# Alpine CDE149,148,147BT Audio Settings and voltage gains



## Alrojoca (Oct 5, 2012)

Alpine CDE149,148,147BT AUDIO SETTINGS AND VOLTAGE GAINS
What is the deal with the defeat on or off? off allows to adjust levels for the bass and trebble from minus 7 to plus seven or 10? defeat off sets them higher than 0 db (factory setting)
Is this like a more fancy loudness setting? or where is the loudness on this unit?


I set the gains with all HU audio settings off, except the trebble and bass set at 0db ( the logical thing to do) and dealing with an amp with a built in DSP and out put levels did not make it that easy. dirty clipped sound at 28-32 out of 35 max and if clean not loud like with my old HU.

I finally got set correctly still not loud enough and when loud to what I am used to, clippy not clean sound, great sound very close to what it should be reducing the trebble and bass to the minimum as stated below. 

In order to get the cleanest sound I had to reduce the bass and trebble down to -5, -7 near the minimum since the max is plus 7 or 10 somewhere around there.

The CD volume is like 7-9 db higher than the ipod, usb, radio etc. 

My plan set the gains with with all audio off as I did, but set the audio trebble and bass to -7 the minimum and not 0 like I did.
The sub, I think I got it right 


Anybody want to share how they set the gains? did you set it with the bass and trebble at 0 or you had to go to minus -7 to the minimum?

Another issue, the user EQ, how can I keep that setting, I set it had it just right gave me no option to save it, then I tried one of the EQ presets, and my user setting was freaking gone, no option.

Basically it boils down to the gains with lowest trebble bass setting to get clean sound setting the gains?

And how to keep the eq user and be able to use the other settings without loosing the user setting.

And the CD level volume needs to be set to minus 7 to match the other sources, funny cause the gains were set with the CD from JBL for the amp. Or perhaps increase the level of all the other sources.

Any help would be appreciated!


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## Alrojoca (Oct 5, 2012)

Mmmm, any help at least on saving the user EQ setting at least? , since I loose it if I try one of the preset ones


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## teldzc1 (Oct 9, 2009)

I think defeat on turns off all the dsp features on the deck. I have mine set to on as I have an external dsp.

I have clean sounding output (haven't measured) all the way to 35. 

There is a setting to adjust the relative volume of the different sources. I can't remember where but I think it's in the audio settings menu. I had to bump the BT Audio volume up a bit.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk


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## Alrojoca (Oct 5, 2012)

Mmm, thanks I noticed the defeat on increases the bass and treble by 6-7 points and no effect on EQ or xovers, manual says to have xovers off set slopes to flat, no effect there either. I will try it again.

Yes I also had to increased the BT vol by 3-4 points, and reduce the cd volume by 7-8 points, the cd is that loud at least in my set up compared to the other sources


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## Alrojoca (Oct 5, 2012)

I take that back, Defeat on, defeats all audio settings, crossover, EQ, bass, treble, only the subs functions are allowed with defeat on. Defeat on sets it to factory settings. The manual also says, trebble and bass are actually bands 8 and 2 and affect the level of the bands only
What? 

Page 17, http://support.alpine-usa.com/products/documents/OM_CDE-147BT_CDE-HD148BT_EN.pdf


The question is should we set the gains with defeat on, and what are the actual factory audio settings? I got much cleaner sound with with the defeat on, not the best sound but louder enough to not allow clipping, but no EQ,or TA functions.

And with defeat off, not loud enough and having to turn it up more and the sound is not as clean, maybe the amp's DSP gets affected by the alpine audio settings?

And why can't I save the user EQ setting after trying another preset EQ? I had to do them all over again after trying another one. page 18.


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## Alrojoca (Oct 5, 2012)

Just a follow up, the defeat on gave me no way to set the gains or get enough voltage to set them.



I think I finally got it where it should be, I also had to set the sub's gains again, the sub's level on the Alpine goes up to 15 it had to be set about half way to be able to get a voltage match gain on the amp with the dial below the mid half point.

