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Alpine CDE-9873

CD receiver with MP3/WMA/AAC playback

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Item# 500CDE9873 offer details

Item# 500CDE9873

Review Sumary

 
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Alpine

Our take on the Alpine CDE-9873

Alpine Authorized Online Dealer

Many car stereos can play MP3 files on disc, but sometimes that's still not enough. Alpine's CDE-9873 CD receiver plays MP3, WMA, and AAC formats on disc. In addition to this playback versatility, you get a strong built-in amplifier and a detachable face for security.

Add Alpine's optional "Full Speed" connection cable and you'll be able to use the stereo to control your iPod®. Alpine has invented a great way of finding the right song on your playlist quickly — the "percentage search" feature uses the radio preset buttons to jump over a designated percentage (0, 17, 33, 50, 67, or 83 percent) of your playlist.

The rotary volume knob makes it easy to adjust the volume, and you can tune the stereo's sound with the Bass Engine® sound controls. Two sets of preamp outputs ease the job of adding external amplifiers to your system. If you have a subwoofer, Bass Engine also lets you adjust the bass level directly from the stereo. An onboard high-pass filter blocks the low bass that your regular speakers can't handle.

Get more info on this product

Highlights:

  • General features:
  • CD receiver with built-in amplifier (16 watts RMS/45 peak x 4 channels)
  • plays CDs, CD-Rs, and CD-RW discs, including discs loaded with MP3, WMA, and AAC music files (except Digital Rights-protected files)
  • detachable face
  • Audio features:
  • Bass Engine (bass center frequency, width, and level, plus treble center frequency and level adjustments)
  • high-pass filter
  • Expandability:
  • full speed iPod controls (requires Alpine's interface cable, $29.99) with percentage search
  • two sets of preamp outputs (switchable to subwoofer mode with bass level control)
  • Other features and specs:
  • CEA-2006 compliant amplifier
  • seek tuning
  • clock
  • CD frequency response: 5-20,000 Hz
  • CD signal-to-noise ratio: 105 dB
  • FM sensitivity: 9.3 dBf
  • warranty: 1 year
  • Our 60-day money-back guarantee

Note: Sorry, Crutchfield cannot ship Alpine products to Guam or Puerto Rico.

 

Hands-on research from the Crutchfield Labs (what are the Labs?)

Features and Specs

Features and Specs
General
Chassis Size Code
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IEJ
CEA-2006 Compliant
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Yes
RMS Power Output
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16 watts
Peak Output
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45 watts
RMS Power Bandwidth
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20-20kHz
Preamp Outputs
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4-channel
Sub Preamp Outputs
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No
Switchable Rear Preamp Outputs
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Yes
Preamp Voltage
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2 volts
Display Color
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White
Key Button Color
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Blue/Red
EQ Bands
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None
Wireless Remote
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No
Steering Wheel Control Compatible
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---
Parts Warranty
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1 Year
Labor Warranty
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1 Year
Expandability
AUX Input
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No
USB Input
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No
Memory Card Slot
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No
Bluetooth Compatible
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No
Satellite Radio Ready
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No
HD Radio
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No
Navigation
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No
Changer Control
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No
iPod Compatibility
Full size
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Nano
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Touch
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Mini
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iPhone
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Tuner
FM Sensitivity
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9.3 dBf
European Tuning
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No
Seek/Scan
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Seek
Radio Data System
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No

Product Research

Product Research
What's in the box?

Download owner's manual

  • CD/MP3/WMA/AAC receiver
  • Wiring harness
  • Sleeve
  • Trim ring
  • Face
  • Hard plastic face case
  • 4 Countersunk ISO-DIN screws (M5 x 8mm)
  • Face fixing screw
  • 2 Radio removal tools
  • Owner's manual (English/French/Spanish)
  • Customer Care Registration card

Our Product Research Team

At Crutchfield, you'll get detailed, accurate information that's hard to find elsewhere. That's because we have our own in-house Product Research team — they open the box, verify contents, check the owner's manual, and record dimensions, features and specs. We stay on top of new products and technologies to help people make informed choices.

