KManZ

iTrader: (8)

I got my Alpine 9887 HU for X-Mas this past year, and the rest of my stereo set up the following month: Infinity Perfect Components, Diamond Audio 10" in under strut Z-Enclosure. The thing with the Alpine 9887 is that you can't adjust the bass and treble unless you buy the Alpine KTX-100EQ tuning kit, but you can adjust graphic and parametric equalize settings. Basically, my system has sounded like anus for the past 3 months.

I finally got the tuning kit from Crutchfield yesterday, and ran the program. Lets just say my system finally sounds like I feel it should have from the beginning! Everything is crisp and clear, the highs of the Infinity Comps. have been thoroughly lessened so that they are more in balance with the rest of the set up. The bass is tighter and not muddy; before I had trouble getting it to sound right with the mid-range bass and lows b/w the 6.5s and the sub. Problem solved now!

The Imprint kit is available through Crutchfield: you buy it for $250, use it, and return it, and they refund you $200. You hook your 9887 up to the Imprint "black box", which in turn is attached to your lap top, and to an Audigy microphone. You start by selecting where you want your listening position (All seats, driver, passenger, front, rear), set the mic at head level where it tells you to, and the thing sends tones out of your car speakers, and by sensing them with the Audigy mic, determines the ideal crossover points, time correction etc. for your seating position.

It takes about 40 minutes to do... I selected "Front Seats", as obviously we don't have rear seats After that, the results are stored to the HU's flash memory, and you now have control of the bass and treble, but lose the equalizer feature. Before you start the program, you NEED to set your sub gain to 0, as the kit for some reason eliminates any bass. After I turned the gains back up, the sub sounded wonderful! You can switch back and forth between the Imprint settings and your old settings, and I can hear just how badly I was out of tune The only issue I have is that it sounds like a majority of my sound is coming from the driver's side speakers. Its not that bad, but more critical audiophiles will probably complain. I need more time in the car to see if there are any other complaints

Over all, this was well worth the $50 buy in, as it took the guess work out of the more complex tuning features that the unit has to offer.

Update: The system sounds freaking amazing now, this is by far the best money I have spent for any car I have owned to date. I got the amp settings finalized (realized I didn't have any filters on, messed with the gains etc.), and its harmonic bliss at the moment! I had to put some foam pieces b/w my 3rd brake light and back windshield b/c the thing was rattling out of control. So far, not too many rattles, but now that the bass is hitting harder and tighter, I imagine more and more stuff is going to be coming loose in the near future! So yeah, in a nutshell, if you have the Alpine 9887, YOU NEED THIS KIT.

DVFlyer

iTrader: (18)

This is cool..... thanks. I'll have to see if it will work with my W200.

KManZ

iTrader: (8)

Not sure if it does, as this is a new "feature" for the 2008 decks

I use feature in quotes because until you use this $250 kit, you don't get bass and treble control, and without it the stereo sounds like crap. I think they cripple the sound so you have to buy the Imprint kit just to have quality. Shiesty business practices, Alpine.

BeejZ

iTrader: (1)

I have had my 9887 since feb. It is frickin amazing how good it sounds with the imprint. I love not having to mess with anything except the bass gain depending on what kind of music you listen too. Takes all the guess work out of making it sound great. I am happy about my purchase. My local shop had the kit already so I just paid $50 for them to setup the imprint. If I change anything and need to get it retuned it will just be another $50. Well worth it in my opinion.

KManZ

iTrader: (8)

Do you know how they set it up.. ie. what seating position they used? I used "Front seats", and it sounds ok, but I am thinking I will re-do it for just the "Driver's Seat". Selfish, I know, but I didn't buy the car or sound system for my passenger

BeejZ

iTrader: (1)

I had mine setup for the drivers seat. Makes a huge difference. I don't care what everyone else hears

KManZ

iTrader: (8)

I decided to re-sample from the Driver's seat last night; I changed my amp settings before hand this time (turned on LPF, HPF), and figured out that I had been running them at too low freq. I also turned my gains all the way down. It didn't sound as good as the "Front Seats" position, as the tweets were too harsh and the sound stage didn't seem as focused as before. And, my bass wasn't practically gone, even though I turned the gains and Bass Boost up on the amp afterwards. I talked to Crutchfield and they said it would probably sound better if the amp were set before hand; to me, this sounded worse. I am wishing that I had just left the thing alone, as it had sounded SO GOOD before!!! Oh well...

