Well, it should come as no real surprise that the CDE-HD149BT didn't last long. I got the sucker in, and while it functioned as I expected, I hated... HATED... the LCD. It was just too washed out. Not in the sense of sunlight. That wasn't the issue. It just simply didn't look good. You've probably seen my rant elsewhere. I wanted to attempt to mod this thing to get it to look aesthetically up to par with something I could live with so I began researching my options and found an OLED screen that would fit the bill. I talked to [MENTION=126]Kevin K[/MENTION] about using this screen in place of the LCD:
http://www.buy-display.com/media/cat...-display_1.jpg
We decided that it should work, based on the 149bt service manual and OLED screen tech sheet. So, I ordered it up. Took nearly a month to receive. I also ordered up a separate faceplate to remote out for control. However, by that time, I was already starting to regret the decision of the single din and not looking forward to trying to make it look like something I could live with. But, financially it's what I was left with doing. Around the same time, I was given the opportunity to work OT. So, I said "sure", and worked a couple weekends and this past Holiday. Sucked, but I did that to get money to get what I really wanted... this:
http://www.alpine-usa.com/product/view/ine-w957hd
The deck has a few bells and whistles... most of which I don't care about. The one key thing for me is it outputs digital signal from any source. CD, iPod, radio... you name it. You simply enable the optical output and it actually disables the headunit volume. Which then means you have to control the volume via your DSP's volume. The Helix remote can be purchased for $60 and it does volume and other things. All I need is volume and one can be made with a simple mini-din cable and a 10k pot. I then began the search for a good volume pot where I discovered not all pots are created equal. I read online about the various options such as cheap Panasonic, ALPS, and the higher end ones such as the ALPS Blue Velvet and then the expensive options such as Noble, TKD, GoldPoint, DACT, etc. All I need is a good logarithmic pot and I found evidence via some googling that even the "logarithmic" pots aren't entirely logarithmic. The ALPS RK27 line (blue velvet line) are almost entirely logarithmic with about 40-something 'steps' on the pot, allowing a more fluid volume control as opposed to one with 20-something steps and a faster ramp up to loud. So, I ordered up the ALPS RK27(xxxxxxx) model from an eBay vendor in 5kohm flavor (since all the 10kohm are dual-gang).
Of course, I needed a volume knob for this thing. And I checked digikey, eBay, etc. Could never find one I really liked, though. I then got the idea to try to retro-fit an alpine 7990 knob. I contacted pacparts and they were able to source me a 7990 volume knob as well as the rubber knob ring. Not cheap, but man, it's sweet. I got the parts in yesterday. I had to drill out the 7990 volume knob and then chop off about 4mm on the ALPS shaft to get it to fit right. But, all said and done, it looks awesome.
The volume knob will go on the console as will a hard-wired alpine remote which will run in to the headunit's SWI jack; no latency of IR. I plan to install this stuff this weekend. Hopefully. When it's done the idea is the console will have all the buttons needed for basic controls as well as a slick volume knob. I purchased a few 3mm blue LED's for some lighting and I'm considering tying one to the underside of the volume knob, wired off the illumination switch, so it illuminates the knob when the headlights are engaged.
Here's a few random pictures...
Originally Posted by Kevin K
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