Features
External Device Controls
Clock Display Note

Features

CEA-2006 Compliant: The specifications given by Alpine for the built-in amplifier comply with the CEA-2006 mobile amplifier power testing and measurement standards from the Consumer Electronics Association. All manufacturers who comply with the standard can display the CEA-2006 logo on their product.

MP3/WMA/AAC Playback: This unit can play CD-ROM, CD-R, and CD-RW discs containing MP3, WMA, or AAC files formatted with ISO 9660 Level 1 or Level 2, using Joliet, Romeo, or other ISO 9660 compliant formats. Discs containing both standard CD audio and MP3/WMA/AAC data can be played; the unit may be set to play only the CD audio tracks or both types of tracks. ID3 tag v1 and v2, and WMA tag are supported; track title, artist name and album name data can be displayed. The following sampling rates and bit rates (constant and variable) are supported:

  • MP3:
    • Sampling rates: 48, 44.1, 32, 24, 22.05, 16, 12, 11.025, and 8 kHz
    • Bit rates: 8-320 kbps
  • WMA:
    • Sampling rates: 48, 44.1, and 32 kHz
    • Bit rates: 48-192 kbps
  • ACC:
    • Sampling rates: 48, 44.1, 32, 24, 22.05, 16, 12, 11.025, and 8 kHz
    • Bit rates: 16-320 kbps

Text/File/Folder/Playlist/Artist/etc Search: When you're playing a disc with CD Text, ID3 tags, WMA tags, or playing a connected iPod, you can easily search for a track, file, folder, playlist, album, artist, etc by its title. Once you have activated the search mode, you can use the volume control to quickly scan through the titles.

Sound: The Sound Setting functions provide control over your system, so you can tailor the sound to your personal tastes:

  • Bass Control:
    • Bass Center Frequency: 60Hz, 80Hz (default), 100Hz, or 200Hz
    • Bass Band Width: 1 (narrow) to 4 (wide)
    • Bass Level: -7 to +7 (+/-14dB in 2dB steps)
  • Treble Control:
    • Treble Center Frequency: 10kHz (default), 12.5kHz, 15kHz, or 17.5kHz
    • Treble Level: -7 to +7 (+/-14dB in 2dB steps)
  • High Pass Filter (HPF): speaker level outputs have a selectable crossover (HPF); off (default), 80Hz, 120Hz, or 160Hz
  • Loudness: on/off
  • Defeat On/Off: reset the unit to its factory default bass, treble, loudness, and HPF settings by turning on the Defeat function

Switchable Pre-out: The rear preamp output can be switched to a non-fading subwoofer preamp output with a variable level of 0 to +15. When the subwoofer is activated in the Setup menu, the pre-out is switched at the same time. When the subwoofer is deactivated, the pre-out is switched back to a rear channel output.

Interrupt Feature: When a device having the interrupt feature (such as a cellular telephone) is connected to the receiver, the audio signal will be automatically muted whenever the interrupt signal is received from that device. The supplied wiring harness contains a pink/black Interrupt lead that needs to be connected to the device's interrupt signal connection.

Dimmer: This unit is equipped with an illumination lead. When the unit's dimmer mode has been set to Auto and the illumination lead has been connected to your vehicle's headlight circuit, the button illumination will dim to a fixed, preset level whenever the headlights are turned on. If preferred, you may choose the Manual dimmer mode setting, so the button illumination is dim at all times.

Power IC Off: When an external amplifier is powering all the speakers in the system, you can turn the internal amp off, which will improve the sound quality.

Angle Mounting: Alpine recommends mounting the CDE-9873 no more that 35° above horizontal.

