Everything

none

IM running this with a kicker L715 its awsome alipine has best Headunits hands down i break windows on a weakly bases and iv only had it for a month wait till i break it in.

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Eclipse has great headunits

EXCELLENT

NONE

This is one of the best no the BEST head unit dollar for dollar you can buy bar nunn !!! It has all the toy's you will ever need !!

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Sony CDX MP70

EXCELLENT

NONE

This is one of the best no the BEST head unit dollar for dollar you can buy bar nunn !!! It has all the toy's you will ever need !!

Similar Products Used:

Sony CDX MP70

2 or 3-way active crossovers, mp3 wma capable, id3 text, time correction. This deck looks hot. Great sounding unit. I am going to list glidetouch as a strength, but I think it depends on the user whether or not they like it or not. It is all personal preference. Parametric or graphic equalizer is another great feature. There are many great features that this deck offers, check one out locally. You might get one cheap as they are now last years model.

Face glare in the sun, although the electronic tilt face does help a bit. Low pre-out voltage. There is a bit of a learning curve.

I've had this deck for about two months and I love it. People slamming on this deck likely got one of the early production models which did have some software issues which have been subsequently corrected. Any decks made before April 05 may have issues with cds getting stuck inside and glidetouch not working properly. The deck definitely has a sharp learning curve, but when you want the newest technology, you've got to be willing to learn how to use it. If you want a simpler, more user friendly head unit, they are definitely out there, but none with anywhere near as many features as this unit. As I said, it really isn't that hard to learn, but I guess if you are one of those people who can't operate a VCR, this may not be the deck for you, but if you are willing to take a few hours and learn your new equiptment, I promise you, you will not be sorry. Even if you don't want to learn all the functions this deck is capable of, there are also functions you can set and forget, such as the eq presets. Some people complain they don't like the glidetouch, but as I stated earlier, most of these people likely got an early unit with software issues. Not that it is okay for a new product to be sold with known issues, but, Alpine has fixed the issue. I have not had any issues with my unit at all, and I personally like the glidetouch feature alot, but will admit it took a week or so to get it down pat, since there are so many functions to learn with this head unit. This head unit is probably more geared toward someone who is into tweaking their equiptment, and who wants a ton of options to play with and get their system sounding just right. I love that it has built in crossovers, and is also capable of two-way or three-way, meaning you can use the front and rear pre-outs to run your highs, and the sub-out for the lows(2-way), or you can use the pre-outs to go highs, mid-range, and lows(3-way), done with a flip of a switch on the top of the deck. I could have dealt with 4volt pre-outs instead of the 2volt pre-outs the deck comes with, but I also think some people put way too much importance on this one feature. If you must have 4volt pre-outs, go with the next model in Alpines's line, the CDA-9855, which is between $50-100 more, depending on where you go,and only has the higher pre-outs and biolite display to justify the higher cost. Not worth the upgrade IMHO. I will say that I wish Alpine had included the biolite display in the CDA-9853, because there is a little glare in bright sunlight, but it isn't too bad. The sound from this deck is everything I have come to expect from Alpine, fantastic. Very crisp and clear. I don't know why Alpine's decks are all rated at 18rms when their competitors are all at least 22rms, but again, this is something that doesn't make too much of a difference,as most people who will buy this deck will be running external amps, but it would have been nice to have a bit more power in the internal amplifier. I think the time correction feature is great, and one that I could not live without now that I have had it. It makes you feel like you are in the midst of the musicians playing your music in your car for you. When I first made the decision to upgrade my deck, it had been a long time since I had last done so, and I didn't do any research before I purchased one, and ended up getting one that didn't have all the features I ended up deciding I needed after reading up on several audio forums after my purchase. I had first purchased the CDA-9851, the CDA-9853's little brother, and it lacked time correction, internal crossovers, glidetouch and bass engine pro, and was only $50 less. I think that between the CDA-9855, 9853 and the 9851, the CDA-9853 is the most cost effective for what you get for the money. I just wanted to write a favorable review for this deck, as I noticed that just a few of the reviews were rated ridiculously low and were not representative of the majority of the people who own one of these.

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Kenwood 228, 428, 528 Alpine CDA-9851, TDA-7547

iPod features, sound, appearance

The glide bar is difficult to navigate quickly.

