I spent a few hours troubleshooting my AVIC D3 on Friday night. For some reason the unit is powering on, functioning as it is should, but not producing sound. I checked my wiring several times and could not find an issue there. I thought perhaps it was that I confused the blue antenna power wire and the blue w/ white stripe remote wire but I double checked those and the actual pin and we were good to go there. The pinned antenna wire did fall from the harness when I first tugged. I thought, hey!, this must be it. I re-pinned it and :| As a precaution, I reset the unit back to factory defaults and I toggled the Antenna Control between power and tuner to no avail. It may be an issue with the fact that the car has the factory sub, and such, a secondary "T" harness. Short of putting this AVIC on a bench and testing it, I'm stumped as to what the problem could be. At any rate, it got me thinking about a new HU. I am not purchasing a new source because of its internal amp as I have external amps. Rather, I am looking for quality ipod and bluetooth integration. The GR is substantially quiet and am comfortable I can carry a conversation while driving. I've only had a few free hours to do some light reading and I've come across the Alpine CDE-126BT. The problem is that somewhere buried deep in the back of my mind is the desire to purchase another double din (a la Pioneer Z130BT). Double dins make for a clean install, period. Or this guy :rofl: http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Car/Stage4/CD-Players/DEX-P99RS
Wow, that is a nice head unit. Independent Left and Right 31 band parametric EQ's, auto time alignment, etc.....
just keep in mind the ipod integration and bluetooth connectivity aren't included in (any) alpine units. the bluetooth piece is another $100 and you'll need a $50 ipod cable. I LIKE my alpine ida x100, but id LOVE the x300 for iPhone capabilities (because i dont have an ipod and use pandora on my iphone), and i want all the connectivity as well (bluetooth, XM, and alpine amp). if you're interested in it i would sell it cheap, just keep in mind, its a headunit only. no CDs, etc.
not true...Alpine started adding the bluetooth last year I think and the ipod connection has been included for a few years.
I installed the 2Din Eonon GPS on my Xterra and I love it. Way better than that Pioneer that used to be mine IMO. www.eonon.com Their Gui's have gotten much better than the old ones. But for the audiophile it may not be enough. For $350 shipped I'm not complaining with bluetooth, GPS, DVD, USB, FM/AM, Mp3, etc.
Thanks for the replies! The Alpine unit has built-in Parrot bluetooth, ipod integration and comes with the ipod cable.
i need to look into that unit then myself. edit:found it cheap http://www.amazon.com/Alpine-CDE-126BT-ALPINE/dp/B004G6N2WM
Yeah, the Alpine unit I have (4 years old) didn't have bluetooth but the ipod cable was $20 retail. They are all using USB interfaces now so you just need a usb to ipod cable that will run you about $1.00 on ebay.
Sound quality is pretty good on mine. And this is coming from the 3 other people that have ridden in the Xterra....not my deaf ears But granted none of them are audiophiles.
There ya go. For the amount of money Alex has invested in speakers and amps, he will be able to notice a difference between the eonon and the pioneer unit he has listed above. Someone hooking it up to a factory amp/system, not so much.