i use the alpine 9883 and love it. the only problem that some people have with it is that the pre-out voltage is only 2 volts. i use a maxxlink anyways so it is no problem for me. the new pioneer's ( the deh-6000 in perticular) are awesome. but, for the same price you can get a alpine with will always have more RMS power per channel. the crossover settings are better on the pioneers but the alpine's are easier to use for most people. i can go on and on about the differences between the 2. i would go and look and pioneer and alpine decks and decided which one you like better based on looks and then see if you like the features.