I'm kind of in the middle on the touch bar. I agree that it's not complicated, per se, but if you have a large music collection it can take a long time to scroll through to what you want. Other than that, it's great (as Alpine always is)

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n/a

EQ, time correction (makes a big difference), 7 band graphic equalizer

none found yet

I really don't know what some of these people are talking about. I just bought the product today and the glidetouch bar isnt that hard to use. If you have probelms figuring it out your retarded. It is very easy and makes it easy to navigate through menus while driving. I will agree that if you are used to rotary's it will be a little different but I do not see the big problem with it, you just need to play around. The features of this head unit are amazing. You can do anything you want. The screen is nice but i wish you could change the backlight color like the 9855 model but whatever. Overall great buy

Time correction, cross overs, EQ, subwoofer options, AUX in, satelite ready

Controls are not intuitive. You'll need some time in the manual and possibly at the dealer. But that's barely a weakness considering all the options this unit has.

I am blown away by this head unit! It's the first Alpine I've owned. I spent a lot of time deciding what to buy and am glad I ended up selecting this unit. I had read many complaints about the glidetouch, so I spent some time at the dealer learning how to navigate it and learning the options. You know what? It's not as bad as the on-line posts seemed to indicate. You just need to spend some time with it and learn how to use it correctly. There are many setup options. The time correction puts the sound right to your ears. It's something you have to experience to understand. The crossover settings are convenient to have in the head unit. If you don't know anything about crossover settings, a good sales staff and/or install shop will help you set them and explain them to you. There are many factory equilizer presets, or you can create your own. There is a subwoofer level controller for independent subwoofer volume control. So many great options for fine tuning the sound! Like anything with this many options, if you do your homework and learn how to use it, you'll get the most you can out of it. I don't navigate an i-Pod through it, but I have a Creative Labs Zentouch (sound is better then i-Pod!) that I run through the aux input. Navigating ANY MP3 while you're driving is DANGEROUS, whether it's through the head unit or not. Bottom line, I'm glad I bought it. Try it out, though, before you buy. It just might have too much stuff that you don't want to deal with.

Controls are easy to reach. Menu hiearchy is easy to remember. Great illumination and display.

GLIDETOUCH, no AUX, no explanation of crossover in depth enough to educate the new-to-high-end-stereo people.

Wow! To run an iPod through the head of an Alpine deck! That was my first thought...after it was installed, I found the Glidetouch to be a HUGE pain to operate. First, the iPod will only operate THROUGH the head unit...and navigating these options while driving is suicide. If I pressed down to hard or hit a bump while I was "scrolling", I would have to start over at the root menu to do my iPod search again. Also, since this is a high performance deck, it has Crossover and EQ settings that you MUST be educated on to operate or you will damage your speakers. The user manual is VERY vague on the explanation of this and I have had to go elsewhere online to figure it out. You are able to go online and create these settings with Alpine's iPersonalize, but you still need to be educated on wattage, slope, frequencies and ranges of specific speakers to do all this. I have never felt more frustrated in my life. So I had to get an adapter (becasue Alpine doesn't believe in AUX) to run to an RCA to Miniplug jack so I could control the song selections using the iPod. Also, users should note that digital formats for music that are not high quality play with need of EQ settings to be adjusted...which (onthe Alpine CDA-9853) are VERY hard to do on the fly. Also, I have to take it back in in under my first two weeks because the tilt adjust on the faceplate is stuck. BE VERY AWARE OF THIS PRODUCT. Oh, did I mention that you have to get an iPod kit that is an extra 100.00? Did I REALLY forget to mention that? Don't worry, the sales team will let you know right after they ring you up.

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I have always used Alpine, now I am probably going to change to something else.

- Equalizer

- GlideTouch Bar (MAJOR, MAJOR)

I paid $380 CDN. I would not buy this deck if I were you, and that especially applies of you have had a previous model that is Alpine. They have changed the whole deck. It has a new GlideTouch bar that claims to be so great and it sucks! If you are used to using the Rotary Encoder then plain and simple don't buy the deck because they have put all the main functions in the GlideTouch bar and it's impossible to use. They don't even have the option of letting you use both you can only use the bar. I had a CDA-9811 (got stolen because it was good), and I just got this one put in and I think I am gonna go look on ebay for another CDA-9811. If everythin goes as planned I will leave my doors unlocked and hope this one gets stolen so I can get ANYTHING else. I warn you.....and if you buy it I hate to say I told you so! Good luck.

Similar Products Used:

Alpine CDA-9811