Well Iknow that recently Alpine changing decks every year liek pioneer!
But all of these newer Alpines i find lack the sound quality fo the old school decks!
the Old school ALpines that HAd Serious Sound quality inmind were:
CDA-7990 F1 ( Ultimate Alpine if you can afford it)
CDA-7969
CDA-7909
CDA- 7949
CDA- 7940
CDA-7941
CDA- 7998 and cda-7998R
CDA- 7995!
BEsides those models i dont think that any of the other alpines come close to sound quality!
After these i agree that the Eclipse decks are second for sound quality!
No "best of Alpine" list could be complete without mentioning the CDA-7897 model...de original Fantom-face...when closed, the deck looks like a stock plastic finisher! The ultimate!