Hello all,

I finally, reluctantly, bought a Alpine CDE-HD138BT: Alpine Electronics of America, Inc. Which is the best one they have. I had been perfectly happy with my stock radio but when I changed the speakers they where just hopeless, and what really convinced me was XM radio which I love, so I bought the optional alpine amplifier and sirius XM tuner as well. Both the sirius xm tuner and the alpine amp are very small, so I imagine they will fit under the center console.

While I don't like the blue color of the unit, I am happy that I will be having blue tooth, front USB ports, HD radio, Sirius XM and better sound. There where other units but this was the only one that had everything I wanted and the best Alpine I could find

Questions:

Can anyone tell me how hard it is to change the head unit? Will I need to reuse the original sleeve?

Where should I put the XM antenna? I thought the top front glass, like where the rearview mirror goes (outside, obviously) would be a good place. The trunk seems inappropriate since I would have to put it in front of the high mounted stop lamp .

Please share your thoughts, specially if you have installed a similar unit in your 95/96 car

 

Congratulations! You will find that you've made the right decision.

I have my Sirius antenna on the front of the car on the passenger's side of the hood grille. I basically run the wire under the grille, to keep it in place, and then in the rubber seal where the hood rests on the body (closest to the windshield) until I get to the passenger's edge of the car.

You will find a hole in the side of the front quarterpanel that will allow you to run the wire into the open door cavity. From there, I run it to the bottom corner, pop it through the bottom corner rubber gasket to get it "inside" the car, and then run it inside that plastic kickplate at the footwell. Then get it into that glovebox cavity below the passengers airbag. From there you can get it to the radio cavity!

As for removing the radio, you will likely have to "adjust" the two sheet metal brackets that hold the current radio in place. There is no existing sleeve to use. It's just two screws on each side of the radio to attach it to the bracket and then four screws to attach it to the car.

(I'm assuming you know how to get to the screws, by removing the AC panel, which is done by pulling out the two knobs and then unscrewing the rings that keep the AC faceplate in place)

 

thanks for the info. So no special items I need to buy for fitting the unit ? Where did you place the Sirius XM tuner?

 

If you're referring to the satellite radio "brain", I stuffed it in that bin below the passengers side airbag. There's plenty of room for stuff like that.

If it anything like mine, it will need to be reset from time to time. (Just unplug the power for 10 seconds). It should be left (relatively) accessible for times like that.

I really can't believe how crummy the displays on radios are these days! I can watch HD movies on my phone, but car radios can only use displays that recall elevator displays from the 80s? What is going on? I think Pioneer and Kenwood might be the only two makers that use a presentable type of display!

 

You're better off to put the antenna inside the car on the dashboard right right by the windshield. You can then run the antenna wire under that black "rubber" seal between the dashboard and windshield , down the side of the dash up over the knee bolster to the Sirius/XM tuner, which I stuck to my clock panel with double sided tape - neat, easy, clean install. I've had Sirius for years and through sad experience found that antennas placed on the outside of the car don't last long. So I tried the dash inside the car and everything works fine and I have five years on the same antenna. I used an Alpine - easy install and you can use the original brackets that are on the side of the factory unit to mount the new one. I don't think you need to use the sleeve (been quite a while since I installed my Alpine HU...) as the little "ear type" brackets off the side of your old unit screw right up to the new Alpine and then right into the dash.

Good luck,
Roger

 

Thanks for the tip on installing the brain or siriusxm tuner on a easy access knee bolster!! It would really suck to hide it somewhere I can't access it later.

I don't mind the display, at least it goes better with the cars interior !

 

Thanks for the suggestion Roger, I had thought about placing the antenna inside too