External Device Controls

iPod Full Speed: The CDE-9873 has an iPod Direct Connection mounted on a 4" pigtail on the rear panel. When used with the optional KCE-422i Alpine Full Speed Connection cable (item number 500KCE422i), your receiver can interface with Apple iPods with a dock connector, fourth generation and newer. You can quickly and easily search through all of the music contained on your iPod through Playlist, Artist, or Album searches. You can view Artist, Album, Song Information and Song Number right on the head unit's display.

Clock Display Note

Clock Operation: This unit allows you to choose "keyed" or "unit on" clock operation. When the clock has been given display priority and the unit is turned off, the clock will be displayed whenever the ignition key is in the "on" or "accessory" position. If the clock is not given display priority, the clock is not displayed when the unit is off.

 

Product Reviews

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Share this product

1-10 of 15 items >> Sort Results By: Date Reviewed | Rating | Helpfulness
 
4 out of 5

Great player, but beware of the display illumination

Written By Kemp in Houston, Houston, TX on Tuesday, September 25, 2007
 
The CDA-8973 performs up to what I expect from Alpine - it's really superb. Easy to use, easy as heck to install (which is a tribute to Ford engineers, not Alpine), and it sounds great. The volume knob is a huge advantage as it makes it easy to adjust without looking.

One drawback which is pretty major to some (including us) is the button illumination. I'm not sure what made Alpine change from green to red - it's one thing I didn't check on, and took for granted as Alpine has defaulted to green illumination for as long as I can remember. But red and blue? Not really cool if your dash has green lights. I might have considered another brand if I had known about this as it doesn't look great at night when the rest of the dash is green.
1 out of 2 people found this helpful
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5 out of 5

Great Sound, Great Looks & Easy To Use!

Written By Brent, Rapid City, SD on Sunday, August 12, 2007
 
After researching many receivers I chose the Alpine CDE-9873 because it had the essential features that I needed and it was a "clutter-free" deck to use. I put it in a 1998 New Beetle (the install kit provided by Crutchfield fit perfectly and it looks very "clean" in the dash....the red lights on the deck even match the rest of the lights on the dash of the VW!!) Many receivers today have so much "junk" on the front of them, you don't even know what will do what when you puch something! If you want great, clean sound and a receiver that's a breeze to use, and looks great too, this is the one. Thank You Crutchfield!
Was this review helpful?    Yes | No
 
4 out of 5

Very Good Stereo -

Written By Ethan, New York, NY on Thursday, August 09, 2007
 
Sounds great --

Display is a bit dim - unless there is a way to adjust it I don't know. At night it's perfect - in the sun you have to really adjust.

Ipod interface cable is great - I'm still clunky on the buttons, but it is nice.

If I did it again, I'd pay the extra $ for the next model with the better screen and bluetooth adapter.

Overall - Very Happy and a great step up from my stock Honda.

FYI - dash removal on the honda is a bit "precise" my wife did it for me because she has the patience in the family!

I have no real copmlaints and plenty of happy hours of listening to music!
1 out of 1 people found this helpful
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5 out of 5

Quick and Efficient

Written By ben, Maine on Sunday, July 22, 2007
 
This is my first purchase from Crutchfield so i was very dubious as to what to expect. I was very impressed at how easy it was to navigate the website. I found the stereo I wanted and it came with a free installation kit and free shipping. What further impressed me was that Crutchfield had the stereo at my house within two days of ordering. That was just Crutchfield service.
The actual stereo is awesome! It is easy to install even into an older vehicle. I wanted to stick to brands such as Alpine because I knew they have a reputation for good sound quality. I was not disappointed!!! The stereo comes ready with sub woofer integration and various components. This is definitely a great stereo if you are on a budget and want a good stereo for your money.
1 out of 2 people found this helpful
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5 out of 5

Crisp and Clean

Written By TK, New Baltimore, MI on Friday, June 08, 2007
 
Excellent replacement for OEM radio. The installation was smooth as silk with the package provided for a Focus. Reception is clear, controls are easy to use, set up is logical and the sound comes through crisp and clean.

