alpine vs. pioneer

[ejschultz 10+ year member]

well, i know there's been a lot of threads related to this, but i figured i'd get some fresh opinions. i purchased a pioneer premier p800prs today to replace my alpine 9855. after reading a lot about both units, i've come to the conclusion that i've upgraded. i don't have the hu in my possession just yet, i ordered it through sixth ave on amazon for 344.44 new and shipped. i figured that's a hell of a price for it new. this is my first time straying away from an alpine hu. did i make the right decision?

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[Alpine4life89 10+ year member]

9887 is better. IMO anyways. Why did you go from alpine to pioneer, that is stupid.

 

[MBrock4u 10+ year member]

Hard to say, but one thing is clear. You have a very good deck on the way. I almost got that one myself. I'm sure you'll be happy with it.

 

[gearhound17 10+ year member]

I thought about that Pioneer too.

But, I've had my CDA-7863 for nine years wuthout much of a problem. Motorized face still works flawlessly. Although the contacts between the face and body are worn out.

I decided since I had the Alpine for so long I cant switch.

And the 9887 has such a large following.

It might have been the same way for me if I always had Pioneer. But its not.

YMMV.

 

[ejschultz 10+ year member]

9887 is better. IMO anyways. Why did you go from alpine to pioneer, that is stupid.

well, i've been reading a lot of stuff about the 9887, p800prs, and a kenwood excelon 993. i ended up getting a kenwood excelon 693 for my girl friend's car and i really don't like how it looks. it does have some nice features for the money. the 9887 is definitely one of the best on the market right now, however, the expensive imprint kit needs to be purchased to get the auto eq and time alignment and all of that good stuff. i am definitely a fan of the biolite display that it offers, but the display is slightly smaller than the 9855 that i currently am using. now the p800prs seemed to be the best option out there as far as overall value. read a little about the specs and see how much better it is than almost everything out there in its price range. it's 2 way and 3 way capable (i know, so is the 9887), it's got a dual left and right 16 band graphic eq, which in my opinion blows any 5 band parametric eq out of the water, copper plated chassis, and lastly, a mic that comes with it. there's nothing else to purchase to get the auto eq and time alignment. before you call my decision stupid, do some research. if you've got the knowledge to back it up, go ahead; i don't believe you do. i'm asking for honest educated opinions. thanks.

 

[lantz 10+ year member]

hey guys..new to this site! i think both pioneer and alpine make the best head units so if you have one or the other,you are doing good.i just bought the cda-9886,installed it for a week then sold it because i got a great deal on a pioneer z1. the alpine sounded alot better due to the 4v output but im still happy with no regrets.both are nice!

 

[ejschultz 10+ year member]

hey guys..new to this site! i think both pioneer and alpine make the best head units so if you have one or the other,you are doing good.i just bought the cda-9886,installed it for a week then sold it because i got a great deal on a pioneer z1. the alpine sounded alot better due to the 4v output but im still happy with no regrets.both are nice!

welcome and thanks for the input.

 

[nineball 10+ year member]

you really don't need the imprint kit for the 9887. the only thing it does for you is the auto tuning. i had the pxa and ktx setup before and i found the auto tuning to be terrible. i could do a much better job on my own. hell half the fun of buying a deck of this caliber is playing with the features and making it sound the way you want it to.

i think you would be happy with either the 800/880 or the 9887. be careful when connecting it though - pioneers are known for blowing pico fuses and requiring you to ground the rca connections.

 

[ejschultz 10+ year member]

and by the way, i've had a 7828, 9807, and a 9827. i'm currently using a 9853 in my jimmy and the 9855 in my caprice. i've also taken the time to go around to local shops and attempt to familiarize myself with other head units out there, some alpine, some not.

 

[ejschultz 10+ year member]

you really don't need the imprint kit for the 9887. the only thing it does for you is the auto tuning. i had the pxa and ktx setup before and i found the auto tuning to be terrible. i could do a much better job on my own. hell half the fun of buying a deck of this caliber is playing with the features and making it sound the way you want it to.
i think you would be happy with either the 800/880 or the 9887. be careful when connecting it though - pioneers are known for blowing pico fuses and requiring you to ground the rca connections.

yeah, i know it's a lot better to play with all of the settings to get the sound i'm looking for. that's generally what i do. in fact the dual 16 band eq is one of the main reasons i purchased this unit. i just figured it would be a stronger point that you don't have to purchase anything along with it to get the auto functions. and it's supposed to be pretty decent for the time alignment. that's something i'll definitely play with. i'm far too lazy to measure the distances to my speakers from my listening position and change the settings accordingly. i've hardly touched the time alignment on either my 9853 or my 9855. also, thanks for warning me about the pico fuse. i've done a substantial amount of reading about this and i've come to the conclusion that if i don't attempt to hot swap an amp, i shouldn't have any problems with it. if you know of any other precautions to take, other than safe driving to assure nothing will slide and come loose, let me know.

 

[TerryMorgan 10+ year member]

The 800PRS has a hell of a lot more features for the money, I have the older version of that deck and it's great. The 9855 had that ANNOYING touch panel thing on it too, you will love the 800PRS, frankly.

 

[eg9 10+ year member]

I just replaced my Alpine CDA-9884 with an older Pioneer deh-p6900 and love the Pioneer.

 

[SicAudio 5,000+ posts]

the new pioneers slaughter the alpines the last good alpine was the 981x series

and im an dealer for both so.......

 

[nineball 10+ year member]

the new pioneers slaughter the alpines the last good alpine was the 981x seriesand im an dealer for both so.......

you also said the 9887 was not worth $100 more than the 9886 and that the features offered were practically the same. we know what your opinion is worth.

 

[eharri3 10+ year member]

Not an expert on the old Alpines so I can't really comment on them. However I've had a 9883, a 9884, and a 9886. The main difference for the money between the 9883 and 9884 was IMPRINT capability. The main difference between the 9884 and 9886 other than 'fluff' seemed to be the voltage output. As far as I can tell pretty much everything in that line is substantially the same in terms of meaningful features (but with different price points) until you get to the 9887. It comes with time alignment, active mode, and 5/7 band EQ BUILT IN. Everything below it requires you to get IMPRINT in order to have that and more. I believe this new structuring of the product line is specifically done this way because Alpine doesn't just want to sell true audiophiles a head unit any more, they want IMPRINT kits flying off the shelves too. You can settle for the 'Best Buy' stuff or you can pony up another 100 or 150 bucks if you want more and another 1-200 bucks for the bluetooth module. They want to force you to pay for features on top of the head unit that other manufacturers are building in.

I too am now into Pioneers and Eclipses. You pay your money, you have the choice get your tuning features built into the head unit and you have the choice of deciding how a head unit with decent features sounds for you before you introduce a separate processor into the mix. With Alpine you get nothing more than over glorified bass and treble boosts (AKA bass engine and 2 band graphic EQ)

My pioneer premier DEH 980BT is 5 volts/channel, has Bluetooth built in, IPOD controls, time alignment built in, and 13 EQ with multiple savable pre-sets built in for the same price that I'd have to pay for a 9887. Alot of people here who talk about how much they love Alpine are dealing with stuff that isn't actually manufactured anymore, or just got hooked on the name because of how good it was back in the day. IMHO if you're really serious about this stuff and you're an SQ person there's nothing in their new line worth buying below the 9887 but quite a few things that aren't made anymore that are worth snapping up if you can find them.