Head Unit/Receiver Advice

[red325]

If you don't mind buying used equipment, one of the head units that I personally recommend is the Alpine CDA-9835. It has switchable amber illumination, the excellent Biolite display, very good sound quality, plus it has built in 2 or 3 way active crossovers and time alignment if you ever decide to really start playing with your setup. You can also connect an iPod thru the optional Alpine interface as well as a satellite radio tuner. The 9835 was replaced the next year with the 9855, which is almost the same unit with the same features, but they utilized the 'Glide Touch' pad instead of normal preset buttons for multiple functions. I have one and although the performance of the unit is fine, I cannot stand the Glide Touch feature-and from what I have read a lot of other people couldn't either.

Any Pics of said alpine installed in e30? The pictures i've found of it look nice, but I'm not sure about the blue on the left side...

Sorry I'm being so picky but I want the interior to flow and look as clean as possible.

[Eric Giles]

The 9835/9855 don't have the blue looking buttons-they light up either amber or green depending upon which color you have selected. I don't have any pictures at the moment but I will try to take a couple and post them by tomorrow.

Just realize that no aftermarket head unit is going to look perfect in an E30-there will always be some small tradeoff. Actually, probably the best looking E30 friendly aftermarket headunit was the Blaupunkt Toronto from the mid-late '90's. I had one and it was the most perfect match I have yet to find aesthetics wise. They are basically impossible to find now but really weren't tops in sound quality or reliability.

[red325]

The 9835/9855 don't have the blue looking buttons-they light up either amber or green depending upon which color you have selected. I don't have any pictures at the moment but I will try to take a couple and post them by tomorrow.

Alright, sounds good. Just get those pics up as soon as possible please.

But, by the way, these buttons look pretty damn blue to me..http://www.crutchfield.com/p_500CDA9...5.html?tp=5684

[red325]

Just realize that no aftermarket head unit is going to look perfect in an E30-there will always be some small tradeoff. Actually, probably the best looking E30 friendly aftermarket headunit was the Blaupunkt Toronto from the mid-late '90's. I had one and it was the most perfect match I have yet to find aesthetics wise. They are basically impossible to find now but really weren't tops in sound quality or reliability.

Yes, I've become aware of this over the past few days trying to find the perfect matching head unit for an e30.

Blaupunkt don't seem to have very good reviews though and seem to have very bad reliability. For now, I'm set on that alpine 9835.

[red325]

The 9835/9855 don't have the blue looking buttons-they light up either amber or green depending upon which color you have selected. I don't have any pictures at the moment but I will try to take a couple and post them by tomorrow.

Just realize that no aftermarket head unit is going to look perfect in an E30-there will always be some small tradeoff. Actually, probably the best looking E30 friendly aftermarket headunit was the Blaupunkt Toronto from the mid-late '90's. I had one and it was the most perfect match I have yet to find aesthetics wise. They are basically impossible to find now but really weren't tops in sound quality or reliability.

Go rebs, hotty totty btw

[Eric Giles]

Alright, sounds good. Just get those pics up as soon as possible please.

But, by the way, these buttons look pretty damn blue to me..http://www.crutchfield.com/p_500CDA9...5.html?tp=5684

I forgot that you can adjust between 512 different colors on this head unit, and in the pictures the illumination is set to blue. Believe me, you set it to amber and those buttons are amber. I will try to remember to get those pics for you tomorrow.

And Hotty Toddy back to ya! Ole Miss is back on the map in college football again and I am counting down the days until the first kickoff. Are you originally from around this area? Not many people from Seattle know about Ole Miss I wouldn't think.

[red325]

I forgot that you can adjust between 512 different colors on this head unit, and in the pictures the illumination is set to blue. Believe me, you set it to amber and those buttons are amber. I will try to remember to get those pics for you tomorrow.

And Hotty Toddy back to ya! Ole Miss is back on the map in college football again and I am counting down the days until the first kickoff. Are you originally from around this area? Not many people from Seattle know about Ole Miss I wouldn't think.

great about the color adjustment, thanks. And yeah try an get those pics up sometime soon.

As for how I know Ole Miss, I lived in the south in my youth. Florida till 7, Alabama till 12, then moved here. Basically I'd head up to Mississippi to see my grandparents there and they were huge fans of Ole Miss. Been a fan ever since. While I lived in the south I probably saw 3 or 4 games a year. Don't really get down there anymore but I always watch the games on T.V.

