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My new Alpine CDE-9872 headunit broke after one month and a half of use but Crutchfield kindly gave me store credit for it. So I am seeking recommendations for a new one. My requirements are:

-1 DIN CD receiver
-Around $150
-Nothing too tacky or gaudy
-Preferably rear AUX input

Any thoughts or suggestions?

I have a simple Kenwood that's lasted ten years without a problem, the color even matches the OEM plastic trim and there's no stupid LCD light show, but I doubt they make it anymore.

It's funny......I've got an old Alpine 7827 that I bought back in 96 or so for the Legacy. It's now in my Impreza. I had to have the laser replaced in 2002 I think, but other than that, it's been a very good head unit.

For 150 bucks your pretty limited as your at the bottom scale of every manufacturers line. Some makes that I've always liked are sony, pioneer, and alpine. I cant recall ANY head unit ever going bad that I've owned.

What went bad on your deck? I had a shipment of (4) CDE-9872's that got damaged in shipment that made them not read cd's. That is the ONLY problem I've had with Alpines, and I've been selling and installing them for about 2 years. I've been dealing with Eclipse for about 6 years and I used to LOVE them, but Alpine is my new Fav. I just picked up the Kenwood line about 6 months ago as an entry level option and I'm really happy with those as well. They don't "feel" as nice as Alpines but have excellent features for the money and have yet to have one fail. Kenwood is quickly becoming my best seller, but that's mainly due to Alpines being on back order right now. Anyway, in my opinion, I'd say go for Alpines CDE-102. It is very similar to your 9872 but has a front USB in addition to Aux-In and Bluetooth option (add-on piece required for Blutooth). Don't let one bad experience with Alpine turn you away from them.

BTW, IMHO both Pioneer and Sony have gone downhill several years ago and have not re-gained my trust.

I hit a pot hole while listening to a CD and now will load CDs but just says "error" when I try to play one. I am looking very strongly at the CDE-102 and is probably the one I will go with.

I own an alpine 9886 and it's alright. Only reason I'm using an alpine head unit is because it is able to control the volume on my Alpine H701 processor. I can also use the single cable (ai-net?) to run all the audio to my processor from the head unit and not bother with RCA cables.

Before I had the 9886 I had a Pioneer Premier 880PRS head unit and I loved it. The alpine I don't really care for. The 880PRS has 3way adjustable crossovers, 16 band graphic EQ, parametric EQ and time alignment. The 9886 does not. You can use imprint but that costs more.

Other than that I just don't like the buttons on the Alpine deck but it has full speed ipod control which is better than the Pioneer had. The buttons though are cheap and after less than a year have already worn the text off the buttons. Lame. The head unit is too bright. You can adjust the brightness of the screen but the buttons you cannot adjust and they're too damn bright.

The pioneer had better buttons that felt like they'd last a long time. I liked the processing capabilities better and it looked better too. You could also turn the interal amp on or off and make the whole head unit go black when not in use.

I love the 880PRS and one day I'll probably buy another one for the subaru when I get it going. But I'll probably get the newer 800PRS instead.