Alpine: Drastic Volume Adjust?

[zul]

First post here, hello!

I've had an Alpine CDE-9881 installed in my SAAB 9-5 for about 2 years... and this little thing has finally gotten to me enough to want to fix it NOW!

All the controls work fine except the volume - each turn of the knob is a huge step in volume. So at level 1 its quiet but audible, 2 is about twice that, and 3 is almost too loud while idling. Volume level 4 is noticably LOUD, and anything above that is just to piss off neighbors //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

I've poured through the manual, searched for an hour online to find answers (found diddly squat) and now you guys are my last hope. BTW This headunit was installed by my local cartoys store.

Any advice?

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[hatedonmostly 5,000+ posts]

Loudness feature turned on?

 

[phemps 10+ year member]

do you have all the extra shiit cranked on the hu such as the eq, the loudness, or bass boost?

 

[zul]

Sorry for my ignorance but I dont know what the loudness or bass boost features are. At least I didnt notice those options in the countless times I've fiddled with the controls...

 

[I Like Waffle]

hold the reset button and start all over again. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[phemps 10+ year member]

hold the reset button and start all over again. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

deees

 

[zul]

Loudness feature was off. Just did a reset and it certainly reset my head unit but the volume steps are exactly the same.

 

[jake21 10+ year member]

do you have it hooked into a factory amplifier (harmon kardon system)? if so, just bypass it. this happens alot going through factory amps.

 

[zul]

do you have it hooked into a factory amplifier (harmon kardon system)? if so, just bypass it. this happens alot going through factory amps.

I'm not sure how it was hooked up, as I didnt install it. How would i go about bypassing the HK amp? Keep in mind i dont have a 3rd party amp. will i have to buy one to solve this problem?

 

[zul]

I reset it a couple more times and the problem has only gotten WORSE. It seems to be unbearably loud just at volume level 3 now. What can I do??

 

[Chrispy 10+ year member]

Go through the settings and find " Power IC" and turn it off. Not real sure if that unit has it but most likely it does. Not sure if thats the problem but its worth a shot.

 

[zul]

Go through the settings and find " Power IC" and turn it off. Not real sure if that unit has it but most likely it does. Not sure if thats the problem but its worth a shot.

Thanks for the reply Crispy. I turned power IC off and all that does is make a loud thumping noise and cut the music. Turning it back on thumps again but the music is back (albeit just as loud)

 

[Chrispy 10+ year member]

Thanks for the reply Crispy. I turned power IC off and all that does is make a loud thumping noise and cut the music. Turning it back on thumps again but the music is back (albeit just as loud)

Thats the internal amp in the HU. I know if your running all after market amps you dont need that on, but guess it's different with factory. Other than that I really dont know.

 

[zul]

So If the problem is because of a conflict between the factory amp and the internal one, how do I go about disabling it? Is it simply a matter of unplugging a wire or do I need to do some major rewiring under my dash?

 

[RJesus 10+ year member]

If you have an external amp, then the gain is obviously too high.

your new headunit has more powerful preamp outputs than your old headunit