ok i thought i might do a little review of my new head unit, Alpines 9887 (rrp $699). Any opinions are just that, opinions, if i have made any mistakes in regards to facts please let me know.

What lead me to this unit:
Basically i thought it was time for an upgrade as the 8454 (still a fantastic unit) was getting a bit long in the tooth. The contenders for the new head unit came down to the Alpine 9887 and the Eclipse 7100 for the reason that they are the only two brands of head unit that were what i was looking for in regards to features, quality, reputation and after sales service. Clarions HX-D2 and Pioneer's P80 didnt come into it as price and availability really didnt help their cause.

I was after something that could basically match the 8454 in terms of features. A good SQ head unit with all the features i could ever need - on board. Both the 9887 and 7100 were on the money here with crossovers, PEQ, Time alignment, etc. So then it came down to useability. Many people have criticized Eclipse units for their useability or lack there of, having owned 2 Eclipse units previously i still found the 7100 hard to navigate. I was able to play with both units on a demo board and the 7100 in a car too, but didnt like the knob with the buttons in the middle. This was a major factor that lead me to the 9887.




The Face
This is one sexy head unit. I guess you would call it gunmetal in colour with Alpines trade mark rotary knob and 6 coloured buttons on the left hand side of the unit. The right hand side of the unit is dominated by the Biolite screen. The appearance (display and lighting) can be adjusted to the users desire with 5 different back grounds and also 5 different lighting combinations.

As usual the face itself is detachable and you are provided with a protective case so you can carry the face with you without damaging it. Alpine have gone with a flip down face and an eject button found behind the face over the motorized face found on previous models which some people may think is cheap and nasty, but in reality uses less moving parts and that means that less can go wrong. All in all i really think Alpine have got this one right, in terms of looks and functionality.

The Menu

At first i found the menu setup to be a bit daunting, which going from one brand to another can only be expected. Having had a few weeks to get myself acquainted with the head unit i now find it very simple and logical to find what i am looking for quickly. Pushing the rotary volume knob gives you access to the most basic controls (Sub level, balance, fading and defeat on/off) which for making the simplests adjustments on the go could not be easier. Under the volume knob, next to the phone button you will find the the a.sel button for all you tuning needs (crossovers, time correction, parametric eq, etc). To adjust general things like appearance and time the function/setup button is what you are after, named for what it does.

All menus are logical, with different functions being put in sections that you would expect to find them.

The rear end

I found that everything that you need to wire the head unit up was as it should be, with the iPod and antenna jacks being on leads. something that tripped me up initially was the layout of the RCA pre outs. The logical order would be front, rear, sub however i remember it being a little mixed up. Im sure if you take your time and use the installation manual that is provided, this would not be an issue.

SQ Feautres

I must say that this is a great sounding unit. Being the cream of the crop it has all the fruit that you would expect with the top model. It has 3, 4 volt preouts (front, rear, sub) which isnt huge, but still handy. Via a switch underneath the head unit you can select 2way or 3way crossovers. You get 6 channels of time correction and 7 bands of graphic or 5 bands of parametric EQ. The 9887 also has a 24 bit Burr Brown D/A converter. What more could you ask for from such a reasonably priced head unit?

General Features

The 9887 comes with normal features such as a clock, detachable face and adjustable illumination, but for me the Full Speed iPod is a God send. Using the KCE-422i gives you the ability to access all musical aspects of your iPod. You can search through playlists, browse by artists or songs, or use the preset buttons for a percentage search. As i said earlier the lack of a motorised face may not be attractive for many people, however i find the flip down face and eject button just as easy to use. For those without an iPod you are able to play all your burnt or downloaded music because the 9887 is compatible with WMA, AAC and MP3.

You are also provided with a wireless remote and batteries.

The Verdict
I cant say enough about how much this unit has impressed me, both in terms of sound and features. Its easy to use, well laid out, looks good and gives you plenty of features to keep you busy for some time.

I dare say that it will be something else when the KTX-100EQ MultEQ Calibration Kit becomes available, sooner rather than later i hope.

Links:
Alpine 9887: http://www.alpine.com.au/products/product.asp?modelID=291
KTX-100EQ: http://www.alpine.com.au/products/product....#features_specs

Remember this is my review, based on my experiences with this head unit and some others. Some information such as model numbers, pictures and features were taken from the Alpine Australia Website (www.alpine.com.au). I know there are many other members with the 9887 and i encourage you to share your thoughts.

