this horrible story began when my factory CD player died... i actualy liked the way it sounded... it was matched with the speakers in terms of power and quality, so everything was okay...

anyway, when the HU dies i bought the Alpine cde-9873 and hoped for the best... i hooked it up with modifry's PNP harness (so i assume the wiring is okay), and was disgusted with the results... the stock HU sounded a LOT better!!! this one overemphasizes the highs and seriously lacks in the mids department... i set the trebble to -5, bass to -3, and turned the loudness on - this makes it sound as best as I could tune it... however, this is still CRAP compared to the factory HU... what am I doing wrong? my damn ears actualy hurt from listening to this crap!!! i could crank the OEM setup all the way, and it sounded warm, loud, and nice... this sounds very precise, overly high, and produces "white noise"

BTW, I will be buying a CDA-9883 to make my dash controls work (bought the 9873 by mistake), which has a different internal amp, and I am hoping that it will sound better... but so far, I hate this deck

any advice?

 

Get new speakers. They are cheap enough and will go a lot better with your new HU.

 

^ Well, that's not the problem. Most people get IMPROVED results with simply replacing the headunit.

It sounds like you are aware of the tuning features. So I think the only thing left would be a wiring mistake; Make sure the +/- polarities are correct. I made a mistake when I wired up a pair of 12" subs, had the polarities wired backwards and it cancelled out all my bass.

Give it a try, and let us know how it turns out.

David

 

What's the situation now?

--David

 

I agree. Wires crossed and out-o-phase is your problem.
A $50 car radio from K-Mart wouldn't sound terrible regardless of it's cheap price.

 

Any updates? Did you get a chance to mess with the phases?

--David

 

CDA-9857 is what I put in the s2000's I get at the shop... change out the speakers with alpine type R componets and you'll be good.

 

Every Alpine deck I've ever used, many high end ones even, sound pretty harsh in the mids and highs. I chalk it up to their wellknown habit of overrating their products. Alpine is the ricer gear of the car audio world.

 

^ Really? A lot of people like their products here. They used to make some good products such as the Alpine 9855 or the 9853, the current 9887 is pretty popular too. They H701 really does wonder for hardcore sound quality tweaking.

I wonder where the owner of this thread is; I hope he comes checks back soon! All this questions are answered.

Jeff what do you run in your GTS, how about the S2K? If you swapped out only your headunit in your S2K, is it a really obvious inprovement; while keeping the stock speakers?

Thanks
David

 

I'm intersted in changing out my HU from the stock unit. it's rated at 30 w, I think. I want to start out slow and buy components in pieces. I have always thought that Alpine emphasized the highs more than the lows. I was considering going to component speakers in the doors to compliment the existing tweeters. I also want a unit that i can connect a MP3 player to it. Do the headset units add significant sound with the top down. Can you recommend any good sites for audio purchases. I am a fan of Crutchfield.