Alpine CDM-7861 Car CD Player

I bought this product Dec 2000 at A & B Sound in Calgary, and have had it now for a year and a half. I was looking for a mid-range deck with a reputable name. At the time I didn?t know much about car systems but I?d heard about Alpine since I was a kid. I also wanted my complete system to be of the same manufacture.
The Alpine CDM-7861 deck was shown to me by the sales guy as one of 5 or so in my price range. I decided on this product because of the separate sub controls / power and price. I wasn?t looking for a lot of the flashy extras.

It?s not very visually pleasing, but I?ve never seen a nice looking Alpine deck to begin with. I have found that trying to re-program it (after my car battery dies) is difficult without the instructions. There also seems to be a noticeable difference in base between volume level 8 & 9. The sound becomes ?hollow? at 9 and doesn?t re-establish itself until 15 or so. I find this problem is most noticeable on CD/Rs.