My new Edition 30

[AlanH]

I've specifically asked for the Alpine to be wired so that the panel illumination dims when the lights are on. Am I right in thinking that the Alpine offers a blue or red lighting option? I got my previous Alpine set up to match almost exactly the GTi dash lighting - hope I can do the same again with the X001.

[p3eps]

I've specifically asked for the Alpine to be wired so that the panel illumination dims when the lights are on. Am I right in thinking that the Alpine offers a blue or red lighting option? I got my previous Alpine set up to match almost exactly the GTi dash lighting - hope I can do the same again with the X001.

I specifically bought the CanBus for this reason - but it doesnt seem to work.  My last Alpine (9855R) had the facility to choose the illumination colour from about 5000 so you could match it up.  This one is only red or blue.  The red looks awful though!  Blue looks fine during the day - but without the dimmer its really bright at night!

Just get them to tap a wire from your light in the ashtray to the orange wire of the Alpine... it will give it +12V's - which is what it needs to dim.  I'm going to sort mine out later when I get back from my hols

[AlanH]

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the sound quality, particularly from the iPod. Like you, I had the 9855R in my previous 10-speaker GTi. The improvement in audio quality through the stock speakers was impressive compared to the standard headunit, so I didn't upgrade the speakers at all. Now we're down to 8 speakers I'm wondering how much of an improvement, if any, you've noticed.

[p3eps]

To be honest, I havent spent hardly any time in the car since I installed it... and when I have its mainly been the radio!
From what I've heard so far though, it seems pretty good.  I was under the impression it was going to be dreadful after reading a few of Hurdy's posts... but it seems decent enough.  I havent tried turning it up loud yet though - maybe thats the bad bit?!

[p3eps]

Just spent the last 3 hours re-installing my head unit!

I took the dash apart again and removed everything.  I then bared a bit of wire on the thin wire that connects to the cig lighter (12V switched after testing it with a multimeter) and wrapped my orange Alpine wire round it.  I then plugged in the standard Autoleads wiring harness and found a switched live in the fuse box with the multimeter.  I connected my switched cable from the Autoleads harness into the fuse hole, turned on the ignition and hey presto!  Turned the lights on... and the stereo dims 

I then realised that the farka aerial adapter I had bought had the wrong connection for my stereo, so had to travel to Halfords with my dash in pieces!  I made sure I didnt disconnect the airbag light though.  When I returned I ran the cables properly and soldered the orange illumination lead in place.  I put a spade connector on the stereo switched one and put it into its fuse hole.

I then re-assembled the dash carefully... and tested it all again!

The stereo works exactly the same as with the Canbus, apart from the wiring is a little more complicated!  Once thing I did notice on my trip to Halfords... and have noticed since I installed the Canbus which seems a bit weird:  normally when you drive down hill or something with your foot off the accelerator, the MPG in the MFD displays a couple of dashes, but with the Canbus installed, it goes up and up to ridiculous numbers!  When going to Halfords I didnt have the Canbus adapter fitted - and it just went back to dashes!

Anyway - I now have a spare Canbus if anyones interested?!  It cost me £76.50 including delivery... and has only been used for 2 days!  I'll let it go for £55 including delivery.

Now I'm away out for a drive to play with the stereo... and once it gets dark I can see if one of the 3 dimmer settings matches the aircon display!

[Hurdy]

Don't forget to test the speakers out fully.

I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to sound quality, I guess it comes from years of violin playing in my formative years

[AlanH]

Had the X001 installed today and very impressed so far. The good news is the display dimmer works, bad news is that the buttons on the MFSW aren't fully integrated. Volume up/down and mute work, but cycling through the driving data on the MFD also causes the iPod tracks or FM stations to cycle too. The dealer is going to wait until the Alpine adapter is released in July and swap it over - should fix the problem. IPod integration is great and very easy to operate - shame the jog/dial wheel doesn't fully match the operation of the equivalent on the iPod itself, but using the "Enter" button isn't a problem. Blue display looks good too. I've played around briefly with audio settings, but so far I prefer everything set flat with EQ and MX turned off. My music is ripped at 256kbps, and sounds great. One gripe though - why do Alpine supply the owner's manual on a CD rather than a printed copy. It's a real pain sitting in the car with my laptop balanced on the passenger seat trying to read a .pdf in bright sunshine :embarassed:

[p3eps]

I got a paper manual AND a CD!

[Cass]

Knowledge police alerted

Cass

[fliptophead]

Looks great...

For me, Grey is the only colour I would have wanted and the red highlining on the front grille really sets it off nicely.
Of the last 5 cars I've had 3 have been a sort of dolphin grey colour... ( my wife calls it predictable ) until I remind her of her 66% hit ratio of BLACK on her cars!

ALL the ED.30's are head turning...

I have the same colour on my Ed.30..   For me, Grey was the only colour I wanted.
Now I know what it will look like when I polish it up properly.