We had a hell of a season last year. I was down there when we blew out Mississippi State. Something along the lines of 56-0 I believe, haha. Sneade is an excellent quarterback, maybe the best in Ole Miss history other than Mannings. We were the only team to beat Florida too. Can't wait till next season.

Hotty Toddy :D

[Eric Giles]

Ok here are some fair iPhone pics of the Alpine 9835. Also, when the unit is off, the four main buttons do indeed have a very slight blue tint to them but that disappears when the unit is powered up.




Sorry for the image quality again but hopefully it will be enough to give you an idea of how it looks in the dash.

[red325]

Thanks for those pics, looks real nice in the dash. Probably will be buying soon, it's a bit too shiny but still flows pretty well with the interior.

Thanks

[E30 Cabrio]

If you don't mind buying used equipment, one of the head units that I personally recommend is the Alpine CDA-9835. It has switchable amber illumination, the excellent Biolite display, very good sound quality, plus it has built in 2 or 3 way active crossovers and time alignment if you ever decide to really start playing with your setup. You can also connect an iPod thru the optional Alpine interface as well as a satellite radio tuner. The 9835 was replaced the next year with the 9855, which is almost the same unit with the same features, but they utilized the 'Glide Touch' pad instead of normal preset buttons for multiple functions. I have one and although the performance of the unit is fine, I cannot stand the Glide Touch feature-and from what I have read a lot of other people couldn't either.

These were the last head units Alpine made that included the active crossovers, bass management and time alignment built in until the current 9887 came out last year.

The Clarion DXZ-785USB is also a good head unit, especially for the money if you can find one. It has fully adjustable illumination, active crossovers, time alignment, great D/A converters but the drawbacks are a hard to read display and the face of the unit sticks out a bit from the dash. Otherwise, it's a nice head unit and if i didn't already have my Alpine's I would have possibly kept the one I bought to try out.

DXZ785USB installed in my E30:




People either love or hate the looks of it.

Personally, I think it looks better then most aftermarket HU's and has a ton of features and can be found for under $150.00

It sounds great and looks good in the dash, especially at night with the Amber buttons and display.

[red325]

Clarion looks good, better than the alpine in my opinion. They do stand out from the dash slightly though. I'd for sure buy a clarion if I could find one that was in good condition which so far has been impossible. Thanks alot for the pics e30 cabrio

[woodisgood]

I bought one of these from this company not too long ago..everything worked out well..factory refurbish..good price.

http://cgi.ebay.com/CLARION-DXZ775USB-CAR-AUDIO-STEREO-CD-MP3-PLAYER-CHEAP_W0QQitemZ360176188086QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCar_Audio_In_Dash_Receivers?hash=item53dc2c7ab6&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

[red325]

I bought one of these from this company not too long ago..everything worked out well..factory refurbish..good price.

http://cgi.ebay.com/CLARION-DXZ775US...d=p3286.c0.m14

Interesting... Don't know how I missed this. Looks to be legit how's it been holding up so far, any problems?

[Eric Giles]

I need to take some better pictures of the Alpine in my car since the ones I posted really don't do it justice. Also the 'shiny' part is due to the camera in the iPhone. Although it is a matter of opinion, after having both in my car, the Alpine definitely looks and integrates better with the E30 dash than the Clarion.

Now I have another 'old school' head unit here that I think will also look nice in an E30-its a Sony Mobile ES CDX-C910 from '96-98. This was when Sony still made top notch car audio gear, and the C910 (and its replacement the C90) is still considered one of the better sound quality head units ever offered. It's a bit bare bones compared to newer head units of today, but if simplicity, sound quality, and non-flashy looks are important it would be a good choice. One of it's drawbacks is that the display is not very bright and easily washes out in sunlight. I bought one brand new back in '97 and sold it a couple of years later when I sold the car it was in, but the first of this year I bought one on ebay and have refurbished it-I just may put it in one of the E30's to see how I like it these days.

[E30 Cabrio]

$150.00:

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_11771_Clarion+DXZ785USB.html?utm_source=froogle&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=froogle

Works great with iPods/iPhones as well as other MP3 players.