Someone complained that these alpines did not have strong RCA's I had Kenwood's and a JVC with 4 and 5 volt RCA's and the ones from this Alpine are stronger in my opinion, it was hard to get the voltage match at the right levels for clean and loud sound, it took many tries, and found the right balance for low and high volume recordings or tracks.

Not sure if this thread will bring confusion or help, the main point is to get it right.

The only issue now is the user EQ, I guess once I set it just adjust that and never go to the factory preset one or I will loose mine, I can leave with that,

I just wish, I could delete the Pandora or AuX to not have to scroll through all those unused sources, the JVC had that great function.

The BT works great with my Iphone, someone complained about low SQ, maybe it was their phone, the sound is as good as the Ipod.


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## sirbOOm (Jan 24, 2013)

I had an 149 for a while. It was excellent and had excellent RCA output, even the internal amplifier was good powering some Infinity Reference speakers in a tiny Fiesta. Use defeat only if you're going to be using an external DSP or amplifier crossover settings 100% and do not need the same functionality from the HU. Otherwise, leave it on.

A fault of the Alpine is that you cannot save your EQ as a preset... or at least I could not figure out how (nor did I try too hard). Nevertheless, the only thing I'd ever use a factory preset EQ for is to see what is closest to what I want, then go from there.

It would be nice to delete what you're not going to use (especially AUX!). Ohwell.

I loved the 149 and it had excellent SQ, features, and a nice screen. I install Kenwood and Pioneers all the time, rarely Alpines. I like the Alpines the best, personally, despite their faults. Other brands will have their faults, too. It is what it is. You have a good unit.


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## Alrojoca (Oct 5, 2012)

sirbOOm said:


> I had an 149 for a while. It was excellent and had excellent RCA output, even the internal amplifier was good powering some Infinity Reference speakers in a tiny Fiesta. Use defeat only if you're going to be using an external DSP or amplifier crossover settings 100% and do not need the same functionality from the HU. Otherwise, leave it on.
> 
> A fault of the Alpine is that you cannot save your EQ as a preset... or at least I could not figure out how (nor did I try too hard). Nevertheless, the only thing I'd ever use a factory preset EQ for is to see what is closest to what I want, then go from there.
> 
> ...


Hey! thanks a lot for sharing that, I have the 148, same as the 149 just smaller screen, good enough big letters to read compared to the old JVC I had. 

My JBL ms amp has a digital crossover but no eq,TA etc, turning the Defeat on would leave me with just crossovers and output levels. Im liking it and getting used to it, the learning curve is not hard and I will make it work.

Like you said, all units have nice and not so nice features, or missing something that may be important to some users.


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## Alrojoca (Oct 5, 2012)

Alrojoca said:


> Just a follow up, the defeat on gave me no way to set the gains or get enough voltage to set them.
> .


Correction, when this happened I had the CD level set at -7 since the cd level is extremely high on these alpines compared to the other sources.

I went back to check my voltage gains with the cd level set at 0 and the difference was equal or maybe 1 point of volume level difference matching the voltage gains, insignificant unless the gains are set with vol at 3/4 or below. 

I would say to all installers and new users, it it safe to simply turn defeat on and set the gains that way it will save a few minutes of setting all audio settings one by one when setting the gains on the amp. Then after that defeat off and set all EQ, xovers and audio tuning needed.


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## rton20s (Feb 14, 2011)

Just a couple of quick comments. We have the CDE-147BT in my wife's car with only a 2 channel amp for the subwoofer. The factory speakers are powered off of the head unit. We have not turned defeat on as we need the DSP functions of the head unit. This defeat will stay off, even after we install the new amp and components as we will still use many of the DSP functions. 

On the 9 band parametric EQ... If you look at page 17 of the 147/148 manual under "Equalizer Presets (Factory EQ)" it states the following:

"10 typical equalizer settings are preset at the factory for a variety of
musical source material. USER settings are created in the 9BAND P-EQ
mode." 

It also has the following note which is repeated on page 18 under "Adjusting the Parametric Equalizer Curve (9-Band P-EQ)":

"The 9-Band, Parametric EQ is used to create the Factory EQ settings."


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## Alrojoca (Oct 5, 2012)

Thanks Dustin,

Like I said defeat on can be used to set the gains, then turn it off and make sound adjustments, it gave me the Check marks as if I would turn off everything manually.

