Alpine Audio Excellence
Written: Aug 28 '00 (Updated Aug 28 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Affordable, ease of use, non-skipping
Cons: Somewhat slow unloading of CD, but not really significant.
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| dmezzer's Full Review: Alpine CDM-7835 |
When I bought my present car slightly used, it came with a factory Cassette AM/FM Stereo in it. I immediately set out to replace this with a CD unit.
When shopping for a head unit alone it can be difficult to decide based on the way a unit sounds in the showroom as the speakers are probably different and the spacial specifications such as speaker placement and size of the area to be filled with sound are usually very different in the showroom than in your car.
Therefore I narrowed down my criteria to a system with decent amount of power, one that was easy to use and one that wouldn't skip on bumps etc.
For power I was content to have anywhere from 35 to 45 watts driving my six speakers. This is plenty for the space needed to be filled with sound on the typical automobile (unless you drive a greyhound). My need for a clear crisp sound was more important than a superpowered bass which would resound throughout the neighborhood, rattling storm doors and scaring babies (the home stereo does this just fine).
As for reliability in the form of solid playing of CDs and CDRs without skipping when hitting bumps etc, I pretty much had to go on reputation and take my chances. Alpine has a good reputation as a car audio manufacterer and I'd heard that their systems were reliable in this regard. I was proven right as the usual bumps near my house which always skipped the CDs in my last car with a factory CD changer didn't interfere with the Alpine at all and I don't even slow down over them anymore.
Lastly, ease of use was an important critera which was satisfied by the Alpine CDM line. The basic controls such as volume and CD advance are conveniently placed near the driver and are easy to operate while driving. The other control are completely intuitive and the manual was basically unnecessary in learning how to use all the the most obscure and rarely used features. The Alpine CDM series are all built to the same simple and esthetically pleasing design.
I found while shopping that many name brands try to sell you on all kinds of gimmicks that I find basically useless in a car stereo. Among them remote control, folding out control panel, removable face plate, unnecessary power.
The Alpine unit I bought did come with a removable face plate, which I have never used. Typically this feature might be fun to use once or twice to show your girlfriend how it works, but I can't in reality picture myself walking around with my car stereo face plate clipped neatly onto my belt next to my cell phone unless my desire was to have my image instantly catapulted into geekdom. A car which is worth having a decent stereo in is probably worth an alarm also.
A remote for a car audio system seems just about as useless to me. The last thing I want is my back seat passengers flipping the CD past my favorite tunes or turning down the volume so they can complain about my driving. I can possibly see how this feature may be useful if I were in the backseat myself in say a parking type situation, but the days when I used the car for such things are long passed and looking back even when I did, my interest in friggin' with the stereo controls while busy in the back seat were minimal to say the least.
Even the lower end Alpine units have adequate power (35 watts). The unit I puchased has unobstructed front loading which is much more convenient than pressing a button which flips open the entire faceplate so that you can access the CD changer inside. The unit wasn't extremely costly and the price difference was worth the confidence in reliabilty. Simple to use and esthetically pleasing, I'd recommend this system to anyone who wants a solid clear sounding unit without unnecessary frills at a decent price.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
dmezzer
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Member: Don Mezzer
Location: Northeast
Reviews written: 99
Trusted by: 69 members
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