I have an iPod, and I'm sure other members have them too. The 2006 Alpine head units have full speed iPod control. It's absolutely amazing. It's so good that after installing it in my vehicle, my boss and 4 other co-workers bought the same head unit. Alpines beat out every other deck on the market as far as iPod Control, and for me, that means a lot. The deck doesnt require a hideaway unit, just an interface cable that plugs right into the back of the stereo. Since I am in the business I got a sweet deal to say the least. CDA-9857 MSRP $400........ paid $230 KCE-422i MSRP $30........... paid $20

When you say full speed, are you saying that from the head unit u can scroll through the ipod as fast the the on-ipod scroll wheel will scroll?

yep, its just as fast as if you were using your iPod by itself. Everything is controlled off the headunit, and the ipod sits in the glove box charging

You don't happen to know if the '06 Pioneer HUs have this feature, do you? I've been eyeing up the DEH-P4800. I can get it for $140 and it has three pre-outs, plus an AUX in.
Or, do you know if there is an '06 Alpine HU thats under $200 and has three pre-outs? The three pre-outs are my main concern. Thanks.

BTW, very nice looking head unit. I dig the black.

Well, that is good to know, although it makes me wish I had waited a bit to put a stereo in my Formula. I bought an Alpine, but not an '06, and using an iPod is a slight hassle.

But, with XM radio, I don't miss the iPod that much.

How do you scroll through the iPod menus with the new Alpine displays? What kind of interface?

Hopefully the build quality has improved over last year.

Alpine CDA-9956 is the lowest model with 3 preouts. They go forund $170 including shipping on ebay, plus the calbe, you'll be at $200, probably under.

I have Sirius radio, I love it. Had XM and got rid of them. You scroll thru the menu using the jog dial and the 3 buttons to the left of the dial.

Jim, it has improved 500%. These things are great!

PS, I like your ride... looks like we share the same taste

Let’s see if they can get a service manual right this year. I mean come on, you engineered the crap and you can’t get the IC pinouts right? Have a hard time counting to 14. I think the smoke from last years parts has caused brain damage to these tards. And why in the hell would you fill the schematic with parts that aren’t even IN THE UNIT. IF THERE NOT IN YOU UNIT, DON’T WAST MY TIME LOOKING AT THE CRAP. Maybe if you didn’t include all the crap that’s not even in the unit you could fit a schematic large enough to read on the pages. And it would be nice if they would connect the dots that should be connected, it is just drawling a line for Christ sake and they get that wrong. If they can’t get that right I can’t expect then to tell the difference between and OP-Amp and a PWM driver, 'Lets just label ever thing PWM driver, it easier that way.' Some times I can’t believe the things work at all, then I remember that it will not work they way it is in the shcematic, but they draw'd it wrong. Can you tell what I’m working on right now?
I just started seeing the new Pioneers, Alpine should be coming in soon.

They haven't been out nearly long enough to make that decision yet. I'm not talking about features... I'm talking about their ability to make something that doesn't break constantly.

Thanks for the compliment on the car.

... im still hanging on to my 04 9835, and 9831 Alpines, which were to me the last year for something above junk status and reliable...
although from the looks of it, they got rid of that crappy glide touch...

Alipne CDE-9852. Entry level unit.
Same CD Mechanism as last year, there is defiantly some room for improvement here, so that's a BIG negitive. Filter felt added to top of chassis, side vents only, not the back (seems the back is where it’s most needed). Solder mask doesn’t look as good. Less ELep coating on things, that’s nice. PCB lay out is vary similar, still ‘STAR’ based. New tuner, no time to really test things, but it’s much smaller (While not at all scientific years of experience tells me this is not an improvement). The faceplate holder assembly look like a small improvement. Other then those 5 min. observations, time will tell.

Just an update for those following along at home. New crow bar diode is a 5KP24a. Thing looks like the fatted calf waiting for the butcher. It's like 0.3" around, can take 5000W PPPC, that should help the people that can't get polarity right. Seen 10 or so come in with the latch for the faceplate out of place. It's just a little clip thats held in by little plastic tabs. Easy fix, but shouldn't happen to start with. Same power supply IC, good thing we have a lot of them in stock, can you geese why? Less ELip coting on the top of the PCB, more on the bottom (thanks for that, you tards). They are also using those POS pop-out rotary encodes, better get some more of then in stock.
Be back with more rant as I see more.

In all fairness I should add that they are using a different connector to the faceplate. This new style is one that doesn't tend to have as many problems with bad connection. So that's a good point.

Im in the market for a new Alpine HU. Can anyone tell me what models NOT to buy? My only source for info in the overpriced Cruthcfield catologs which dont even list all of Alpines HU'S and over course ebay. Im basically looking for something with the cool blue buttons and the silver and black face since it match my interior a lot more then the green lights. It must have 3 preamps. Currently I am not running the speakers directly off the unit. All my speakers will be run off amps. I have been eying a few: CDA 9851, CDA-7892(this has that V drive amp which Im not to trilled about), and a CDA-9833

The CDA9827 covers all those bases, too. A 2004 model but I've had no problems whatsoever with mine, so maybe you can find one still in stock somewhere. Or on eBay ...

should I try and find a deck that has 4V pre amp output voltage? Im going to be running to kicker amps off the deck. One amp will have 600 watts RMS at 2 ohms and the other will put out 85-100 at 4 ohm x2

Of the ones listed, the CDA-9833. Run from anything newer. But I still hate alpine stuff. QC on the new stuff seems to be non-existent.

DEH-P980BT... Say goodnight, Alpine...

should be arriving in stores within a week or so.

I've always hated Alpine for some reason... overpriced, and once I got a whiff of that damn glidetouch, that sealed the deal... I never EVER saw a glidetouch model actually WORK at a store... always broken...

oh yeah, and all the new Pioneer units do "full-speed" ipod control...

what I want to know, is can I browse by by FILE?

I WANT TO BROWSE BY FILE!!!! just like on a MP3 CD-R disc...

browsing for ANYTHING on an ipod is one hell of a task... I pretty much just leave it on random, for that very reason... it's awful...

I was hoping that with the new interfaces, the headunits could just access the files on the ipod and do whatever they want...

like when I hook up my ipod to my PC, and use WinAmp... I can browse however I feel like it...

it's a shame that the worst mp3 player became the most popular, and thus, most supported on the market...

Well, I've had Alpines in my cars for the past 20 years and have never had any problem with them. My current HU is a CDA7995 and it's features and performance have been terrific thus far. The new F1 system is outrageous and other than the new iPod interfaces (HD radio isn't available here yet) I don't see much reason to update, but that Pioneer unit sure is interesting!!

You still have a good one. Their problem is they got to third in US sales behind Kenwood (#2) and Pioneer (#1). They want the #2 spot and couldn't do it with out going into BBY. Their quality has suffered with the move to keep cost low enough for BBY to carry them. It's to bad too.

Seems to be a regular occurance with too many companies these days.

What do you guys think of the CDA-9856? I was temtped to buy it this afternoon at a local car audio shop but I wanted to do a little more looking around.