'99 vectra impressive ICE

[Avtovaz]

Id like to post and say i have a pair of throbbing 9" whoofers in my rear shelf, and that i can the bass from my ICE makes people with in 12' instantly defecate, but i havnt. In reality what i have is the factory default cassette player, and some seekers that produce sound sound similar to the ones on a gramophone, although my speakers are not as large.


So, the question is, if i fit a sony radio will i loose the RDS time, the controls on the steering wheel, and what will the display say on the dash?




That is all i ask right now.

[Peteyboy_essex]

You can get an adaptor that will allow for the steering wheel controls to be maintained. This is made by autoleads, and can be found easily on ebay. IIRC the dash display will not work, and will just be blank

[JoeyB]

You can get Vehicle Interface adaptors also, which allow some functionality from the display.

Checkout the Car Audio Direct website for the Autoleads stuff.

[Avtovaz]

ah fantastic, i didnt want to loose the display for loose the wheel controls!


illhave a look where you both said and " avto will get back to you "

[wallopsri]

I would advise you pop down local halfords and try out some different brands of headunit, each brand has a particular type of sound....

whilst doing this you will also be able to try different speakers....

Once you decide on a good pairing, simply go home & purchase on-line to save some cash....

Just a friendly word, Don't buy Sony without hearing it first, the newer units sound awful....

[JoeyB]

Alpine FTW

[wallopsri]

Alpine FTW

Really!!! I find Alpine units tend to be way to involved....

I've owned 6 or 7 different Alpine units and they all suffered with a similar problem, you play a disc and know it could sound better, so you tweak the unit to get the best sound....problem is that when you change the disc you know it could sound better, so you tweak it again....this issue does my skull in....once a unit is setup it shouldn't need adjusting for each disc....

I had a 9855, there are about 18 different EQ pre-sets, (rock. pop, jazz, etc etc), plus an additional 6 possible user pre-sets, its just madness.....it even has 6 user pre-sets for the digital crossover network, crazy one should be enough....

I also consider the newer Alpine range to be slightly bright, I think the best Alpine unit I've owned was the old 9835, slightly bright but you could tone it down slightly without too much fuss....

Just to add, I think it's about time the mainstream brands got back to basics and give us good quality units that have simple bass & treble adjustment, all this other useless crap should be binned.....

My present headunit is playing totally flat, bass set at 0, treble set at 0, sub level set at 0, in fact the only adjustment ever needed is the fader, faded to front whilst driving, faded to rear when showing off and set at 0 for max output....

[Jasovanooo]

i quite like alpine bu thten i actually like gizmo type controls... and the potential is there for some reaosnable sound. considering replacing my dying Kenwood KDC-W 7031 with one

[Avtovaz]

thanks again for the advice, ui already have a sony cdx mp 40, xploder head unit and some 6x9 xploder speakers i had in my Lada Estate.

[wallopsri]

i quite like alpine bu thten i actually like gizmo type controls... and the potential is there for some reaosnable sound. considering replacing my dying Kenwood KDC-W 7031 with one

Alpine could, or rather should, do a range of units which sound good straight out the box....I know it's possible, (my unit did), but I think they've gone way over the top with features 90% of people won't understand or use....It's so easy to over compensate and screw up your sound quality to such an extent that your making adjustments to rectify earlier adjustments using a different feature....

A few years back Alpine were way ahead of all the other brands, but now it seems they are going sideways rather than forwards....

Listened to a few units about 3 weeks ago, the JVC units were very nice, but the Blaupunkt units were great.....I was asked if I would try one in my car, but I refused, I like my current unit & have no desire to replace it...

[Jasovanooo]

i do see what you mean and i do like my relatively basic controls on the kenwood (it has the gizmo's but you dont have to use them) like instantly adjustable sub volume etc wich i find essential as i listen a wise variety of music but it feels like it should do better but the controls dont allow enough fine tuning

[wallopsri]

i do see what you mean and i do like my relatively basic controls on the kenwood (it has the gizmo's but you dont have to use them) like instantly adjustable sub volume etc wich i find essential as i listen a wise variety of music but it feels like it should do better but the controls dont allow enough fine tuning

OK, ask yourself this, when listening to your home stereo, do you alter the bass or treble controls for each different type of music??
Do you alter the EQ pre-set??
Do you alter the crossover network??
Do you alter the crossover roll off slope??

