Aftermarket CD Changer, HELP!

[damronjr]

I have an Alpine CDA-9833 HU and I want at least a 12 disc changer or bigger. What I would like to find out is if I have to get a compatible Alpine changer or what are my other options. I have noticed that some listed on Ebay have a FM modulator. while it may decrease the sound quality by a fraction, can I then use any changer with it? I just want a reasonable 12 disc or more changer to use with my HU. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

[binary]

Quote, originally posted by damronjr »I have an Alpine CDA-9833 HU and I want at least a 12 disc changer or bigger. What I would like to find out is if I have to get a compatible Alpine changer or what are my other options. I have noticed that some listed on Ebay have a FM modulator. while it may decrease the sound quality by a fraction, can I then use any changer with it? I just want a reasonable 12 disc or more changer to use with my HU. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.You can use an FM Modded cd changer with anything. You'll just have a second controller for the changer and tune your radio to whatever station the modulator is broadcasting on. The direct connect FM Modulation (the kind that wire in-line with your antenna wire) doesn't sound as bad as the broadcasted wireless FM modulators (aka XM Roady2, iPod's iTrip, etc)... If you want the changer to be controlled by your head unit - then you're stuck with Alpine's offerings - Unless you change HU brands.The Alpine CHA-S634 is a 6 disc changer - but plays MP3 discs. (on average 110 MP3s/disc... that's a lot of tunes) $299It looks like the only Alpine 12 disc changer out there was CHA-1214... but must have been axed. Ebay or Google may help.

[Jahntassa]

Yes, you'd be stuck with what Alpine has, unless you buy the CD Changer multiplexor thing that allows you to have more than one Changer hooked up, but then you'd need to spend the money on more than one changer.Changers are going down in popularity mostly due to MP3s and Satellite radio, so you'd be hard pressed to find the stuff you could a few years ago.

[damronjr]

Quote, originally posted by Jahntassa »Yes, you'd be stuck with what Alpine has, unless you buy the CD Changer multiplexor thing that allows you to have more than one Changer hooked up, but then you'd need to spend the money on more than one changer.Changers are going down in popularity mostly due to MP3s and Satellite radio, so you'd be hard pressed to find the stuff you could a few years ago.I have MP3 capabilities, but I have so many CD's that I want to be able to put a bunch of them in at once and just hit random, you know! That way I can listen to songs from more than 1 cd without having to change the cd every time. I guess I will just look for the Alpine 12 disc or any other 12 disc with an FM modulator. Thanks guys!

[GMJAP]

Could you use an AUX input instead of FM modulator for better sound?

[damronjr]

Quote, originally posted by GMJAP »Could you use an AUX input instead of FM modulator for better sound?Guess I'd have to see what the HU has, but that would logically be a better idea than a modulator. I'll have to check it out. Can the changers be run as an aux? I guess what I mean, is do they have the output for that? Thanks for the idea!

[Jahntassa]

Quote, originally posted by damronjr »I have MP3 capabilities, but I have so many CD's that I want to be able to put a bunch of them in at once and just hit random, you know! That way I can listen to songs from more than 1 cd without having to change the cd every time. I can tell you right now that will get very old, very fast. Disc changes are NOT fast and can take up to 10-20 seconds, nevermind spinning up the disc. Having it shuffle across discs gets exceedingly annoying. You spend as much time listening to silence as you do music..

[damronjr]

Quote, originally posted by Jahntassa »I can tell you right now that will get very old, very fast. Disc changes are NOT fast and can take up to 10-20 seconds, nevermind spinning up the disc. Having it shuffle across discs gets exceedingly annoying. You spend as much time listening to silence as you do music..Yeah, that was 1 thing I was definitely worried about as it takes long enough for my HU to process and begin to play a MP3 disc. I need a freakin hard drive, that's what I need!

[the_nite_owl]

If you have an MP3 capable changer now you can rip your CD's to MP3 and get about the equivalent of 10 albums per CD. On a 6 disc changer that is roughly 60 CD's worth of audio.You can use shuffle on a single MP3 CD and have about 100 songs for it to go through or set it to shuffle all 6 CDs and get about 1000.It is true though that changing discs is a bit slow but in my experience they only take 4-5 seconds per disc. That is based on two older model Sony changers I had in the past. If you can go Aux-In you are much better off. First, going through an RF modulator limits the frequency response of your source. FM is standard at 15 khz where CD is (I am pretty sure, correct me if I am wrong) at 20khz. Human hearing runs 20khz but we all vary. Many people notice a BIG difference in sound quality/range between FM and CD while others cannot hear the difference because of their particular range of hearing.I have heard many stories of people using RF Modulators both wired and wireless types and they were immensely unsatisfied with the results. I have not heard any positive stories about their use but considering how common they are I would think they cannot be all bad if you get a quality unit and wire it correctly.Your other option of course is a non-changer solution. You can get an iPod or other hard drive based MP3 player and have TONS of music with you all the time with no time delays switching CDs.The iPod seems to beat the hell out of most other portables except for how expensive they can get for any unit with good storage.I have an Archos Jukebox Multimedia with a 20GB hard drive and it cannot hold my whole collection of music but it sures does carry a LOT.If you go the portable device route and you could certainly get something decent for the same pricerange you might spend on a changer system or new head unit, then do the research and see how easy it is to setup with playlists and to select them on the fly.Remember, with a portable you can always take it with you. Quote, originally posted by damronjr »Yeah, that was 1 thing I was definitely worried about as it takes long enough for my HU to process and begin to play a MP3 disc. I need a freakin hard drive, that's what I need!