Alpine CDA-9805 Car CD / MP3 Player

I tend to be fairly skeptical and critical. I'd like to think I have high expectations. I deplore salespeople and believe about half of what they tell me. So I did a fair amount of research first. The Alpine 9805 has won me over completely. It's amazing. The sound is crystal clear and vibrant. It delivers the lowest of lows, I don't think you'll even need a sub-woofer. I hear sounds from my music that I haven't heard before.

I should say I replaced the stock cd player that came in my '03 Civic. I first replaced the speakers with a set of 6 3/4' Infinity Reference in the front and a set of the 6x9s in the back and used the stock system on them for about two months. The new speakers improved things about 25% I'd say. It was the new Alpine received that made the biggest improvement though.

I got a free install through Circuit City, but the customer service in two stores was very poor. My impression is that installers don't make the best customer service reps.

If you can put up with sub-par service, then that's the deal to beat.