Out of all audio settings now, only the TA, spatial and MX ( loudness that I do not use) make a significant sound difference, the EQ bands specially the width of the bands is so minimal thesubs phase is also no that strong.

Something to do with the amps DSP over taking or overwriting the effects, I'm going to try to turn the xovers off on the amp to use the ones from the HU, maybe the gains and voltages need to be set again, I got it better, I think it can be even better, funny issues loud sound recording clip much sooner than with the old HU, low vol recordings, do not clip even at max volume and need to be louder, I set the gains with 3/4 vol, it seems like a huge range difference in between the low and the highest volume recordings, I may try to set the gains with the cd output level 3 points higher to give me more output for the USB source since the cd volume is like 7 points higher in sound level compared to other sources. If many attempts do not work, my guess is my amp can't be used with this HU, I may have to use a different HU, cause if I use defeat, I will have the amps DSP but no EQ, TA, ETC

It could be my mid bass drivers too not handling the power, I need to install the new ones too and see how it goes.


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## ATOMICTECH62 (Jan 24, 2009)

On all the Alpine decks Ive had on my bench with the RCA's connected to a scope this is what Ive found.

The sub output must be set at +15 to match the output of the other RCA's.All the sub volume control does is attenuate the output below +15.
The 4 volt units put out about 4.5 volts at maximum volume and will not clip.If any EQ band is boosted,once that frequency reaches 4.5v it will not clip even when the volume is turned higher.It will stay at that level while the other frequencies will continue to increase until they reach 4.5volts.So the deck will have a flat frequency response when putting out 4.5 volts regardless of the boosted frequencies.

The MX feature on these decks are horrible.They will boost the B/T settings a lot higher then the +/-7db so the output sounds a lot louder with them on.However,they compress just like the B/T adjustments once they reach 4.5volts.

If the input voltage to the AUX is too much it will cause the preamp circuit to clip which will then cause the waveform to show a clipping at the RCA's.This is the only way Ive ever got clipping on the RCA's.But it takes at least 2 volts on the AUX to get this result.

The best way Ive found to adjust the amp gains with these decks to +10db is to get a .450volt sinewave at the rca's and set the amps to clip there. 
I have set mine to 1volt before and get good results but some weaker recorded material will not bring the amps to full power.


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## Alrojoca (Oct 5, 2012)

Great info! 

I am glad to learn more about these.

My amp is the a JBL MS, just using a 4 ch in a 3 way mode, It uses a CD an just gives me check marks when voltage is matched with the RCA's, even with the older HU I had trouble getting clean sound from the amp but I got it working the way it should before.

With this deck it has been harder to get loud and clean sound from this amp, a lot of it has to do with the amp's DSP and where the amp's output levels are set for the amp's digital crossovers to work the way they should and play clean and loud.

The interesting thing would be that with this amp I am able to match voltage at only 2 to 3 sub's volume, today I tried the gains again with the amp's output levels 20 points below from the way I set them before.

To have some bass sub level range I set the gains at at 7-8 out of 15 to match voltage, the sub did not appear to have an issue clipping or dirty sound and having issues with loud good tracks clipping at around 23-24 on high peaks even when I used 26,27 up to 29, low volume tracks not being loud enough at max levels and not not playing that clean either, only a higher volumes with certain tracks I got ok sound but not with most tracks.

But today I got it pretty much where it should be I think, loud good tracks with lots of bass play clean loud and just barely clip on high peaks around 25-26,27 vol out of 35, and my lowest volume tracks play clean loud and clear near 33 and max of 35 without clipping on probably most tracks, some of the lowest vol tracks would be from The Supertramp Breakfast in America, the Child of Vision Track in particular.

I may try to play again with with the sub's volume at max to set the subs channels gains again, I need to think this a bit, I have plenty of bass even a 1 or 0 volume not plenty but it is not totally reducing the sub's bass like it should, it feels like I have to reduce it more than the minimum and of course it is not possible.

If I do this I may have an issue going with the gain dial to the minimum and still have too much voltage since now the gain dial is still below the half point.