Its all relative, you alter a setting to suit a certain type of music, then it needs altering again to play something else....like I said, ALL the main brands suffer this to varying degrees....

If you need to adjust sub output level, then its simply not set right in the first place....

I too listen to all types of music, I especially like putting a smile on pedestrians faces by playing tracks from the 60s & 70s....

It's also become apparent that over the last few years music production has gone downhill, its getting harder and harder to find music which has been well produced....

My current setup will happily play anything from The Carpenters through the Bee Gees onto Electro, Funky house, Trance music & Bass Mekanik without any headunit or sub control adjustment....This isn't down to my setup skills, its down to the headunit, (OK, maybe its 60 40 in favour of my setup skill but you get my point)....

A friend who's been selling car audio for over 15yrs swore by Sony....Recently he bought a new unit because he required blue tooth, he tried on a number of occasions to tune it, but no matter what he did, it simply wouldn't play any two cds the same....I tried tuning it for him, after around 40mins I was pulling my hair out, it was easy to get it sounding good, but as soon as you changed the disc it sounded totally different....

I then ran a RCA lead from my 4ch amp into his car, then using short RCA leads I connected both his amps so my headunit was driving his system....Turned it on and his face was a picture, totally different sound wise....after only a few minutes his system was sounding fantastic no matter what I played....he sold the Sony two days later and replaced it with a Pioneer.....

Think I'm rambling again, sorry for long post, (seems to happen a lot lol)....

@ OP, sorry for thread hijack mate....Point made, the end....lmao

[Jasovanooo]

aye the missus pioneer (altho an old relatively low end one) does sound nice but i just hate using the bloody thing.

any word on what jvc's top end units are like? ive only used the lower stuff of theres and was mega unimpressed with the ****ness but i do like the look/features of the better ones just gotta hear one somewere.

its that or the alpine...

[wallopsri]

Each brand has it's own sound, the best advice anyone can give is,

"Try before you buy".....

I do like the sound from the high end JVC units, but I don't think I would buy one, given a choice I would probably look for something which actually suited me....No point buying a unit which you don't understand or know will suit your particular needs....Once you get upto high end unit money you can invariably get more for your cash by swapping brand, but you will also always lose something, suppose its a compromise....

[JoeyB]

Really!!! I find Alpine units tend to be way to involved....

I've owned 6 or 7 different Alpine units and they all suffered with a similar problem, you play a disc and know it could sound better, so you tweak the unit to get the best sound....problem is that when you change the disc you know it could sound better, so you tweak it again....this issue does my skull in....once a unit is setup it shouldn't need adjusting for each disc....

I had a 9855, there are about 18 different EQ pre-sets, (rock. pop, jazz, etc etc), plus an additional 6 possible user pre-sets, its just madness.....it even has 6 user pre-sets for the digital crossover network, crazy one should be enough....

I also consider the newer Alpine range to be slightly bright, I think the best Alpine unit I've owned was the old 9835, slightly bright but you could tone it down slightly without too much fuss....

Just to add, I think it's about time the mainstream brands got back to basics and give us good quality units that have simple bass & treble adjustment, all this other useless crap should be binned.....

My present headunit is playing totally flat, bass set at 0, treble set at 0, sub level set at 0, in fact the only adjustment ever needed is the fader, faded to front whilst driving, faded to rear when showing off and set at 0 for max output....

I also currently have the 9855R....I love the fact that it has a 5 and 7 band equalizers. I guess it depends what you're into really.

[wallopsri]

I also currently have the 9855R....I love the fact that it has a 5 and 7 band equalizers. I guess it depends what you're into really.

5 band parametric eq or 7 band graphic eq.....You can select which one you prefer.....

2 different menu lists, (easy & pro), a subwoofer level control which is like no other brand, (0 = off, level 15 = 0dB)....You can adjust the 9855 so it truly sings, but change the disc or source and your ears will detect a slight fall in quality, so you start adjusting the bloody thing again....

TBH I would probably go back to the 9855r if my current unit ever failed....