To my knowledge the CDA 9887 retails for $599 and the KTX-100EQ is set to retail for $299

Riley Schultz

im happy with mine

except the thing that craps me is that when you are playing a song on the ipod and press the button to browse your music collection , it goes back to the beginning ( the choice to browse by album/artist/podcast etc ) rather than continuing from where you were - ie the position of the current song.

$599 RRP on the HU Riley

my bad, thanks Alex

Dogo i know what you mean.....the search function can be a bit hard to use but i guess once you figure out its limitations its not too bad

just waiting on the KTX-100EQ (about a month away give or take im told) and ill do up a review on that too

I have one of these and I found it a bit lacking on graphical User Interface at first, I was hoping for 9835 type display, but seems alpine have cut back on flash and just concentrated on features that are actually related to pure sound. Im over it now and cant fault the unit at all.

I didnt like the lack of a motorized face at first either, but considering my last HU (7878) cost me $300.00 to get repaired when the motor crapped itself, I too think the new system is a better idea..

Great sounding unit, I'm in love with it!

did you notice that the build felt a bit plastic, flimsy and cheap?

ok so hopefully sometime early next week the MultiEQ button will start working for me

from what i hear the KTX-100EQ should be around quite soon.....got the run down on it today and it seems like its going to be pretty special as an add on to the 9887 and as a stand alone product

also due to the fact that the 9887 has on board memory some shops may offer to tune your system with a KTX-100EQ and you dont actually need the product (unless you want to make changes, loose settings, etc)

anyway ill wait until ive had a play with it to say too much more.....but i will say that alpine has some great products in the pipeline for next year

Adding to this post is my mini review on the Imprint software.

As with most guys/gals in the industry there's not many thing that get me really excited. To be quite honest every manufacturer promises to have the best 'thing' or the best 'thing' coming, so when alpine announced the release of the CDA9887 and imprint software to say i was sceptical is a fair statement. But having blue blood (Alpine Fondness) i had to try it. To Start off with i purchased a CDA9887 for the girlfriends car, replacing the CDA9833 it previously had, tuning everything manually was done as i normally do it. Sounded great, definetly better than the 9833. (the car currrently runs Boston SX60 splits running off a boston GT22 and SX55 boston rear coaxials running from the deck) Now the software, setup is easy as considering i don't even own a computer. Put the disc in the pc, press load software and it gets done. Next step is to take the detahable face off the headunit and make sure the accessories is switched on. next connect the radio plug to the h/u and supplied module, plug the module into the laptop (or PC) then plug the supplied mic to the module. Now you need to make sure ou follow the computers exact directions as to where to place the mic. To make life easy and the mic adjustable i mounted our micrphone on a camera tripod, easy to come by and easy to fiddle with. Now follow the steps the computer instructs. It'll take about 40 minutes to perform a 6 position check (enough to align everything for the drivers seat). once evrything has finished remove everything from the car and jump in for a listen.

Conclusion: Breath taking, it really works, the imaging and staging were terrific, the quality of sound had improved and overall listening pleasure had improved. Now do i think it is the best? not sure, i think a human ear and a h701 could still do a better job but would take much longer, but for $399rrp and a matter of 40mins i thimk the result is fantastic. Add to this i've been informed that with a few more components in the system, ie another amp and a sub the results will be better still. Now there are a few negaties but i'm not going to mention them as i beleieve this thread is about the positives.

I fitted my 9887 today, I had a 9856 previously, which I really liked.

The Commonwhore is my daily driver, so its a pretty simple, a set of 2-way 6.5 splits up front, a set of rears off the headunit and a 12" woofer and a 4 channel amp.

The 4v pre-outs is a great selling point for me, the 9856 unfortunately didn't have them. After removing the old loom from the car, and soldering and heatshrinking the new connections, I fired it up.. WOW!!, WOW! It was so clean and more dynamic. Where I previously had sub level at 8 or 9, on the new unit 2 was enough.

The unit feels very solid and of typical Alpine quality. The Biolight is fantastic and very visable.

I will play with Imprint tuning next weekend, but so far I think I have a new favourite headunit under $1K

9887 vs 9857 having owned both and using the same car and setup i can give you a quick run down of both units.

