Anyone have experience with Alpine Ai-Net?

[uflnuceng]

I have a Alpine CDA-9851 head unit in my 1990 535i and I'm trying to add a few things to it over the Ai-Net interface. I have confirmed with Crutchfield that the bluetooth interface will work with this headunit which is cool as I have a bluetooth phone. It hasn't arrived yet, but should ship soon. I have already recieved Alpine's Sirius Satellite Radio tuner. Now, supposedly the Sirius tuner has an Ai-Net passthru, but I'm hearing it doesn't work with the bluetooth. Something about a software update coming out so I don't know whether or not to call and swap it, or get this Ai-Net multichannel adaptor and get some more functionality. Thing is I don't really do MP3 players, 6-disc CD changer, or iPod connects...

I got a lot of work to do on this stereo thing... pretty much ripping it out and cleaning up the wires and install. Making some platforms to install everything too, but now that I see Ian's install I know I can't half ass it. Gotta start thinking of subwoofer options, dynomat stuff... joy.

[StereoInstaller1]

Call Alpine at 1-800-ALPINE-1, ask for tech.

I have done everything from their shitty time-alignment boxes to full 5.1 surround in Alpine, but the Bluetooth is too new for me to have played with.

Luke

[uflnuceng]

shitty? not a fan of alpine?

[StereoInstaller1]

shitty? not a fan of alpine?

Actually, I hate pretty much all head units made since about 1998.

Give me my old Denon 5250 (minus the skipping) any day over ANY deck made since then. I would be willing to forego burned CD's to have one of those beauties back in my dash. Maybe with an update, like WMA, MP3, 3 preouts and a sub level knob on the face it would sell. All of us E30 dorks would buy one, that is for sure. I have 2 of them sitting in a box, waiting on that call from the Smithsonian...

The "time alignment" box...I forget which model it is, was part of Alpines Y2K high end lineup. This POS could make any decent system sound like it had 1950's finest reverb connected to it. Just a horrible example of signal processing. IMHO, pretty much any signal processing aside from analog crossovers sound like ass...but this particular piece was absolutely horrible. I have heard worse things, but not from any major brand.

/holiday monday AM rant

Alpine is fine if you can deal with the styling. Not the best quality, either. At least the fuckers stopped trying to make alarms! At the last shop I was at we had TONS of defective decks, the amps shut down from overvoltage easily, the speakers shut down the tweeters with the tiniest bit of power, the menus were diffucult and confusing (makes Kicker look simple!) and BTW, who the fuck ever decided we need digital controls and meters on a fucking AMPLIFIER! (oops, 'nother rant slipped out) But Alpine did put a ton of cash in my pocket, at least installing it did. Those fuckwads actually gave away a Hot Wheels toy as a gift for showing up at their inane training! What happened to getting at least a t-shirt! AAACK!

OK. Yeah. Alpine is fine, just overpriced, and not as high in quality as they once were.

Anyway, I swear I won't post on your threads after drinking this much coffee again.

Sorry.

Luke

[Van Westervelt]

I am doing the same thing... sorta.

I have my bluetooth adaptor coming. I am running it with the vehicle hub pro though. I am also not using the sirius unit. Instead I have the 5210 DVD player with pass through. If I get mine before you I will let you know.

[uflnuceng]

Luke... awesome rant... loved it.

If I could get your opinion on my system I would like to post some info up of what I have and you can tell me maybe the best way to hook it up? Let me know if you are ok with that.. I'll have to go get the stats on the amp.

[StereoInstaller1]

Sure, man...throw me all the model numbers you have, i will make another pot of Dark Roast Sumatra (thank god for trader joes!)

Luke

[uflnuceng]

Ha... just sent you a PM a couple seconds ago... don't have the a/d/s model numbers. I looked in the trunk and all I saw were black a/d/s cross over boxes. I can get better info, or atleast pics, of them tomorrow.

[uflnuceng]

Well... after talking with Crutchfield, Alpine, and Directed Electronics (the people who actually make the ALPSIR1 unit) and I have come to the conclusion that Directed are idiots, Alpine is unapologetic and ignorant, and Crutchfield is unfortunately in the dark.

Alpine's major quotes:
"we don't make the ALPSIR1 unit, call Directed Electronics"
"No... using the versalink adaptor won't help you either"

Directed major quotes:
"Sirius actually makes the tuner, we just adapt it to work with Alpine"
"No... we are not making a patch of firmware update for the unit"

Crutchfield major quotes:
"Well... we just got a notice yesterday stating that this unit won't work"

To Crutchfield's credit, they spent a lot of time on the phone trying to help me out and gave me some things to think about. The guy said if I wanted Sirius Satellite Radio and Bluetooth I was going to have to go either Panasonic or Kenwood... and Panasonic doesn't make any decks that fit the E34. That leaves:

1. Kenwood based system, or
2. Keep the Alpine setup and find a "universal" bluetooth connection for the cell phone. Scosche makes a universal unit... anyone know of this company's stuff?

Luke... you are my only hope.

[StereoInstaller1]

Wow...even with a movie quote.

Cool. Check with Peripheral too...scosche kinda sucks. WalMart has ruined their company.

And what the hell is with Panasonic not making a deck that fits E34? Huh? All DIN decks are the same size...pana too!

Luke

[uflnuceng]

Crutchfield said there is a depth issue with the panasonic decks on the E34s... retarded...

[uflnuceng]

Pioneer makes some really trick decks with bluetooth integrated with no adaptors needed... but again they don't fit my car... this sucks.

[StereoInstaller1]

Have you figured out just exactly you want your bluetooth to do? Here is a list of what I want:

1. Audible caller ID for incoming calls with Audio Mute/pause
2. "Call on Command" where you tell your phone to call someone, and it does.
3. I want to be able to ignore a call, verbally.
4. I want to use the cars own speaker, not some dangly shit under my dash.

I want the thing to be able to recognise about 100 different names. None of the stuff listed really requires much out of the deck, just a BT adapter, and a "mute" input, or interrupt the decks power wire with a relay.

Motorola makes a sweet one, albeit tons of money. There are several others out there that actually WORK, unlike the bastards who try and run everything (Alpine)

Oh yeah, do you see now why I HATE Alpine? Not bad gear, just a bunch of ignorant, arrogant, snobby idiots running the show.

I can do this with just about any deck, except GM or MoPar databus decks. Those, I actuallu have to interrupt the audio with a fuckload of relays...still do-able.

Luke

[uflnuceng]

Interesting... the Pioneer DEH-P9800BT is 6.66" deep, while the Alpine CDA-9851 I currently have in the car is 6.60" deep... difference of 6/100ths of an inch... that head unit might fit if I move some wires around.

Luke... comments?

Edit: I want my Bluetooth to seamlessly integrate my cell phone into the car stereo. Call on command, use the car speakers, and all the jazz you listed above would be great.

And yes... Alpine were not helpful at all...