Alpine Head Unit

[Abacus]

So, just when I had the brass together to put the extractors on my car, the 6-stacker premium sound head unit goes and craps itself.

Not worth fixing of course, but I kind of like the stock look, so I devise a scheme to keep the original head unit installed. This involves buying a 30GB iPod and an FM transmitter, This way, thinks I, I'lll just keep my music on the iPod and pick it up through the FM tuner.

Only one problem. The head unit has crapped itself in such a manner that it keeps switching between radio and CD about every 20 seconds, all on its own. It can't actually play a CD, of course, it just switches to CD, has a look, decides it can't do anything and switches to radio again, then repeats this about 20 seconds later. I can't eject the CDs either.

Its obvious I've got to get the CDs out of the head unit somehow. So I get some coat hangers, make the special tools to remove the head unit, and set to it. 20 minutes later I'm holding the facia of the head unit in my hand, but the guts are still sitting in the dashboard, stubbornly refusing to move. And now I don't have a radio either.

So I go shopping. My preference at this stage is to look for a double DIN unit to fill in the whole left by the stock unit. But the problem is that the curvature of the AU Fairmont dash means that a straight-faced double DIN unit is going to look awkward. Reluctantly, I start looking at single DIN units.

After a few hours of shopping, I have a box containing one of these:

http://www.alpine-usa.com/en/product...model=CDA-9857

an Alpine CDA-9857 head unit.

I also have a brand new shiny black 30GB iPod, a rubber case to put it in, and an Alpine cable which will connect the iPod to the back of the head unit.

The grand plan is that the cable will run from the head unit to the glove box, where the iPod will live. The iPod will get its power from the head unit. This seems to solve a couple of problems, removing the need for a stacker and unsightly wires powering an iPod. All iPod song selection functions can be controlled by the head unit.

It will be installed tomorrow morning. First I have to buy a Ford pouch to fill the second DIN cavity. And I hope that the Ryda contracted installer can get it sorted without losing the rear sub.

And after having spent a grand or so on this little unforeseen exercise, the extractors are just going of have to wait a bit longer.