I am in a unique situation where my sister is purchasing a used Alpine 9815. She likes the look of the unit but prefers my DEH-8650. We are looking to swap the two units over and I want to know what the 9815 is like, and if it is comparable to the Pioneer? I know the Alpine has a very powerful internal amplifier but I won't be using it, so please don't consider when working this out.



I run a fully active setup so the tuning features are most important to me. The Alpine has a parametric EQ but apart from that the units look like they have similar features. What are the crossover slopes like on the 9815? Are they as good as the Pioneer Unit?



And most importantly, how do they compare sonically? Is the alpine unit cleaner?



Any advice appreciated.



And what is going on with the gaps between the paragraphs? I press the 'enter' button once and get a gap that is very wide?

I don't know about the pioneer but i can vouch for the 9851. Had it a year and its been a great unit with fine sound. Can't really fault it at all. Drove a pair of eclipse coaxials very nicely.

Yea I think the 9815 is an older, higher spec model than the 9851, but that is good to hear!

Lol..my bad. Serves me right for posting after 17hrs on the go..

Never gone wrong with any Alpine HUs in my experience

9815 is an awesome tuning tool. it has teh same features as teh current bass engine pro models (9853R and 9855R were last years models)

pretty much fully adjustable slopes from basically 20-20khz you can also choose the slope of eahc crossover i.e. 6,12,18 and 24db slopes

there is a switch on the back or base of the unit switchig between front rear sub and hi mid low i.e. 2way active plus a sub.

another tuning tool is the 6channel digital time alignment.

also u can use alpine website to preload ur EQ crossover and time alignment onto a cd put in in the player and save it to the stereo.

i have one tho it is not yet installed, from playing with it just on a bench with a 10" sub and soem book shelf speakers i was happy with its tuning capabilities. u can also tunr off the internal amplifier thru the menu's so the hu stays cooler and doesnt use as much current.

Cheer's for the features overview it sounds like the go. I'll put it in and see how it perform's. Interesting about the amplifier section, I would like to turn that off so that is a plus.

Has anyone had a chance to listen to these unit's?

also as a side note u cna also buy the ipod adapter adn they work even on the older models liek the 9815 so u cna still controll and listen to it via the new alpine (about 150-200bux tho)

I've got an 8650 and my sister has an 9813 (sounds very similar to you!)

Personally, I find the 8650 better - easier to use, nicer display and I also find even though the EQ is not parametric on the Pioneer, it is just as effective if not better that the Alpine' para eq.

the the 9815 will also bet a couple of years older than the 8650......

i'd go the 9815.

this has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that i run one

- Stooge007 out

The pioneer for me is alot easier to use and less annoying when doing tuning.
something i have noticed is the ta on the pioneer for me appears to colour the sound when turned on.... not sure why....

yes, i think Pulse-R found too that his former pioneer HU was 'noisy' (hiss) when tuning features were activated, whereas not the case with his newer alpine. not the first time i've had this opinion given either.

in terms of SOUND (not feature) even 9815 can beat 9855 @$$ anytime...