Ok, I just upgraded my factory base system in my 04 to an alpine 9856 and polk db690's and db650's. The difference is absolute night and day. I am not a big music buff, but I did want some better sound. This seems to be a great combo (especially for my sons ipod), but my FM reception is not as good as the factory radio. Called crutchfield and they said it should be better and that the antenna adapter was probably bad. The sent another right out and I just installed it. No difference at all. It is bad reception, but I do have some background noise on some stations that I didn't on others.

any help would be appreciated. Is there some kind of signal booster I could buy or is it something else? maybe the Head Unit?

thanks guys

 

I doubt this helps any but I had a pioneer head unit in my 01 superduty and I thought the fm reception was not as good with the aftermarket head unit as with the factory head unit. But it did sound a lot better, especaily with pioneer revs in the doors and 3 JL 12s behind the back seat.

 

Ron, Sorry I can't help with the FM reception question. I just installed an Alpine 9856 as well and honestly I have hardly listened to the radio at all. I have been playing my new IPOD with it alot though .

I don't recall the reception being poor on FM though. Seemed fine to me.


Good luck with your new Alpine. I am loving mine. Sounds much better than the stocker and the best part is I now have 3600 songs at my fingertips without hunting for a cd.

 

i just put in a 9857 and my reception seems to be static'y. but as you stated i have more fm stations and some are better than others. i think that the unit is working right but that the oem radio was not as sensitive to the static so we notice it more now. also one of my conspiracy theories is that the radio stations are purposely make broadcasting with more static to help push everyone in the whole hd radio thing to compete with xm and sirius.

 

Thanks guys, it isn't real bad and the HU sounds awesome. The speakers are great and a small amp will be next. I love the IPOD thing also. I talked to crutchfield again and they basically said the same thing as above. The radio is actually making the staic more pronounced than the factory radio. It has always been there. anyway, I am happy and I appreciate the help.

 

Ron

Did the Polks fit in the doors without any mods? Is the sound much better than factory now?

TexasCTD

Did you leave the factory speakers or did you install new ones along with the new head unit.

thanks

Eli

 

My FM reception isn't as good as the factory radio's in the work vans. My buddy who went from alpine to factory said the factory was better than the alpine. Don't care to much cause I don't listen to FM radio that much. I always suspected that with the alpine HU and polk components with the amp that the static was just more pronounced.

 

I left the factory speakers for now. With just the Alpine, they sound a whole lot better. I am also running just the Alpine with no amplifier, and honestly I doubt I will ever add one as it will crank plenty loud enough by itself, imo. The biggest thing (for me) is the ability to use an IPOD and have access to all of my music without fiddling/fumbling with CD's anymore.

 

The Front speakers were drop in. No mods at all. You have to use the supplied plastic spacer and the factory one also. It will seperate from the factory speaker pretty easy. The rear speakers fit just fine, but you do have to drill nee hole. Didn't take but a few minutes and it wasn'r difficult at all.

The sound was way better but I quickly learned that the polk speakers are power hungry and want some juice. I added a cheap amp made by profile that was 60w rms per channel and the thing sounds so much better. I am no stereo professional, but I don't think you van complain about the sound for the money I have in it. around 550.00 and everything is new and sounds a 100 times better than factory. Plus as it has been mentioned, the ipod feature is awesome.

good luck

 

My wife bought me at JVC KD-HDR1 head unit for Christmas. I feel the reception on FM is less than the factory unit, but the HD Radio part more than makes up for that. I was considering satellite radio till I heard HD Radio. Granted there is no Howard Stern or baseball on HD but I can live without that considering it’s free.

I have the same Polk speakers coming this Wednesday. I want to run the dash speakers and the Polk’s too. I’m hoping to go with out installing an amp.

 

Ron,

I have the exact same problem with the same Alpine. We have tried many solutions including a new antenea to eliminate the adapter plug. Didn't help. I love the sound, but am frustrated with the static.

James

 

Ron,

I too have the same problem with my 9857. I don't think ANY aftermarket head unit's tuner is as good as recent year's OEM tuners....and I have no idea why. I am thinking of getting the Alpine HD tuner to give that a shot. They are advertising HD radio like crazy now, so hopefully the price of the control unit goes down some.

I haven't seen any signal boosters for FM reception. Like others have said, tuning the iPod is what I use my Alpine for 99% of the time. I usually only hit the FM stations when I get tired of 9 gigs of music

 

Anyone calling Alpine with this?

I think if you called thier US Reps, they would be concerned that thier units are percieved as low quality.

sounds like FORT RAM may have done it, but i used to cut the antenna wire (eliminate the adapter) and solder on a generic end of a regular antenna.

FWIW, they may changed the impedance on the antenna cable & that may be problem, but if FORT RAM put in a new mast & new cable, doubt it

GOOGLE FM signal boosters, they were all the rage years ago
i would be positive they still make them.

EMI could be the problem - stray electronic signals the and the Alpine's case is not properly grounded (usually there are little metal shields on the PCB inside the case also)

have you tried to ground the case of the alpine to the ground of the chassis, the wiring, and to the ground of the antenna (outer shield?)

 

I have tried different methods or grounding and I am totally familar with EMI as my job requires I be. I talked to crutchfield a few times and Alpine. It seems that FM tuner strentgh isn't really as big a concern as CD sound quality in the aftermarket units. I did tons or searches on the net and found that it isn't just an Alpine thing. I actually considered returning the unit for a pioneer and crutchfield said they would, but they have had just as many complaints with thier HU's. It isn't terrible, but it did disappoint me a little.

other than that it is an awesome unit in my opinion.

 

sounds like you did your homework
that pretty much sums it up, they got your money, and once again, the consumer gets crap.

just another reason to be satisfied with my base model radio with the huge "GLOVE SIZED *****" that are too slick to grab with a glove.

been thinking about taking ***** off, get a metal file really hot, and roll the ***** along the file to give them a serrated edge to grip on.