Day seven with my new friend: iDA-X001

[onefastsi 10+ year member]

Sooo...it's been a long, tumultuous week, good and bad, but mostly good....

I installed the X001 last wed. Right off the bat I noticed alot of good. Well, over the next few days, some gremlins crept up, injector "tic" coming through my Upstage tweeters, VERY harsh highs, then missing lows...but all is good, it's called "tweaking".

I wanted some more volume at a lower level. With the 2 volts out, vs. my old 9 volts, I had to put the volume almost all the way up to see the same power/sound level. I didn't like that for whatever reason.

I raised the gain a crack on the NINe.2 powering the front stage hoping to get things together. well, all that did was contribute to my "tic" that wasn't there the day before. Don't ask how, it just started the ball rolling, I know it!

So now the highs were too high, the bass was too low. I was pissed! Went back in, turned the gain back down...everything was better, but the "tic". Bass matched the mids and highs again, and boy was it nice (more on that later).

I then took the driver seat out, noticing ALOT of highs, well, up high. Which wouldn't typically be an issue, raised sound stage, but it was overpowering coming from the CDT Upstage tweets. I pulled the pass. seat to access the myriad of xovers, and set the tweets to "med" vs. "high". I had it on "low" previous, and there wasn't enough dash 'staging'.

Ahhhh...much better. Softened highs!

So, bugs worked out, I went to tweaking to my liking. I was doing some research as well, asking AudioControl about line drivers to boost the voltage. Well, little did I remember, it's been a few years since use, my OLD EQL series II 13 band EQ would do the trick!

Ok...so I have things relatively worked out, the EQL not yet installed. I listened.....

The whip: 2003 Civic Si hatchback, blown and bad!

 

The system:

-Alpine iDA-X001

-Elemental Design NINe.2 (front)

-Elemental Design NINe.1 (subs, seeing 1.33 ohms)

-CDT Audio HD62 components (12 years old)

-CDT AUdio 519T upstage kit

-Elemental Design 13OV.2 Dual 2 ohm VC 12" subs x 3, in a 1 cu ft sealed box

-Audio Control EPI Center (12+ years old)

-DEI Digital 1 farad cap

THE TEST:

So I like the X001, alot. Pretty cool unit, even if it has a few quirks. Washed out screen in the bright light (i.e. LCD TV's), not enough control over the music (EQ's) however there are a dozen presets that I haven't even used yet. Kinda funky search feature...click "search" on the main dial, then have to use a DIFFERENT button to enter the menu. I would have liked using the main dial "search" for accessing instead of moving your hand on another step.

I put a variety of music in: heavy metal, rock, pop, blues, classical...just listening. I'll get into the details of each after I get the EQ setup, but the gist of it was this:

1. Great high end detail! the 24 bit burr brown does wonders were my old 1 bit DA Rockford just was loud and sounded good. I notice much more control on the upper register, very clean and clear.

2. Midbass: now, this is always an issue most of us deal with. a midbass hole. Well, that hole has been filled, however my OLD CDT mids can't seem to deal with it //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif I have INCREDIBLE midbass! so much so, that it makes the BASS itself appear as it's coming from the FRONT of the car! NO kidding!

Before, you just know the bass is behind you. Now EVERYTHING is up front! This in itself is amazing to me. I've listened for this before...close your eyes, where is everything: highs up there, mids....bass...back there! not anymore. The CDT's can barely keep up...they are 12 years old now, so don't go knocking them. I hope the new speakers, whenever I get with Manny to get them (DLS) can keep up. adding the 3 way will be AMAZING as well!

3. Bass. POWERFUL, clean, smoooooth! Before it just hit HARD. now? it's rolls off the subs soooo nice! The EPI Center adds more depth, and the new 13OV's really keep up well, getting a cleaner signal through the NINe.1. Bass just keeps getting louder and louder as you turn the remote up...didn't happen that way before, FYI.

I just got in from hooking up the EQL. I set it up with a loomed wire harness so I can adjust things from the driver seat. I used to hate it: go in the back, tweak, come back up front...back in the back...tweak...argh! So now I sit there, with the EQL in my lap...ahhhhh...so easy! I've yet to mess with it, justed hooked it up and made sure it still worked. it does.

And the BEST part? I can now listen to music for 3.5 days straight (1225 songs) without having to "change a disc" //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif How cool is that! and the album art??? LOL...put it this way, you can put your OWN art in, and have a little "driver ****" going on...wink wink //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

i'll be back with more later //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

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[onefastsi 10+ year member]

Holy geeze oh man! So I run out and try my new EQ setup...lol...it's pretty cool holding it in your lap and tweaking the dials! however...still need to work on what to do with the harness and unit when I'm not using it //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/confused.gif.e820e0216602db4765798ac39d28caa9.gif i'll work on that when I get home from mom's later....

But...I only listened for a minute. Got a new SKINNY PUPPY 'disc' onto the iPod, "The greater wrong of the right"...and the first song "I'mortal" is, well, incredible! The bass was hitting so hard and going so low, that my mirror moved. and I'm not talking shaking so things in the view are blurry...i'm talking the mirror MOVED!!! I had to reset it it was so far off...no joking! it was simply amazing! I now have what sounds like twice the volume at half the level, and it sounds even better!

i'll have to mess with controls...so I'll be back!

HAPPY 4th!!!!!

 

[CrazedCat 10+ year member]

Cool, keep the review coming!

I just bought the X001 (should be here on Friday) to hold me over until the 9887 is available. I purchased from Crutchfield for 2 reasons: authorized dealer and the 30 day trial period where I can send the unit back for full refund if I'm not pleased. They even pay the return shipping. I don't mind paying a little more for this peace of mind and convenience. I hate buying electronics from eBay and unauthorized dealers...I don't need the hassle when something goes wrong.

So, I'll soon see if the X001 is a keeper or not. From your review so far it sounds like it might be. If the 9887 comes out next month and there's rave reviews I guess I can exchange the X001 for it (if I'm not in love with it by then).

 

[onefastsi 10+ year member]

Good luck! Hope you like it as much as I do.

BTW, I fixed the "Tic" in the audio. What was weird...I cut the ground wire from the harness to run it to a chassis ground. So, after I cut it, I turn the radio on to make sure I was getting a good ground...just moving it around. Well, the radio went on! With the wire cut! So...something else on the unit was grounding...not sure what?

Anyway, I moved the ground to the dash frame and all is well.

 

[youngfu 10+ year member]

Antenna is a ground also.