I used to have an older model of alpine cd changer on the factory tape deck which was installed as a factory option from the dealer. i've never had a problem with this changer.
Now that i have a new model of alpine cd changer(still hooked up to the same tape deck tho ) sound is distorting and quality is really ****ty. Anyone know what could be the possible cause for this? maybe bad wiring? anyone?
BTW my car is 96integra. Thanks


Sean

 

are you using hte same wiring harness?
also its going off the deck right, not fm modulated?

 

same wiring harness? i think so
yes it's going off the deck.

here is the thing... my car was stolen and found, had some damages on it but nothing like stripped interior or anything.
thieves took the cd changer so i had my insurance company's bodyshop to change it to a new one along with fixing other damages on the car. i heard the bodyshop sent my car to some audio shop to do the cd changer installation, and from the looks of it, they just plugged the new changer to the remaining old harness from the last one without actually taking out the deck and using the new harness that came with the new changer.
i just thought you guys might know better than those audioshop idiots, seeing that they did a half assed job on the changer

 

You can't directly plug an Apline CD changer to your head unit using the standard cable. You need to open up the connector and swap the ground and the signal wire on one of the channel, (can't remember right or left). That's why at the moment one of the channel sounds funny

 

The new changer is most likely not compatable with the old cable. Best case scenario, a shop can splice the new cable into the old cable if they really know what they are doing. Your best bet is to just replace your stock head unit with an Alpine unit. You can find a half decent one for less than $150 anywhere on the Web. You need to chase down that new cable because you need it for the installation.

Suggestion #2:
Call Alpine technical support. Give them the model numbers of both changers and ask them if they are interchangeable. My guess of course, is that they are not.


Suggestion #3:
Some of the older changer cables have a ground wire that is screwed to the car's chassis right before the cable connects to the changer. It is possible that the ground wire was pulled loose when the changer was stolen and the stereo shop neglected to re-ground it when they completed the installtion. (If they used the old cable.) The ground wire is designed to isolate the harness from bleeding--induction of foreign signals from one wire to another. This could make your sound crappy and would be the quickest, easiest fix possible. However, I think this is a remote possibility

 

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