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So, I finally fnished my second upgrade on my 06 JCW. It originally came with the Boost (stock) setup, but I quickly had a decent setup installed last summer, with the following parts (recommended by the installer for my budget):
Head unit: Alpine CDA-9857 (with Sirius and iPod adapter)
Front speakers: Boston Acoustics SL60 6.5" components
Rear speakers: Boston Acoustics SL96 6x9 full range
Sub: JL Audio Stealtbox (w/ 10" JL sub)
Amp: Alpine MRV-F450 (50W x 4 + 200W x 1 in 4 ohms)
Anyway, it was a definite improvement over the stock system, but there were a few things that I wasn't happy with... namely, I didn't like the head unit too much (color mismatched, not many tuning controls, and Sirius sounded like crap)... Also, the stealthbox had some serious thump, but I couldn't get it to hit the really low frequencies (20 Hz) like I wanted...
After thinking about it for a while, this summer I finally went back and got some stuff upgraded. When the shop realized I was looking for a low frequency-hiting sub, they recommended a JL 13w1v2 (13.5" sub) in a sealed wedge (custom box) -- basically, the bigger the sub, the less rolloff you have at the low freq range, and the easier it is to get volume there... As I also didn't like the head unit too much, I went or the following setup:
Head unit: Alpine XDA-001 (with Sirius, HD-Radio, Bluetooth, and USB2 iPod)
Processor: Alpine PXA-H701 (DSP) + Alpine RUX-C701 (controller)
Front/Rear speakers: no change
Amp: no change
Sub: JL 13w2v1 in custom sealed wedge box
What can I say... I spent as much as the first time I got the system upgraded. But the control on the Alpine H701 is amazing (time correction, Dolby Digital/Pro-Logic, Phase control, Active crossovers, 31-band graphic EQ + 10 band for sub, etc.). I also really like the H701 as I can crank up the 20-25Hz region on the sub, while reducing the 40-60Hz area that tends to sound boomy to me. Plus I can set up custom profiles that can be accessed from the head unit (i.e. one for Hip-Hop, one for Rock, one for windows-up, windows-down, etc.). The HD-Radio also is nice... and the tuner automatically switches to regular FM when the digital signal isn't strong enough (pretty seamless except for the SQ).
Could you post a night pic of your head unit? I want to get a good look at it with that red background... how do you change the background, any ways?
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What does a sub do to the sound in the Mini? I have found that even with the HK system some of the plastic panels on the inside virbrate at times. I can't imagine the level of vibration with a sub.
The sub actually doesn't cause as much vibration of the plastic panels as having the crossover too low on the front/rear speakers... when the 6.5" or 6x9's are trying to hit below 50 Hz at loud volumes, you can definitely hear some vibration (I noticed this a bit when I had my sub crossed over at 30 Hz and was trying to make up some of the bass with the 6x9's). Crossing them over at 50-60 Hz, however, seems to eliminate any vibration... This may be similar to your experience with the HK system, which doesn't have a sub (and hence the regular speakers are working hard to produce any serious bass)...
I also dynamat'd the car quite a bit (2 door kits for the doors, hatch, and side panels by the rear seats). This helps a bit, too, but isn't entirely necessary (i.e. I ran my first setup for a year without dynamat and no issues with vibration).
The sub makes a big difference in the sound -- it means your regular speakers have to work less, and eliminates sources of distortion (i.e. trying to have them hit frequencies they're not designed for). You should really check out a system with a sub in it -- you'd be surprised. Of course, it depends on how the owner has it tuned (for example, the owner of the shop where I got my stuff installed has a 12" JL in his Scion... it hits way too boomy for me - quite painful. But he likes it that way...).
Could you post a night pic of your head unit? I want to get a good look at it with that red background... how do you change the background, any ways?
I'll try, but it may be a while, as I don't get the camera to the car that often... (the last set of pics was for my car insurance as well as for posting here).
As for color matching, the red is a pretty deep color on the background. Same for the buttons (except for the blue-colored ones, which come out with a slight pink tinge when set to red). It's not a perfect color match to the MINI interior (which is more amber/orange than red), but it's definitely better than my old CDA-9857 was (blue only...).
I'll also add that the new Alpine CDA-9887 (a nice CD unit if you can live with slightly less iPod functionality, but want a CD player and better tuning controls w/o a separate processor) is supposed to have an amber setting that _may_ match better. I haven't seen it yet, so can't say for sure...
If you want a head unit that works almost as well as the iPod itself, there really isn't any other choice aside from the X001. It's not perfect (i.e. the button in the middle of the dial only goes to search mode -- you think it'd be the enter button like on an iPod, but that's actually a button to the upper left...), but it definitely is a huge improvement over the CDA-9857 that I had before (which also had a highly rated iPod control). When I was at my install shop waiting for things to move along, the owner was showing the demo model to a potential customer -- and the customer was amazed at how much faster the scrolling was on the X001 vs. other brand decks...
Anyway, I did consider a few other decks before deciding on the X001. I liked the Pioneer Premier 880PRS (nice 16 band built-in EQ, 24 bit DACs) and JVC ADV38 (Aresenal DVD deck with 7? band EQ and ~3" color screen). But in the end, I realized that I wanted something that could do all of the following:
1) Excellent iPod control (at least as good as my old CDA-9857)... (so-so on Pioneer and JVC)
2) HD-Radio (not available on Pioneer or JVC)
3) Good tuning controls (i.e. >16 band EQ, time correction, etc.). (Pioneer had this, but JVC had a limited EQ). The X001 also has crappy tuning controls, but works well with the H701 (which leaves both the Pioneer and JVC in the dust, but at more cost).
4) USB drive capability (although I haven't used it too much yet). (The Pioneer didn't have this, and the JVC had issues where it could take >2 minutes to scan the USB drive _every_ time you start your car...).
5) Bluetooth (built into the JVC, but not sure if it's an option for the Pioneer).
