May I suggest looking at Kenwood's KDC-X991. The deck has 4 x 24 Bit DAC's each running each section of the soundwave, triple gold-plated 5V (80-Ohm) pre-outs, Digital time alignment (Front, Rear), complete Digital Audio Platform. The only trouble it's a few $$$ more than the Alpine. Specs are sweet 110 dB S/N, 0.008THD

 

That Kenwood seems like a pretty neat unit; the half-gig of internal memory is handy. Any idea if you can pull the music stored on it OFF of the deck onto a USB stick?

The Pioneer P880 is a really nice looking unit; saw one in person the other day.

I think I'm going to pick up a 9887 regardless; at $400 it seems like quite the bargain, and I've always been fond of Alpine head units...

 

I figured as much. I've been away from the car audio world for quite a few years, and I just wandered in to one of the local shops that I thought might carry Alpine. There really isn't much in the line of dealers in Victoria, there never has been. Their price is actually $449 installed, but they said $409 without install.

So, here's a question for the gang: Where do you guys (and gals?) prefer to buy gear? Does your shop sell to out-of-towners or do online sales or anything? I'm perfectly happy to support enthusiast-run business' as I am to support local business. I understand the money game as much as the next guy, but at the same time I'm not out to gouge people at my shop (performance automotive stuff; no audio save for personal projects) either - our margin is respectable and yet we managed to beat competitor pricing left right and center. I really appreciate the same notion in other industries as well.

Whoa, didn't mean to jump on a soap box and take it quite so far off-topic. *lol*

Cheers!
Mike

 

support Canadians and your local businesses.
Ask to see some of their work, and have a chat with the people, gives you an idea of the quality of work.

 

You can look at any of Kenwood's decks if you're looking for higher pre-out voltage and overall sound quality. The entire excelon line has 24-bit Burr brown DAC's starting at like $249. You also get better pre-outs, USB, 2 year factory warranty and simple iPod connection. go to Kenwood's site to get a better look at the line.

Snootworks: you cannot pull music off the internal memory, just overwrite as you add.

 

I Installed my new 9887 yesterday.
I got the Xovers and TA set up OK, I can play with the EQ, But I can't get simple Bass & Treble. It skips straight from sub level to balance/fader. Manual says it should be there.

How do i
I that back on? Or did i accidentally disable it?

Hopefully someone who has one can tell me what i did wrong.

Thanx,

Tom

 

P.S.
I bought it at Kawartha TV & Stereo in Peterborough. $350.
And the 550HD tuner is on order for 225.

How much does the Imprint unit go for?

 

Tom, I have the 9887 as well, and do not have the bass or treble. These features are only unlocked once you get your deck 'imprinted'. Many shops will do this service for a fee instead of paying upwards of $250 to buy the imprint unit Alpine KTX-100EQ, and then only use it once or twice.

What you get instead of bass or treble is actually superior to them. a seven band eq gives much better flexibility for tuning your sound although it's a little more complicated.

I keep meaning to phone a&bsound and see if they do imprints yet since every single person who's had it done on this forum raves about it!

cheers.

 

I currently have a 880prs installed. I am almost sold on the Alpine 9887 but am giving serious thought to the kenwood kdc-x991 as well as the nakamichi cd700II players. I am looking obviously for the best SQ. There are only two issues:

1. I use mp3 CD-RWs to play mp3 files in the unit, so has to be able to play them back
2. I use the auto TA and EQ function on the 880prs, which sounds really good in my setup with no rear fill. I was banking on using the imprint function on the alpine (should have an equal or better result...no?) but do not know how to get that result from the kenwood...is there auto TA and EQ built in the unit? is it better than the alpine or pioneer?

Thanks y'all