# old school Alpine questions



## 496bb (Dec 15, 2012)

I am looking for some info from those knowledgable about old school Alpine- and I mean late 80's - early 90's old school. I have a 7618 HU, and probably will run a 3321 EQ with it. I am interested in the 3681 kinda, would it run after the 3321? What's the diff betwen it and 3900? Mainly, I am tryin to figure out if there is a way to run an adaptor and feed mp3's through the HU. I see ai-net to m-bus adapters, but I think that will not allow a direct connection since the 7618 is not versatile-link. The info I have researched indicates that a changer has to be plugged in for the RCA's to actually see signal. 

I am looking for a changer (5959/5952s/5957) that would work with this HU and no 4913 adaptor (those are like hen's teeth apparently). But ideally I would like to plug into my android smartphone and feed mp3 from it into the system. Kinda like the idea of a 7903 type cd player in unison with the 7618 too. Back in the day I remember a few two HU setups with Alpine cd HU and tape HU along with alpine EQ - they were sweet. 

Now, I am putting together an old school setup in my 91 Z28 - similar to what I had back then. It's still good equipment, and will most likely use some period Alpine amps too. Only real non-old-school stuff will be speakers. Would also love to find a 3318 EQ - if anybody knows what those looked like.

Anybody have any of this stuff that you don't need - let me know. Anybody have some constructive knowledge and help with these ideas - let me know.


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## Cebby (Jul 7, 2010)

496bb said:


> I am looking for some info from those knowledgable about old school Alpine- and I mean late 80's - early 90's old school. I have a 7618 HU, and probably will run a 3321 EQ with it. I am interested in the 3681 kinda, would it run after the 3321? What's the diff betwen it and 3900? Mainly, I am tryin to figure out if there is a way to run an adaptor and feed mp3's through the HU. I see ai-net to m-bus adapters, but I think that will not allow a direct connection since the 7618 is not versatile-link. The info I have researched indicates that a changer has to be plugged in for the RCA's to actually see signal.
> 
> I am looking for a changer (5959/5952s/5957) that would work with this HU and no 4913 adaptor (those are like hen's teeth apparently). But ideally I would like to plug into my android smartphone and feed mp3 from it into the system. Kinda like the idea of a 7903 type cd player in unison with the 7618 too. Back in the day I remember a few two HU setups with Alpine cd HU and tape HU along with alpine EQ - they were sweet.
> 
> ...


I have both a 3681 (actually 2 with 4381 remote) and 5957s Changer. I had them on eBay before as a package, but ended up starting to sell off pieces individually. PM me. (Had a few 1310's also)


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## Midnight Ghostrider (Dec 5, 2011)

can't use the 3321 for this setup


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## ryanr7386 (Feb 21, 2011)

496bb said:


> I am looking for some info from those knowledgable about old school Alpine- and I mean late 80's - early 90's old school. I have a 7618 HU, and probably will run a 3321 EQ with it. I am interested in the 3681 kinda, would it run after the 3321? What's the diff betwen it and 3900? Mainly, I am tryin to figure out if there is a way to run an adaptor and feed mp3's through the HU. I see ai-net to m-bus adapters, but I think that will not allow a direct connection since the 7618 is not versatile-link. The info I have researched indicates that a changer has to be plugged in for the RCA's to actually see signal.
> 
> I am looking for a changer (5959/5952s/5957) that would work with this HU and no 4913 adaptor (those are like hen's teeth apparently). But ideally I would like to plug into my android smartphone and feed mp3 from it into the system. Kinda like the idea of a 7903 type cd player in unison with the 7618 too. Back in the day I remember a few two HU setups with Alpine cd HU and tape HU along with alpine EQ - they were sweet.
> 
> ...


 The Equipment you are looking for is part of what Alpine called it's Digital Max line up! This particular gear uses what is refered to as "Balanced or Fixed Inputs" which will only work with the gear in the "Digital Max" line-up. So, your 7618 a 7619, 7620 or the 1310 controller will be the ONLY units that will be capable of controlling the 3681, 3362 and 3900 DAC! 
The introduction of the 3321 in the signal chain would interupt the Signal being fed by the 7618 so (Midnight Ghostrider) is correct! There is a 3362 on E-Bay at this time, this unit will allow you to have some "On the Fly" adjustability like you are wanting plus allow you to add the Changers you are looking for as well.
As for the difference between the 3681 and a 3900, the 3681 has a built in active crossover, time alignment etc, the 3900 has neither and is only a Digital to Analog Convertor. Both allow the use of the Optical output feature on the 5959s and 5957s changers. 
I cannot remember if the 7618 has an aux input or not, pm Rodney (Midnight Ghostrider) and have him check out one of his decks. If there is anyone to talk to about that period of Alpine it would be him! If it does have an aux input then this should work for you MP3 player.


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## 496bb (Dec 15, 2012)

thanks guys. I have located a 4913 adapter, and acquired some changers that should work with it and my 7618. I think, based on your help, that I will forgo the 3900 or 3681. I need/like to fill my 1.5 DIN opening with a HU and EQ stack- like I had back in the day. I am not competing, so the digital processing is probably something I don't necessarily need. I have traded for a set of Audiocontrol EQT's that I could use as well, more old school from the period. I can remember wishing I could afford to do a pair of those back then. lol

I would still like find a good 3318, there was one on ebay recently with a damaged DIN cable end, I made an offer but just didn't feel like his asking price was right in the condition.


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## Midnight Ghostrider (Dec 5, 2011)

I'm not totally sure about the 4913 adaptor. I have several of them but haven't tried it yet.Of course you can run the mp3 line into the adaptor and place the HU in cd mode, but the cd then loads and runs while you are playing the mp3 through the adaptor. sooner or later the cd will run out of steam (spin or tracking motor or More Importantly the Laser) and of course these parts are no longer available. When you place the changer in pause, the cd is still reading and laser power and focus and tracking servos are working just as hard. There is possibly a way to fool the data com on the m-bus into the handshake and having the HU believe that a changer is connected when infact it isn't but this may or may not be feasible. My intention, going back about 20 years, was to have an eq with the aux input, that way you could run any input into it. I could possibly mod a 3321 (or similar) or even mod the 7618 cassette audio path (i have the engineering friends who are still magical and close) but the time and effort won't be cheap!


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