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Alpine CDA-9883E + CAT09

hingo1983

Member
Joined
Nov 22, 2006
Messages
275
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11
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Location
Canberra, ACT
Members Ride
VF Calais V
CDA-9883E.jpg

car008-resized.jpg


Products:

Alpine CDA-9883E RRP: $399.00
KCE-422i iPod Full Speed Connection Cable: $69.00
CAT09 Steering Wheel Interface: $200.00

Installed into a VR Calais by Elite Car Audio and Vision in Belconnen, ACT.

Features:

- 50Wx4 Output
- Made for Ipod
- Flip Down Display
- Expandable with CD Changer, Bluetooth and Ipod addons
- Direct Steering Wheel control input (with CAT09 + Direct Alpine Plug)
- MP3/WMA/AAC/CD-R/RW compatible
- Remote Control
- Ipod control through headunit
- Percentage Search
...and many more, too many to list!

Short Review:

I have stuck with the stock Eurovox tape deck forever in the fear of losing my steering wheel controls. The fact that I forked out $200 for the CAT09 unit to keep them shows how much I value these controls. Most people wouldn't bother but I simply can't live without them. After hearing about the CAT09, I went hunting around ACT for a new head unit. I eventually settled for the Alpine 9883E head unit with the Ipod cable. I bought everything I needed and spent the $60 extra to have it all installed by the guys at Elite Car Audio in Belconnen. The head unit and Ipod cable were both significantly cheaper than listed on the Alpine website as well. Everything works like it came from the Holden factory and it does everything I had hoped. The CAT09 IR cable has been run up to the interior light. I have outlined the things I like and (slightly) dislike about these devices in more detail below.

Things I like:

- Percentage Search makes it much easier to search for songs on the Ipod. Percentage Search function uses the preset buttons for quick jumps to specific parts of the list making it much easier to browse artists on a 30Gb Ipod.
- Pressing the "6" radio pre-set button when in Ipod mode will play all the songs on the Ipod in random order.
- Ipod is hidden away in glove box away from the eyes of theives with the full speed Ipod cable. The Ipod can only be controlled through the headunit once connected. The controls on the Ipod are locked and the Alpine logo is displayed on the screen.
- Its Black! It matches the interior style reasonably well. Better than bloody silver anyway.
- CAT09 makes the most of the VR Calais steering wheel controls. I can skip songs, change radio stations, select different sources and change volume just like I could with the factory head unit. If it wasn't for this device, I would be still using the stock unit.
- The sound quality is fantastic.
- After just recently replacing the power antenna, I am pleased to see that it still works. The antenna will only be raised if the radio source is selected, otherwise it stays down.

Things I don't like:

- A good feature it would be to be able to change the colour of the lights on the head unit. I'd love to be able to set it to green to match the interior lights such as the Climate Control screen right next to it. Not really a big deal. I
have turned the contrast down so it is not as bright.
- Slight delay with the steering wheel controls. This probably could be eliminated by using the steering wheel input on the back of the Alpine head unit but I opted for the included IR cable instead.
- Ipod can not be browsed using steering wheel buttons. I can't blame the CAT for this, as the CAT is set to replicate the head units remote control. A neat feature would be to be able to skip through artists using the track skip/channel search buttons when in search mode instead of having to use the rotary encoder.
- Ipod is still dangerous to browse while driving.
- Manual Antenna height control would be handy.

Star rating out of five:
4 Stars
 

Rickii

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Sep 23, 2009
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VN Berlina
Alpine is awesome. i like ur setup.
 

mitchy_vn

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Apr 27, 2010
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vn s pack 5spd/ vs calais S1
Hey mate, i got the same Head Unit, alpine cda-9883e
What cable do i need to buy to plug my ipod in. Is it called KCE-422i ??? i saw that on ebay , i havnt looked at the bak of my head unit,
if it is the right one il get it str8 away, thouht id ask you first :)

Also, wen i got my car, the Steering Wheel buttons still work, so his wired them up :)!!
 
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