ok, so it was basically between the 8445 and the 7889 for me. i love everything bout the 8445 EXCEPT the whole pause buttong thing. and i kinda like the alpine, but am skeptical cause its old and has 4V preouts and 1-bit DAC IIRC (dont quote me on that). so anyways, after class today i head down to court in willowgrove, pa to file for collection from a lawsuit i had with Best Buy (dont ask!). on the way up to my GFs i see an audio shop, Good Vibrations, that i wanted to stop at cause theyre the only place i know of that carries Eclipse decks. and i wanted to play with a 8445. so im playing with it, and i love it. and NO, it does not pause on ANY cds whatsoever. so im like WTF do i do? then the guy there is like, "why dont you just power it off?"
HOLY SHIT!!! how the f uck didnt i ever think of that? it works EXACTLY like pauseing (except the cd isnt spinning, lol). then i think back to all my past Pioneers where you gotta hold the source button for 3-5 seconds to power off. then to power on, it sometimes takes some time to load (depending on deck). well, i gave it a try on the 8445...it went on and off in a second. its perfect!
SO anyways, i was gonna get a used 1 from john here on the forums for $375, but the guy at good vibrations said hed get me this deck for $420 Brand New with full 3 year warranty. so sorry, john, i took that offer. And now my dilema is settled. Thanx for the help you guys!