Alpine products are warranted solely by Sonic Electronix, Inc. under the same period and terms as the original Alpine warranty. Sonic Electronix is not an Authorized Alpine Dealer and Alpine requires all merchandise purchased by Sonic Electronix customers to be returned solely to Sonic Electronix. Alpine products are also covered by our Standard Return Policy for returns on exchanges or refunds within 30 days from the date of purchase.
Ok, first, I install car audio for a living and I am a audio fidelity enthusiast. When I build a system, I want to create a sound experience, not just music playing in a car...
When my old Pioneer DEH-P8600MP died, I knew it wasn't going to be easy to replace it. It was such a GREAT head unit... So i went for the Alpine CDA-117 'cause of Alpine reputation for crystal clear sound prossesing and the units general features (5 band parametric EQ, time correction and 4 volt outputs).
Pros: Awsome time correction! It works great! You can hear the sound move as you tune it, Alpine really got it right. Quick and easy to reach subwoofer adjustment ( let's face it, that's what you'll be doing the most...) and easy to use, althought quite slow, USB and I-pod browsing ( remember, I install car audio for a living and let me tell you, this is not the fastest USB/I-pod browser around...!)
Cons: No matter how hard you try, you will never set that EQ right! It is far from intuitive ( nothing graphic here, it's all in frequencie values, Q factor and numbers... No spectrum vue, just plain numbers...) and due to VERY agressive sound processor, you always end up with sibilance in the 5khz-10khz. It's always to bright! Never natural sounding! ( might be cool for someone that want a flashy sounding kit, but far from good for anyone who want a "sound quality" setup). At first I tought it was my speakers so I went trought 5 differents componant kit, all brand known for their smooth, natural sounding highs, but I was still frustrated by that agressivness in the tweeters ( a little like when there is too much amplification on the sound of an electric guitar that rings in the ear, but ALL THE F***ING TIME)
So After a year or so trying in vain to fine tune my Alpine I changed it and my god what a delivrance to have some natural smooth (but detailed) highs again! If you want a cool looking HU, go ahead, it looks awsome! But if your really into SQ, belive me, don't buy this, you'll regret this, there are some far better HU for far less $$!
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Review by
Devin C from Buies Creek, North Carolina
Overall
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I have this thing in my 94 Explorer... this thing is amazing, the features are AWESOME. The EQ, the expandability, I have the AUX cable going into my glove box for mp3 players and I have the USB in the middle console for iPods/flash drives.
GREAT buy, Sonic always gets it to you fast, check out my channel to see the headunit or my setup!
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Installed this unit in my 2009 F-150 with the FRST interface. I was not very pleased with the install instructions for the interface, but the Alpine was very easy to install and sounds great. I installed Polk Audio DB series door speakers as well as an MTX Thunderform with an MTX 10" subwoofer powered with an older model Alpine amp. It sounds great but the install was difficult with the FRST interface.
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I bought this to replace my Clarion CZ200 in my 2010 Accent hatchback and the only word I can say is WOW!. The Sound quality is so good, The FM tuner now works properly. It reads my CD with no skips, the USB is very fast and if you have an IPod, the controls are perfect. Highly recommends the Alpine CDA-117.
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