These RCA's are strong, the gains dial for the front's are barely at 1/4 maybe close to 1/8.

In any case, thanks for great info, I probably may have to try to set the sub's gains again just to be able to have more range between 0 and 15 and not 0 with bass and 8-10 with more than it is needed. 

And the CD vol issue, may have been a CD I used that was way too loud, it is not so bad compared to the other sources.


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## ATOMICTECH62 (Jan 24, 2009)

I don't even use the sub volume control on my Alpine.Ive got one of those $10 RCA passive volume knobs between the deck and sub amp.I always leave the sub volume at +15 on the Alpine and control the subs with the inline knob.


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## Alrojoca (Oct 5, 2012)

Thanks,
Im definitely going to have to try to set the gains for the sub again with the alpine hu sub level set at max based on your great and valuable advice and see how that goes, I may be missing on even better sound and power.


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## Alrojoca (Oct 5, 2012)

Mmmm, decided to check the BT sound comparing it with the iPod, it sounded different.

Checked my iPod the one I have used to pretty much set all my running, EQ etc. it turns out the EQ on the iPod was set to Rock, best for earphones, i turned it to off. I also I got rid of the sound check since it honestly does not help to keep all tracks at similar level.

Now it seems that I have more headroom and power, before it seemed to clip or almost distort too soon, now it appears that It can actually get louder before I need to turn it higher. Maybe something to do with the HU DA converter, iPod sound check or EQ being set, now being off, much better I suppose. The bad, I have to tune everything back again with the HU, EQ. TA, and maybe try extra settings that did not do much before.

I have a feeling the ipod sound check, affected or limited the HU EQ settings since I did not notice huge differences playing with the EQ


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## Alextaastrup (Apr 12, 2014)

Regarding sub's control by Alpine's. I was also interested in more information about this as the manual does not give enough information on this issue.

So I have decided to make some investigations by myself and the test results are quite interesting. But let us start from the beginning. Control is possible in the range from 0 til 15. I have measured the frequency response curve for the whole range of frequences (20-20000 Hz) at different positions of the regulator (0, 5, 10 and 15). What I found out is that Alpine (I have CDE-137BT) does not work as a typical loudness. It surpress mid and high ranges by appr. 6dB, making low frequences dominating. At the same time, the gain within the subwoofer range contains exactly the same, which might be explained by the manufacturer effort to protect the unit from distortions at loud sound level. By the way, mine HU produces clean sound below position 28 (out from 0-35). Rather unhappy with this, but ... now I know the "limits".
Back to sub's control. When you move from 0 til 15, the peak frequency also moves (from appr. 40 til 55 Hz). So if you listen music with the sub regulator in the position 15, you might loose a lot of musical information at the low frequences. Why Alpine did this in this way, could be possibly found in some statistics regarding musical masterpieces: how many of them have sounds below 30 Hz? Just few - despite millions and millions of songs, suits, concerts, addagios, ... 40 Hz is presented in much more songs. 50 Hz - the same trend. 
Maybe I am wrong, but it seems that Alpine has made this regulator in this way in order to provide dominating bass sound for as many musical numbers as possible by screwing to position 15. It sounds logical. Any comments?


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

I've measured quite a few Alpine units and have never had one behave in the manner you describe. I purchased the CDE-HD149BT last week and before it went in the car, I benched it to see what it's clean (unclipped) output was. As with all the other alpine units I've tested to date, I reached max volume (35/35) with no clipping. I then measured the pre-out voltage with a 1khz, 0dBFS tone and got approximately 4vRMS. 

This was all with the defeat 'on'. All DSP functions on the deck are disabled.


Additionally, it's well known by guys "in the know" that to reach max output of the subwoofer pre-outs, you have to set the sub level to max (15). I don't think they mention this in their manual which is odd... unless they've changed their ways. Alpine's subwoofer level is essentially an attenuator; it comes stock set at 0. You have to ramp it up to 15 to max the voltage output. What I typically do is leave the sub level at 12 or so so I have some extra sub at the deck if needed (never really use it, though).


