I just had my Alpine 9856 installed, and I am extremely pleased. The choice of the 9856 or 9857 came down to a difference of more than $150 and an upgraded display. The extra lines of text didn't appeal to me, so I just went with the lesser priced (but fully capable) 9856. The ipod compatibility is startling! I am excited to have my entire library of music available at my fingertips in my car. It is honestly more than a little scintillating. I am also very pleased with the bump in sound quality. WOW! I am off to go drive around a bit more.

 

I am very happy with my JVC ipod interface as well. Hooked up to the JVC-AVX2.

 

Is that the one with the USB port on the front? I was seriously thinking about that one. It seemed pretty capable.

 

Hey Doc, you can use every function that is on the ipod to search in the car. Search by song, playlist, artist or album. Although I am not positive about genre.

 

If you are referring to mine, no it does not use a usb port.

 

Do you have an ipod video? does the video come up on the avx2?

 

OK, it was just a matter of prying off with a flat screwdriver (or door panel remover). I haven't had the car for a month yet ... so didn't want to break it too much.



It doesn't seem that you have to remove the whole 'left trunk side trim panel' although it is probably easier with it off. However, the instruction "Push in. Push out" didn't seem to work with the first one I tried. Maybe push part way and pry out? It didn't pop out! Should that read 'push in pull out? Thanks.

 

the connection is located behind the panel to the left of the bulge where the spare is located, so i didn't even need to pull off the panel you have pictured


yes, you can pry off the red-arrowed plastic screw with a flatheaded screwdriver. the other type of screw can just be pulled right off. take off that panel and you will find the connections. and it's just plug and play from there. i even left the music link unit in sitting in the spare tire. all that is visible is the wire that attaches to the ipod.

 

Thanks for the feedback. I'm still curious about the 'blue' plugs. I have a couple of replacements on order with the iLink so I'll reverse engineer them when they arrive ;-). I'm guessing one short push of the center pin will allow the removal. I think my second push broke some plastic captive piece or simply pushed it all the way through ... with winter weather approaching I may have some more non driving time with my car. I have enjoyed the last three weeks and 1400 miles though :-) Driving home from work, top down, is a great way to clear the day's cobwebs.

 

I think I worked out the blue plug, pry out slightly, press the center pin slightly and continue pulling.

I've been exploring the 'full' iLink installation. It starts with the removal of panels behind the two sets. On my '06 there are two bolts to remove on each side.

After removing the bolts the panel can be removed by gently pulling from the bottom.
The next step involved removing trim, shelf and rear console back board. It looked difficult.

It seems that routing the cable between cabin and trunk doesn't need this step. Is it required to remove the rear console? Those three self-tapping screws at the bottom, back of the console may need to be removed. These steps may be the deal breaker for me...
I've been able pull a piece of cable from cabin to trunk, marked with blue arrow below.

However, if the rear console can't be removed, drilling the 20 mm hole isn't possible...is this going to be a problem if I don't take the rear tray etc. off?