V8V Alpine Stereo distorted intermittantly
Discussion
We've been battling with an issue with the Alpine "premium" stereo since new (2006).
It has an intermittant issue which only manifests itself at about 60 mph+ on "nuggety" blacktop. Mostly it requires the car to be warm and is not always there. If the road surface is smooth it does not show up. As a consequence it is a right b
h to demonstrate and diagnose.
When the car was under warranty they changed the head unit, the amp unit, various speakers, checked all wiring etc, etc. It is especially noticable on quieter music sections (my wife will question the term "music" in my case) and sounds like crinkling sweet wrappers or rain on the screen. Turning the stereo off makes the noise immediately disappear
Since then DMS have independantly also had a look.
The problem remains and is damn annoying.
It's evident on CD source or on the AM Works Service installed iPod kit. I know I can also hear it on FM radio but that is because I'm tuned into it and can detect it from the usual multipathing or other FM signal maladies.
Has anyone else had this sort of thing? Did you get it resolved? Any ideas what else it could be?
It's been looked at by our local AM dealer, WS, DMS and also been given special attention by AM themselves.
I'm at a loss. And getting a different car is not an option!
It has an intermittant issue which only manifests itself at about 60 mph+ on "nuggety" blacktop. Mostly it requires the car to be warm and is not always there. If the road surface is smooth it does not show up. As a consequence it is a right b
h to demonstrate and diagnose.When the car was under warranty they changed the head unit, the amp unit, various speakers, checked all wiring etc, etc. It is especially noticable on quieter music sections (my wife will question the term "music" in my case) and sounds like crinkling sweet wrappers or rain on the screen. Turning the stereo off makes the noise immediately disappear
Since then DMS have independantly also had a look.
The problem remains and is damn annoying.
It's evident on CD source or on the AM Works Service installed iPod kit. I know I can also hear it on FM radio but that is because I'm tuned into it and can detect it from the usual multipathing or other FM signal maladies.
Has anyone else had this sort of thing? Did you get it resolved? Any ideas what else it could be?
It's been looked at by our local AM dealer, WS, DMS and also been given special attention by AM themselves.
I'm at a loss. And getting a different car is not an option!
No, but I had the same problem on a BMW, years ago. I never found out what was causing it, but didn't put in too much effort as the car was going shortly. My thought was that it was probably microphonics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microphonics - I was doing some audio work at the time, and it sounded similar, and is caused by vibration at particular frequencies. But, as you've had most of the cables replaced that doesn't seem likely in your case.
How is the retro fitted iPod interface BTW? It is convenient to use, and how is the sound quality (bar your current problems).
How is the retro fitted iPod interface BTW? It is convenient to use, and how is the sound quality (bar your current problems).
Thanks. Given that nobody else has grizzled about this I think this issue is unique to our car and the issue must be cabling or ground based. Microphony as such could relate to those or to other components within the system and is certainly the cause. Finding the issue though.......
That said when stationary the unit sounds great. The interface to the iPod from the head unit is OK if somewhat limited by the size of the display and the arrangement of buttons. It's a real shame that the "ABC" etc phone buttons can't be used to search artist/album names. Whatever its so much better than messing about with the slooooooow disk changer and frankly in the car I've never noticed a difference in quality between well encoded 256kbit MP3s and the original disk. At home yes, in the car no.
That said when stationary the unit sounds great. The interface to the iPod from the head unit is OK if somewhat limited by the size of the display and the arrangement of buttons. It's a real shame that the "ABC" etc phone buttons can't be used to search artist/album names. Whatever its so much better than messing about with the slooooooow disk changer and frankly in the car I've never noticed a difference in quality between well encoded 256kbit MP3s and the original disk. At home yes, in the car no.
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