Alpine W205 Audio Problem

[AppleBonker 10+ year member]

Ok, I've been monkeying with this for a while now and am getting nowhere on the troubleshooting. Hopefully someone here can think of something that I haven't. My problem occurs with the following components: Alpine IVA-W205, Alpine Blackbird PMD-B200, Alpine PXA-H701 and Alpine TUA-T500HD. When I first installed my system, I didn't have the amps/speakers installed, so I was running the HU and Nav off the factory speakers. At this point, the navigation voice prompts worked fine. After I added the H701 and HD radio tuner, I noticed that the blackbird no longer gave audible directions (the radio volume of whatever I was listening to would lower, but there is no "left turn ahead", etc.). I then went to use the HD radio, and found that I could tune stations that I know exist. The track information would also present itself on the screen. However, there is no audio. I've read through all the manuals, but I'm obviously missing something. Any ideas?

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[jluv 10+ year member]

You need the Alpine KCE-900E. I had the exact same issue.

It was originally designed for use with the processor and the stand-alone nav, and therefore it is just a small module with a short lead. You'll have to plug one end into your head unit, and as far as I know there are no cables to extend it out (special plug). Good luck getting everything to fit behind the deck. In my Explorer it was a nightmare. But it will indeed fix your problem.

 

[AppleBonker 10+ year member]

You need the Alpine KCE-900E. I had the exact same issue.
It was originally designed for use with the processor and the stand-alone nav, and therefore it is just a small module with a short lead. You'll have to plug one end into your head unit, and as far as I know there are no cables to extend it out (special plug). Good luck getting everything to fit behind the deck. In my Explorer it was a nightmare. But it will indeed fix your problem.

Thanks for the info, but would you mind being a little more specific on what plugs in where. I'm searching online and I can't seem to find any instructions anywhere. Much appreciated. Although, now I'm pissed that this wasn't printed anywhere in any of the manuals I have. I feel like I was wasting my time for nothing...

 

[jluv 10+ year member]

Thanks for the info, but would you mind being a little more specific on what plugs in where. I'm searching online and I can't seem to find any instructions anywhere. Much appreciated. Although, now I'm pissed that this wasn't printed anywhere in any of the manuals I have. I feel like I was wasting my time for nothing...

I don't think Alpine had the forsight to see this issue coming, and therefore it never made it to the manuals. Luckily, they figured out that this piece would work. As for the installation, just purchase the piece and you should be able to figure it out. I do not have one in my hand right now to help you there. You can always call Alpine tech support. They have usually been helpful when I've called them. Every now and then you get a dunce there, so good luck!

 

[AppleBonker 10+ year member]

I don't think Alpine had the forsight to see this issue coming, and therefore it never made it to the manuals. Luckily, they figured out that this piece would work. As for the installation, just purchase the piece and you should be able to figure it out. I do not have one in my hand right now to help you there. You can always call Alpine tech support. They have usually been helpful when I've called them. Every now and then you get a dunce there, so good luck!

Fair enough. Just want to confirm, your HD radio tuner wouldn't output audio without the 900E either? To be honest, I'm less concerned about the voice guidance than I am about getting the HD Radio up and running. Thanks again for all the help...

 

[jluv 10+ year member]

Fair enough. Just want to confirm, your HD radio tuner wouldn't output audio without the 900E either? To be honest, I'm less concerned about the voice guidance than I am about getting the HD Radio up and running. Thanks again for all the help...

My HD radio has always worked fine. It was the voice guidance from the Blackbrid that wasn't working. Just like you described, it would attenuate the volume on whatever audio was playing, but the voice never came through. If I select the Blackbird as the source and not just visual, it sounds fine.

Come to think of it, maybe I do remember having struggles getting audio to work properly between my processor, HD tuner, and Sirius. Everything has to be hooked up in a particular order. In addition to that, I do remember upgrading from the Sirius tuner I had for my W200 to a more recent one which also required buying yet another piece from Alpine just to make that work.

Do you have Sirius or XM? Getting the HD radio to function properly with that and your processor may get a little complicated, but if you get the right guy at Alpine tech they can usually get you up and running.

 

[AppleBonker 10+ year member]

That's what I was worried about. I am running neither XM nor Sirius. So there are only 2 AI-net cables in my car (HU->H701,HD Radio->H701). The HU detects that the HD radio module is present (for source selection it is listed as HD Radio and all of the HD radio settings are controllable). The tuner appears to even be tuning stations properly as it will stop on stations that I know exist while using the digital seek. Then, if those stations are multicast I can switch between them. So I can do all of this with no audio. I guess I'll have to call Alpine up, although I was hoping I'd be able to do this myself. Thanks again!

 

[jluv 10+ year member]

That's what I was worried about. I am running neither XM nor Sirius. So there are only 2 AI-net cables in my car (HU->H701,HD Radio->H701). The HU detects that the HD radio module is present (for source selection it is listed as HD Radio and all of the HD radio settings are controllable). The tuner appears to even be tuning stations properly as it will stop on stations that I know exist while using the digital seek. Then, if those stations are multicast I can switch between them. So I can do all of this with no audio. I guess I'll have to call Alpine up, although I was hoping I'd be able to do this myself. Thanks again!

Try running the AiNet this way: W205 -> HD Radio -> H701, and see what results you get.

I don't remember the order, but I remember it has to be a certain way for everything to function properly, and I had to play around with it wired a few different ways.

 

[AppleBonker 10+ year member]

Try running the AiNet this way: W205 -> HD Radio -> H701, and see what results you get.
I don't remember the order, but I remember it has to be a certain way for everything to function properly, and I had to play around with it wired a few different ways.

Man I hope this isn't the case. The radio tuner is under my passenger seat and the H701 is under the drivers seat. Rerouting these wires will require me to take the seats back out which is a huge pain. I'm going to call Alpine first before I do this to make sure...