New head unit

Greg Peters

MacLeod- have you had a chance to play with the "MediaExpander" feature yet?

If you are playing store bought CDs, it can cause some distortion at settings 2 & 3, higher volume levels. It almost seems to help the highs disperse more, imaging-wise, at low volumes. Any thoughts?

1996blackmax

Greg Peters wrote:

So as not to send out the wrong idea, I know Eclipse makes very good head units, and would never knock them. The main reason I never bought one myself was the lack of a detachable face. They were supposed to require insertion of a certain CD if the power was cut (as an anti-theft feature) in order to function. I know people who have had them stolen by theives who didn't know any better. The Eclipse H/Us look high-end, and do attract curious theives.

I prefer the anonymous "black rectangle in the dash" look. I had an earlier Alpine detachable face cassette/cd changer controller around '92/'93, and when you popped the face off, there was a raised Alpine logo underneath. I prefer the later design- no telltale logo (and even no CD slot on swing-face models).

In the end the sound I was after from a HU was not offered from the company that I wanted to go with, which also had detachable faces on their HU's. I tried another company too. I eventually just went with what made my ears happier. I do not regret my decision one bit. Even if someone stole the HU, I would have the satisfaction of knowing they would not be able to use it . Many detachable face units get stolen, even without the face being on there. I read this many times on other forums, so having that is no insurance as well. The thief can then just go to a store and steal a face, or go to ebay as well. There is a reason why the shops started putting safety guards on their diplay models .

1996blackmax

Greg Peters wrote:

If you are playing store bought CDs, it can cause some distortion at settings 2 & 3, higher volume levels. It almost seems to help the highs disperse more, imaging-wise, at low volumes. Any thoughts?

I know it's addresed to Mac, but I am very aware of what the MX thing does.


I totally think that it is a wasted function. Alpine should have kept using BBE on their higher end units instead. With BBE the music sounds more expansive, and adds to the sound. I see that they have gone back to them now. MX would at times sound ok with a certain song and bad with many others. I just left it off. Had my 7998 had the BBE processor built in, I may have stuck with it. I would have paid more for a model with BBE.

Greg Peters

1996blackmax wrote:

I actually take very good care of my audio gear .

I have no doubt whatsoever.


I have also had good gear go bad with no provocation, and have had buddies trash something in 3-4 months, and come around complaining how their $450 head unit was garbage. It didn't seem reasonable when I saw the abuse they subjected their gear through. For some people its amazing their stuff even lasts as long as four months.

Most of my older gear was liquidated to make room for new- to good home only.

1996blackmax

I actually wished I had kept some of my older gear . I know what you mean about some people and their gear. I had a friend that had nice stuff, but he never took care of it. Did not take long for his HU's buttons to be missing and stuff like that.

Greg Peters

1996blackmax wrote:

Many detachable face units get stolen, even without the face being on there. I read this many times on other forums, so having that is no insurance as well. The thief can then just go to a store and steal a face, or go to ebay as well. There is a reason why the shops started putting safety guards on their diplay models .

I hear that. I've just had better luck with the detachables. I had an Alpine just before the "pull out" style came out, circa '86, and the bad guys kept going after it in my underground parking. I ended up buying something called an "AudioSafe" that used to mount over the face of the head unit, around the DIN opening. It was cast metal, locked with a 7 tumbler "Kryptonite" type key. The locking part covered the H/U, and then locked into a cast metal collar around the H/U behind the dash.

Even with the "AudioSafe" in place, I managed to catch some **** in the act of chipping my dash apart trying to get that Alpine.

Making your audio less attractive at a glance to a passing thief goes a long way. Insurance deductibles cost the same to repair an attempted theft from auto.

audiobliss

Greg Peters wrote:

Even with the "AudioSafe" in place, I managed to catch some **** in the act of chipping my dash apart trying to get that Alpine.

I'd like to hear about what happened to that guy! :eek:

Greg Peters

audiobliss wrote:

I'd like to hear about what happened to that guy! :eek:

There was a fight, then the **** (and his buddy the lookout) ran and were later arrested. In Canada, we have something called the "Young Offenders Act", which, boiled down, means that if the offender is under 18, nothing much happens to them under the law unless they have a rap sheet a mile long. Then they might go to a juvenile detention center (for something more serious than theft).

Then...their whole record is sealed upon turning 18 so that if they have additional trouble with the law, police who run them through the database don't get to see their long and prosperous criminal past (and can't hold it against them).

At least they left my stuff when they ran.

1996blackmax

The good thing about the pullouts is that you could use them for self protection . My Alpine 7292S is a pullout. My kids laughed when I showed it to them .

cam5860

How about that new pioneer coming in march the DEH-P7800MP. It looks really good and its going to have a 16 band EQ and time alignment with 5 volt preouts. Crutchfield has it listed at 420.00.

