢ - Most of my customers buy Alpine, Kenwood, or Pioneer, in that order. Personally I prefer Alpine because they are easy to use, have no annoying features, and most of them have a dedicated ATT wire, which means the s2k mute button will actually fully mute and pause audio playback. I've had a few Kenwoods years ago and they were good for the most part, but a lot of the newer Kenwood models are changing the ATT wire so that it can only be used with a Kenwood Navi system. Bummer. I have not looked at Pioneer recently, but I have never seen a Pioneer that has an ATT wire so you are stuck with a standard "attenuate" function that just lowers the volume and keeps playing. What's worse, to me at least, is that every Pioneer HU I've seen beeps through the speakers every time a remote control command is sent. That means every time you adjust volume from the dash controls it beeps and there is no way to turn it off. If you use a DCI to control the HU and use the optional auto-volume feature, it beeps all the time because the DCI adjusts the volume as you go faster to keep up with background noise.

hellspare

^Real useful information.

I never used my dash controls but that's definitely good to know. Alpine seems like the way to go.

Just wondering, is there any way to get bluetooth with my current head unit? Seems kind of a waste to drop $350 to replace the whole thing mostly just for that.

lovegroova

Alpine do a Bluetooth adapter called a KCE-400BT which might work, have a search of Ebay.
Having said that, the manual states you can use a KCE-300BT. See Page 19 here: http://support.alpine-usa.com/produc...M_CDA-9886.PDF

Alternatively, you can connect an RCA Aux In using a KCA-121b cable https://www.amazon.com/INTERFACE-BLU.../dp/B01BPPCMRW and to that you could hook up any bluetooth adapter using some connectors. Here's Amazon's best seller: https://www.amazon.com/Mpow-Bluetoot...dp/B008AGQMQC/

I have a 9887R of the same vintage which I hook up to an old iPod classic using a KCE422i cable. however, I have just ordered one of these which apparently plugs into the Ai-Net port. Not sure if it will let the HU control the phone, though. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Eximtrade-B...QM/ref=sr_1_2?

Hope that helps

hellspare

I've been searching for that adapter and the cable kwe-460e for a while now. The problem is nowhere has that cable in stock lol.

Also I've actually tried an aux cable I bought from ebay, which absolutely did not work. For the rca aux cable you linked, I would need another cable that feeds into the two rcas and comes out an aux? Why is it so complicated!