Hi,

just been to my local Car Stereo place looking for a replacement Alpine CD Tuner. I was going to go for a basic 45w (9801 - £150) unit because I will probably just replace the head unit and front speakers - didn't seem much point in going for anything better.
They claim that the 60w unit (9811 - £280) sound significantly better than the cheaper unit. They also say that the more powerful unit has to take a direct feed from the battery rather than use the standard harness + adapter.

Can anyone shed any light on whether this is bollox or not? The prices looked a bit steep anyway. Might do it myself and buy on line.

Simon

 

Hi mate

I bought a 9812rr for £250 online, try www.caraudiodirect.co.uk for good deals. As for the main power feed the manual says take a direct feed from the batery but i wired into the loom as i was using an external amp, i know some people wire it in some use the battery . . suppose its up to you really!!

 

Just purchased a CDA-9811 from CEL direct, price £199.00.

Easy fit using auto leads adapter, longest part of the job was getting a cable to the battery.

PJA

 

wiring adapter is meant to be £10? Is there any draw back to wiring into the harness when your meant to use the battery? Melt down/overheat etc.?

 

I have no experience of these Alpine head units but, as a general rule, 60 watts per channel will sound much better - it's a 33% increase in the amount of power being delivered to control the speakers.

With regards to the wiring, I would base my decision on the power requirements of the original fitted stereo. For example, I wouldn't rely on the original wiring loom when fitting a 4x60w (20 amps) stereo into my old MY96 model because it was only meant to be running the original stereo at 4x35w (12 amps). However, if I had a new shape Impreza that had a 4x50w (17 amps) stereo fitted as standard, then I would think that the original wiring loom could handle that little bit extra.

DON'T MAKE A QUICK BODGE JOB OF WIRING! If you run too much power through speakers, you blow a hole in them and have to buy another pair. If you run too much power through wiring, it gets very hot, then melts, then catches fire ! I have had my car on fire due to someone's dodgy wiring - trust me, it ain't something you want to leave to chance !

 

I've just put in a 9815 and that has a direct wire from the battery and two earths...

Whatever you tap into has to be 20A rated and it might already be carrying 15 out of the 20A so trying to get another 20A down the same bit of wire aint gonna go - as DJ says, meltdown possible or at the very least a fuse blowing regularly which should drop a hint something's not OK

I wouldn't bother risking it - the 20A power lead is fused so just extend it back to the battery and find a decent earth to connect up the short, black lead with the eye connector on it (in addition to the black one in the block connector)

Apple

PS check your manual but the illumination wire out of the car doesn't meet up with the one on the h/u so you might have to split it between the autoleads connectors and fasten in the one from the h/u so it dims when you turn on the lights (if the h/u supports this..)