1996blackmax

I don't like that whole single knob and not many buttons thing. Give me buttons. I do not want to fool around to find different functions. I had a Pioneer last year, it was nice a unit. However, there were some things that got really annoying. There were no dedicated Pause or Attenuator buttons. I had to dig through the menu to get to them.

neomagus00

yeah, the 8600 has it three menus deep... kinda annoying... maybe the 7800 fixes this?

exalted512

it doesnt. Im eyeing pioneers new 980...
-Cody

MacLeod

I actually like the Media Xpander. For my daily driving I use it on setting 1. Any more and its too bass heavy. However for judging, I turn it off.

1996blackmax

I could not stand it. BBE does what Media Expander tries to do, the only thing is that BBE does it well.

exalted512

1996blackmax wrote:

I could not stand it. BBE does what Media Expander tries to do, the only thing is that BBE does it well.

thats funny, i dont care who ya are
-Cody

1996blackmax

exalted512 wrote:

thats funny, i dont care who ya are
-Cody

:rolleyes:
Right back at you....

exalted512

i wasnt being sarcastic...dont know if you think i was or not...i actually laughed out loud when i read that. Havent played with media expander in an enviroment where i could give an accurate representation of how it compares with other enhancement programs.
-Cody

1996blackmax

No problem .


I had the Media Expander on 3 of my HU's. Still have one of those HU's in my wife's car. It just did not sound anywhere as good as the BBE processing that Alpine had used for many years.

neomagus00

tangent - i think you both would be interested to know that current research has shown that a reader of email can only understand the tone of the writer about 50% of the time, and that's if the writer takes care to get their tone across...

and i like BBE, because i like the science and reasoning behind it... very interesting stuff, if you have a few free hours to grasp it all...

1996blackmax

Well neo, your tone seems a little angry right now...................... j/k .



I had used BBE in my Alpine gear since the mid 90's or so. I have alway been happy with the sound that it helped produce. It is much more than just a loudness button, and something Alpine's Media Expander can't touch.

cam5860

Alpine has dropped media expander in the 06 lineup and now has gone back with BBE processing.

1996blackmax

I know... too bad they also dropped their Bass Engine Pro . Would have been nice if they had combined both things.

cam5860

It would take a fool to spend 350 bucks on the 9857 with 2 volt preouts, regular bass engine, no built in crossovers, no time alignment and so forth.

cam5860

The ipod is **** up everything these days. Which I can see why alpine has dropped all the sound quality features through.

I mean whats the point people don't listen to a quality source of music anymore.

But the least they could do is build ipod decks for ipod lovers and sound quality decks for folks who really care about the way there music sounds.

neomagus00

cam5860 wrote:

But the least they could do is build ipod decks for ipod lovers and sound quality decks for folks who really care about the way there music sounds.

There's no money in it, not for a large manufacturer like that... you've noticed that the VAST majority of high-end companies are small boutiques... TruTech comes to mind as a prime example...

Thankfully, people can actually be converted... if you simply demonstrate to them that their iPod actually does sound like crap, as do their $12 Circuit City HTiBs and stock car systems, they open the door to the world of real audio all by themselves... and if they choose not to open the door, even knowing what's on the other side, then, "it might sound harsh, but god does not want [them] to live" (anchorman)...

1996blackmax

We listen to music at my place of work and sometimes people listen to their iPods with their little speaker stands (the ones that the iPod locks into). I hear people say those sound pretty good.......... The truth is that hey don't produce any lows or highs..... pretty sad.

I usually just bring in my regular CD's or MP3 encoded CD's that we can listen to on the radio with actual speakers. I burn my MP3's at the higher rates. My buddy who I work with almost everyday brings his player but at least hooks it up through the radio's line in jack.


I do enjoy showing my system to some of the guys from work. Some of these guys are very anti anything that is not OEM in their cars. A couple of them have said that they don't know why people spend money to get nice audio stuff in your car, but then go out and buy $3000 or $4000 bicycles. They usually are very impressed with the sound though. They are blown away that the system sounds, not just better, but a lot better than their "Premium OEM Sytems". I just say to them, told ya .

MacLeod

Ah thats bull. Alpine could very easily keep their current 20 worthless Ipod head units (in the new lineup) and come out with 1 or 2 SQ oriented heads. It wouldnt cost them anything. They dont have to make a million of them as there wouldnt be that much demand for them but I can assure you some they would have enough demand to make some profit on them. If they had a SQ head unit with a great EQ, time alignment, good DAC and high voltage outputs for $500 in this years current line up, I wouldve bought it instead of the 9855!

1996blackmax

Bull it is bro.

As far as the Alpine HU's. I still look at them every year to see if they are coming back around. If they do, I would give them another shot.

MacLeod

They do have a cool processor, the H701 for $550 that has plenty of nifty features but the cheapest head unit you can buy that is compatible with it is $550. Thats probably $900 real world retail but still a hell of a lot more than Id be willing to spend for a head unit.