I couldn't find the JVC headunit in town but found an Alpine that met my power needs as well as matching red lighting. Spent more $ than I wanted but ended up with all new speakers, Sirius satellite radio and most importantly an integrated hands-free iphone setup while in the car.

Components installed are as follows:

1. Alpine CDA-9887 head unit w/remote

2. Focal Polyglass 100 CV1 4" front dash top mounted co-axial speakers in stock location under stock grills.

3. Focal Polyglass 130 V1 rear components with 5.125" woofers, 1" voice coils and separate 1.750" tweeters and separate 2-way crossovers. Stock grills were used so as to retain stock appearance. Just looks like cheesy Audi speakers everywhere.

4. Sirius satellite radio with Alpine adapter.

I was hoping for a sub $1500 install but ended up at $2k and change. Most boring 8 hours I've maybe ever spent sitting around on-premise while the installation occured.

Phone operation is simple and clear with high quality voice transmission and no extraneaous noise on either end. Callers say it sounds as good or better than talking directly into phone. Reception on my end is clearly better than listening into the iphone with sound coming thru all the car speakers. Simple one-button push on headunit face to answer the call but disconnect occurs automatically when caller hangs up.

If I had any complaints it would be limited to the complexity involved when setting the headunit up for best sound with all the bells, buzzers and whistles integrated into it. There's a L-O-T of button pushing that has to occur when setting up the various built-in equalizers. While I might not be able to get the dynamic depth I do now I'd still prefer a simple high/med/low bass & treble equalizer adjustment that could be adjusted "on-the-fly." As it is now it's just too friggin complicated and requires the car be parked with manual-in-hand while going on a button-pushing, knob-turning frenzy. This is certainly no world-class setup but it sounds gobs better than before and meets my hands-free needs and it's likely the last new system this car will see in my lifetime tho I still want to add the Audi TT rooftop antenna powder-coated laser red.

JVC KD-ADV38:

<img src="http://www.thetechbrief.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/14.JPG">

General Features:

In-dash 3.5" TFT-LCD Monitor with AM/FM, CD, DVD, DivX, MP3, WMA player, Built-in Bluetooth Capability and Remote
Motorized, detachable face
3.5" Widescreen TFT-LCD Monitor
Wireless remote control included
Red button lighting
CEA-2006 compliant amplifier
Power Output:
Peak: 50 watts x 4 channels
RMS: 20 watts x 4 channels
MP3 ID3 Tag Display (Title/Artist/Album)
2-year Manufacturer's warranty


Playback and Audio Features:

Playback of audio CDs, DVD, DivX, CD-R, CD-RW, MP3 and WMA
Tuner with 18FM/6AM presets
12-bit/108Mhz Video DAC
8 EQ Presets
192 kHz/24-bit Audio DAC


Expandability Options:

3 sets of 5V preamp outputs (front, rear and subwoofer)
SIRIUS or XM Satellite Radio Ready: tuner, subscription and antenna required and sold separately.
iPod Ready: XMDJVC100 required and sold separately
Rear USB input
Rear auxiliary input: RCA Audio and Video Input
CD Changer controls


Key Features:

Built-in Bluetooth technology
5.1 Dolby Digital/DTS/Dolby PL II built-in decoder
Gold plated AV input/output terminals
Multilingual Display
Steering remote ready


In-Dash Receiver Specifications:

Receiver Size: Single DIN slot with larger face that may cause install problems on some dashes.
Faceplate Security: Detachable
Remote Control: Yes
Peak Power Output: 50 watts x 4 channels
RMS Power Output: 20 watts x 4 channels
Preamp RCA Outputs: 3 Pairs (Front, Rear, and Subwoofer)
Sub Preamp RCA Output: Yes
Preamp Voltage: 5 volts
Built-In Equalizer: 8 EQ Presets
Display Type: 3.5" TFT-LCD Monitor
Display Color: Full Color
Button Color: Red
CD Signal-to-Noise: 95 dB
Warranty: 2-year Manufacturer's


Playback Features:

AM/FM Tuner: Yes
FM Presets: 18
AM Presets: 6
CD-R/RW Playback: Yes
MP3 Playback: Yes
WMA Playback: Yes
DVD / Video Playback: Yes (DVD, DVD±R/RW, DivX)


Expandability Features:

AUX Input: Rear (RCA)
USB Input: Rear
iPod Ready: Yes (JVC KS-PD100 Required and Sold Separately)
Satellite Radio Ready: SIRIUS or XM Satellite Radio Ready
HD Radio Ready: No
Bluetooth Ready: Yes (Built-in Bluetooth Controls, Adapter and Microphone Included)
CD Changer Controls: Yes
Memory Card Reader: No


I'm not sure about the voice recognition...quattro.pilot and a few others from the UrS forum have this unit, maybe they could answer any questions. Pretty nice looking unit IMO. Price is ~$370. Click <a href="http://images.google.com/images?ndsp=18&um=1&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&q=JVC+KD-ADV38&start=0&sa=N">here</a> for more pics.

<ul><li><a href="http://forums.audiworld.com/s4s6/msgs/221296.phtml">http://forums.audiworld.com/s4s6/msgs/221296.phtml</a</li></ul>

Though I don't have my iPhone anymore (may get a new one on June 9th if you know what I'm talking about ; )

If I do get another iPhone I'm gonna throw down on the $200 Alpine bluetooth unit for hands free use.

I'll gladly give you details on how the integration sounds if go through with it all.

and easily switch between them on the fly once it's set up. I'm not familiar with that head unit, but most of them have that function.

is still lengthy as it requires 7 steps of button pushing and-or scrolling to get there then more buttons to choose parametric/graphic then a scroll-thru to pick another preset then enter/exit and if that preset isnt quite right then repeat the entire process. Sure it can be done on the fly but when you're driving, shifting etc it feels the par equivalent to typing this response while driving.

on the face to switch presets...Maybe you can make one that suits most of the music you listen to so you won't have to fuss with it often.

a fair and lengthy listen yesterday I tweaked/tailored one that works best on all genres of music I listen to regardless if source is FM, Satellite or CD and I'm gonna live with it... pretend this is "all-I-have/best-it-gets" and forgettaboutit ;-)

Speakers are still a bit new/tight and showing no early signs of break-in or opening up as I only put 4k to 5.5k on the car annually. In fact the speakers appear identical in color and woven composite fabric to my Bowers &amp; Wilkins anniversary edition autograph home speakers and those took almost 1000 hours of break-in before fully blossoming. So car is in garage now hooked up to charger with stereo at "18" volume setting out of 36 and will remain so 24/7 in the garage with windows up for however long it takes for the speakers to sweeten up.

One really cool aspect of this head unit that I wasn't even aware of is the "Imprint" system. Apparently an Alpine proprietary technology that thoroughly eliminates in-car accoustic problems associated with the sound stage including fabric, carpeting, glass and distance. It's very cool how it alters the sound stage, tonal balance, definition and speaker timing automatically and in minutes.

Here's how it works: (their words/not mine)

1. It is the only system that measures the entire listening area, capturing time domain information from each listening location and applying a proprietary method for processing it to represent all seat locations which gives the people in each seat the optimal listening experience.

2. It corrects both time and frequency problems, for an improved sound stage and smoother, more natural sound.

3. It uses dynamic frequency allocation to provide hundreds of points of correction to those areas where sound problems are greatest.

4. It determines optimized blending points for low frequency crossovers.

5. It provides in minutes vehicle sound tuning that generally takes skilled professionals days to accomplish.

which customize the sound based on the acoustics of the room (shape, size, textures)...pretty cool stuff!