WOW, thanks guys! I think I am with you all on the ML's but don't for a minute think you've seen the last of banded steels on the car.
Yesterday I went on a little road trip to get my head unit repaired. I'd bought it new in 1993 and it wasn't cheap then (back then it cost me £600!). I'd used it in my Mk1 MR2 from the outset, then it found its way into my next Mk1 a few years later. When I bought the Z1, after selling the MR2, it got boxed up and stored in the loft along with all the other audio gear I had bought around that time (3566 amp, KEC-202 active crossover etc...)
Skip forward a good ten years and I'm mid build on the Dirtbag when it dawns on me that my 1993 car could quite suit some 'period correct' audio. Damn good audio too! Within minutes of pulling all the boxes out of the loft, I am on the internet looking up hits of 1993. I want an appropriate track to play for my first listen to the system. Very sad I know, but heh, that's just me! (this bit will make sense in a bit)
After doing all the wiring install, getting the amps all connected and the crossover fitted, the next job was to get the head unit running so that I could play some music to check the connections to the crossover>amps>speakers are all correct, in phase etc...
As soon as the amazing Alpine CD mechanism kicks into play, I am soo happy. That is until the moment where it won't read the CD. I try a number of times, I pop out and buy a couple of new CD's in case mine is scratched, but alas, the unit will not play. All this work, all this time & effort and the CD player won't work which means I can't check all my connections. Gutted is an understatement!
Upset, I ring Rich and tell him my woes....and he tells me of a company in Bath that should be able to fix it. I ring them and they seem very positive until they determine that my head unit is 'old' and therefore not worth repairing. "The laser has gone mate" to which I reply "but how can you be sure, you haven't looked at it - it might be something else like the laser head just stuck on the track where it hasn't moved for 10 years"....
"No mate, its definatley the laser, you're better off throwing it in the bin and getting a new one"
"So you don't even want to look at it for me? I really want to get this unit working"
"No, not really"
So that was that. My upset turned to an edge of anger at how this company just dismissed my beloved head unit as junk. I'd hate to think that some people out there might have binned their 7909's or 7980's just because repair companies told them it was old and not worth bothering with?
Just for anyone out there who is wondering what the fuss is all about - these particular units (the Alpine 7909, 7980 and 5980) are from an era where no expense was spared in building the best car audio possible. The early to mid 90's became a time where some of the top brands (Alpine and Nakamichi, maybe Clarion and Blaupunkt to a certain extent) put stupid amounts of effort into building head unit of riduculous sound quality. Literally, they have never reached this standard or quality since and probably never will...epsecially with the intro of compressed music formats like I-tunes and MP3 etc...The 7909 (particularly the 7909J) is still rated as the best car audio unit ever made. Ever. With the 7980 close behind.
Anyway, I digress.....
After making some phonecalls I come across a company who is willing to have a look at the unit and even think they may be able to repair it for me. I am feeling happier.
The next day, when about to remove my head unit to send off to the company, I see an advert on eBay for a later model of 3 disc head unit (the successor to the 7980 but not as nice and nowehere near the sound quality) I email the seller anyway to ask him about the unit - if I am buying it I want to make sure it's 100% working. After he sends me his number, we get chatting (in the vaguest sense of the word - he is Polish and he is "Not very good English") and I mention about the 7980 and how upset I was to find it was broken.
All of a sudden he starts sounding really excited and hes says, "you bring, you bring....I look, I fix"
Well, that kinda led me to yesterday where I drive 175 miles to an unknown Polish guys house with my beloved head unit for him to have a look at. It tuns out the 7983 he was selling is also sharing his 'workshop' space with a 5980 which is the same as the 7980, but without a tuner. Basically, my lovely head unit just no radio.
The plan: I am going to buyt his 5980 for a
very good price. He is also going to strip down and clean the tracks and laser in my unit, but seeing as my unit then can't be tested for 24hrs until all the chemicals have dried properly, he insists on fitting the mechanism from the 100% working 5980 into mine. The mech is identical, it's ony the circuit boards, the facia and control box that are different.
Without further ado, he is working in an organised, controlled frenzy akin to being the Car Audio version BiAS on a mission. His workshop/worktop consists of an old chest of drawers in a cramped garage which "My wife, she cram with junk. Apologies."
I am a little worried to say the least, but he is off and working at quite a rate stopping only to say "Okey dokey". He likes saying this, he says it a LOT!
Before I know it, he's got my unit apart
...and it looks a bit like this:
....except there were a lot of other bits he removed and so many screws I lost count early on and gave up. The "Okey dokey" continued.
Just under two hours later, my head unit was reassembled with its new mechanism, my mechanism was now cleaned and living in the 5980 and he says, "Okey dokey, we are finished, let us play CD to show us that it work"
He reaches to the shelf and picks up my CD cartridge where he'd put it to one side while he performed his surgery:
He then picks up a CD to try in the unit to check it works. When I saw it, I properly LOL'd. EPIC....this is now going to be my first track played when the system is finished. A hit in 1993, I think fate was telling me that things are on the up for my stereo install.
IT WORKS!
This guy, despite his shanty town workshop, did an awesome job swapping the bits over and cleaning my old mechansim. He was very methodical and my initial concerns about him tackling the job were soon gone when I saw how he knew exactly what he was doing.
"I hate to see this unit go to waste. I glad you let me save it. Thank you."
He's thanking me!! Legend!
So there you have it, I now have a working 7980 with a spare 5980 with, hopefully, a working CD too! Awesome.
When I hear of people moaning about cars being too far away (eg 100 miles), does that make me a bit stupid for driving 350 miles to get an old head unit fixed? Do I care? No.....I've got a working stereo and that's all that matters. Keep your ears out for some Haddaway being played soon hopefully (if the rest of the install goes to plan!)
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Really nice! Always wanted one of these!
Maybe it had been replaced at some point and they'd not bothered painting/numbering it?
