bpearsa's Full Review: Alpine CDA-9813 Car CD/ MP3 Player
AMPLIFIER AND SOUND:
I used to be running an Eclipse head unit in my BMW, powering 5 1/4" components in front and rear, but this Alpine takes the cake. The 60W x 4 amp is incredible. It's my experience that to get the most full sound out of a speaker, you have to have a very powerful amp running at nominal power, not just a wimpy amp cranked up louder. The speakers sound so much more full-bodied now. The midrange and lower frequencies are much more noticeable and the bass does not distort the speakers nearly as easily because of the higher quality amp (which is by the way MOSFET and has a cooling fan).
In trying to figure out the built in active crossovers, it looks like they only work if you are running external amps from the preouts. But, you can set the crossovers as a 2-way or a 3-way from a switch on the side of the unit which is hidden behind the dash. For example if you are running some 5 1/4" speakers, you could use the 2-way setup and use only the high pass filter. Or, if you had a 6 1/2" midbass, you could set it to 3-way and have a high and low pass filter on it.
The time delay feature is very nice as well, although not as great as I expected. I had thought that Alpine would have the exact time delay for your car already figured on their website, but instead it just gives you the formula and directions to calculate it. You have to go out to your car with a tape measure and do it yourself, but what concerns me is that my tweeters are right up by the sideview mirror, but the woofer is down by my feet. I don't know which one you are supposed to measure to though, so I just measured halfway between them. It sounds better than normal...I can tell it changes it because normally when you stick your head in the middle of the car, it sounds better, but with the time correction it sounds worse in the middle of the car.
The MX bass booster works well, it has 3 different levels. I usually leave it off though as it tends to distort the speakers easier. I only really use it when I have it on a low level and when listening to the radio.
THE WOW FEATURES:
The 3 angle tilting face is nice, although I don't use it that often because the CD player is already in a perfect position in my car.
The buttons feel pretty solid compared to others like Sony which wobble around and sound cheap when you press them.
I'm glad I opted for the 9813 as apposed to the model below (9811), because this one has an automatic dimmer when the headlights are on. It's still a little bright, but if you're on the interstate, you can turn the display lights off completely. I can't imagine how obnoxiously bright it would be without a dimming feature at all. The display does take advantage of every square millimeter of space though. I do wish that they would follow suit like other manufacturers now and have the option to change the display colors. With as many blues and greens on there, it sticks out like a sore thumb on my BMW with all amber lights.
FUMBLING THROUGH THE FEATURES:
Ergonomics of the faceplate are good, it takes a while to figure out how to get into all of the setting modes for the crossovers, equalizers, etc., etc. because this thing has so many features. The only thing I don't like is I wish the knob portruded. The front of the knob is metal, so you can't finger turn it on the front very easily. The sides are rubber, but the knob is so short that you can barely grab it by the sides.
Overall though, I love it and the sound quality is awesome, which is what I was really after.
Square ****16 PIN ALPINE WIRE HARNESS NEW **** THIS IS A 16 PIN WIRE HARNESS FOR ALPINE DECK. IT MEASURES 3/8 BY 7/8 COMES WITH WIRING COLOR CODE. GEN...More at eBay
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.