What's with the lack of availability of the 9887 at local dealers?

[grampi 10+ year member]

So I do a dealer locator using my zip code on Alpine's site and I get a list of dealers. I called the first 9 places on the list (which happened to be dealers located within a 10 mile radius), and not a single one of them has the 9887 either installed on the "board," or in stock. I'd like to go get a look at this unit and play around with the menus, but no one has it. Is it because it's still a relatively new HU and it's just not available in large numbers yet, or is it so popular that Alpine is selling every one they make, or are the dealers anticipating a low demand for this unit and are just not stocking it? At any rate, it's frustrating not to be able to find one to play with.

Click to read more...

 

[ToyTundra 10+ year member]

i'm surprised the shop(s) won't order one or two when you show interest. My local shop ordered two cd7100's the day i asked about them. I was standing in the shop though, not calling. One was for the board, the other was for me if i liked it.

 

[grampi 10+ year member]

I'm just suprised no one seems to have this HU given the major hard-ons many in this site have for it, and also because Alpine is promoting it as its premier SQ HU. If it's really as good as many are saying it is, the dealers are hurting themselves by not having them available.

 

[jblayz1 10+ year member]

doesn't surprise me. Alpine tech support sucked this morning. The jerkwad basically told me that the Sirius tuner SIR-ALP1 is made by a third party and has quite a number of issues with it including the monster cable to connect to the HU. try and call them or where you got it from and have them exchange it. so basically i got a really crappy product with Alpine's name on it. wow, gee that feels great~! thanks for the help, ...guy.

 

[bjayjr5679 10+ year member]

I think it all goes back to when alpine went to bed with bestbuy and cut the local mom and pop spot out. My dealer here in columbus could only get the high end (pdx) stuff and none of the lower alpine stuff(v-power) for a long time and alot of the spots had the feeling like alpine had abandoned them to sell volume to bestbuy. Needless to say alot of my local dealers have abandoned alpine all together except for their lower head units and type s subs which best buy doesnt carry and the new stuff they will only order if you pay up front and they order it for you direct.

I really feel sorry for them because the mark-up on alot of their items is crazy. Like 500 for a pdx 2.150 and 600 for a 4.100 . It's sad.

 

[oneiztoomany 10+ year member]

yeah when i called tech support to say my 9887 wasn't charging my ipod they blamed it on the ipod...

how does that argument make sense if my computer can charge my ipod just fine? fortunately the shop that sold me the headunit is going to have alpine ship a brand new one to replace it at no cost.

 

[grampi 10+ year member]

I think it all goes back to when alpine went to bed with bestbuy and cut the local mom and pop spot out. My dealer here in columbus could only get the high end (pdx) stuff and none of the lower alpine stuff(v-power) for a long time and alot of the spots had the feeling like alpine had abandoned them to sell volume to bestbuy. Needless to say alot of my local dealers have abandoned alpine all together except for their lower head units and type s subs which best buy doesnt carry and the new stuff they will only order if you pay up front and they order it for you direct.
I really feel sorry for them because the mark-up on alot of their items is crazy. Like 500 for a pdx 2.150 and 600 for a 4.100 . It's sad.

FWIW, I called a couple of Bestbuys today and they both said they weren't allowed to carry the 9887. They said it had something to with the 9887 being being Alpine's flagship model.

 

[bjayjr5679 10+ year member]

FWIW, I called a couple of Bestbuys today and they both said they weren't allowed to carry the 9887. They said it had something to with the 9887 being being Alpine's flagship model.

I think that has a lot to do with the fact that they know that they dont fit the mass market and only the audiophile crowd would actually understand and utilize the main features same reason that PDX's and Type X's are not at the big box store Best Buy.

The CDA-9885 is a great reciever for the money and does everything the cda-9857 did but with the highpass crossover.

 

[oneiztoomany 10+ year member]

I think that has a lot to do with the fact that they know that they dont fit the mass market and only the audiophile crowd would actually understand and utilize the main features same reason that PDX's and Type X's are not at the big box store Best Buy.
The CDA-9885 is a great reciever for the money and does everything the cda-9857 did but with the highpass crossover.

still waiting for pics of your pilot bro! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[iceteebone 5,000+ posts]

I'm surprised Alpine even had that many dealers in Cheyenne. I didn't think car audio would be big out there.

 

[bjayjr5679 10+ year member]

still waiting for pics of your pilot bro! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

**** tonight will do because i am doing some swapping with my wifes 2006 civic. Sorry, my daughters teething and nights have been brutal. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif

 

[Rich B 5,000+ posts]

This is why I miss the Goodguys electronics chain.

They used to sell highend Alpine alongside of the massmarket stuff.

Made it easy to compare and decide if spending a lot more money was worth the difference.

 

[Macklessdaddy 10+ year member]

This is why I miss the Goodguys electronics chain.
They used to sell highend Alpine alongside of the massmarket stuff.

Made it easy to compare and decide if spending a lot more money was worth the difference.

yeah but goodguys prices were higher than giraffe ******

 

[grampi 10+ year member]

I'm surprised Alpine even had that many dealers in Cheyenne. I didn't think car audio would be big out there.

Oops. I'm not in Cheyenne anymore. I'm now in the Chicagoland area.

 

[grampi 10+ year member]

I think that has a lot to do with the fact that they know that they dont fit the mass market and only the audiophile crowd would actually understand and utilize the main features same reason that PDX's and Type X's are not at the big box store Best Buy.
The CDA-9885 is a great reciever for the money and does everything the cda-9857 did but with the highpass crossover.

Yeah, but the the 9885 won't do everything the 9887 will do.