Alpine IVA-W205

howie777
howie777 Posts: 357
edited June 2007 in Car Audio & Electronics
Well my old alpine was kind of going on me and I was so sick of the ipod controls I just went ahead and ordered the IVA-W205 last week. Seeing as I was going to Chicago on Friday and I received the unit on Thursday I decided to skip the break wire hookups as I wasn't sure where there where located and didn't want to stall my trip. Without this you can't watch DVD video playback and figuring I don't care about DVD video playback I didn't bother. So I get it installed pretty easily (actually very easy as it directly accepted my factory radio mounts). I test it out and the one thing I noticed was there isn't a lot of options to set. But I did find some audio ones so I called it a night. The next day I'm packing up my car and decide to set the clock on the radio. Well you can't until you hook up the brake wires!!! what the hell. I can understand the DVD video, but the general setup? bah! you suck alpine:D

Anyway, overall I'm thinking I overpaid for this unit. It still has slow ipod access, much faster than before. going to the next track is quick but getting the song info is way too slow so if you just hitting next until you get to a specific song it will take too much time. Having integrated iPod controls in the past I don't remember any long delays in getting title info so I can't see why there is. I also don't see a way to go to the previous iPod menu. So if I selelcted an album from an artist, why can't I get back to the album list(after I selected an album and it starts playing)? (maybe you can but I have not found out yet, not that I have looked though). And it looks to be a QVGA screen instead of WVGA which really sucks. There isn't a big cost difference between the two anymore. I am looking forward to the blackbird II so I can have NAV in my car. I'm thinking maybe the media headunit or the 9887 is the way I should have gone. It does have a cool factor to it though.

I also got the HD radio as there was a $40 rebate and a $60 off with purchase of a radio. That was very easy to set up but I still don't get all the stations in clearly. I think this is due to my Altima having integrated antenna in the rear windshield though. Anyone know how to fix this? I'm thinking maybe its an impedence mismatch or something. I was able to get a second stream on one of the FM stations but it was the same as the first only in spanish. sound quality wise I can't say, I did have any stations with the old alpine so I never listened to the radio.

Well I'll post some pics tonight for those interested.

Howie
Post edited by howie777 on
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Comments

  • audiobliss
    audiobliss Posts: 12,518
    edited June 2007
    Just googled that unit as I hadn't heard of it before. Very interesting, putting the GPS unit inside the in-dash unit.
    George Grand wrote: »
    Jstas wrote: »
    Simple question. If you had a cool million bucks, what would you do with it?
    Wonder WTF happened to the rest of my money.
    In Use
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    In Storage
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  • howie777
    howie777 Posts: 357
    edited June 2007
    Here you go...

    Howie
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  • audiobliss
    audiobliss Posts: 12,518
    edited June 2007
    Very nice looking setup!! Is that some kind of Nissan?
    George Grand wrote: »
    Jstas wrote: »
    Simple question. If you had a cool million bucks, what would you do with it?
    Wonder WTF happened to the rest of my money.
    In Use
    PS3, Yamaha CDR-HD1300, Plex, Amazon Fire TV Gen 2
    Pioneer Elite VSX-52, Parasound HCA-1000A
    Klipsch RF-82ii, RC-62ii, RS-42ii, RW-10d
    Epson 8700UB
    In Storage
    [Home Audio]
    Rotel RCD-02, Yamaha KX-W900U, Sony ST-S500ES, Denon DP-7F
    Pro-Ject Phono Box MKII, Parasound P/HP-850, ASL Wave 20 monoblocks
    Klipsch RF-35, RB-51ii
    [Car Audio]
    Pioneer Premier DEH-P860MP, Memphis 16-MCA3004, Boston Acoustic RC520
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  • howie777
    howie777 Posts: 357
    edited June 2007
    Yeah its a 2005 Altima SE.

    Howie
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  • audiobliss
    audiobliss Posts: 12,518
    edited June 2007
    Sweet.
    George Grand wrote: »
    Jstas wrote: »
    Simple question. If you had a cool million bucks, what would you do with it?
    Wonder WTF happened to the rest of my money.
    In Use
    PS3, Yamaha CDR-HD1300, Plex, Amazon Fire TV Gen 2
    Pioneer Elite VSX-52, Parasound HCA-1000A
    Klipsch RF-82ii, RC-62ii, RS-42ii, RW-10d
    Epson 8700UB
    In Storage
    [Home Audio]
    Rotel RCD-02, Yamaha KX-W900U, Sony ST-S500ES, Denon DP-7F
    Pro-Ject Phono Box MKII, Parasound P/HP-850, ASL Wave 20 monoblocks
    Klipsch RF-35, RB-51ii
    [Car Audio]
    Pioneer Premier DEH-P860MP, Memphis 16-MCA3004, Boston Acoustic RC520
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  • engtaz
    engtaz Posts: 7,663
    edited June 2007
    Very nice. Clean looking.
    engtaz

    I love how music can brighten up a bad day.
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  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0
    edited June 2007
    Why don't you use the angle mount that came with the SR's to mount that tweet in the a-pillar? Even if it doesn't sit perfectly flat, it would look better than what you've got now.
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  • howie777
    howie777 Posts: 357
    edited June 2007
    The a-pillars have a curved surface on pretty much the entire surface, it just doesn't have a flat surface big enough for the angle mounts. Now I will admit I know very little about this stuff but I couldn't find a way to use them without major gaps between parts of the mounts and the trim (left and right sides).

    I have another set of trim pieces (with big nasty holes where I tried to use the mounts) and was thinking of trying my hand at fiberglass or something but that would be sometime in the future. Right now Its not that bad. And the tweeters are just barely too big in diameter to get the stock tweeter covers to fit and stay on. The four cut outs are where the stock covers' tabs grab onto the trim piece I could use my extra set of covers and glue them on instead of the plastic tabs. That would make it look stock which is what I would like. I'll have to see about that.

    Howie
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  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0
    edited June 2007
    Try sanding the edges of the angle mounts cups to fit the contour of the a-pillar.
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  • howie777
    howie777 Posts: 357
    edited June 2007
    If I remember correctly, there may not be enough material to sand down on the angle mounts (I'd end up sanding through the mount before it fit flush). But I'll see if I can do that when I get some time.

    Thanks for the help.

    Howie
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