Fantastic sound quality. Never skips. Can be installed in a variety of configurations.

Changing CD's is much easier with Pioneer's cartridge.

This is the only changer that was compatible with my car's Bose head unit, but I was pleasantly surprised with the sound. Much better than the Bose radio (DUH!) So much so that I find it difficult to listen to the radio anymore. Excellent build quality for a $240 changer. The only complaint is the CD cartridge. It's kind of a pain to change out the CDs. The Pioneer cartridge is much easier, but it's a MINOR complaint.

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Pioneer

Never skips. Easy installation. Small size (fits almost anywhere). Can be mounted at multiple angles.

Sliding door comes aff track occasionally. Individual trays in magazine are difficult to handle when loading CD's.

I would definitley recommend this alternative for a factory system that already has CD-changer controls. An adapter can be found for most systems that allows control of the changer with the controls on the factory head unit! Much better alternative than RF modulator adapter.

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None

Sturdy construction, excellent performance, easy to load/unload.

None significant to mention

Has not skipped or given any problems with stock cd ready stereo. Mounted in trunck, loading of cd's is ok, can play with 1 to 6 cd's. Great Alpine product.

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N/A

Easy of use, excellent construction, performance.

Difficult to load CDs into cartridge, won't play if all 6 slots aren't loaded.

I purchased this changer off of Ebay for $200. It was able to connect directly to the factory deck in my Accord. Install in the trunk was a snap and running the cable up to the deck was even easier. The changer has yet to skip and performs flawlessly. If you want to keep your stock deck and add on a changer, I could not recommend a better one.

Absolutely NO SKIPPING!!! Great sound quality. Reads through most scratched discs without hesitation. Small and thus easily placed in the glovebox. Can be installed in multiple angles, facilitating wierd installations. Cartridge is small. Door opens easily.

Cartridge is a little hard to load cd's into: you have to take out these sleeves and put the cd in them and put them back into the cartridge. Pricey.

I bought from my friend used for 100 dollars. It is a great player. Incredibly reliable, works seemlessly with my Alpine head unit. Even on the hardest turns with multiple potholes, I have not gotten the changer to skip. I think it only skipped one time when my brother kicked the dashboard with his knee. The only negative is cd loading which is cumbersome with Alpine's cartridges. I definitely recommend this for people looking for a reliable, great sounding changer than can be placed almost anywhere due to its small size! NOT for people who want more than 6 or for people looking for a cheap one.

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none

sound quality and total absence of skips.

none.

First, for Jaguar owners, if your Jag is pre-1995 this one will plug right into the 8-pin DIN cable you'll find in the trunk. If you find this cable, install it your self (buy 4 15-cent screws from Home Depot) and do not let the dealers rip you off (you own a Jaguar, right?).
About price, Circuit City and Dow/Tweeter sell them for $249. You may find them from some web sites for as little as $200, but expect to wait a few weeks (prices are as of 2/2000).
Now about the real issues, features and perfomance, the former has a lot to do with your factory installed deck. So, you will be limited to the basic features of disk/track selections and fast forward/reverse. Your deck may offer couple more features, mine does not. It would not be fair to evaluate this changer based on its feature set. The latter is what this one should be evaluated based on. Let me just tell you that I went get a new paint job and a whole new set of speakers for my Jag just because I had added this CD changer. It simply never skips even though I usually have my car in "sport" mode and like to accelerate really fast. The sonic quality simply makes me stop using my expensive tapes. The bass extension (good dedicated mid/bass drivers do help) the crystal clear treble and the overall dynamics are all there. No matter what kind of music I play (clasical, jazz, vocal, heavy metal, pop/rock, soul and dynamic drum works) and how loud or how soft I play it, the sound is always smooth in case of soft musice, always dynamic and powerul in case of high energy music, and never fatiguing. And this is all accomplished with a factory installed deck. I don't think you can do ANY BETTER AT ALL without adding a solid multi-channel amp. Highly recommended!!! Go Alpine!!! Nothing but a solid 5 *****.

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Player is extremely well-built and solid. Never skipped yet. Its an Alpine.

Only holds 6-cds, limited features, limited to factory and Alpine decks

This is a great cd changer. I have a 98 Honda Civic, and this was one of the only few options I had if I wanted to keep my factory radio AND be able to use the controls on it to control the CHMS620. Best of all, its a direct connection, not FM modulated, so it sounds great. The player is really solid. I have had no problems with skipping, and I've gone through some major speed bumps with it playing. Best of all, its an Alpine, which supplies players to Acura, Honda, and other high-profile car manufacturers. So far, I have had NO problems, and my satisfaction with this changer is VERY high. Highly recommended.

Strong, durable, can handle bumps with ease. Oh yes, its an Alpine

This was the only CD changer that works with my car (96 Volvo 850, Alpine also makes the Volvo OEM version) and it works flawlessly. No skips whatsoever, none during hard braking, none during potholes, none during hard acceleration (yes Volvos do accelerate, I get to 60 in 7.1 secs :P ) Small size too. Great product, would highly recommend. High price tag (about 400), but then again it is an Alpine, and it is used in the world's most prestigious cars, Volvo and BMW. Box art is a little skimpy, but who cares about the box, this changer rocks!

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer, JVC, Sony