alpine 9812RB or 9855R...?

[David _b]

Hey

New head-unit time and its down to the 2 above models both alpine

9855R

9812RB

the 9812RB is £70 cheaper but has more powerfull amp but looks a little cluttered compared to the 9855R

Anyone with these units want to advise and there pros/cons ?

Thanks

 

[rlm]

The 9812RB is the more powerful unit, however it needs to be connected to the car's battery to get the extra wattage, which is an obvious disadvantage depending on how happy/competant you are with doing (or paying someone to do) stuff like this.

 

[Bobbler]

I have the 9855R myself and its a quality headunit. The sound that comes out of it is outstanding really. Its very speedy at reading MP3 disks and starting playing (unlike my old Blaupukt DAB52), the glidetouch is a joy to use, too many functions to possibly use properly and the display I think is fantastic.
Some of those are also bad points. The massive amount of settings on various buttons and combinations of buttons is beyond belief. I am sure if you know what you are doing then they are good, but personally I dont know what half of them do TBH. I just cannot get the thing setup to sound quite right with my existing kit, always seems to be missing something from the sound. There's built in equalisers (2 different types), crossovers, gains, the obligitory bass/treble settings, sound "enhancements", time corrections, hundreds of colour choices for the lights, amplifier links, ipod links, auxilary links, cd changers, dvd changers, tv connections....you get the idea and coupled with the various crossovers and gains on my amps getting them all correct is a matter for a pro with some serious time on their hands IMHO
Its complicated in the hands of a novice or "powerful" in the hands of a pro I would say.

 

[MarkyMark]

Well i've got the 9812RB Had it in the scorpio originally and now in the civic. To be honest i've been really chuffed with it The sound quality is really really good (but its Alpine so thats expected) and although it does need to be connected directly to the battery for the full 60w output thats only needed if subs etc. are connected. I'm running it in the Civic just plugged in as normal and its absolutly fine. The head unit easily surpasses the quality of the speakers in both cars and so the base is turned down quite a bit. But basically its got loads of potential if you're into upgrading all ya speakers etc.

It reads MP3 and WMA files flawlessly so far too I have to say, my only complaint is that alpine spent the money on the sound quality and not on the display lol. Its only capeable of displaying one line at a time so finding a song in a folder with a hundred in can be a tad tedious sometimes. Saying that though the sound quality makes up for it all. Much happier with a better sounding headunit than a flashier one which sounds pap lol. Oh and one more thing, the blue lights are really bright as standard. They can be dimmed all the same using the settings built in but just something else that was a little niggle. Nothing major or anything though.

Dont know if this helped really or not. Hope it does lol Any mroe questions....feel free to ask.


EDIT: To Summarise

PRO's

- Very Good sound quality
- Its still working fine 2 years on
- lots of upgrading potential with regards to speakers and its output etc.
- A seemingly good price, though I got mine from a local store for like £240 2 years ago, so I bet you can get it cheaper than that. Admittidly I beat the guy down from £280 though.
- came with a remote control as standard (not a real pro) but its there anyway lol.

CON's

- One line display for track listings
- I've been so pleased with it that i'm dreading the day it dies So wish it wasnt so good lol. Used to look forward to upgrading head units.

 

[aztechnology]

Doh!

I came in here looking for stuff about a fibreglass Renault, I'll get me coat.