Alpine CDA-7878 owners / Feedback,Review Needed

[suleman36 10+ year member]

I managed to win one on ebay for $140 shipped and its in good condition. I havent installed it yet since im enjoying my Pioneer Premier P860MP. Maybe ill install it in a future car. Anyways i have heard great things about this model Alpine HU but wanted some feedback from the people on here who have actually used one. Seems to have many options to fine tune a system. Any feedback/reviews is appreciated. Thanks

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[suleman36 10+ year member]

anybody have any experience with this deck ?

 

[HiAmplidude 10+ year member]

I have one. Bought it new for $800 a couple years ago. 1 of only around 5 that had been shipped to dealers in the entire city of Albuquerque (600k pop).

There are some enthusiasts that would pay some very serious money for one, even not working. You TOTALLY lucked out that one of those people wasn't watching eBay during that auction or you would have surely been bid beyond your means.

That is my favorite audiophile true hi-end deck to date. It's replacement is the F#1 Satus @ ~$2500, to give you an idea of where that deck sits on the totem pole. There are a few things that make it particularly special beyond just its incredible DSP, Xover controls, sound quality, etc.: and that's it's single beam high-strength laser pickup and very high-end cd transport. Even skipping mp3's takes no longer than the time it takes to hit the button. Every other mp3 deck I've experienced has way too much delay when jumping tracks.

I am currently getting my cd transport fixed in mine. I've heard rumors that they fail expectedly. So, yours probably will too. But, it's such an incredible deck that when I get my repaired 7878 back from the Alpine repair shop, I'll be putting it back in and selling the expensive Eclipse 8445 that I put in, while waiting for the Alpine. With this repair I will now have well over $1000 into the 7878, and I still have no regrets. I actually feel quite lucky to have gotten one since they only made them for around half of 1 year, then pulled them from the market because of manufacturing costs and to aim for less high-end consumer-level (affordable) units.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Hope this helps.

-HiAmp

 

[suleman36 10+ year member]

Wow, i really appreciate you giving me all that info. I was looking it up and it had retailed for about $800 back in 2002 or so. I really did luck out afterall. I bid $127 for it plus shipping which came to $140. It looks to be in great shape but i havent installed it yet. I was thinking about installing my Premier 860 deck instead and put this in as a backup. Now im second guessing myself. Also you mentioned there is somthing that will eventually break down on this unit. Whats the best way to go in case of such a problem. Alpines website ? support icon and parts or email. Thanks Again for the great info and if you know anything else feel free to let me know

 

[HiAmplidude 10+ year member]

Yea, the CD mechanism may poop out on ya'.

My symptoms started out with the CD getting stuck on insert or eject. After a couple tries, it would complete just fine. Then, the display started showing "overtemp" in the text even when it was cool. Not sure how that was related to the transport, but it was. Then, eventually, even if I could get a CD to complete the load, it wouldn't play. And after that, I wasn't able to get a CD loaded or ejected no matter how many times I tried. This spanned about a week.

Yea, that rings a bell. I guess I did get it in 2002 when it first came out -- so it was longer than "a couple years ago". So the deck gave me several years of problem-free use. Not bad. I think it retailed for $850, but you could find it for $800 at most authorized dealers. They were a bit cheaper elsewhere on the Internet (eTronics) if you could find one in stock, which was absolutely impossible for me to find, after over a month of heavy searching for one. Eventually one of the local dealers called me back and said that they thought they were out of stock but moved some boxes in the back room and found one but the chief installer wanted it for his personal system and was out at lunch. I rushed over and snagged it.

For the repair, I called Alpine to find the nearest truly authorized Alpine repair shop. Unfortunately they don't have one in my city so I had to go with Downtown Radio in Denver CO. They've had it for months with parts on back-order. Doesn't surprise me because of how rare this deck is, but I'm excited to get it back.

I can't really think of much else, except maybe to warn you that the menu system is a bit complicated because of the vast number of things the deck can do. You'll get used to it though. It took me a while.

 

[suleman36 10+ year member]

Thanks for the quick reply. Yeah i didnt get the owners manual with this. Only the original box and remote and carrying case. I downloaded the PDF from alpines website. This one is in working order so it should be ok once i get it installed. I realize that it isnt gonna be easy to setup without a manual until i get familiar with it. I have owned one alpine in the past so hopefully ill get use to it. What did your system consist of and how did you have your 7878 setup as far as DSP and crossovers etc... What sounded best.

 

[HiAmplidude 10+ year member]

I've had that deck through 3 separate systems.

Generally, I don't use the DSP for more than just time-correction, but some times I'll turn on one of the bassEngine settings, depending on the material. I never use any of the virtual sound environments. It also depends on your system. My previous one I never used DSP or BassEngine, but my current one needs BE some times. As for xover, I was running front full, plus separate midbass, and separate sub. So the xover functions were being used fully - HP front, BP midbass, LP sub.

One of the sweetest things the deck can do is individual channel time-correction. Tinker with that for a while. You can really get the imaging tweaked nicely. With that, you can really get your sound as close to the best it can be.

The EQ can be helpful too, but it depends completely on the balance of the rest of your system whether you need EQ adjustments.

 

[suleman36 10+ year member]

Yeah i look forward to installing this deck in the near future. I also have my Premier 860 that i really like also so im not sure when ill have it installed.

 

[bikinpunk 10+ year member]

Yea, the CD mechanism may poop out on ya'.
My symptoms started out with the CD getting stuck on insert or eject. After a couple tries, it would complete just fine. Then, the display started showing "overtemp" in the text even when it was cool. Not sure how that was related to the transport, but it was. Then, eventually, even if I could get a CD to complete the load, it wouldn't play. And after that, I wasn't able to get a CD loaded or ejected no matter how many times I tried. This spanned about a week.

Back up....from the grave!

My 7878 is doing this too. I called Alpine and they said it could be fixed, but he couldn't give me an estimate over the phone. He said it wouldn't be more than $95 though.

Curious if anyone else has ran into this and if they got it fixed.

 

[HiAmplidude 10+ year member]

Mine did that a while back. Sent it to Alpine's authorized repair facility and they charged me $200 for the repair.

I haven't even taken it out of their shipping box after fixing up my 7878, so it's ready to go... and, for sale. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[bikinpunk 10+ year member]

Mine did that a while back. Sent it to Alpine's authorized repair facility and they charged me $200 for the repair.
I haven't even taken it out of their shipping box after fixing up my 7878, so it's ready to go... and, for sale. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

$200! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/eek.gif.771b7a90cf45cabdc554ff1121c21c4a.gif

If it's that much I just won't bother. I paid $15 for it (shipping). It worked fine for a week then messed up on me. It's a great deck, and I plan to get it fixed, but hopefully it won't be $200.

 

[HiAmplidude 10+ year member]

$200! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/eek.gif.771b7a90cf45cabdc554ff1121c21c4a.gif
If it's that much I just won't bother. I paid $15 for it (shipping). It worked fine for a week then messed up on me. It's a great deck, and I plan to get it fixed, but hopefully it won't be $200.

I originally paid $800 for my deck brand new (plus tax), then an additional $200 for the transport repair. It is still one of the best-sounding decks ever. You got a deal.

 

[bikinpunk 10+ year member]

You got a deal.

No ****. A guy on DIY said he'd send it to me for shipping.

I'm trying to decide if I want to get it fixed or sell it off. I've already bought a 9815 to replace it since the person who I was giving the 7878 to can't wait for the turnaround.