[ipsanand]

Folks,

Had been searching for a HU to complement my Rainbow SLC 265s which i'd picked up a couple of months back. My existing Pio 5650 was not a match for the new comps, and had been in the market for a replacement HU since some time.

Shortlisted the Kenny 7016, Alpine 9887 and Alp 117. 117 was out of budget, auditioned both the 7016 and 9887, and was bowled over the 9887. Pros over 7016 being:

- Looks, subjective, but Alpine is a macho unit. Display is brilliant (where kenny sucks)
- Sound - onboard amp on Alpine being more powerful (i am told), delivers a punch even w/o an amp (don't plan to upgrade to an amp in near future). The audio CD quality on Alpine is heard to be believed, it picks up even the faintest of sounds and reproduces them musically

Cons being it's a dated model, does not support USB. But the fact that it produced better sound made the decision simpler.

Since then have been struggling with the HU controls to get the best out of my Rainbow Comps, and 6x9 JBL coaxs which i have set up in the rear.

Any the 9887 gurus help me with the following:

- Crossover settings - do i need to set them at all considering I have crossovers with my Rainbow comps
- Equalizer Settings - Don't get a head or tail of the Parametric eq specifically
- I need more bass than what's being produced, what settings for that?
- My music preferences are Rahat Fateh Ali, Bollywood Sufi, Kailash Kher, Ghulam Ali, Norah Jones, Dire Straits, Harry Belafonte etc...). Like mellow bass and understated highs...
- iPod integration is perfect, however im told by a friend that iPod would sound better on a 7016 (considering it's a digital connection etc...). Is this true?

Appreciate your help to best tune my set to suit my existing setup/music preferences.

Regards,
Irwin

Originally Posted by ipsanand

Folks,

Had been searching for a HU to complement my Rainbow SLC 265s which i'd picked up a couple of months back. My existing Pio 5650 was not a match for the new comps, and had been in the market for a replacement HU since some time.

Shortlisted the Kenny 7016, Alpine 9887 and Alp 117. 117 was out of budget, auditioned both the 7016 and 9887, and was bowled over the 9887. Pros over 7016 being:

- Looks, subjective, but Alpine is a macho unit. Display is brilliant (where kenny sucks)
- Sound - onboard amp on Alpine being more powerful (i am told), delivers a punch even w/o an amp (don't plan to upgrade to an amp in near future). The audio CD quality on Alpine is heard to be believed, it picks up even the faintest of sounds and reproduces them musically

Cons being it's a dated model, does not support USB. But the fact that it produced better sound made the decision simpler.

Since then have been struggling with the HU controls to get the best out of my Rainbow Comps, and 6x9 JBL coaxs which i have set up in the rear.

Any the 9887 gurus help me with the following:

- Crossover settings - do i need to set them at all considering I have crossovers with my Rainbow comps
- Equalizer Settings - Don't get a head or tail of the Parametric eq specifically
- I need more bass than what's being produced, what settings for that?
- My music preferences are Rahat Fateh Ali, Bollywood Sufi, Kailash Kher, Ghulam Ali, Norah Jones, Dire Straits, Harry Belafonte etc...). Like mellow bass and understated highs...
- iPod integration is perfect, however im told by a friend that iPod would sound better on a 7016 (considering it's a digital connection etc...). Is this true?

Appreciate your help to best tune my set to suit my existing setup/music preferences.

Regards,
Irwin

firstly congratulations on your purchase despite it being an older unit

the crossover settings of the headunit will only affect the pre-outs thus if you dont have any external amplifiers for running full active then you dont have to set these - the passive crossovers on your speakers will control the functionality of the speakers

as far as the EQ settings go its going to be the only way you can adjust any tonal properties on the headunit unless you run the imprint setup and store the curve in which case you will get the option in the menu for simple "bass" and "treble" settings - otherwise you have to adjust the EQ - if you cant figure out the parametric then adjust that to Graphic EQ in the menu and then try to adjust using the Graphic EQ - only problem is that you will need to know what specific frequencies you wish to increase or decrease but the graphic EQ should be simpler to use than the parametric

