Alpine CHM-S620 6-Disc CD Changer

I?m delighted to write a review of the product, which led me to discover this website. And today seems to be the right occasion?my one-year anniversary with Epinions. It was December 21st, 1999. I was browsing the Net for information on a car stereo system. I have no idea how I stumbled upon one of Epinions reviews of the product I was looking for at that time. As Kurt Vonnegut would say, ?So it goes??

One thing I definitely remember is that I ended up not buying the product I had in mind that day. One year ago I faced a continuous battle of choices. In-dash CD player vs. CD-changer. I was going back and forth, back and forth over and over again trying to finally make up my mind. I?m not going to go into advantages and disadvantages of each, but I?ll tell you that there are enough on both sides to drive one nuts. Well, perhaps some people have more difficult choices in life. I hope so.

To make the story short, after several months of pain and suffering I settled upon a CD-changer. And here, thank God, my choice was limited. Going through gazillion of different makes and models would have been torturous. I have a ?97 Honda Accord LX, and apparently Alpine manufactures head units for Hondas, though it?s not written anywhere. Naturally, Alpine products are the best compatible products for Hondas (and the name of the company reminds me of the Alps, but that?s not that important). Once I settled on Alpine I faced the choice of Alpine CD-changers. This choice is wide because Alpine specializes in car stereo systems and the company has a variety of products with different features and different prices. I settled upon Alpine CHM-S620 6-CD-changer, which I bought over the Internet from Digitalwavez.com for $235, which is much cheaper than most people who had reviewed this CD-changer paid for their own. With Honda adapter ($25) and shipping and handling ($15) + installation ($50)?the total cost was $320.

As of today there are 15 Epinions reviews (not including this one) written about Alpine CHM-S620 CD-changer. 100% recommendation. Twelve 5-stars and three 4-stars reviews. Now, in my book this is a pretty damn good opinion of the product. This review is no exception.

My Honda only came with a AM/FM stereo cassette player. And to be honest, while I absolutely love my car, the cassette player sound left much to be desired. (In fact, I had a better quality sound in my old ?86 Oldsmobile.) Here comes Alpine S620 to the rescue. What a difference. Now I can enjoy a much better cleaner sound and I love it.

Alpine CHM-S620 never skips. I admit I don?t drive 100 m/hr over potholes to test if it would handle the pressure, but I have driven on a highway and on New York City streets (which everyone who has ever been to New York knows are pretty bad) and I?ve never had a problem.

Operation is a piece of cake. It?s not even worth going into details here ?cause it?s so easy that putting it in words will only complicate things. One thing I need to mention is that this changer has a high speed disc change--it takes only a few seconds.

One final dilemma was where to install this CD-changer?the trunk or the glove compartment or somewhere else? The trunk is good because the changer is invisible and it doesn?t take away the space inside the car. However, if you want to change CDs you have to stop the car and get out?not the most convenient way and annoying at times, especially in wintertime. ?Somewhere else? is not a feasible option in Hondas, where space is limited compared to Lincoln Navigators. So, after a few days of pondering I decided to install the CD-changer in the glove compartment. It?s convenient to change CDs but the major drawback is the loss of about 80% of my glove compartment space. There had been several times when people sitting in the passenger seat opened the glove compartment hoping to free their hands from some miscellaneous stuff only to be disappointed to find the CD-changer mounted inside. Unfortunately there is no perfect place.

There is no perfect place, but there is a perfect (or at least almost perfect) CD-changer. Alpine CHM-S620. Check it out.