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## sirbOOm (Jan 24, 2013)

Confirming above. My 149BT went to full tilt without clipping as well. To level the output of my subwoofer pre-outs to the front/rear full range outputs, I had to increase the subwoofer level in mine - don't remember to what, though...


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## rton20s (Feb 14, 2011)

ErinH's and SirbOOm's experience echo my own with the CDE-147BT in the wife's car. When I initially installed the unit I had the sub level very low and was shocked at how lacking the sub output was compared to the stock head unit. I had to crank the gain WAY up on the amp. That experience and some reading on DIYMA are what helped me figure out that the issue was with how Alpine uses the sub level control. 

With the corrected gain settings, my wife usually keeps the sub level at 10-11. When I'm on the car, it is usually at 13. Occasionally the knob gets dialed all the way up to 15.


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## Alextaastrup (Apr 12, 2014)

ErinH,

Have you also measured voltage of the front channels while changing position of the subwoofer control button (from 0 til 15). As I can understand from my tests the mid and high range was pressed down moving that button from 0 til 15 (6dB in the case of my HU). Ratio between the gain from sub and other frequency ranges will be alternated, which resulted in more obvious reproduction of low frequences.


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## Alrojoca (Oct 5, 2012)

I went back and tried to set my gains with the sub's level at 15, maybe it's my amp or something else but I went back to set the gains at mid range where had it because I tried playing music and had less bass that before. The defeat on by the way does not affect the HU sub's output or defeats its operation, if defeat on is used to set the gains.

Setting the gains with the sub level at 15, allowed me to dial the gain on the amp just a fraction less, and less bass or no bass at 0 out of 15 but not enough sound or bass playback even at 15. 

When I set the gains with the hu's subs level back to half way (7-8), the gain dial on the amp just barely dialed clock wise gave me significnatly more bass output, compared to the 15 setting, and both times at vol 32 out of 35 on the hu and getting the green check marks on my amp's digital display matching the gains with the CD. At volume 23-26 I get loud sound plenty of bass at sub's 8-10 now, what can I say I trust my ears . I don't measure anything.

Again, maybe it is my amp since I could easily Just pick up some voltage, setting the sub's level at 3 or 4 to set the gains and have the same effect at 6 that I would at 15 but that would be pushing the sub or the amp's limits if I turn the level to 15, something that I really would not need to do or currently have to do either. If I never need to to turn the level to 15 and keep it at 9-11 my fronts probably will not be affected 

The gains dial on my amp's sub is set at maybe at 1/8 maybe more maybe a bit less, what can I say? I can't complain about sound. 

I would suggest to Alex to set the gains with the sub's level at 7 or 8, set the sub's level at 9-10 and measure the output to see if the issue is the same or see if there is a difference with the front channels cutting the mids and highs as stated before.


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## dallasneon (Nov 3, 2005)

I don't want to deviate from the topic at hand, and this is a great thread, but has any one measured the outputs PXA-H100 imprint module? Just curious how clean they are. I have one connected to my 117 and don't have a way to measure at point on the volume knob it clips.


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## rton20s (Feb 14, 2011)

dallasneon said:


> I don't want to deviate from the topic at hand, and this is a great thread, but has any one measured the outputs PXA-H100 imprint module? Just curious how clean they are. I have one connected to my 117 and don't have a way to measure at point on the volume knob it clips.


Considering none of the head units that are a topic of discussion in this thread are compatible with the PXA-H100, this probably isn't the place to ask. Try asking the question in a new thread, or in one of the existing threads that discuss the PXA-H100.


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## Alrojoca (Oct 5, 2012)

Anyone using or used the spatial feature with these Alpines?

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/2166759-post6.html


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## Alrojoca (Oct 5, 2012)

Back to the gains subject.

