Alpine MDA 5051 3x Minidisc Car Changer

derek92994

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#1
Got this paired up with the Alpine TDA-7552E Head unit, working well. This system will stay in the car for a long time. I have had the MD changer for 4 years but have been unable to use it because I could not find an Ai-Net capable head unit to drive it. Video demo here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PfSb_qndts

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Elite-ist

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#2
Love that Alpine changer with your Alpine head unit. Thanks for the video clip. I do prefer the MD format over CD.
 

Jazzyguy

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#3
I have a similar 6 disc MD unit in my trunk (front) of my Porsche Carrera. It is made by Sony and it has been in my car since I bought it new in 2000. Yours has the elegant head unit.I had no place to put my head unit as it is directly attached to the Radio and CD player in my car. I believe it is a Blaupunct Radio has always played great. These MD changers are extremely reliable.
 

derek92994

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#4
Again I forgot to subscribe for email notification on this thread, otherwise would have replied earlier. It seems very reliable, noisy when changing disks which I like because I know what is going on. One cool feature I noticed was when it gets to about 10-15 seconds within the end of the disc, it starts changing the disc whilst the remainder of the music is still playing from the memory buffer. By the time the track ends it is ready to start playing almost instantly. It does not play MDLP discs, but this is no bother really, I prefer the quality of standard play. Took another 2 hour trip to ballina today and spun some Taj Mahal, The Clean (New Zealand Band), then switched to tape to listen to van morrison bang masters which has some nice out takes and tracks that I had on cd which was lost. 1990's Basf Chrome Extra II recorded in a Nakamichi BX-1. I have never owned audio gear as nice as this alpine, it was worth the 4 year wait just staring at the minidisc changer and not being able to use it due to not having an ai-net capable control deck. The green back light on the controller head unit is also a bonus, much more preferable than the blue/red I constantly see in modern cd/mp3 players.
 
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derek92994

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#5
I have a similar 6 disc MD unit in my trunk (front) of my Porsche Carrera. It is made by Sony and it has been in my car since I bought it new in 2000. Yours has the elegant head unit.I had no place to put my head unit as it is directly attached to the Radio and CD player in my car. I believe it is a Blaupunct Radio has always played great. These MD changers are extremely reliable.
Never any issues hey? That's great to hear! I think they would be more resistant to dust build up on the laser unit due to the disc caddy design, they also never scratch. All the discs I had trouble with in my kenwood car md dont stall in this unit so I must have had a weak reading laser in that one. It was random too and would happen on almost any disc, it was such a good looking unit though (double height, bright display), I felt bad taking it out of the car. It resides in my home audio cabinet now, works acceptable most of the time. CD player in it is perfect. I have heard of one of these alpine md changer units displaying "error 4" somewhere on an internet forum, apart from that, all good.
 

Jazzyguy

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#6
Never any issues hey? That's great to hear! I think they would be more resistant to dust build up on the laser unit due to the disc caddy design, they also never scratch. All the discs I had trouble with in my kenwood car md dont stall in this unit so I must have had a weak reading laser in that one. It was random too and would happen on almost any disc, it was such a good looking unit though (double height, bright display), I felt bad taking it out of the car. It resides in my home audio cabinet now, works acceptable most of the time. CD player in it is perfect. I have heard of one of these alpine md changer units displaying "error 4" somewhere on an internet forum, apart from that, all good.
The strange thing about my MD changer is that it was in my Nissan 240 before it was in my Porsche Carrera which I bought in 2000 and it is still going strong. The car has 103,000 miles on it and it is still as strong as ever as well. It drives like a new car.
 
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