can any of you share some files so i can try it??? I'm not a stereo guru and I can never get the unit to sound the way I want it to.


*thoughts at the moment*
I'm gettin tired of paper-cone sound of stock speakers and I think I'm due for a speaker swap. I dont plan to run seperate amps. I can get Infinity speakers for jobber price but Kappas for my needs is an overkill, *I think* I'll be perfectly happy with References because I heard if i want the Kappa component system to sound right then I'd have to have seperate amps otherwise I'll just overwork the head unit. I also wont like the fact that I'm killing the speaker's potential(=wanting more amps eventually&spending unnecessary $$$ just for kicks). I dunno, what do ya'll think?

 

Hi 2001,
I was sitting here drinking my Saturday morning coffee and thinking that I have never seen a thread that focused on sharing information on stereo settings among those of us who have similar equipment installations based upon the Alpine headunit. Then I came across your inquiryl; it sounds as though you and I are of like minds when it comes to audio sound.

First of all, let me tell you what equipment I have: Alpine CDA-9813 headunit ( I want to upgrade to the new CDA- 9835 unit but cannot find a reason to justify the +$200) , Infinity Reference Series 6002si, 5002i (5.25" w/ adapter plates), 1001t speakers and TWO Infinity BassLink subs. Before you start your search for the right balance of sound I would suggest you have upgraded your headunit and speakers to at least the level of what I have. I too was not interested in using external amps and wanted to rely strictly on the Alpine V-Drive MOSFET60 internal amp. The Reference Series speakers work just fine in my opinion. I also think that the introduction of at least one sub adds some really nice fullness to the sound experience. Yes, I am not an audiophile and this is all new to me. I do not like a lot of base, but can tell you that the 10" BassLinks can rattle the glass loose if you crank them up so do not underestimate their ability ... I really like them and the flexibility of positioning them that their compact size permits.

I have spent countless hours trying different combinations of settings, using the I-Personalize site for calibrations. (Note: Alpine just revamped the I-Personalize site) I just reached another all time high in my search for better sound by some of the adjustments I made to all areas of tuning: EQ, T-Corr, X-Over. When you have all your components installed I would be glad to spend the time sharing the settings I am using but if you are still using the OEM paper cones it is a waste of your time and my time right right now. I would love to see more guys who are using the kind of setup I have join in this discussion because I really want to learn more about this stuff and despite all the reading I have done, I know nothing.

 

more and more i mess with my head unit, the more i realize how crappy stock speakers are...

 

You need to hear my Infinity Refer components sized at 6.5".
They will blow you away, even when cranked.
If you are ever near Auburn, let me know.

I run just the two of them plus the sub in back.
That's all you need for a rig of this size.

 

I am very stubborn and in the past I refused to alter my OEM sound system(s) except for speakers. The results were always crappy, but I convinced myself it was better. The “crappy” came from the fact that the OEM head units did not have enough power to drive the speakers. Well, being an old dog, I started off the same way with the 4R, but I had advice from one of the guys here and that lead me to buy the high efficiency Reference Series speakers, instead of my usual mistake of selecting Kappa’s … with an OEM head unit, yeah right! Anyway, it sounded 100% better and I was thrilled. For my next extravagance I decided to buy the BassLink so I could show up my kid who has a component 2x12” box in the trunk of his car. I was really styling now and thought everything was okay, but the sub seemed disjointed. In for a penny in for a pound became my logic for the Alpine head unit. THAT DID IT! I rewired the sub and that mated it to the rest of the system in terms of sound integration and the speakers really came alive. The second sub was just icing on the cake and allowed me to set it up as a 2-way system with L/R subs. You have got to change your speakers in order to experience nirvana.

 

It all depends on how important sound in your truck is. You guys are definitely correct in that you absolutely do not want to get Kappas without getting an aftermarket amp. You will actually blow the Kappas if you crank them too much with your stock deck or even with an aftermarket deck. Not enough power is actually worse than too much for speakers. I had the references for some time and liked them a lot, especially for the $. If I can overcome my laziness I will try and grab some i-personalize files. The thing to remember is that the crossover settings will differ with different speaker and amp combos. (and you might want your own greeting!) If you have any q's about crossover settings, post your setup and I can give you some #'s to start with. Good luck and be careful; the sound bug bites easily!

 

thanks for all the inputs guys. BTW what size would i go with? for both front and rear? I also am willing to make an adapter or someone can help me?? =)

 

The stock sizes are 6.5 up front and 4 in the rear. I adapted the rear for 5.25 but it really is not necessary. The rear is mostly for fill so the 4's will be fine. The references (605cs I believe) will drop in the front easily and sound really good. The reference rears to match would be 452i if they haven't changed in the past year (I think they have though). That would give you some really good sound. Have fun!

 

Alright, i'm gonna resurrect this thread. I just got my 4runner and installing the stereo was the first thing i did. I have the alpine cda-9815 deck and 4" kicker resolution speakers in the front and 5 1/4" in the back. Both of these are component speakers. I also got a 10" kicker L7 sub.

