i actually like P5 stock radio unit - am i crazy??

[redpr5]

so how does the 9856 stand up? i like the looks of it, and i like the ipod functionality. and it seems to be better than the pioneer ipod adapter (which BLOWS, can only navigate playlists, doesnt show artist or title, and cant do anything through the ipod, plus the headunit lags badly when switching playlists or tracks)
i dont care if the faceplate isnt motorized, just wanna know how it works, eq wise and sound quality wise

 

[Kansei]

so how does the 9856 stand up? i like the looks of it, and i like the ipod functionality. and it seems to be better than the pioneer ipod adapter (which BLOWS, can only navigate playlists, doesnt show artist or title, and cant do anything through the ipod, plus the headunit lags badly when switching playlists or tracks)
i dont care if the faceplate isnt motorized, just wanna know how it works, eq wise and sound quality wise

Sound quality seemed ok, but the eq was awful, barely tuneable vs my old thing.

Like just adjusting the bass/treble, I can select what frequency I want treble to be, adjust the width of the eq effect, and of course the gain.

 

[D-rock240]

I felt that way about my stock head unit, definitely the best stock radio of any car i've owned. I liked the large display and knobs and thought it looked good. But it didn't have enough power, and not enough clarity for my tastes.

My pioneer P6000 has a better display and sounds a lot better, plus I can use the MSP pocket too

 

[redpr5]

Sound quality seemed ok, but the eq was awful, barely tuneable vs my old thing.

Like just adjusting the bass/treble, I can select what frequency I want treble to be, adjust the width of the eq effect, and of course the gain.

i figured the eq would suck, my friends got an alpine and the sound quality is great, but its not tunable worth a damn. the pioneer one that ive sold is tunable but the ipod adapter is horrible, plus im not a fan of the unit itself really. nice unit, not my style.
idk, i might do some more searching around (i really want to get a flip out, but its $700)

 

[Kansei]

Sucks about the pioneer ipod adapter, because dayum if this isn't the best sub 500 dollar head unit out there:

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pna/v3/pg/product/details/0,,2076_310069882_291159496,00.html

it's digital to analog converters are beautiful

 

[redpr5]

^NICCCCEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!! thats beautiful.
thats one badass headunit. nice find

thats the same adapter thats used on the pioneer headunit thats in my stereo shop. i think that the headunit just doesnt display the s***, cuz according to that website, it displays everything.
i think ive found the headunit im gonna get lol

 

[TheMAN]

the stock s*** works fine... hence why I didn't **** with it, especially since it doesn't look flashy so no one cares about it... everyone and their mom has a cd player in their car these days you know

I just got the mazda ipod adapter and I'm all good... no one ever knows what's inside the glovebox!

the discreetness of this setup is where it's at!

 

[Kansei]

the stock s*** works fine... hence why I didn't **** with it, especially since it doesn't look flashy so no one cares about it... everyone and their mom has a cd player in their car these days you know

I just got the mazda ipod adapter and I'm all good... no one ever knows what's inside the glovebox!

the discreetness of this setup is where it's at!

with line out converters and a decent amp to run the door speakers, the stock head unit isn't bad. It doesn't let you tune the audio much at all, but it's really not a bad unit. I honestly want to put mine back in sometime because I only used it for a single day before I installed the Alpine that I had in my truck. Too bad the pin on my factory wire harness that supplies constant power um stopped working like a year ago, forcing me to hard wire a power line from my alpine to the battery (all the better, it can draw 240W peak)

 

[TheMAN]

umm... how does it just stop working? you must've ****** some s*** up!

yes I'm well aware of using LOCs and an amp to drive aftermarket speakers... I may look into that in the future, but for now I'm happy with the stock s*** and my added stock tweeters

 

[blackp5]

I have the Alpine CDA-9856 with the iPod adaptor. It's a bit louder than the stock deck. The only thing bad is when you skip a song on the iPod, it takes like an extra second to play. I have my iPod in the glove box since use search the songs through the deck. Another thing I don't like about it is the bright display, you can't control the amount of dimness(?).

