A new situation has arrived...
After sifting thought all the HUs I could get at employee discount at my local electronics store I finally decided on the Pioneer DEH-P7700MP. That was until today. My girlfriend came home from work and said she knows someone that will sell me an Alpine at cost. Now I'm trying to find the difference between the Alpine and the Pioneer. Does anyone have any opinions on the two? I searched and read a couple posts here but they're just making me more confused.
I'm looking to spend around $300 Canadian. (The 7700MP retails for $358 installed.)
Anybody know anything comparable? Maybe with the 4V preamps?

 

I believe the Pioneer is a bit more expensive now just because it is a little newer, the Alpine is a way better unit to go with man..If your getting it for that good of a deal too, i think its a no brainer go for the alpine....

 

The price for the Pioneer I mentioned is the retail price right now.
Have you used both HUs or just the Alpine? What makes the Alpine so much better? I've been reading mostly reviews on both because the numbers don't mean much to me. I'm for SQ as opposed to volume but I don't know what half the numbers mean.
I want one with at least a 5 channel EQ, Sat. ready, 3 preamps, CD-R and RW and MP3 compatable, an input of some kind...

 

Teac I've owned three alpine decks now, and I've been nothing but thrilled with all of them. For the price range you're looking at I think the best deck for you would be the CDA-9851. It does everything you're looking for and more, plus it is just a nice clean looking deck. It doesn't have the animated menus or screen savers like the 7700 but what it does do is pack features and sound quality like clowns in a mini. There are two drawbacks to this deck though: 1. While it does have 3 preouts, they are only 2 volts (I have no clue why Alpine did this) and 2. To get the full effect out of this deck you need to have some idea of what you're doing when it comes to fine tuning. Alpine's are notoriously unforgiving in this regard.. they can sound competition quality or they can sound like your sister's 20 dollar walmart boombox depending on who is messing with the settings.

Something else you might want to consider is the next model up, the 9853. Before you do though, try it out. It has the slidetouch bar that you either love or hate. The upside is with all the other controls on the deck, the only time you really need to use it anyway is when you are adjusting the radio, which you should only do when not driving anyway. While this model still is plagued by the 2v preamps (why alpine, why?) it does have two awesome features, namely Bass engine pro, and Media Expander. The first will really give you rich low range if you have a sub attached, and the second will make a night and day difference when listening to Mp3's or radio. Other radios have this feature in lower priced models (Pioneer calls it BBE or BME I think) but IMO Alpine does it so much better then the rest.
What I did before I settled on my 9855 was spend about 3 hours at bestbuy trying out all the decks. Bring your own cd's (Audio and Mp3) and just kick tires like there was no tomorrow. I am probably one of the toughest shoppers around, but once I make up my mind on something I very rarely have regrets.

When it gets right down to it though, I really liked all three decks. I wound up buying the alpine simply because in the end we usually go with what we know. I did come very close to getting the Pio though, it's a solid choice and a full featured deck. I think you'll be happy with whichever one you wind up with.

 

Thanks for the input. I'm going to all sorts of electronics stores after work today.
How does the 9830 compair? I noticed its slightly cheaper than the 9853 and it does have the 4V preamps.

 

They'll sell your AN Alpine, or any Alpine? If they are just talking one, might help to get the model first.

I would also not say that Alpine is way better than Pioneer. They are both very good brands, and when equally compared, I cant see how Alpine is so much more superiour. Ive heard of way more problems with Alpine than I have Pioneer. Either way though, Im a fan of both. Ive had experience with both and went with Pioneer. However, Ive been considering the 9853 lately-untill I played with one. That GlideTouch is one of the worst/stupidest/rediculous things Ive ever seen/tried to use. Also-on such an expensive and higher end HU-the 2 volt pre outs are rediculous-like JonnyCash said.

Alpine seems to have a few more features to tweek your sound-and I believe their 105 DB s-n ratio is a little better than the Pioneers-but otherwise, like I said- I dont believe one brand is way better than the other in their HU department.

 

OK, so I'm back from playing with some HUs...Not sure it really helped

Bartak1,
Basically I can get whichever HU I want at cost. Alpine is the only decent make they have though.
I found that I actually like the touch screen better than Pioneers "**** that does everything". It's pretty difficult to move the touch screen in the wrong direction as opposed to the Pioneer with moving the **** up when you mean right (or vise versa)
I'm looking for SQ so having more features to tweek the sound is a very good thing for me however so is the 4V preamps and the only Alpine that has that is the rediculasly expensive 9855 and the 9830 which doesn't have all the fine tuning options that the 9855 does. Then again only the really high end (too high for my price tag) Pioneers have the 4V as well.
Which Pioneer do you have Bartak1?

 

I just have an older, cheaper DEH 4600-It did what I wanted and was in my price range when I got it-but its just been holding my system back for awhile due to lack of all the tuning features, lower voltage outputs, and a few other things.

Ive also been looking at the DEH P80MP, along with the Alpines.
But I aslo agree-the **** is a little tricky, but I think I could use that a lot better than the GlideTouch.

Maybe Ill wait till next years models and see if either one have anything better-and if Alpine gets rid of that GlideTouch.

How much can you get the Alpine 9855 for? Maybe it would be worth it just to splurge on a HU and get the 9855. It has everything you want-and you wouldnt have to worry about upgrading HUs for quite awhile. Plus, you wouldnt always be wondering "what if I woulda gotthe 9855" or saying "shoulda spent a lil more and got the 9855"

Sell a few things you have layin around for some extra money

 

Well the 9855 retails for about $500. Turns out that guy was full of crap and can't get anything at cost. I knew it was too good to be true . I can however still get it at employee discount from a different (possibly more reliable) source. I'll ask and see how much it is on discount.
I've actually printed out spec sheets on all the models im considering and going through it all with a fine tooth comb...I'm crazy like that.
So far the only difference I see between the 55 ad 53 is 4V preamps and a fancy screen vs the dotmatrix for 100 bucks.

 

I know that everyone here is either Alpine, or Pioneer. I really can't say much, I put an alpine 9815 in the wife's grand prix. For my truck, I wanted something different and not as much $$$ as an alpine, and have bad luck with pioneer.

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-RVQdHC7...133C9700&g=300

I do some research on crutchfield and look else where on the net to buy.