I will definitely be back, and will strongly consider another of these radios for my next replacement.

Thanks Crutchfield!!
2 out of 2 people found this helpful
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5 out of 5

Hard to go wrong with Alpine

Written By brian, Sunbury, Ohio on Tuesday, June 05, 2007
 
I have always liked Alpine products and this is no exception. This is a nice, simple, straight forward H/U which is what I was looking for (tired of flip down faceplates). No remote but the dash really isn't that far of a reach. Decent power, ease of adjustability (buttons that you can actually push without pushing every button on the radio), and a detachable faceplate that is one of the easiest to take on and off that I have come across. Plus with Crutchfield's installation kit and instructions, intall is a snap! All in all, great product and great retailer!
5 out of 5 people found this helpful
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4 out of 5

Awesome receiver for iPod, but difficult to see in bright light

Written By Ryan, Urbana, IL on Monday, June 04, 2007
 
1)Crutchfield Review - Great experience. Fast shipping. Everything that I needed was included. I definitely recommend using them for car audio purchases.

2)Installation - This was my first time doing anything like this and it was more difficult than I had hoped. The wiring was pretty easy thanks to the instructions, crimping kit, and harness from Crutchfield. Figuring out how to pry off the different parts of the dash and trim without breaking, bending, or scratching them was the hard part. Now that Ive done it once, though, it will be much easier the next time. It was about a four hour operation in all.

3)Receiver review - I picked this receiver mainly for Alpines good reviews for the iPod connection with their KCE-422i adapter, and I was not disappointed. It sounds awesome. No comparison to the FM transmitter I had been using. Not only does it sound great but the controls are easy to use, too. To get the cable out from behind the dash, I drilled a hole in the pocket/storage space that is just under the stereo and pulled the iPod cable through. Now the iPod can just sit in the pocket while I use it.
Now the reason for the 4/5 (I would have give it a 4.5/5 if I could). The display is very hard to see during the day, for two reasons. First, the text is not very bright and gets washedout by the bright light. I dont know why Alpine made it so dim. Second, the angle that it is mounted in my 03 Civic is somewhat tilted up. It reflects a lot of glare from light coming in the windshield.
2 out of 2 people found this helpful
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4 out of 5

Definitely worth the money!

Written By Christian, Austin, TX on Monday, June 04, 2007
 
Trying to find a deck with front loading CD access (fold down faces are a pain) and not just an earphone jack in the rear to connect an ipod was becoming extremely tiresome. I really wanted a deck that read the iPod information through the deck and I was prepared to spend up to $300 for a deck with these features. Being an Alpine I knew the sound quality would be hard to beat but Id not had much experience with their interface. Turns out its a breeze and very well thought out. The Kenwood iPod cable definitely made iPod use quick and easy to search through. Having it remember where the song left off when you turn off the ignition is also a major plus. For the money (under $200 for the deck and the iPod cable) its a major bargain and contains most the features of more expensive decks. Im truly happy with it and after a lot of research Im surprised I could find what I needed so cheap. The only bad things Id say about it is its still a little bright when its dimmed at night (it lights up my 350Zs cabin), it would be nice if it continuously scrolled through artist/song title/album title during the whole song and it takes a little while to allow it to be turned on and off. But these are minor issues and its still a great valued deck with some sweet features.

If youve never brought anything from Crutchfield before like I hadnt I highly recommend them if youre planning on installing the equipment yourself. Having some experience from past vehicles I wanted to do my own work but was a little nervous with a brand new car. They sent 3 different types of dash kits (I was needing the double din kit for two components and they sent one) all free of charge.
2 out of 2 people found this helpful
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5 out of 5

Awesome Product

Written By Kerry, Lebanon, PA on Sunday, April 15, 2007
 
This was my first time putting in an aftermarket head unit and I didn't know how it would go. It went amazing, with all the gear Crutchfield sends (thanks a ton), it was a breeze. It slid right in. The illumination is awesome too and everything works great. Now all I need is some great speakers. Overall the unit looks great and fit perfectly in my 98 Honda Civic. Thanks again Crutchfield for sending all the helpful gear and instructions.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful
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4 out of 5

Best bang for the buck

Written By Jeremy, Atlanta, Ga on Friday, April 13, 2007
 
I installed this in my wife's 2005 xterra. It was very straightforward install. Only issue was that the bezel needed alot of trimming to make it fit. This is typical for any install that I have performed.

