Just picked up a really nice-looking Aline head unit from a girl in Peterborough today. Only one problem: no wiring harness. Anybody know where I can get one? Other than eBay, I mean. Anybody have one they're willing to part with?

The deck is a CDA-9815, and apparently this harness is a generic one which also fits a number of other Alpine decks, including the 9833, 9835, 9847, 9851, 9853, 9855 and 7995.

Apparently she took the deck out of her old car a year ago and left the harness there. Also the sleeve. Anybody know where I can get one of those?

 

Hit up an Alpine dealer. They may have stray parts in the install bay.

 

if you have no luck with an alpine dealer(for alot of money) I know the flea market here in brampton has them,but only open on weekends, and cheap

 

Thanks for the input, guys. The Alpine dealers here in Kingston are basically worse than useless. No help whatsoever. No jumpers for the Type X, no harnesses, no nuthin'. What the hell kind of an Alpine dealer is it where you can't, you know, get Alpine stuff? As for the Brampton flea market, how cheap? I've seen them on eBay for like 7 bucks at one place, and as low as $1.25 in another. Factoring in the gas to Brampton I guess eBay might be my best bet. 'Course I could take the wife and make a day of it. And she says I never take her anywhere.

I was just thinking somebody out there might have one lying around and be feeling all Fairy Godfatherish

 

Any car audio dealer should be able to get you one.. Alpine or not..

 

Not so's you'd notice, at least not in Kingston. FS and BB were useless, as was another "Alpine dealer". Another store which brags about having been in business since 1953 has apparently done so by never answering their phone. eBay's looking like my best bet. The upper limit there is now up to about 22 bucks. Says it's a "genuine Alpine part". It appears to have the little noise suppressor box thingie. Think that matters?

Same question applies to Alpine's admonition that because of its "high-powered internal amps" the 9815 has to be hooked up directly to the battery with a "20 or 30 amp" fuse and 10 ga wire. Is that really important since the first thing I plan to do if I ever get it hooked up is to use the "IC power off" function to turn off those amps? I just don't get the fact that almost every deck out there has built-in amps, when I gotta think that oh, about one out of every person who's serious about car audio isn't going to use them. Not that I was looking until recently, but the only deck I ever recall seeing with pre-outs only was the Concord cassette deck I bought in 1981 and actually, stupidly, THREW OUT earlier this year. Yes, I know (now) that Dukk or somebody has a buddy who's looking for something like that so he can keep his car looking period. Sorry.

(It was JordyO actually. Sorry Dukk. I knew it was one of you Killer Klowns)

I'll be posting more of this crap under the title "a noob's journey", or some such--so be sure to avoid it at all costs. Funny stuff (at least maybe years from now) like how after two months of "assembling a system" (four subs, three amps, three crossovers and some MBQuart components so far) I finally got around to actually installing something last night. The Type X and the Phoenix Gold amp I bought sounded fabulous. I even woke up my wife to come listen. She, to whom car audio is on a par with maybe three or four other women or a gambling habit, was impressed. Then morning came. The PG crapped out after all of maybe two hours (the guy who sold it to me didn't quite tell me to go f*ck myself, just mostly)...and the sub FELL OUT OF THE BOX. Surely to God there's something better than MDF to make these things out of.

Anyway, more later. Perhaps after some heavy drinking.

 

You do not need the 10 awg to the battery unless you're using the internal amp. Mdf has never failed me, obviously for a sub to fall out of a box means it wasn't installed properly.

 

Bingo. And why worry about if you can get the official Alpine jumpers? Use regular wire, that's really all the jumpers are LOL The Alpine units won't perform any better, they just look better... And whadya know, it'll all be in a box no one can see anyways! And why would Alpine supply ANY of it's dealers with wiring harnesses?? If they did, it would make it really lucrative to steal Alpine decks. Hence why Dukk said MAY and STRAY What's useless here is her not taking the harness, and you buying it before making sure it was there. eBay will be your best bet now unless you get lucky in a local repair shop. People will sell anything on eBay, including but not limited to pieces of bread with a picture of Jesus toasted into it

 

pacparts.com

 

Well, I installed it, just the night before, and here's how: took out the screws that were holding in one subwoofer, placed the second subwoofer in the appropriate position, and put the screws back in. If you can tell me how I got that wrong, I will gratefully accept your advice.

Here's my problem with MDF: Yes it is very dense, but because of its nature also prone to crumbling under certain kinds of pressure--especially it seems the kind generated by repeatedly screwing screws into it. This is what happened in my case. After the PG stopped working I decided to take the sub out to check the connections. I started to lift the box, the MDF let go and the bottom 4 screws simply popped out, leaving the sub hanging at an angle, suspended by just the top 4. Yes, I know, switch to thicker screws. I did, and already 2 of them aren't biting (at least not in the literal sense).

On the basis of this I've really got to wonder about the wisdom of a sub box arrangement that has the sub going into it sideways. With a 30-pound sub sticking about 8 inches into the box, with an 8+ pound magnet at the very end, I can't imagine the pressure it must be putting on those bottom screws. Well actually, I don't have to--I've seen the result. Driving down the road, hit a bump, and that polar moment of inertia (or whatever) must be a bitch. I'm surprised it doesn't happen all the time. All I did was start to lift the sub box our of the car and disaster struck.

I really think a sub/box arrangement that has the sub facing upwards (or at least mostly) has to be a better idea. At least that way the weight is evenly distributed around the circumference of the sub--and downwards, putting no pressure on the screws which is likely to crumble the MDF and pop them out. Surely I can't be the only one who thinks this would make more sense?

Of course maybe I could get a little tiny guy to crawl in there and hold 8 washers and nuts for me, then I could use nuts 'n bolts instead...as long as he didn't mind starving to death and not being found until the next time something goes wrong. I suspect this may not work, however.