6 replies to this topic

[Jedi-77]

Well its time to upgrade my headunit to something a bit more modern in regards to connectivity and ease of use. I've been using an Alpine CDA-9855 for the last 5 years and it has been a treat. Sure, the ipod side of things is a bit clunky, but aside from that, its been a great little unit. I'm now thinking of upgrading to the Alpine INA-w900e as it seems to come bundled with a lot of things, and I'm really keen on one of these touch screen things. From an audio point of view, will the INA-w900e provide the same tuning facilities that the 9855 does? Or is it somewhat more limited? If I remember correctly, the 9855 was quite special at the time because it came with a whole range of tuning abilities to get the best out of your system. Also, I've been reading a lot about the pxa-h800 processor. I'm still a little confused as to what this does and whether or not I really need it and was hoping someone could explain what it does, and how it fits into my audio setup. Essentially I'll be running an older alpine 4 channel amp (mrv-f405) to power the front and rear speakers, and an alpine monobloc amp to power the sub, all running off the INA-w900e. Any advice or tips you guys could give would be awesome, thanks.

[Spink!]

Are you currently using the active cross overs or time alignment on your 9855 mate?

[Jedi-77]

Yes I am.... I use the headunit for the crossover settings and time corrections, rather than setting the crossovers on the amps...

Spink!, on 03 February 2012 - 08:30 AM, said:

Are you currently using the active cross overs or time alignment on your 9855 mate?

[~Spyne~]

The w900 does not have all the tuning capability of the 9855.
If you use the crossovers on the 9855 and time alignment or equalisation, you will need to add the PXA-H800 processor to the INA-W900.

[justdofit]

Or for more basic tuning the H100 may be an option?

[Jedi-77]

justdofit, on 03 February 2012 - 03:11 PM, said:

Or for more basic tuning the H100 may be an option?

Having just looked up the PXA-H100, that may be a good option for me, mainly because the unit is so small I can stick it behind the dash. The PXA-H800 is considerably bigger, and I'm just having trouble finding somewhere to mount it in my car (Nissan 300zx) as I am trying to keep everything stealth looking. I know the h800 seems to have way more features, but I dont think I need them all. I'm more interested in the crossovers, equalisers, timing correction and media expander that the pxa-h100 (and 800) offer. All the Dolby stuff would be nice, but I dont know if I really need it in my car, nor am I entering any SQ comps . So if my old 9855 offered these features (active crossovers, media expander etc), why dont the new units to the same degree??

In regards to installation, I assume that the headunit (ina-w900e) connects to the pxa-h100 with an ainet cable, and then i connect RCA's from the pxa-h100 to my two amps powering the speakers and sub?? Is that about it?

[justdofit]

Jedi-77, on 03 February 2012 - 08:15 PM, said:

Having just looked up the PXA-H100, that may be a good option for me, mainly because the unit is so small I can stick it behind the dash. The PXA-H800 is considerably bigger, and I'm just having trouble finding somewhere to mount it in my car (Nissan 300zx) as I am trying to keep everything stealth looking. I know the h800 seems to have way more features, but I dont think I need them all. I'm more interested in the crossovers, equalisers, timing correction and media expander that the pxa-h100 (and 800) offer. All the Dolby stuff would be nice, but I dont know if I really need it in my car, nor am I entering any SQ comps . So if my old 9855 offered these features (active crossovers, media expander etc), why dont the new units to the same degree??

In regards to installation, I assume that the headunit (ina-w900e) connects to the pxa-h100 with an ainet cable, and then i connect RCA's from the pxa-h100 to my two amps powering the speakers and sub?? Is that about it?

From what I can see, a selection of tuning functions from the old head units has been packaged into the H100. Anything above and beyond basic TA, Crossovers and EQ your looking at a H800 etc...

With the H100 in my install it was a simple ai-net connection from the HU to the H100 and then RCAs from the H100 to the amps.

In addition to this there were some switches on the bottom of the HU that required setting to EXT (see your W900 manual for instruction) and also constant positive and ground for the H100 (if the H100 is near the HU share a common ground point if you can).

Also the H100 has a switch on the side to select either TWT, MID & SUB or FRONT, REAR & SUB depending on whether or not you want 2-way active front stage.

Edited by justdofit, 03 February 2012 - 08:27 PM.