in theory the story about the digital vs the analog in terms of the i-pod is true but if you have one of those ipod units that have a wolfson DAC then the wolfson is not too far removed from the 24 bit burr browns in a kenwood - so if you have a decent cable connecting the ipod to the headunit you wont have too much difference in the sound - ie even if it is different you wont notice it much unless you have some settings that are not 100% correct (thats just my opinion though and others may think differently but in a blind test between the two they will still never be able to say for certain which is which )

remember that despite it being a digital connection it still needs to be converted back to analog somewhere and by leaving it as a digital connection all that happens is that the headunits DAC will do the conversion and the ipods DAC is not so bad that a typical car headunits DAC will be so much better - its a matter of small percentages and in all reality certain wolfson DAC chips are considered better than certain Burr Brown DAC chips

[ipsanand]

Thanks Naughty001 for your response, helps immensely... However, I tweaked through the HU settings yesterday.. The crossover setttings do make a difference indeed. This is what i have set:

for my comps, 18db slope attenuation at 63 Hz
for rears, 18db slope attenuation at 80 Hz

Have set the graphic EQ to be biased towards the low freqs...

Set up the TA as well - i think the TA would work better if there were no rears - I prefer a forward soundstage and rears spoil that in my opinion.

Does the TA setting need to change when one tweaks the fader setting (i prefer biasing fader towards the front to have a better soundstage)?

The HU is amazing - even the on-board amp is driving my speakers like crazy. I do lose on clarity at higher volumes, for which i guess will need an amp anyways.

Had a query - since i prefer a front soundstage, i might want to remove the rears. But in that case, the volume output from front comps is not sufficient enough (especially lacks the bass, maybe because Baleno doors are lossy). Will putting an amp improve the bass reproduction of the comps? Or will i necessarily need to go for an amp + sub if i need a sound quality frontstage listening experience?

The quest goes on... :-)

[muneemmk]

I think you have landed in the perfect place ....with your tastes and the 9887 you can go ahead and get a 3 way active setup done !

[ipsanand]

Guys, got a couple of (possibly dumb) questions:

A. I have the humble JBL 6x9 doing service in the rears, and the Rainbow SLC 265 Del installed up front. Under standard fader settings, the rears overpower the front. Why does this happen? Is this normal? The rears are considerably lower end speakers (in terms of pricing) than my fronts.

B. If my move my faders towards the front (i prefer a front soundstage), i lose out on bass. My comps do not produce enough thump. Is this expected? Will damping help? My crossover settings are in my earlier post.

C. To bring in the thump, can i add a mono-amp with a sub to the system (with the fronts powered from the HU)? I might want to remove the rears in such a setup. OR will i need to necessarily amp the comps if i plan to add a sub?

The setup is installed in my Baleno.

Irwin

[nitrous]

Get a 4-channel. Amp the fronts and a sub.
And set the fader to front.

[St. Anger]

Originally Posted by ipsanand

Guys, got a couple of (possibly dumb) questions:

A. I have the humble JBL 6x9 doing service in the rears, and the Rainbow SLC 265 Del installed up front. Under standard fader settings, the rears overpower the front. Why does this happen? Is this normal? The rears are considerably lower end speakers (in terms of pricing) than my fronts.

B. If my move my faders towards the front (i prefer a front soundstage), i lose out on bass. My comps do not produce enough thump. Is this expected? Will damping help? My crossover settings are in my earlier post.

C. To bring in the thump, can i add a mono-amp with a sub to the system (with the fronts powered from the HU)? I might want to remove the rears in such a setup. OR will i need to necessarily amp the comps if i plan to add a sub?

The setup is installed in my Baleno.

Irwin

Hi Irwin,
congratulations on a fabulous HU that suits your ears. My two cents as follows:

A. The pricing of the speakers usually does not affect their volume, at-least in your case. It has more to do with cone area and efficiency (i think).

B. A front sound-stage is the way to go! Bass from ovals is generally greater than comps, so the loss of 'thump' is normal, when fading to front. Damping is a good option, though it will be really effective with an amped setup.

C. Nitrous has shown you the path on this one.

In Pioneer HU's we could route only the bass frequencies to the rear speakers. If this is possible with your 9887, then you just might be able to solve your problem temporarily, till the 4 Channel amp comes in.

All the best and keep posting

p.s. asking questions is one of the better ways to gain knowledge