In this case, you do not have to check your ethics at the door. Crutchfield themselves offer to give you a refund minus the $50 if you just want to use it for a short time. This saves you the retail price of $220, and the $50 is all you end up paying for a 'rental'. I'd do it for my 9887, but I understand you need a laptop. I've only got a desktop and it's a Mac to boot, so I'll be visiting a shop for the imprint service sometime this spring.

Hello All!!! I'm new to this site, I have the 9887 HU, & boy this sucker is complicated to setup if your a newbie to this stuff. I have ordered a copy of the KTX-100EQ from Crutchfields, but it won't be available till May. Is there anyone near Wonderland area that has this tuning kit?

I expected it to be complicated to set up. Get out the manual, make a big pot of coffee and get a new pack of smokes. First you enter your name and birthday for the welcome screen. You need a measuring tape to set the time alignment. Then you have to set your crossover points. Then you set levels. finally, you get to set/play with the eq. It should make your system come alive.
You need to know everything about how your system is installed to know where/ how to set all the adjustments.

I was rather disappointed that the 9887 doesn't use i-personalize. On my old 9855, I put in all the settings on the internet. Downloaded and burned a CD. Popped in the disk and set-up was done!
Now it looks like you need the KTX-EQ. Another 250 bucks.

Good Luck!!

__________________
Alpine CDA-9887, TUA-T500HD, CHA-S634, CHA-1204 & KCA-410C
Pioneer TS-A6981, 6 x GM-5100T
Kicker 2 x CVR15,
MBQ RCE-216
PG MX2
Soundgate LanStar1
PAC SWI-ALP

i never found ipersonalize to be of much help...i find the alpine interface on my 9835 to be so easy to use that ipersonalize isn't neccessary...

hmmm....just read your thread again...maybe ipersonalize is useful for the 9855 because that head unit had a horrible interface...

btw, what does the inprint software actually do? does it give you printouts of the response graphs so you can see what it was before then after tuning?

too bad the ktx-100eq doesn't work as a standalone spectrum analyzer...it would be useful if i can lug it around w/ a laptop to graph the response of other audio systems...

Try Smaart Pro. It is a very powerful tool that works from a laptop. I've been using it for years and am still very happy. Quick setup and quick results.

that software is $800 and i'd still need a mic? actually, i'd also need a preamp for the mic and a high quality sound card?

Yes, yes, yes and no. The software compensates (calibrates) for any sound card used which is why it works with a laptop so well.

I got my 9887 'Imprinted' Monday.
Whitby HiFi Center had the unit and even though i made an appointment over a week in advance, they didn't have anything ready. They had to send the girl home to get her laptop because the Imprint won't run on Vista.
It took an hour and a half of screwing around with computer settups and port drivers and calls to customer support before he finally tried it with the head unit on and connected. Doh! Turns out it would have run on Vista just fine had he turned on the power.

It sounds pretty good. I saved 2 settings, reference and linear. Hi end highs are clearer, and low end of subs are smoother. It is an improvement over what i had, but I did a pretty good job of setup myself.
It's a huge improvement over the factory settings.
Now the simple bass and treble are really easy to get to which is great for older CD's that are missing highs or lows.
For my listening tastes, I faded the rear down some and the turned the subs up a bit, now it sounds great!!

Anybody else who hass the 9887, I fully recommend getting the Imprint done.

__________________
Alpine CDA-9887, TUA-T500HD, CHA-S634, CHA-1204 & KCA-410C
Pioneer TS-A6981, 6 x GM-5100T
Kicker 2 x CVR15,
MBQ RCE-216
PG MX2
Soundgate LanStar1
PAC SWI-ALP

^^sounds like you were the first one to get imprinted there.

__________________
2004 300M SPECIAL
Alpine CDA 9833
Alpine Pxa-h701
Alpine Rux-c701
Rockford fosgate p400-4
Rockford fosgate p4004
Hifonics BX 1205D
JBL c608 GTi
JBL p693
Infinity 2.5" center channel
Alpine type R 12"(2)
all active SQL set up with 1900 watts rms