I got a 9885 a week ago and was installing today. It's going into a 86 Mercedes so I connected everything temporarily to make sure the wiring was correct. After setting it up and running it for about 10 minuets the rear heat sink was to hot to touch.

Normal? If not what might be causing this or do I need to return to BB?

Pretty normal, especially if you are using it's internal amp.

K Thanks. I guess I'm not going to need to duct some AC to keep it cool then

Same happens to my 9813, even if I shut off the internal amp.

I never checked my older alpine, but I know if I play it for a while it will warm up the CD nicely. I've never used the internal amp. On the other hand heat is not good, I'd cool it if possible or make more air flow/etc.

sqguy -- Thanks. After several calls to Alpine and checking speaker and ground connections they felt it was a internal amp short. But I guess I'll check turning the internal amp off first since that was one test I didn't do. If it's truly an internal amp short that should keep it cool(er).

It got so hot that, with no speakers connected, I burned my skin after 10 minutes. Alpine stated that it should be warm but not burn your skin.

Otherwise I'm going to return it for a replacement.

I don't think any of them should burn, except possibly in a very cramped install....still should be hot but not burn you. They pack so much stuff in there they all run hot, in particular the high power ones they now tell you to wire to battery alone. But sounds like yours is hotter than it should be. If you run it on bench in open air no way it should be that hot. The outputs it depends, some do not really turn it off all the way not sure on yours. Often it is a power supply that makes heat too, many you can just pop the bottom cover and look at the board to see the 12v go to PS, and also see the speaker leads go to the output (usually is a sink for each). If you can tell where the heat is originating from that is. Of course don't break a seal for warranty if it is new.

Yep definitely an amp issue. I turn the internal amp off and no heat. Got to return it. Sad because I paid $90 at BB for an open box. They were sell all the 9885's new for 119 since they where being discontinued. No more new ones so I took he open box. Now I'll have to start my search all over :-(