Vote: have the Alpine CDA-7878 (dream deck) fixed or do new model?

[HiAmplidude 10+ year member]

Alas, my faithful, somewhat old Alpine CDA-7878 deck decided to stop ejecting CD's correctly yesterday and got worse today. I'm looking at having an expensive repair done on the transport or buying a new deck. What's your vote.

For those who are un-familiar, the CDA-7878 was part of the first batch of XM-Ready + MP3 decks from Alpine, but it was the very last limited production high-strength single-beam laser CD pickup (they only made it for about a year - maybe half a year and the market couldn't handle the price tag ((I paid a little over $800)), so they pulled it). It also has built-in DSP and highly-customizable delays/alignments, EQ, X-over times 3, and lot's o' sound goodies for the high-end. But, there are none of the crazy displays and other non-audio stuff you see so much of these days -- it was/is pure SQ.

I've been toying, anyway, with the idea of getting a full-DIN deck with DVD, LCD, etc. from Alpine and possibly Eclipse.

But, I thought I'd propose the vote to sound enthusiasts. Should I just pay to have the 7878 fixed or use that moolah toward a nice new and current deck?

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[Slaugh 10+ year member]

it was a VERY expensive hu when it came out lol

my vote is that you ebay an used 7878 if you like it that much or get another one, but PLEASE, stay away from 05' ALpine line, it sucks