RRP was the same but the features you get with the new 9887 without even talking about the imprint technology. EQ, 3way x-over and 4volt pre out. Its been awhile since alpine has made a top of the range unit. Biolite is still offered and i think thats the most user friendly display on the market (9887, 9857, 9855, 9835, 7998 use same screen technology). Not since bass engine pro was out (9855,9835, 9815, 7998 units) has alpine had a good headunit on the market. Why did they scrap the bass engine pro then re-release again a few years later (under a different name).

9887 has a better tuner and better on board amp vs the 9857.

also the interface has improved however you still need to read the manual to find the settings you want, its not like the old 7998 headunit where you didnt need a users manual. 9855 is an easier unit to navigate too but i didnt like the glide touch. I wish that the unit used the 9855 menu system and motorised face with an outboard power supply and 8 volts rms output like hxd2 clarion ( which is still my all in one sq king)

some feature is the direct access to cd tracks. One press of the button and you can scroll though all the tracks on the cd and select the one you want. My god this is the best feature and its been missing on a lot of head units.

This is a big step forward for alpine. Its an all in one unit that does everything you should need.

Best band for buck headunit on the market right now. Its a steal @ RRP$599

NOTE ultimate SQ single DIN CD deck is still the clarion HX-D2.

Hey guys, bought the 9887 but it didn't come with imprint software....should it?

Nope, the imprint gear is a separate unit. I believe it retails at the ~$300 mark, though you may be able to get it a bit cheaper, or perhaps find someone (there was a guy in VIC offering to let people use it) or find a store (they will charge you for it, takes around an hour to do properly) to use it if you don't want to buy it yourself.

Guys, I'm thinking of upgrading from my CDA-7893R to the CDA-9887 as the 7893 is starting to play up (was in the top of my closet for the last 2 years).

I'm (going to be) running SR6500's BI-AMPed of a JBL P80.4. What do you think? I know the 24bit dac's are deff a good thing. Is it a good upgrade?

Will I even use the built in x-overs with my setup???

Things have changed alot since I was using the the 9887 unit. I recently removed it and added a Pioneer DEHP9850. This unit now kicks the Alpine's butt.

But at nearly twice the retail isn't it?

erm....

^^^

http://www.alpine.com.au/products/product.asp?modelID=365

RRP $599

just checked the alpine site....its $599

had mine for a lil while now, great on feauture, ok looks, one of the noisiest units iv ever used, my system is dead quite on induced noise, but the head unit is so damn noisy while changing tracks,


other forums have noted this too... if your looking for a great headunit for a average sq punter then this is cool,

if your a sq nerd, save and get a D2...

^

9887 = $599rrp ($699 prob a typo)
KTX-100EQ imprint tuning kit = $299rrp ($399 prob a typo)



the DEH-P9850 is $949rrp.

A$599.00 RRP taken from Alpine Australia. But don't be a sucker and pay retail, i got my unit for $470 in May of this year.

Do tell? Bouts to makes me a purchase...

If u live near Bundoora, theres a place next door to a centrecom on grimshaw st. Ive been offered a price of $450 including ipod adapter installed and imprint tuned.

Yeh i just spoke to them about this. He pretty much told me to get f***. Great service.

And that's a pretty common story .... there's no less than half a dozen thread on this website with reports of members being told where to go!

shocking service, but decent installs and good prices. I had my alarm in the valiant put in there, and bought my pioneer P80 from him. He looked at me like I was a martian when I asked if I really needed the cheap 1f capacitor he wanted to flog me, and wasnt really up for a good chat, but I knew he'd be like that before I went it, so....

caveat emptor

Don't know about that...it still looks a little plastic-fantastic for my liking, and based on specs on the website (as well as a quick read through the user manual) it doesn't seem to have active crossovers.

If that's the case, then that (combined with the visual design) to me immediately puts it out of the 'serious audiophile' category, and into the 'I just like flashing lights' category.

Just a little update on price, as of the 1/11/08 the RRP is now $699. Both the CDA-9887 and 9886 have both gone up $100 due to oour dollar falling

no tricks, i just shopped around. i went to my trusted audio store and just asked what the best price they could do for me was. they said $480. i had just had my birthday and got $400 in gift vouchers for JB's so i wanted to buy it from there to save being out of pocket, even if it meant i had to pay a bit more for it. i went in to my local JB's, said i could get it from alberts in cannington for $480 with i-pod cable included, can they beat it. they beat it by $10.

all you gotta do is shop around and ask everyone the absolute best price they can give you. also if they can write it down for you it always helps as you can use that as a bargaining chip. if stores see written quotes they will often try to beat the price.

go out and haggle your arse off!