Alpine ILX-F511. Game Changer

Well, can rule out the headunit and cable I think, a steady HDMI input seems to be fine. Hmm.

 

Crazy timing on this whole deal. I rode in a buddy's '23 Tundra and his screen had me thinking about an upgrade for my '18. I had settled on this HU, hit up the forum for reviews and just happened to find this thread. Saved over $1k on the HU (got it at $350) and installed it yesterday. Bought all the harnesses and didn't have to tap a single wire though I will when I eventually install the parking brake bypass. All went well except that I didn't realize the Alpine KTP-445A power pack amp wouldn't work in line with the Maestro harness. So it's headed back to Crutchfied. Is it too off-topic to ask for a recommendation on a good 4- or 5-channel amp to run with this head unit to drive some decent door speakers and maybe a sub?

 

Definitely not the adapter and not the cable - I tested it on my tv before I went out. As soon as the image shows on the screen, it pauses. When I hit play it defaults back to the Home Screen. I might call alpine tomorrow and see if I can get an answer from them. It’s not that important but would be nice to have the option of streaming video if we were at a campground and getting rained on for example….

 

question - just to rule it out - have you updated the firmware on the head unit?

 

I checked - the radio settings page states it is 5.00.000 which is the latest firmware on the alpine website. I actually might just order a new maestro wiring harness and start over. I think reusing that harness from the old head unit may have something that I am missing……a pinched wire or something similar. Who knows? Like I said it is t important but would be nice to have

 

You need to connect to WiFi and do the OTA update, which will get you to 5.0.1. It’s not available as a download from the support site for some reason.

Just a heads up, it takes for freakin ever…

 

Thanks, will try that! Anyone know what this could be? It’s spliced into my harness and not sure what it is or why it was done…..

 

The TR7 is used for VIM bypass, so you can watch movies or get into the setup menu without being in park with the parking brake engaged.

 

Any advantage to using the tr7 over this?

 

I’ve been using steering wheel controls for years, so no problem here. @KevinK and @BiggHertz are knob snobs, so they went with the Kenwood, and may be able to back up their stance with facts and such.

 

Not really - the TR7 is reprogrammable so that could be useful in the future, but the new module you posted is smaller and will cut down on the 10lbs of shit you need to shove back into the dash.

 

Yeah I am thinking I will just use the smaller one……the maestro and all the wiring harnesses are crazy big.

 

Si…love me a volume knob. Helped @AT x AT get his install all straightened out and the alpine unit on his highlander, and the unit is bitching…but a knob would just take it to 11

But a knob is certainly an old hi-fi thing…quicker input adjustment and more importantly a tactile way. No searching for capacitive touch points, feel for a knob…only one like it and turn to your heart’s content…

 

I was curious if this head unit might power the door speakers better than the factory amp, so I wired up a harness to bypass the factory amp (2018 non-JBL). It sounded OK but the factory amp sounds better. I unplugged the bypass a couple times just to make sure. So, I'll just run the factory amp until I get an aftermarket amp/door speakers/maybe sub. Thought others might be curious about it as well.

 

There’s a lot more going on with the factory speakers - the stock amp actually only powers the door woofers, and the dash corners and center speaker run off the HU. So if you’re just bypassing the amp with the stock speakers in place, you’re sending full range signal to the door speaker and probably getting some weird range overlap and makes sense it would sound… less than optimal.

 

I hadn’t thought about there being some band pass filter in the amp but you’re probably right. The speakers were plenty loud without the amp, but they were “mushy”. The dash speakers are almost too bright, so after I get an amp I might just disconnect the dash speakers. Or maybe they’ll seem more balanced after I have some punchy door speakers.

 

That’s crazy that it

If you could rig that up so it's a sliding door, it'd be a great place to hide shit.

 

Fortunately I don't need one for my Tundra because I'm one of the members of the knob snob group and the Kenwoods completely fill up the hole like a real mans receiver should.

 

My Alpine does feel like...

 

I'm a big fan of the JL Audio HD900/5. It's not super budget friendly, but they are bulletproof and should last for many years. Any of the HD line. The Toyota's of amplifiers you could say.

I also had great luck with the Kicker CX and KX series before. They are generally priced well, and were always reliable for me.

 

thx for the moral support and sanity check yesterday.

 

For those of you concerned with glare, smudges and scratch protection. I have one of these applied to the head unit. Smudges cleaned right off with a slightly damp microfiber towel, the scratch protection is there, but cannot speak to the glare. When I was driving with the sun in front of me yesterday.

I bought mine from Crutchfield, but there are other online retailers that carry it.

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_500KAEHF11/Alpine-KAE-HF11DA.html

 

I was looking at that. Would you say it's clear or a matte finish like in the pic? Would you get it again?

 

It's definitely clear. The graphic designer made the screen protector a matte finish to illustrate the screen protector in that picture.

It is plastic and if something hard, like a key, were to rub against it, I am pretty sure it'll get damaged, but the head unit screen will be protected.

 

Gotcha. Thanks. Seems pricey for what it is. And looks like it's 35 no matter where you get it. But better than a scratched screen I suppose...

 

So you are saying it’s @Fotnot proof?