oh man, that is so awesome. I have been waiting for Alpine to make a MP3 changer that will work with our deck!

How does it sound? what did you pay for it? are you running stock speakers?

 

whoa that is sweet

how much did it run you?:bowdown:

 

Man, I'm glad I keept an extra 130B adaptor from the older days. I didn't know the CHA-S634 of a hybrid. That is good to know.

 

awesome,, thanks MC
:bowdown:

 

How is the seek time in between tracks?
I got a Pioneer mp3 headunit a few months back and the 5-7 second seek time between tracks kinda gets to me when I am looking for a particular song in rush hour traffic.... just curious--
if its low-- like non existant, i'd give the pioneer to the fiancee and grab the alpine-

 

Thanks for that info Mike, I will be doing this setup to my car by the end of the month. I will be calling you for info.

 

Cool Mike....

Has anyone tried one of those hard rive based MP3 portables ?

Like the Nomad jukebox 3 or Rio Riot ?

U can use a card audio kit (cassette adapter based) with these...

Would that degrade sound quality in any way ?

Thanks

 

That's pretty sweet, but how do you navigate through songs. I mean that's like 150 songs a CD x 6cd's which is like 900 songs . Without a Headunit that can display what's going on I would be pretty lost, because at least with the new Alpine decks you can navigate through folders and stuff so that you can have Different CD's on a CD .

 

Guys,


Me and Mike found out this would work when I went over to his house and he took the changer out from his X5 and plugged it into my Legend. It takes about 15-20 secs to initially load a CD, once that is done you can start changing tracks. there is almost no wait time at all when switching tracks, its almost like a regular cd. This is the easiest upgrade you can do on your stereo.

Not only is this good and cheap you can always upgrade to a Alpine Mp3 capable Head unit like the model 7879 which will let you directly access any track you'd like.

 

JackRabbit - Sounds exactly the same as the old CD changer, you wont even notice a difference. The changer ranges from $220 - 300 and the cable is about $10. It also plays regular CDs as well. I have the OEM head unit and amp but I changed the my speakers last year to JBL.

gpf - Once loaded and playing, Seek time delay is minimal. My X5 takes approx 1-2 seconds, but the Ack is much quicker.

Triton3K - Save the $.25 this is a no brainer. Plug 3 cables together and your done.

vrb747 - Don't know much about others mp3 players, I just like the convience of popping CD's in MP3 format vs uploading songs to a hard drive based device. IMO this is a much cleaner setup.

SpeedDemon - True this is the one minor irk. My X5 cannot display song titles either. But realistically I, never look down to see which track is playing and theres just too many tracks. I have approx 250 songs on one CD, a song list would do me no good. Instead, I burn my MP3 based on the artisit name order, so its grouped alphabetically. The biggest problem is that I dont have enough mp3 songs (that I enjoy listen too everyday) since it holds approx. 1000 songs. I currently have only 3 CDs one for 80's music, 90s- current and my wifes favorites.

 

yeeehawww can't wait to start burning all my favorite Polka hits !!!!!

 

Does anyone have info on bit rates for the mp3 with that changer? Can it play various rates (like 128, 160, 192, 320, etc.) or do they have to all at 128 or something? This was an issues with older mp3 players, but I guess they've come a long way!

 

MC_ great info and help. Has anyone used a FM modulated MP3 changer before? I know Alpine, Sony, Kenwood and I think Pioneer all have one. The changer mounts in the trunk and sends a radio signal directly to the antenna wire. The advantage to that is that you have a seperate control display that you can mount anywhere and it will display the track info (artist/album...). The disadvantage is that you can't control the tracks with the deck or the steering wheel. That isn't a big disadvantage to me, and it also allows me to choose any deck I might want in the future since it is just using the radio.

My huge concern is how it sounds running through the radio. My dad has one mounted in his A4 that sounds great. Which will sound better (has anyone compared the two): Alpine through the BUS or the FM Modulated. The price is the same on both of them, so that isn't an issue. Oh yeah, and the FM ones won't fit in the CD cubby in the back since they are all 10 disk.

