Honda Car Forum

Hello Group:

I have a stock 1996 Honda Accord stereo with CD changer controls. The
plug on the back of the head unit is the 8-pin round type. I'd like to
know if it's alright to connect an Alpine CD changer (M-Bus) with the
same 8-pin round connector directly into the factory Honda stereo? I've
heard that Alpine made the stock CD changers for Honda. I'm confused
because some people have said that I could connect directly to the Honda
stereo and others have said that I needed a protocol adapter. Upon
looking at the protocol adapter, it looks the same end to end using
8-pins in a round configuration. Only difference was one side was male
and the other female. So why use the adapter?
Has anyone directly plugged in an Alpine CD changer (M-bus, with 8-pin
round plug) into a factory Honda stereo (from '92-'98 Civic or '93-'97
Accord)? Or did you have to use an additional adapter for the Alpine CD
changer to work properly with your stock head unit?
Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

You can just plug it in, but you speakers will be out of phase. Honda had
alpine switch a couple of wires so that you'd need to buy the Honda changer.
The adapter cable switches them back.

You can usually pick up the Honda changer pretty cheap on ebay. I got bid
happy and won two different auctions, and the total was less than $100.

"D." <nospamplease@email.com> wrote in message
news:3FE28B59.8BC9E5AF@email.com...
> Hello Group:
>
> I have a stock 1996 Honda Accord stereo with CD changer controls. The
> plug on the back of the head unit is the 8-pin round type. I'd like to
> know if it's alright to connect an Alpine CD changer (M-Bus) with the
> same 8-pin round connector directly into the factory Honda stereo? I've
> heard that Alpine made the stock CD changers for Honda. I'm confused
> because some people have said that I could connect directly to the Honda
> stereo and others have said that I needed a protocol adapter. Upon
> looking at the protocol adapter, it looks the same end to end using
> 8-pins in a round configuration. Only difference was one side was male
> and the other female. So why use the adapter?
> Has anyone directly plugged in an Alpine CD changer (M-bus, with 8-pin
> round plug) into a factory Honda stereo (from '92-'98 Civic or '93-'97
> Accord)? Or did you have to use an additional adapter for the Alpine CD
> changer to work properly with your stock head unit?
> Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks.
>

D,

Believe it or not, the DIN jacks you're looking at ARE different. On the
Alpine one, the pins are all the same distance from the outer metal
shield. On the Honda (alpine) stereo, they get closer to the shield, as
you go closer to the index pin. So the adapter cable you've been hearing
about is necessary, not to change the protocol, but to make the long
alpine cable connect to the back of the HONDA stereo. I have the long
cable to sell, if you're in CAnada...

'Curly'

D. wrote:
> Hello Group:
>
> I have a stock 1996 Honda Accord stereo with CD changer controls. The
> plug on the back of the head unit is the 8-pin round type. I'd like to
> know if it's alright to connect an Alpine CD changer (M-Bus) with the
> same 8-pin round connector directly into the factory Honda stereo? I've
> heard that Alpine made the stock CD changers for Honda. I'm confused
> because some people have said that I could connect directly to the Honda
> stereo and others have said that I needed a protocol adapter. Upon
> looking at the protocol adapter, it looks the same end to end using
> 8-pins in a round configuration. Only difference was one side was male
> and the other female. So why use the adapter?
> Has anyone directly plugged in an Alpine CD changer (M-bus, with 8-pin
> round plug) into a factory Honda stereo (from '92-'98 Civic or '93-'97
> Accord)? Or did you have to use an additional adapter for the Alpine CD
> changer to work properly with your stock head unit?
> Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks.
>


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