2001Millrunner

anyone has one of these?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...category=39750


feedbacks? I'm mainly interested in the MP3 playback feature and Alpine is the only brand that I'll ever get

4BangR

My friend has the model below that one. The only thing the better model has is iPersonalize. You can just program it yourself and save about $100. Or, if you want iPersonalize, get that one. They are amazing head units. Great looking and sounding, although they are a bit too complicated for my taste.

Yotabozo

I bought a cda-9811 mp3/cd alpine...I think that's the lower end one, but $100 cheaper than cda-9815...not sure what more the cda-9815 offers to warrant $100.....

i've been more than happy with the cda-9811, installed it in my 4runner last month, been listening to mp3s without having to swap cds anymore.....

i used to own two kenwood mp3 car stereos also, i would stick with alpine or kenwood, both are awesome mp3 players

sabre

I dont know about the Alpine cuz noone made them when I got mine. Aiwa and JVC were the only ones available and I got the JVC.
I tell ya, whatever mp3 player you get is worth the money. Having 200 songs on a cd-rw rules. no changing cds and if you put them in a good folder structure it makes it quite simple to navigate. Then you can rewrite if you need to change anything. I put artists that have a few albums on cd-rws so when they release a new album I can just add it.

FROSTY

Try this place--they are super cheap.

www.carmedia1.com

FROSTY

2001Millrunner

the reason that im going with the 9815 unit is the looks and the 2-line display. I'm a sucker for looks when it comes to decks, i just went to cartoys, they sell this unit for $599.00+tax, stupid cartoys

FROSTY

That place I mentioned is $379 no tax

FROSTY

KevyWevy

wow that place has some infinity subs for super cheap!!! shipping is included too huh

Vegas4Runner

I have the CDA-9815 plus the CHA-S634 MP3 cd changer installed in my 4runner. I had a local place price match one of the middle of the road places on the internet. I paid around $800 installed for both. The 9815 rocks! MP3's start from where you left off (on both the head unit and the changer); you can fast-forward and rewind within the MP3 file itself. ID tag v1 and v2 are supported; track title, artist name and album name ID3 tag data can be displayed. I'm actually still learning how to use it and I've had it for about 2 months now. The search function is pretty cool, once you figure it out. Searching on the changer is A LOT slower than searching on the head unit itself. I still have everything else stock, but I plan on adding to it within the next month or so, which was the reason on getting the 9815 (plus the place only had that one in stock, were all sold out of the 9811). The iPersonalize is pretty cool too; download the settings from the net, burn onto a CD, plop CD in and have the unit set up to those preferences.

Now, the hard part came on the burning of the MP3's. Filenames can only be 31 characters including the extension. They have to be A-Z 0-9 and the underscore _ ONLY. I had to write a custom application to rename mine since mine were long and contained all sorts of extra characters (brute force program really, nothing fancy). As far as the brand of CD's you use, I'm using the cheapo Office Depot ones and I burned all my CD's at max speed (I think it's a 40x writer) using Roxio's EasyCD Platinum. So far, it's had no trouble with those.

So far, this deck and changer has exceeded my expectations. Even when travelling over 70 mph on a washboard dirt road, it never skipped once. As a matter of fact, I don't think I've ever had it skip yet.

Edited to add that the transition between tracks is less than 2 seconds for sure. Most of the time I don't even notice it unless I'm playing some techno stuff where one track stops and it fades out on the next one.

Dude

What year of 4runner do you have? If '03 did you have JBL+ or - Navi? I want to install this unit but have an '03 with JBL. I plan on replacing all the speakers+wiring via an external amp. But I don't want to chop into the factory harness for the 12v+ switched lead or the power antenna lead. Any suggestions on the install? Anyone.

I have posted to other threads and get the "go to your installer and just ask for a harness" answer. Yet, I have discussed this with Crutchfield and Metra directly. Both insist there is not a harness for the JBL setup. So, I am curious how others are installing on an '03w/JBL....if there is a harness out there....please someone give me a brand and model number.