 

[Tengo]

i like the stock headunit also.. it gets the job done.. and if i have an aftermarket headunit, it has a chance of getting stolen and what not

 

[redpr5]

I have the Alpine CDA-9856 with the iPod adaptor. It's a bit louder than the stock deck. The only thing bad is when you skip a song on the iPod, it takes like an extra second to play. I have my iPod in the glove box since use search the songs through the deck. Another thing I don't like about it is the bright display, you can't control the amount of dimness(?).

eh takin a second to play isnt that big of a deal. it takes longer on my ipod sometimes. so i wouldnt care. i could see how the brightness could get annoying tho.

 

[Kansei]

umm... how does it just stop working? you must've ****** some s*** up!

yes I'm well aware of using LOCs and an amp to drive aftermarket speakers... I may look into that in the future, but for now I'm happy with the stock s*** and my added stock tweeters

shh I know.. there aren't any blown fuses or anything, I'm not sure what is up. Like I said I just directly wired my alpine to the battery (with a fused line of course) because it is what alpine called for anyway.. the stock wiring is puny compared to the wire coming out the back of the unit. I haven't checked to see if it has magically started working in the past year.

 

[TheMAN]

bah, you're just too lazy to actually diagnose the wiring problems

 

[blackp5]

My solution to the brightness of the deck was just to release the face plate but not take it off completely. It's only good when you don't press the buttons often because the buttons are inactive when the face plate is down.

 

[mesoup]

forgot about that too. I bought a 9857 (currently their top non-dvd model, $400) to replace my 7894 (2002 top non-dvd model, $550 back then).. and returned it within a day. Navigating my iPod was god awful, you couldn't change the button colors, the buttons felt like crap, and the display was no longer motorized and removing/replacing the head unit was a much more complicated process. A big step down, I really don't know what they were thinking. Why are you getting rid of the 7892?

The 9857 barely has programmable EQ functions, no LPF/HPF, etc. Plus it wasn't any more powerful than the 7894.

My roommates 2004 model alpine seems like the peak.. still motorized, 256 different colors to choose for the buttons, and has iPersonalize, where you set up your eq stuff on your computer, burn it to a cd, and load it into the radio. That way when you disconnect the battery for whatever reason you don't have to lose all your settings.

i still have it, i am not getting rid of it. i just want to upgrade to a more "modern" headunit. you gotta admit, 9856 has a much better interface.... i am not an audiophile junkie, so i think 9856 is going to work out fine. plus, the cabin of p5 has so much road noise, it's not audiophile-friendly to start out with, no offense.

 

[Kansei]

umm... how does it just stop working? you must've ****** some s*** up!

yes I'm well aware of using LOCs and an amp to drive aftermarket speakers... I may look into that in the future, but for now I'm happy with the stock s*** and my added stock tweeters

As much as I can appreciate very good sound quality, in my car I don't care that much. It's a car.. I'm usually driving, which means road noise, rattles, etc to contend with. Plus, when it is warm enough, I have the windows down 24/7 so there's a ton of wind noise to contend with. Hell, I'm happy with my MSP door speakers and infinity basslink. they get the job done.

When I want good audio quality, I step inside and put on my grado headphones. I doubt you could ever get an in-car system in a protege to sound that good while driving.

 

[Kansei]

bah, you're just too lazy to actually diagnose the wiring problems

because I have no reason to go back to my stock head unit now.. with the turbo kit going on in the next few weeks, I need the top DIN to hold gauges so I know when the car is about to blow up haha.

 

[blackp5]

I have had my deck like this ever since I got it and I never take the face plate off. Looks ugly but I'm waiting to put a gauge panel there.

 

[Kansei]

I have had my deck like this ever since I got it and I never take the face plate off. Looks ugly but I'm waiting to put a gauge panel there.

if you don't end up putting gauges there, I have an MSP radio pocket I could sell ya