erndogg67's Full Review: Alpine CDA-9805 Car CD/ MP3 Player
I will swear by this product. Plain and simple.
I have two vehicles at the present time, a 1985 Monte Carlo SS and a 1988 F150 (without extended cab). In both of these vehicles I have installed, completely on my own, aftermarket stereos and speakers. I have been a big fan of Pioneer for some time now, but this radio has turned that all around.
One of the first things I noticed as soon as I took the radio out of the box was the large heat sink mounted on the back of the radio and the fan right above the wire harness. I've never seen a heat sink and a fan on a radio before. This gave me chills because I could only imagine the power this radio must output to have a fan and heat sink on it.
On power up, the radio screams quality. I noticed first thing that the radio powered up faster than the Pioneer I have in my car and the display was sharper and easier to read. Even when you put a CD in, it feels like pure quality. It actually felt like the radio was so hungry for the music that it couldn't wait to grab the CD from me and blast the music back in my face, thats how solid it feels when you put a CD in.
The most impressive aspect of the radio has to be the subwoofer preamp output. Hook any amp into this preamp output paired with your favorite sub(s) and be ready to be blown away. I'm running a 300 watt Jensen from the radio to a Sony XS-L1046. This sub handles up to 900 watts peak...now you would think...a puny Jensen amp hooked up to that sub wouldn't do much. Well this radio made all the difference! I just turned up the subwoofer through the radio and that single 10" sub hits harder than most 12" and 15" subs I've heard! I was actually able to turn the gain down to halfway on my amp because the head unit was putting off so much power.
In my book, thats QUALITY. And for the price, you can't beat it. Since Alpine has come out with newer models based off this radio, the price has gone down considerably. Best part is, you can still find this radio almost anywhere.
If you're looking for a car radio that plays CD's and you're not interested in mp3 playback, this is your best choice!
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