Wow! Change the way you drive!
Written: Jan 24 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great sound, easy to use.
Cons: Have to stop the car to change CD selection
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| NineNine's Full Review: Alpine CHM-S620 6-Disc CD Changer |
Wow! Once you try an in-car CD changer like the Alpine, you will never want to drive without one again! Any in-car CD changer is great. No more switching CD's in heavy traffic. No more fumbling for lost CD's on the floor and under the seat. Instead, just push a button on your stereo, and instead of changing a radio station, you can be changing your own CD's.
The only possible drawback to using a changer is that if the CD you want to listen to isn't one of the six you currently have in, you're stuck until you stop the car. More than likely, the CD changer is in the trunk, or under a seat, or somewhere else that's not convenient to get to while driving. And this is for the simple reason of size. There's no real place to put a CD changer in or near the drivers' cockpit, usually.
In-car CD changers come in two flavors: built straight through the stereo, or FM adapter. One that goes straight through your car's stereo that's already in your dash is the best. Not only is the sound better, but the controls are seamlessly (and invisibly to potential thieves!) integrated in with your standard radio/cassette deck/single disk CD player. However, these decks are usually more expensive than a standard, non-CD changer capable decks.
If money is an issue, then look at the FM version of the Alpine (or any other) car cd-changer. The FM version has a remote control that you use to control the CD-changer. It's obviously apart from the stereo, so you can do anything with it, including stick it to your steering wheel, if you'd like. And, the way this works is that it's wired into any standard stereo, and runs through an unused FM station. The sound quality is still going to be excellent, but still not quite as good as if you were to get a deck that goes with your changer.
The Alpine changer is excellent. It NEVER skips, no matter how rough the terrain is that you're driving on. That's due to a nice, fat buffer, so that if your CD does skip, you never know it. The CD changer simply plays the music in it's buffer, finds it's place on the CD again, and you NEVER know the difference! It's great.
The Alpine changer is also one of the fastest on the market. In just a few seconds after you press the button to change disks (about 3 seconds), the new CD is playing. This is faster than even doing it yourself! This kind of convenience is easy to get used to.
The Alpine has an easy to use CD cartridge (that holds the 6 CD's). There's a sliding door on it that keeps the dust and dirt out. Once you slide that door open, push an easy 'eject' button at the cartridge pops out. Put the CD's in the trays, pop it in, and close the door (only if you want to), and you're good to go.
The Alpine has all of the features of traditional home CD changers, including nice extras like shuffle and skip forward and back (within tracks). It goes without saying that the Alpine sounds EXCELLENT. It provides rich both highs and lows. The sound is always crisp and clean, even without any kind of amplifier (I don't use an amp).
All in all, the Alpine is an EXCELLENT in-car CD changer. Buying one will give you many years of trouble-free, music filled driving.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
NineNine
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Member: Frank
Location: Chapel Hill, NC
Reviews written: 30
Trusted by: 13 members
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