Alpine CDM-9803 Car CD Player

Pros: Easy installation, plays CDs nicely, great sound.
Cons: Hard to read function buttons, poor AM reception, overly complicated operation.

I had always heard good things about Alpine car stereo units, and had always wanted to own one. So when my OEM radio/CD player went on the blink, I purchased the Alpine CDM-9803 to replace it. I have been using the Alpine for a few months now, and now I ...

Pros: Sound quality, well built unit.
Cons: Some of the functions hard to get used to.

I had the factory tape deck/AM FM stereo in my GMC truck since the day that I bought it. Well it finally went belly up and I needed something else since I don't want to listen to road noise. I found the Alpine CDM 9803 on sale at a local all you want ...

Pros: see above.
Cons: see above.

Cons (without being too nitpicky): 1. You can't eject a CD with the ignition off. Kind of annoying when your keys aren't in hand. 2. The radio mutes briefly when ejecting a CD. 3. CD track number and elapsed time not displayed together - you have to ...

Pros: Built-in amplifier Clearly visible, simple display
Cons: Small buttons Only takes true CD's, no mp3's

This cd player is a good choice for the price and would get the job done very well. It will, by far, ...

Pros: Great sound, Rotary Knob,
Cons: Painted letters/numbers wear off easily, Only 12 FM presets.

Radio sounds great with aftermarket speakers. I bought this radio since I was looking for a black radio. Most radios now are silver or titanium in color. Also this radio goes down to 87.7FM since I can pick up the local CBS affiliate on that frequency.

Pros: Great sound on both the CD and FM side
Cons: Very Poor AM reception, also very poor tech support.

The AM reception was soo bad, I took it back because 80 percent of my radio time is listening to the am dial, regardless of the great sound from coming from CD's or the FM dial. I used to be able to pick one am station over 40 miles away, sometimes over 100 miles, now I get less than 5 miles away. I guess I figured too much assuming that a new radio today would out do my 5 yr old stock original radio.

Stay away and find a better radio even if that requires more money down.

Pros: Every thing mentioned above.
Cons: During daylight, hard to see display, but you should be watching the road, right?

I got this unit from ebay after talking with CC and playing with the features there.
1. Love the audio clarity
2. Display matched the green dash/gauge lights
3. Didn't require MP3 or XM radio (and didn't want to pay for something I wasn't going to use)
4. Rotor volume knob
5. Gradual increase from mute to pre-exist volume
6. BBE processor and the Bass Engine
7. 2 RCA outputs

Pros: Separate control for sub-woofer, rotary volume knob, great sound quality.
Cons: green buttons

I thought the controls were more difficult than a factory radio, but if I wanted a simple unit to play AM radio I would of bought a $50. Wal-Mart special. I thought the controls were fine with all the features this unit has. Pioneer with equal features are much more difficult. If you had a separate button for every feature you would need very small fingers.