I hate being the bearer of bad news, but I'm shopping for a new receiver myself and was considering that Sony CDX-MP70 also. I did a little research only to find out that it's preamp outs are set at 2 volts also, not 4. Just thought you guys would like to know. Here's the stat sheet

 

This place as the Clarion DXZ635MP for $188

it has 2 preouts, but the rear preout can be switched to a sub out, with sub volume control, only people not considering running amps for the main speakers would want this.

Decent headunit for the price, imo.

 

Any one have any experience with the Alpine CDA-9807, this is what Im considering, anything good or bad about Alpine???

 

Alpine in my eyes is maybe number 2. #1 would be Nakamichi. (not sure if they even make car stuff anymore) I think over the past few years, as Alpine has whored themselves out to Crutchfield, etc, that they have diminished the brand a bit. I still think the quality is top notch though. I've been buying Alpine equipment exclusively for about 15 years. Never a problem with any of it. Always sold it off when I wanted to upgrade or sold with the vehicle...

 

Chris, I have heard confliting reports about this also.
I have read on that site before where they say it is 2v, and that is not good.
You want at least 4v output.

Sony claims it is 4v or higher, but I will not get the deck until I hear if that is confirmed or not.
http://pub131.ezboard.com/bhighwaymp3

http://pub131.ezboard.com/fhighwaymp3frm59

And the direct link to the post
http://pub131.ezboard.com/fhighwaymp...opicID=3.topic

PS, just read through the old posts in the above article, and no one has confirmed the pre amp voltage yet.
However there is a newer deck out, the MP80 which does have 4v outputs.
http://sm.crutchfield.com/cgi-bin/S-...=0&cc=01&avf=N

 

JVC makes the best budget MP3 players. So, decide what you want to spend, and get whatever JVC mp3 costs that much. if you're talking more than 150$ as "budget" then you can start looking at Pioneer.

 

Do MP3 files recorded to a cd skip any less than a regular cd???

 

I've never skipped my mp3 discs in my alpine cda-7894