 

Does anyone have info on bit rates for the mp3 with that changer? Can it play various rates (like 128, 160, 192, 320, etc.) or do they have to all at 128 or something? This was an issues with older mp3 players, but I guess they've come a long way!

Supported Playback bit rates: 8 - 320 kbps
Supported Playback sampling rates: 16khz - 44.1 khz

For all specs: http://ecominet2.alpine-usa.com/html/asb/owner/cha-s634_om.pdf

 

JackRabbit-
though I do not have an FM modulated cd changer, my best guess is that the BUS changer is going to sound twice as good, since fm stereo runs @ 22khz, and cds are 44khz...

but like I said, I dont have one, I can't honestly say

 

Please move this to audio/eletronics.

 

I would not recommend FM modulation for good quality audio... It depends on the brand, but the quality will never be perfect... This sounds like a great setup, but since I got a DVD player with MP3 playback, and a title screen (video screen), I have the best of both.... Sure, I might have to change CDs more often, but what the hell, you can still get a good 250 songs!

This is a GREAT upgrade and even BETTER info! I may still look into this because I am planning a revamp for my audio/video system.

One question: Can you still use the "random" option from the stock Bose headunit? If so, you don't really need the track numbers, just make sure you put on a ton of music that you like, then randomize it!

 

I need some schooling on this since i don't download MP3's if they can get burned onto a CD why would u have to change the CD player?

 

I need some schooling on this since i don't download MP3's if they can get burned onto a CD why would u have to change the CD player?

Well, when you download an MP3, the song needs to be decoded to be played. This is what WinAmp, MediaPlayer, and other players on your PC do on the fly. You can burn the MP3 to a CD in regular CD Audio mode, by decoding it first (most burning software does this for you). However, you will lose the benefit of MP3 compression, and will only fit about 15 songs on 1 CD. With an MP3 compatible CD player or changer, you can burn the MP3 files in MP3 format onto a CD. This keeps them compressed, and you can fit about 200 songs 1 CD. Hope that shines a light on things!

 

ATTENTION!!

Mike left out one thing. You need to get an Alpine to Acura coverter cable otherwise your music will be out of phase. After I plugged mine in I noticed the sound was playing better on the left side of the speakers once I plugged my old Alpine-Acura adapter everything was fine!!

I'm still :eek2: at the amount of music I can listen to now

 

yeeehawww can't wait to start burning all my favorite Polka hits !!!!!

Dang man.
It's gotten to this point, hasnt it?

 

Thanks for this info.

I presently have an Alpine 7878 Head unit that displays the track info and folder info and all that, and I'm about to put it into my G1.... because it already has an audio system built in it (that I had from way back)...

But I'll keep this mod in mind when it comes to next year and I have tons of mp3 CD's that I need to play in my G2 coupe!

 

VBR?

Has anyone tried using variable bit rate encoding with the alpine mp3 changer?

 

That looks sweet Congrat! I want to do the same but I'm using the box to store some stuffs rightnow. It is a convenient little box for storing some emergency stuffs, you know. How much it cost for the MP3 deck? I figure I might save up some money and get an iPod with stand in my car From what I heard, a HD-based MP3 player is not bad. The iPod in particular have about 30+ min skip protection. With smooth driving, that should not even be a problem.

Mocca

 

That looks sweet Congrat! I want to do the same but I'm using the box to store some stuffs rightnow. It is a convenient little box for storing some emergency stuffs, you know. How much it cost for the MP3 deck? I figure I might save up some money and get an iPod with stand in my car From what I heard, a HD-based MP3 player is not bad. The iPod in particular have about 30+ min skip protection. With smooth driving, that should not even be a problem.

Mocca

Mocca: Save the $$ save the hassle. This thing only costs ~$250

Denali: I have no idea as to what variable bit rate or whatever it is your talking about. All I do is open up Nero and drag and drop my favorite mp3's onto the CD and just click burn.