Alpine CDM-7835

Price Paid:  $39.00 from USA

Year / Model Reviewed:
 1994/CDE7820

Summary:
It is amazing about alpine that a 8-years-old car stereo can read cdr's burned at 16x.CD-player sounds great due to an advanced(even for nowadays)D/A converter. AM tuner works OK, but unfortunately to me it's a US-market product working on an european territory, so I cannot use the FM tuner, there are only "echoes" of the FM stations:) but when I was staying in the US it worked OK.

Strengths:
great sound, wonderful cd-drive, price, easy-to-install

Weaknesses:
none observed

Similar Products Used:
alpine cdm7835r, koss

Price Paid:  $280.00

Summary:
overall this has been a nice stereo. after hearing it matched with my boston accoustics most of my friends were so impressed that they went out and purchased one as close to mine as they could get. that was about two years ago. i'm one of the few on these boards that even cares if the am radio works or not as i enjoy listening to talk radio on long trips sometimes. when the am quit, i got pissed off and switched to jvc and have been very happy with it.

Strengths:
simple, easy to use controls, great sound, unique alpine look.

Weaknesses:
unreliable am tuner (mine died after 1 1/2 years). very few features compared to the competition

Similar Products Used:
kenwood (no complaints), sony (POS!!!), jvc (awsome so far)

Year / Model Reviewed:
 CDM-7835 installed in a Toyota

Summary:
Works very good, rarely skips, easy to use. It came with the car. My previous car had a Sony CDX-610 which was stolen from me =< When I bought the car I have now it came with the Alpine. I was thinking about replacing it with a Sony like I had before. People told me Sony really isnt all that good, that Alpine focuses more on bass enhancements and richer sound without distorion. My friend has a car which has a Sony just like the one I had, we compared it with the Alpine I now have, and the Alpine sounds great.

Strengths:
Rich sound without distortion
easy to use

Weaknesses:
None

Similar Products Used:
Sony CDX-610

Price Paid:  $300.00

Year / Model Reviewed:
 99/ CDM 7838R

Summary:
cruising over 80 on the greek highway with no sign "jump" misread or anothing similar, nice radio ,too for an alpine. best for its money but TOO HOT!

Strengths:
clarified sound, perfect suspension, deep bass, minimal outfit, +remote, 1xpreout,

Weaknesses:
overcooks cds, no cdtext

Similar Products Used:
pioneer 4300

Price Paid:  $225.00

Summary:
I have owned mine for about 1 year now, and I think there is definately something wrong with it. When I go on long trips, after the first hour the player will get really hot! I mean so hot that when touching the faceplate it can burn my fingers! My last trip, which was 10 hours long, was the worst. I actually thought the player had died! After 4 hours of driving I could smell burning plastic, that was the CD being cooked. This had happened before, and it doesn't seem to wreck the CDs, it just makes them smell bad... Then all of a sudden it stopped sending out sound! I had to drive for 6 more hours with no music!!! I only partially worked for the next couple days, the volume could only be up a little bit before it would die. Then all of a sudden it started working again and I have been using it for the last week with no problems... I am sure it will get hot as usual on long trips, but I am working on getting a new player anyways.

Overall I have liked my CD player, it works great when not going on long trips! Excellent sound, although I had to get an equalizer to tweak it exactly the way I wanted. This unit was definately worth the money I paid, even though my friends said to stay away from Alpine... I will buy another Alpine product in the near future as soon as I find one compatible with my new Pioneer DEQ-7600 equalizer. I just wish this unit hadn't gone bad. I will check on warranty info and see if I can get it fixed or replaced, if so I might keep it, otherwise it is going to my brother.

One last note, in the Minnesota winter it takes a minute for the display to get going... I suppose 10-20 degrees below can do that sort of thing...

Strengths:
Great sound quality, but needs an equalizer to get the best quality out of it.

Weaknesses:
Mine gets way too hot on long trips, and when it gets hot it skips on the smallest bumps in the road. The bass control is not fine enough, when changing the bass it changes too much. I had to get a seperate equalizer to get the sound quality I wanted.

Similar Products Used:
first CD player