Installed an Alpine stereo & iPod (w/ guide)

[Shaggy]

Meant to post this a while back and forgot about it. Before this I was using the Blaupunkt iPod interface cable with the stock Acapulco and was very unsatisfied with it. Now that I've replaced the Blaupunkt stuff with an Alpine CDA-9856 cd player and KCE-422i iPod cable I'm VERY satisfied. The whole iPod experience is much better and, as a bonus, the sound quality as a whole seems to be quite a bit better.



So here is a quick guide to getting the Alpine all wired up in the Elise, thanks to this thread the install went much quicker than I thought it would.

Start out by removing the old radio (see the previous post for instructions/photos) and running the iPod cable. When you start making your new wiring harness try to imagine it as "Alpine into Passat into Stock Lotus", the Alpine and Passat will be cut and wired together and the Passat connector will plug into the stock harness. The wiring goes like this...

Yellow --- Red = Constant Power (Battery)
Orange --- Orange = Illumination
Red --- Yellow = Ignition (Switched power)
Black --- Black = Ground

Violet --- Violet = Right Rear (+)
Violet/Blk --- Violet/Blk = Right Rear (-)
Gray --- Gray = Right Front (+)
Gray/Blk --- Gray/Blk = Right Front (-)
White --- White = Left Front (+)
White/Blk --- White/Black = Left Front (-)
Green --- Green = Left Rear (+)
Green/Blk --- Green/Black = Left Rear (-)

When you are done you should have two unused wires on the Lotus/Passat side of the adapter, these are for the non-existant sub out (white/red) & antenna motor (pink). Tape these off and set them aside.

Now that you have the harness made you can plug everything together, stuff the excess wiring into the dash (it WILL fit, just takes some real effort) and slide the new head unit in. Connect your iPod and you're finished!

Getting used to the iPod controls takes a little effort but you should be able to pick them up. The one thing that threw me off is that you can't change/search playlists while in "Mix mode" (button 5), just switch this mode off whenever you want to find a specific song. The entire experience is a WORLD better than the Blaupunkt experience. An added plus is that the audio quality seems to have improved quite a bit with the new head unit as well! A lot of Lotus car folk swear that a speaker upgrade is the way to go with the Elise but with this radio I'm VERY satisfied with the sound quality. You can choose to display the time remaining, clock, artist, album or track name, all of which are clearly displayed and very easily read.

My ONLY complaint with this head unit is that theres only one line of text and no way to display the clock alongside the other info. The next model up ($100~ more) has two lines of text which I think is the main selling point based on exactly this. Still though, this is just a minor inconvenience.

I also made a guide for this over on Boompa.
http://www.boompa.com/guide/install-...lotus-elise/88

[marns]

Nice instructions Shaggy.

I went with the 9857, they are well below RRP on ebay. Paired them up with the entry level JL Audio TR series (I didn't want to find space for crossovers). Very please with the Alpine Full Speed ipod connection, it's just a wire into the head unit.

Quick tip on using the ipod with the 9857 : you have to switch off both the Shuffle and Repeat functions on your ipod before connecting to the head unit. Otherwise you will only see the ipod display on head unit and have no sound.

[char]

I've got the same head unit, same ipod location, Focal speakers.

It works great, but I ordered a JL stealthbox today ... should be even better.

[wrh3]

I just installed the CDA-9857 today after also trying the Blaupunkt iPod adapter and finding that it left a lot to be desired. I had already upgraded the speakers, added amplifiers and JL Stealthbox so my comparison may not apply to everyone. I think the Blaupunkt tuner was better and the overall sound of the Alpine may be slightly better, but the iPod interface on the Alpine is AWESOME: fast and no noise.

[jriva]

I have the 9857 as well, and I'm quite happy with it myself. My only problem with it is once a playlist is started, there's no way to navigate up to the previous menu similar to an ipod, at least none that I've found. Navigation is great, but the lack of a scrolling text when searching through albums/artists with long names, or multiple albums by one artist, is lame.

[wrh3]

Originally Posted by jriva

I have the 9857 as well, and I'm quite happy with it myself. My only problem with it is once a playlist is started, there's no way to navigate up to the previous menu similar to an ipod, at least none that I've found. Navigation is great, but the lack of a scrolling text when searching through albums/artists with long names, or multiple albums by one artist, is lame.

Right and when you do get back to the list, it starts over at the beginning instead of where you left off. I have a Fuba amplified antenna I may play with and install to deal with the radio reception issue, weak stations the Blaupunkt picked up are no more with the Alpine.