I had to install a kappa 5 amp, just for the mids my mids handle over 150W each and are 4ohms each. I was able to bridge it confirmed stereo and balance after getting Y RCA's, *thanks Harman Kardon for *not telling me I needed Y adapters to bridge it to get balance in your manual, since I only got mono power per side with no proper balance without Y RCA's

In order to have identical power to each midbass I needed to set the gains with a DMM, since in B mode it is one gain dial per side and good luck adjusting by ear, the target voltage was around 24V for about 140 *W/ch*

Set it to 24V each bridged terminal using a 1khz 0d tone and HU vol at 32 out of 35. The gain dial was close to half. I got very dirty sound passed vol 16-19 out of 35.*

Tried lower V, I figured maybe my math is wrong and it should be 12V per bridged terminal and very similar dirty sound still under vol 26. 26 vol max was my target for the loudest my strongest volume track.*

Without paying attention to the volume, I measured V at the highest peak playing music where it started to clip or distort, the highest V peak was just over 3 volts and maybe for not even 2 seconds. * Since 12 v per bridged terminal did not work I tried 10V,9V and no clean sound at high volume levels*

At this point I said, forget trying to get a V reading, I'm going to set both gains by ear, faded off the tweeters turned off the sub played music and set the HU dial at vol 28 out of 35 playing my loudest Music *track until it stopped playing dirty or clipped just one one single ch, sub off tweeters off and L balance off, only R mid playing, I did the same on the other side just to make sure my drivers were both good and in phase, but I had to pick one to match the V on both. **

Then I just put the cd with 1khz 0db test tone again disconnected the + terminals, *and simply match whatever V I have on both channels, lucky me the difference was only 0.3V so I matched both exactly to be even to the decimal point.*

* It's important to mention that every time I measured V at the none bridged terminals the V was always about half of the bridged ones. *My final measured V per terminal was estimated to be under 4 V each. *The v gain dials are about less than 1/4, I turned on the sub faded in the tweeters, *the sound is as clean and smooth as I wanted, the highest volume track begins to clip at volume 27-28, my lowest volume track does not clip at max vol of 35 but it is loud, smooth and clean to the point to fully satisfy my needs.

What went wrong? from either 24 or 12 v to maybe 3.5V final measured voltage/ch?
I thought instead of defeat audio on, maybe the EQ bands should be below flat, meaning no level at all. But that would mean an even lower V reading. * It *can't be the test tone, *Is it the class D amp that will not measure the full V? *Again 24 v equals about 145W, 13 v equals 50W per terminal, we are talking 3.5/ b terminal or 1.7 v/non b terminal, even if I double the V mentally assuming I missed a step, it is still less than 30 W/ch, we are talking 5W/ ch or less using 4.5 V.


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## Alrojoca (Oct 5, 2012)

Patiently waiting! :listenup:oke:

Anyone wants to take a shot to tell me why I only get not even 4 volts measured per bridged terminal and not even 2 Volts per non bridged terminal at clipping point when it should be either 12V or 24V for 150W/ch? 

I understand that the gain dial may not even be at 1/4, now and that is OK with an HU at almost 5V RCA's, 24V or 12V never provided clean sound even at mid high volume levels set with the 1khz 0db test tone and 3/4 vol on the HU, I did this like over 10 times even tried 10 and 9 volts per terminal. The under 4 V result was by ear not by choice or formula. 

Now it is simply great. 
A few days enjoying the Kappa 5 in 2 way bridged mode, driving my mid bass door drivers.

Clean loud sound at high and even low levels, :thumbsup:.


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## Alrojoca (Oct 5, 2012)

Maybe it is time to start a new thread just out of curiosity. No issues everything is good with the sound, maybe I need someone to catch or correct a mistake made on my part. Maybe it is an Alpine unique case. DMM is wavetek and is good.


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## headshothills (Feb 11, 2016)

Hate to dig up an old thread, but Im struggling with what I believe to be a defective CDE-HD149BT..

Sub Channel RCA out - 40hz -0db sine tone, max volume 35 - No Distortion

Front/Rear RCA's out - Checked them all - 1kHz -0db sine tone, volume level 22 Distortion.

Everything is flat, nothing is set, no EQ, Defeat off - With everyone claiming 0 distortion at max volume, I guess I have the first one. Took a voltage reading on the RCA, .85v not even a full volt and its distorting..

Sending back and getting a replacement. Theres a youtube video showing the same thing with a Alpine Nav but on the Subwoofer RCA showing the RCA's are bad...

Hopefully a new unit will fix this issue, just wanted to share..


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