Sounds like you just need to work out how much you want to spend and how much of a sound stage you want. Although I recommend the Alpine units because I think they are the best quality, I have had a couple of pioneer units in my older cars and they were very good. Once I bought my first Alpine HU though, I never looked back, if you're concerned that they aren't worth the money, don't be. After a while using it I think you'll appreciate it.

Did you look at the The CDA-117Ri as an alternative unit with CD as well?

 

Alpines Bluetooth addon BLOWS and i mean properly BLOWS. It will NOT work with an iPhone properly because the iPhone bluetooth interface also BLOWS. Much like iTunes when you try and use it for the purpose of putting a small amount of your already organised mp3 collection onto an iDevice for the car. It's a shame the 9887 isn't just ordinary USB but hey ho.

That said, the 9887 is a lovely unit and when combined with the imprint setup - it really opens up the sound stage, not something you'll hear many convertible owners talking about.

Mine is a fairly simple setup, one Kenwood 4CH amp bridged to 2x180RMS for the front components and one Vibe blackbox mono amp for the 10" kicker in the boot. Quite a bit of sound deadening fitted but the overall SQ is lovely, you can hear it clearly at NSL + a lot even with the roof down.

It was good before Simon did the imprint, with it done, it's far far better and for the money i've spent, I don't think i could get, or ask for a better overall sound.

 

Yep, that's exactly the choice I'm wrestling with. Very good value and features from Pioneer, or superb sound from Alpine for nearly double the price. I suspect it'll depend where my finances are at the end of the month!

Yep, looked at that one, but other than CD (which I don't really need), it seems to be a little 'old school', like the 9887. Two line display etc, but without the benefit of internal Imprint and a free setup from Lovegroova!


As for the Alpine Bluetooth, Fester, I won't bother. The Bluetooth on the Pioneer is just an extra bonus for me, not one of my drivers for buying. Good to know not to bother though, thanks!

 

UF, I have the alpine Ida-x100 and Bluetooth add on box.

It was truly awful until ios5 came out. Now it works fine with my iPhone.

 

I have the XDA-X001 and I recently bought the 400BT module for it. My HU doesn't fully support of the new features because it's old but the basics work fine. I use it with my iphone and I can't say I've had any problems. I regularly use the BT audio streaming and its seamless as are the handling of the phone calls. The transition from handset to car is also really good as I regularly find myself making use of that aswell. I think now that Alpine use Parrot BT software in their units things have improved greatly. I use a Parrot MKi9000 in my BMW and that is by far the best unit I've ever had. The 9200 which I also had but sold for a 9000 with the colour screen is even better if you want a screen, I decided I didn't so I swapped.

I'm actually looking forward to getting a new Alpine HU (117i for me I think) so that I can use the more advanced BT options on the 400 as well.

I think its more Apple's poor BT support which has, in the past, caused issues but now as mentioned its much better. If you're jailbroken try music controls pro ($4.99 I think) aswell because that adds even more coolness.

Incidentally whilst on the subject, where are people mounting their mics if they install BT modules?

 

I have the 400BT Parrot based and it refuses to do a firmware upgrade past the original version, if yours is newer, you probably have the newer firmware which adds support for later model iPhones.

 

I don't actually know which firmware I have because I can't upgrade on my HU unit. I've had it about a year now though.

 

I too have the Alpine 400BT unit. I mounted the mic on the drivers side windscreen pillar in the top corner.

 

My HU doesn't support the firmware upgrade either. Before IOS5 it was awful but now works fine on both my iPhone4s and my wifes iPhone4

 

I'm thinking of moving mine. It's currently mounted on the left drivers air vent which is good for avoiding wind noise (as long as the heater is off or the vent closed) but it means the wire is on display and it annoys me. I'm considering moving it either around the rear view mirror or near where you have yours mounted but I'm worried about excessive wind noise especially at speed or with the roof down. Do you have any of these problems with it mounted in that location?