I'm looking at replacing factory unit for an Alpine CDA-9831.
Will it fit without modifying the dash trim?
Do you turn off Alpine's internal amp when hooking up to the factory amp,
or should I by-pass the factory amp all together?
I have searched and seen many picks but all the alpine pics are 3rd gen.
Thanks in advance for any help.

 

You've obviously never seen mine...

 

Not exactly the same but it may help you out in deciding some....

Last weekend I replaced the factory tape deck and all four speakers in my 95 4Runner with all Kenwood stuff from crutchfield. I removed the rear speaker boxes and used some crutchfield adapter plates and wiring harness adapters to mount some 6.5" speakers in their place. I used 4" speakers in the front factory boxes.

I had to use a dremel tool to modify the front boxes just a tad to get the fit right. Its not air tight but the 4" wont put out much bass anyways + I put bass blockers on them to limit that anyways. The whole thing sounds very crisp and clear - but lacks a lot of low end bass from the rears. Its not totally devoid of bass but it sure is lacking...

Those boxes really helped the factory 4" speakers sound better than the 6.5" with the adapter plates. I am now in the process of modifying the factory boxes to take the 6" speaker with out the factory amp. No idea if this will make much of a difference but its a nearly free mod (<$10 parts but lots of my time) so no harm no foul. I will have the first box done and tested for initial results this Saturday - I will let you know if its worth the effort. If it is I will take pics and make a write up when I modify the second box.

 

2nd generation with alpine

 

Thanks for the pictures, answers that.
Any word on the amp, factory or by-pass?
Also I did replace the front speakers with R-Fosgate a while back, much better sound.
Thanks for the replies!

 

If your headunit has it's own amp it will power the speakers and you'll bypass the factory amp... some suggest even removing it all together b/c it would just cause noise..

I removed mine..it's in a box somewhere..

 

I did the mod to my front enclosures but I patched it up with dynamat type soundproofing to make it good as new again. You should check out page two of my home page on my sig and I have it all well documented. The factory rear boxes really do help with bass. I'ts a good Idea and something I though of a while back and kick myself for putting it all back together with the plywood cutouts. O well. Check out what I did anyway and you might get some inspiration.

 

Here is the sneak peak pre-view of what I am testing out on Saturday...



MIND you...I am looking for slightly better than stock and don't give a damn about bumping anything anywhere....just wanted a MP3 deck in the dash and speakers that would play what I needed to hear!

OH Yeah: that pic shows a work in progress and not even close to the finished results

Simple needs and simple results.
Cheap too!

 

I second that .... factory amp is long gone and forgotten.