The ipod interface is nifty but the button layout wasn't the most efficient. I with the interface mimic the simplicity of the ipod. It would have been possible to make it easier but programers are ignorant of the simple way of doing things:)

I would buy this again though. It still is the best ipod interface on the market.

1 out of 2 people found this helpful
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1-10 of 15 items >>

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Accessories

Accessories we recommend

Professional Installation
Get more info about having your new receiver put in by a qualified professional in your area.
InstallCard: In-dash Stereo
Prepaid professional in-dash receiver installation
 
Installation Tools
Save money by doing the installation yourself. The right tools will help.
Skewdriver Pro SPK4042
Ratcheting straight and offset screwdriver set with 40 bits (Skewdriver Pro with ratchet handle, pictured)
$49.99
In Stock
 
 
Multi Wedge Trim Panel Tools
Set of six (flexible and rigid) tools — helps remove trim and door panels
$19.99
In Stock
 
 
S&G Tool Aid 87650
Door Trim and Panel Removal Tool
$9.99
In Stock
 
 
Spec Tools Stubby Driver
Ratcheting driver for tight installations
$19.99
In Stock
 
 
Metra Crimp Tool and Connectors
Package contains crimp tool and over 150 pieces
$19.99
Out of Stock
 
 
Scosche TK12V Car Stereo Tool Kit
The tools you need for a clean and professional car stereo installation
$19.99
In Stock
 
 
Posi-Products™ Car Stereo Connectors
16 connectors for installing a new car stereo
$6.49
In Stock
 
 
Metra Crimp Tool Set
Package contains light-duty crimp tool and 20 crimp caps
$9.99
In Stock
 
 
S&G Wire Cutter/Stripper Tool
Cuts and strips 12- to 22-gauge stranded wire
$24.99
In Stock
 
 
S&G Wire Cutter/Stripper Tool
Cuts and strips 12- to 22-gauge wire
$29.99
In Stock
 
 
Rockford Fosgate Receiver Installation Kit
Crimp caps, connectors, and assorted hardware (Model IEC HUK)
$0.99
In Stock
 
After $5.00 Price Break
 
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Extras

CD Care
Get rid of the skipping on your favorite discs with a CD cleaning kit.
Maxell CD-335
CD scratch repair kit
$9.99
In Stock
 
 
Test Discs
Whether it's for sound quality or for maximum boom, there's no way to perfect your system like a professional test disc.
Autosound 2000 CD Set
$69.95
In Stock
 
 
Autosound 2000 Disc Two
Image/Placement Test CD
$19.99
In Stock
 
 
Autosound 2000 Disc Four
Amplifier Optimizer Test CD
$9.99
In Stock
 
 
Autosound 2000 Disc Five
System Demonstration — Test CD
$9.99
In Stock
 
 
Autosound 2000 Disc One
Low Frequency Test CD (Disc One)
$19.99
In Stock
 
 
Autosound 2000 Disc Three
System/Environmental Test CD
$19.99
In Stock
 
 
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CD Cases
Keep your CDs off the floor and free from smudges with one of these handy cases.
Visor Storage 12-disc CD Holder
Keep your favorite discs within reach
$14.99
In Stock
 
 
 
Add selected to cart
 

For a more in-depth review and enhanced detailed information on the Alpine CDE-9873, please visit the Crutchfield website product page (/ISEO-rccbcspd/p_500CDE9873/Alpine-CDE-9873.html ).

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Alpine CDE-9873