So I re-sampled again, trying to return to my previous settings. One feature that Alpine decided to leave out was the ability for your computer to store previous sessions, so now I had to re-sample to return to attempt to dial in what I had before. Well, that didn't work out too well: for some reason my driver's side component wouldn't produce any sound at all. At first I thought I had some how fried it, but when I turned MultiEQ off it worked just fine

Going to re-sample again tonight I will set the amp gain up about 1/3, and the comps. gain up to 1/3, and turn the HPF/LPF off. I want to get to my last settings and just leave it alone!

KManZ

iTrader: (8)

Last night I worked out the issue with my front-driver's speaker. After resetting the HU (didn't work) and running Imprint twice and not getting the thing to respond, I broke down and called the Crutch. They were no help, so called Alpine themselves, and the problem was solved Silly as it sounds, you are not supposed to turn the component gains all the way down before testing, otherwise it time corrects the nearest speaker and turns it off, thinking that it is too close to the listener. So I turned the gain back up about 2/3 of the way (kept the sub gain nearly off), and the thing worked. Remember: the Imprint kit practically eliminates your bass, so turn the gain almost off for your sub, and then raise it after the sampling.

So here are the settings on my amp for testing, which were recommended by the Alpine rep:

-LPF/HPF's turned off (set these afterwards)
-front component gain to about 2/3
-sub gain on 2nd to last lowest position

Also, remove any extra stuff from the car which might redirect or block sound. I also leaned my seats a bit forward and removed the head rests. The rear speakers actually sound good now and add more depth to the sound. My bass is still suspect, but I think it's due to the quality of my source (iPod) more so than the Imprint settings. It's more punchy and less sloppy than without Imprint.

Thats it for now!

BeejZ

iTrader: (1)

Glad you got it figured out. When mine was tuned all filters were turned off already, it was being controlled through my old alpine head unit. They did turn the sub gain way down, and when we were done I had to mess with the sub gain to get it back to where I wanted it. Other then that I didn't have to mess with anything. I havent touched it since it was tuned. I love it.

hiz-n-herz

iTrader: (11)

Awesome to hear these great reviews. I have been an alpine fan since 1995 and was wondering how the imprint sounds.

As for eliminating the bass, yes, it probably sets a near-flat frequency response, which sounds like a$$ to most of us.

I am itching for a stereo in the z. I have had enough of the Blose.

BeejZ

iTrader: (1)

Well it does do some tuning on the sub. I have a w6 in a z enclosure and it was boomy and didnt always sound good. It sounds great now. Nice full bass, through out all the ranges it is supposed to play.

ntwillie1

iTrader: (3)

anyone have pictures of the unit installed in their Z?

also, in the orange display color if possible. I'm tired of my pioneer not matching the orange gauge lights in my z.

Thanks.

marine in a Z

I know I'm bumping this thread out of nowhere but thought a couple guys might be interested. I have the 9887 and IMPRINT as well and I love it. I purchased it from Crutchfield like the OP and planned on returning it but never did. I let my shop tune it as well. I think they selected "front seats" because if you put your head in the middle of the car it sounds even better than in the front seats. I'm thinking about doing it over as well and selecting "drivers seat" but afraid of losing what I have now. I know my shop must have had a hell of a time because they had my car an extra day to do this even though they had told me they've done this before. I would HIGHLY reccomend Imprint though.. it's incredible what it can do for your sound.

Rubidium

iTrader: (6)

I have the PXE-H650 The separate IMPRINT piece and have had it in my last two cars (last car totaled). I love it, really makes the sound stage amazing! I Know a lot of people hate the external IMPRINT device, can be a bit frustrating, but the quality you get out of it makes all the difference!