Now, i had it all set up sounding nice, but i had problems with the truck and had to disconnect the battery and lost my settings. This deck is hard to tune!! It's not just bass and treble, which makes it hard to have everything sound right. I haven't even begun to mess with the time correction.

So if someone could point me in the right direction to get the best sound out of this setup it would be great. I know this system has some major potential if its tuned right. The kicker resolution speakers are supposed to be top of the line. BTW, this is my first post, and i gotta say, this is the site i've been looking for. It took me a while to find it though, but it's similar to the site i visited for my last car. It's a great site!!

Thanks,
Nick

 

Hi Nick,
Welcome to the board. It's funny you are asking about this because I just, shall we say, upgraded my system again --- CDA-9813 to CDA-9835 and Infinity Reference 6002si to 6002i (6.5") speakers. Why I did this was because I put the 6823 in my son's car and the 6002si's in my PU truck. The 6002i's have the rotating tweeters and slightly broader frequency response. PLUS, infinity is having a sale right now and I bought two pair of speakers with the second set at half price.

I can give you some settings that work for me but I am unclear as to which model 4R you have. It sounds like you have the later post Gen3 model. If that be the case, my time correction settings will not work for you. One thing I do find with most installations is that you will need to cut the higher frequencies to minimize the hissing on vocal highs. Set your crossovers for the front and rear speakers to the max limit of the speakers (I.E. 125Hz for the fronts and 80-100Hz for the rears.) Keep your subs at 80Hz. Then you can play with the width and slope by setting variations on your pre-sets. I worked my adjustments within a very narrow field most of the time --- 125Hz to 6-8 kHz, and I cut most settings with very narrow bandwidths --- usually #1. The time correction settings are very tricky but do make a difference in my opinion. I have two BassLink subs on a 15-degree angle facing up and back just behind the rear seats. I do not use too much gain since I am not a head banger but they add some real nice fill and emphasis to the sound.

I love my system and the new 9835 display and color tuning is pretty cool. The only thing I do not like about it is that so far I cannot seem to adjust the clock any other way than as a 24-hour clock. I guess it has something to do with the calendar feature (day-date-year).

 

I tried to attach one of my files; anybody's guess if it worked

 

Guess not

 

Thanks Peter,
I guess i should have mentioned that i have a 90 4runner. Your new deck looks awesome. I would buy that if i didn't have the deck i have now. Anyway, i'm trying to use this i-personalize thing on the alpine website, and i'm using the manual that came with the deck, and i'm reading what you guys wrote, but i still dont' understand everything. I did what you said peter, and set the frequencies for the crossovers, but i don't know what this slope thing is. Also, for the i-personalize crossover setting it says db/oct and it has the option of off, 6, 12, 18, or 24 db. Any idea what this is?
And...i'm at a total loss about the EQ. Except that i should put the width at 1 (narrow) for all of the bands. Is this correct. Thanks alot

 

The crossover settings in principal act the same as the EQ settings as far as you can adjust the slope and you can cut the frequency --- you cannot boost the frequency. 0 is the off setting and leaves the dB level settings flat or neutral. You can go all the way down to -12 dB. The slope is how quickly the frequency drops off or how much it ramps up --- cut and boost. You can adjust the slope by 6 dB increments --- 0 is considered to be flat, neutral or off, 1(6), 2(12), 3(18), 4(24). I keep it simple by setting my front speakers at 125 Hz and my rears at either 80 or 100 Hz. Then I decide where the frequencies are going to intersect each other by adjusting the slope (1, 2, 3, 4) and cut them again looking for where the best sound is created with the least amount of fight. By fight I mean that the frequencies should balance each other and not fight each other. This creates the separation and fullness you are looking for. If you look in your manual, you will see that the crossover has a low pass frequency and a high pass frequency range. Moving your crossovers up or down and adjusting the slopes will determine where they all intersect.


The EQ settings relate to the frequencies that particular recorded music resides. In other words, drums, electric or acoustic guitar, female voices, male voices, cymbals, etc. all fall within certain frequency ranges. By listening to your system, you will determine if and where these sounds become overly pronounced or annoying. In my system, I am cutting frequencies instead of boosting them. I find that my challenge is to eliminate annoying highs like the hisses in the sustain of male voices and snare drums or cymbals. However, the problem areas can normally occur in the range of 125Hz, 500Hz, 1kHz, 2kHz, 3kHz, 8kHz – 12kHz. The funny thing about all of this is that the ideal configuration is when the profile looks just about level, without a lot of spikes or dips.

I realize that I am not the most articulate writer and cannot explain this perfectly to you. When I first got my stereo I opted for what I thought was the most simple unit (9813) because I was afraid I would not understand all of this technical sound stuff. I have come a long way and have spent countless hours playing with the system. I made up sheets with the settings categories printed out on them so I could record my settings (very important). I used the i-Personalize website so that I could better visualize what the heck I was doing but I have yet to put anything on a CD for downloading. It is too bad that Alpine did not set up the site so that you could save more than just one set of adjustments.

Come back at me if you have more questions.