Alpine CDE-9843 Car CD / MP3 Player

This is a fairly long review but if you read it it is very informative and helpful...thank you.

Well I originally purchased this head unit from Best Buy a couple years ago for my 1994 Mazda Protege.

I was looking for a pretty high quality head unit for a reasonable price..money was an issue. I looked at some of the Pioneers but none of them in the $150 range couldn't even compare with this.

First thing I liked about this deck was the looks...I've always been a fan of the Alpine deck look...soo smooth and beautiful...everything is easy to find and access.

Lets talk about sound quality...any good deck will have decent sound quality if not driven into clipping...But this one will play loud and clear...I first had 5.25's all around in my Protege before I got subs and this deck powered them soo well...Loud and clear...I could turn it up to about 26-28 on the deck and it be loud as hell but still not clipping the decks internal amp...in this setup a highpass filter was not need as the speakers had crossovers in them.

**(UPDATE)**

-The deck is pretty durable and reliable. It only skips when I run over some pretty rough railroad tracks...but that is only because I have an SUV. 99 percent of the time this cd player will never skip a beat. One of the best things I like about his deck is that I plays MP3s. The controls are very easy to access. To change folders there are two buttons...up and down. Simple and effective. The overall controls are very user friendly. The volume knob is perfect size and does not offset the rest of the looks and is easy to change without looking. To change the bass and treble controls are very easy. There are two buttons below the volume knob labled "bass" and "treble". Press one of them and just turn the volume knob...I use it all the time while driving and keeping my eyes on the road. The FM reception on this unit is crystal clear. It does not "wonder" off the selected station like on other cheap units. It stays put. Searching for stations is very simple and it has 18 presets. Simple to set up. choose a station and hold a number 1-6.

Now I have this deck in my 98 Ford Explorer with Kenwood 6x8s in all four doors...I can only turn the deck up to about 16-18 before my speakers start to distorting...the deck is not clipping at all...it just has enough power to overdrive the speakers...but it is very loud and clear before the speakers start to distort...they could get louder if the head unit had a built in high pass filter...BUT IT DOESN'T...THIS IS THE ONLY DRAWBACK...BUT this deck does have a frequency center adjustment where you can adjust the band of bass or treble frequencies that are emphasized...I can tell the difference between the 60, 80, 100, and 120 Hz bass adjustments...Not a high pass but the next best thing...I have mine at 120 most of the time...sounds the best and does not distort as much at high volumes.

Now lets talk about the single rear preout on this deck...it is only a 2 volt preout and not a dedicated sub preout but you can still use it for a full range amplifier...but it gets the job done...thats what the gain on an amplifier is for...to match the voltage to the head unit...I will say that the preout on this deck has to be all the way up if you have a crappy amp. My first system consisted of two 10 inch Bazooka subs in a dual sealed box and a 150 watt rms Bazooka CS150.1. I had to turn the gain all the way up to get the amount of bass these subs could put out.

But now I have a Kenwood 9152D and the gain adjustment of this amp does not have to be turned up high at all...sub setting on my deck is at 5-6 normally and it is loud...I have a single JL Audio 15W4 in a custom designed ported enclosure...I can turn it up to 10-12 and be really loud when I want to...you know like when you wanna cruise and be heard.

All in all this deck is very high quality for the price...there are better head units but in this price range this deck reigns supreme...IMO

Just my 2 cents