[Krusty]

Okey doke, I'm just hoping that someone on the forums can help me out here. The people at Crutchfield couldn't answer my question.

I have an 8 year old car. Shortly after purchasing it (new) I replaced the standard cassette player with an Alpine CD player (model CDM-7833). Now, after over 7.5 years, it has finally died. I just ordered a new Alpine CD/MP3/WMA player with rear AUX-in (for a future iPod ?) to replace it (model CDE-9845).

The Question: Do any of you know if the plug on the new Alpine would be the same as on the back of the old one? When I bought the first one, Circuit City required that I have their installation done ... so the wiring harness was snipped and crimped into the correct configuration for the Alpine plug. I'm really hoping it is so I can just plug it straight in to the new stereo and be done. Crutchfield will doubtless send a plug adapter to convert my car's original wires to the Alpine's ... but that's obviously not gonna work now that the original wires have been modified.

I have found the owner's manuals for both models online .. but they just give schematics, not an actual picture or description of the physical layout of the the wires and plug-head.

Alternately, if someone has one of the newer Alpines of the CDE-9841/43/45/47 series and could let me know what the plugs pin-config looks like, that would work too.

Gra�ias in advance.

[vmarks]

1) I HATE installers that snip the stock car harness. completely unprofessional.
I have gone to scrap yards to harvest the original connector when cleaning up after these jerks.

2) Doubtful that alpine uses the same connector, but I do not know this to an absolute certainty.

3) Best that you either get the original connector and crutchfield's adapter (best)

or second best, make your own set up just by using some connectors from mouser.com that you can crimp yourself and act as if it were the original, making the adapter from yours to the alpine.

or last resort, snip the circuit city crimp and go in with the new one.

[Krusty]

Originally posted by vmarks:

or second best, make your own set up just by using some connectors from mouser.com that you can crimp yourself and act as if it were the original, making the adapter from yours to the alpine.

or last resort, snip the circuit city crimp and go in with the new one.

Thanks ... this is what I'm expecting I'll have to do. I'm sure I can do it .. just wishing that I didn't have to spend the time and hassle (not to mention the fact that if the install doesn't go 100% right, I'll be scratching my head wondering if it was something I did wrong or a bum unit). On the bright side, it IS a new stereo and it WILL be the first time I've had mp3 and AUX-in capability in the car.

[zerostar]

My Old Alpine harness (5yrs old) worked with my new CDA-9851, so the answer is maybe?

Anyway you will love your 9845, great HU!

[Krusty]

Originally posted by zerostar:
My Old Alpine harness (5yrs old) worked with my new CDA-9851, so the answer is maybe?

Anyway you will love your 9845, great HU!

WOW ... 5 years old and it worked, huh ? ::crosses fingers::

[Krusty]

Tra ... la ... la .... la

I am running naked through the streets, eating grapes from the vine, and dancing a jig ... the connector is the same and the pin config matches the old one exactly.

Can't wait til daylight tomorrow so I can pop that puppy in and get some tunes again (I've been without for a coupla months when the last one died).

f#ckin'-A
[edit]
just an edit, cuz I don't suppose anyone cares to see this at the top of the forum again. Well, the plug didn't fit exactly ... same size, same pins .. but two on the far left of the plug were offset a bit from the original. So I had to do the whole nastiness of wire splicing. But ... its done now. Works a treat so I can't complain (though I did end up killing a few hours to get it working right). Plays mp3s just dandy and I've enabled AUX .. roommate is letting me borrow his iPod when it recharges so I can test it.

Good sounding stereo for anyone looking to upgrade to a quality brand with mp3/wma and Aux ability.

[Spliff]

Originally posted by vmarks:
1) I HATE installers that snip the stock car harness. completely unprofessional.
I have gone to scrap yards to harvest the original connector when cleaning up after these jerks.

I'm completely clueless about car stereos, so bear with me, please. Why would an installer snip the stock harness? Don't they have to use the wires from the stock stereo harness to wire the new stereo?

What should I tell them when I take my car in to have a new stereo installed?

[Krusty]

Originally posted by Spliff:
I'm completely clueless about car stereos, so bear with me, please. Why would an installer snip the stock harness? Don't they have to use the wires from the stock stereo harness to wire the new stereo?

What should I tell them when I take my car in to have a new stereo installed?

Take a look here and you will see that each type of stereo has a unique plug with a bunch of wires coming in. The wires coming from your car are configured to work with whatever particular plug fits into the stock stereo of you car. So, what you have to do when you install a 3rd party stereo is snip the wires coming from you car from its plug and then splice each individual wire into the corresponding wire of the new plug-head that fits into your new (3rd party) stereo.

So, today from my Nissan, I had wires coming out that looked like this:



... and I had to cut the wires from those two plugs and tie them in to an Alpine plug-head that looks like this:



You typically don't have to tell anybody anything when taking a car in for professional installation. The techs are very familar on how to adapt a particular model of car to a particular brand of stereo.

[Spliff]

Krusty,

So you have to snip the wires whenever you install a 3rd party stereo? If snipping the harness is unavoidable, why does vmarks say "I HATE installers that snip the stock car harness. completely unprofessional"? Or does he mean that the installers you give you the original clips instead of throwing them away?

It seems to be that it would be more sensible and convenient if all car manufacturers and stereo makers used a common, universal connector.

[Krusty]

Originally posted by Spliff:
Krusty,

So you have to snip the wires whenever you install a 3rd party stereo? If snipping the harness is unavoidable, why does vmarks say "I HATE installers that snip the stock car harness. completely unprofessional"? Or does he mean that the installers you give you the original clips instead of throwing them away?

It seems to be that it would be more sensible and convenient if all car manufacturers and stereo makers used a common, universal connector.

It would make more sense for a universal connector and NO... you don't always have to clip wires. There are standard, pre-made adapters out there that will convert a stock stereo harness to a given vendor's units. Crutchfield always sends you the proper adapter when you buy from them and you can find them at Wal-Mart/Auto Zone for most of the major types (like say GM->Pioneer, Nissan ->Sony, etc) Crutchfield sent me the proper adapters to convert the Nissan plug (1st pic) to the Alpine (2nd pic). The only reason I had a problem is because my original factory config was screwed up by the techs who put in the first (3rd party) stereo. If I had been replacing my original stereo, the plug-adapter sent by Crutchfield would've worked just fine.

So, there ARE plenty of standardized solutions out there for do-it-yourself people. My situation was a bit different because I wasn't working with my original Nissan setup but one that had been modified already. Still ... it didn't really end up being THAT difficult all in all .. I went ahead and paid Crutchfield 2.99 to send me a wire crimper and some crimp caps when I ordered the stereo because I figured I may need them (and I did). Anyway, that's all in the past now ... stereo is working great, I made a coupla mp3 disks and they're working well. The only problem I've had is that I've taken my eyes of the road a couple of times so I could see the the folder and track that I was scrolling though -- I'd better be careful about that