It really doesn't matter whethor or not the deck has power internal when you are using the preamp outs. You won't lose any SQ. The important thing is to get 4 volt or higher preamp outputs. I like the alpine units as they have been very reliable for me. I've had a couple of Eclipse units, and, while they sound good, I wouldn't buy another. I have had more reliability problems with them than any other decks I've had. The deck you are looking at has three sets of pre-outs, which makes expansion very easy and gives you more control over your system. It also comes with a remote, so that covers the rear controls
Dead Link Removed, although a good install shop should be able to fabricate a way to make it work (I'd personally get a second wireless remote, wire it into the factory rear controls, and mount the transmitter in a concealed locale where it could still hit the deck). As for the factory amps, the Mach systems have good amps. But, you won't be able to use the full range of the alpine deck with the factory amps. I'm personally very partial to running multiple amps, just for tweaking and cooling purposes. There are some very good multiple channel amps coming out now, though, for full system power. Just make sure to use heavy gauge wire if you go with an amp or two, as long a run as you will have use at least 4 gauge. You could probably get by with 8 gauge if you didn't need more than 40-50 amps, but better safe than sorry. As for the changer, it won't work with the alpine deck. And why worry about it? Get an Ai-Net changer and you will be much happier. I like the fact that I can name the discs and if I put in a different cartridge and don't remember what I had in it, I can just scroll through the disc names. And the Ai-Net stuff is very nice for connection. Digital connections are VERY nice. Depending on how many discs you want to use, go with either the CHA-1214 (12 disc) or the CHA-S624. You may be able to find a slightly older changer that is Ai-Net compatible, which would work just as well.
And speakers, well, we don't have that much space
Dead Link Removed.
Ok, on an off note, just got done with my brother-in-law's CRX tonight. It sounds gooood. He's now running 200RMS into each door (a set of Boston Acoustic 6.5 pro components)and 400 to a set of 8 ohm paralleled Rockford XLC 15s. We haven't used an RTA yet, but it is very accurate for such large cones. And the SPL is killer! He is finally beating my SHO's system, so it's time to install the next JL 12w6 and maybe another alpine MRV-1005.
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Danny
93SHO
91EB
www.hit.net/~danny/explorer.html