I also assume your install has the power run directly to the battery....can you confirm....I have seen installers not do this even though it is recommended by Alpine. If you turn off the internal headunit amp and use external amps, is there really any reason to run the power lead to the battery?

Other thing to keep in mind about the 9815.....the blue + titanium looking trim ROCKS!!! Awesome choice.

Vegas4Runner

I have it installed in a 2000 4Runner. The installers didn't run the extra wire since I'm all stock and it would cost extra. I don't know what I'm going to do once I get the rest of the system installed as far as running it the same or going directly to the battery.

The blue lighting is cool even though it clashes with the rest of the interior lighting, which I don't mind at all.

Andrey

As far as MP3 decks I have been pretty happy with Pioneer DEH-P8500MP. It looks very unique with flip-out screen and matches 4Runner's interior very well as far as lights, colors and just overall design.

I was truly considering Alpine CDA-9815 until I saw Pioneer. Maybe it is just me, but DEH-P8500 seemed much easier to navigate, it has rotary volume control, downloadable screensavers and many more bells and whistles. Most of the features are pretty much identical to CDA-9815. On top of that, Pioneer has "Cellular Mute", which mutes the entire stereo when my cell phone rings. I have not seen any other deck do that

-- Andrey

2001Millrunner

the pioneer unit does look pretty sweet but i dont like the fact it has limited display selection and i'd rather not have that jetski and dolphing graphic if i cant change it. I'm still debating weather i should wait more to get a SC or delay couple months with this deck....what to do what to do....

2001Millrunner

I just bought the unit and waiting for the arrival..i paid about $368 shipping included, i think that was a pretty good deal considering i dont have to pay for anything else(brother in-law has install shop) I also will be connecting the unit straight to battery for fully functional V-drive(27w-RMS output)

2001Millrunner

i take that back about the good deal. Item arrived in 4days, it's a unit that' been installed before i wrote them an email and they act like they had NO idea, their ebay name is (ABC CAR STEREO) beware!!! I did send the unit back because they said they'd replace with a new one but i dont know how that's going to go. this is the first Crappy Ebay transaction and i'm not happy with it at all. i'll prolly end up paying close to retail with shipping fee =(. sucks for Ray.

glp

I bought the 9815 also--and love it. I second all the positive feedback above. I'd be interested to know if anyone else has seen the problems I have though.

On occasion when I push one of the face buttons on the left, the entire display freezes up and starts flashing in a random scrolling-like pattern. After that none of the buttons work. I can still control the thing with the remote and everything seems to work--except the display. I can't power it off because the buttons don't work so I have to pop the face off and wait a minute. For a while it happened almost every day for a week. It hasn't happened now for about 3 weeks.

I'm at a loss. The last thing I want to do is send it back to alpine and be without tunes for 2 months--only to have them say there's nothing wrong with it and they can't replicate the problem. I think it must be a software thing. Either that or the buttons are somehow shorting out on the face.

Otherwise, I love the thing! Good luck.

2001Millrunner

that sucks! man i sure wish i dont have the same problem when i get mine back.....i'll give you an update, hopefully its not a common issue =(

tank_bmb

How is the FM reception on the Alpine 9815? I am considering the 9811, but have heard bad things about the FM reception.

2001Millrunner

They have 3 settings to choose from(Distance mode, Local mode, Manual mode) and i think it has a lot to do with your factory antenna.....maybe if we somehow wire CB antennas with factory for boosted reception......I've had Alpine deck before and never noticed or had problems with reception. Alpine is known to be one of the most durable, the 6yrs of owning, it never skipped or crapped out on me which is exactly why i got another one.

A+

nice deck 2Mil.now u gotta upgrade ur speakers.i just got the type-s for my ride and its much better than the paper toyota speakers.i wanted to get the type-r but it would need mods to the door for the speaker to fit properly