Thread: Alpine Car Audio System advice

I am running a CDA-7995 and love it. The only draw back is that it doesn't have an internal amp. Outside of that it is awesome. It supports MP3/WMA and XM, and also has awesome sound control. I am running a MRV-F357 5 channel amp to my mids/highs and an 8" sub but it could easily run more subs. I have been nothing but happy with my alpine products, and I pick them up off of ebay for under $500. The amp was used but in great condition, and the headunit was brand new. I highly recommend any Alpine stuff. If you do a little research and take your time you can find some really good deals. Hope this helps.

Todd

Originally Posted by Sillydipstixs18

Okay,
So I've been to some of the car audio shops around town and nobody can seem to answer my question so once again i turn to mp3car for ideas and advice. I love alpine's Type R 12"s. I've had them in the past before and some of my friends as well. Since I want to use alpine for all of my componets (Subs, Amps, HU) I've been researching how they sound together. And I'm not asking for people to do it for me, just researching. What alpine HU, and Amps would work awesome together with the type r?

I want to use one 2channel amp for my two type Rs incase i want to add two more down the road which i probably will.

one Alpine amp, regarless of which one you get, won't power four Alpine Type R 12" subs. There simply won't be enough power. For a pair of Alpine Type R 12" (either 2ohm dvc or 4ohm dvc), an mrd-m1005 would work great. A properly built ported enclosure will also be needed. Pre-fab boxes won't do the subs any justice.

Alpine HU, most of them are the same with different minor features. I own a CDA-9833 (Click here) and it works great for me. What features were you wanting?

Alpine deck are hard to beat. I sold alpine for a few years and I can honestly tell you they have great quality product consistantly across their lines, but you know that already.

Like Nis mentioned, all the decks are pretty similar, only offering different features. Figure out if you need a deck with seperate front/rear/sub outputs, and if you need built-in crossovers. Other than that, it's pretty much all just frills and features, more lines on the display, etc. What sucks about alpine is you have to buy the aux-in cables seperately, and the ipod/sat radio interfaces and all the gimicks for the amps etc cost a ton of money, and half of it is profit for the store. Alpine has very well controlled distribution, so its difficult to get it cheap.

For speakers, type S is an excellent, great sounding factory replacement. tons of bang for your buck. Angled tweeters, rubber surround, aluminum cone. these things will last forever.

Type R's are wicked. Tons of hard hitting midbass, low distortion at high volumes, and sharp, accurate, very pronounced highs. They make everything sound like you have "loudness" turned on. Great for your average hiphop/dance and other such mainstream crap listener. Oh- and for sales guys, massive profit...

Type X's are completely different. They surprisingly sound alot like mbquart Q series. Extremely flat, but a nice smooth tweeter - unlike the Q's. The 3 way set sounds pretty close to perfect. But the 2 way's need to be used along with something extra for mid-bass response. You would need to couple them with an 8" driver along with your subs, as they don't provide much in the 100-500 hz region (much like the Q's, and other neo-magnet drivers). I would only sell these to audiophile types, because the more beat-influenced types would complain about them being 'boring' sounding. Type R's are much better suited to this crowd.

As for subs, the type R's are all I would recommed. They sound best in a ported box, with as much power as you can afford. That being said, for the money, I'd buy something else, such as Focal.

Alpine amps are great for features, sound good, but damnit they just dont make very much power. If you are making a full alpine system, then by all means use alpine amps. Just get the most power you can afford. your amps is where it really counts. No matter how loud you like it, a more powerful amp will almost always sound much better. a 200 watt amp running at 50% power will sound better than a 100 watt amp running at 100% power. Just like it feels "better" to cruise up a steep hill V8 at low rpms than a 4 cylinder revving like crazy. More power means more control over the driver movement, more capacitance for viceral impact, more damping, less distortion, etc.

You will never (seldom) 'blow' a speaker by overpowering it. If you manage to launch a cone off of a woofer across the room, then congrats you have done it. But 99.9995 of speaker failures are caused by underpowering. When you turn the volume all the way up on a typical crappy stock stereo, and the speakers make that farting sound, that is clipping caused by underpowering. When an amp clips it looses control of the driver, it can no longer restrain it from over-extension. Choose speakers that sound right for you, and buy the most powerful amp you have money for, regardless of power level. DO NOT think you will blow your 100 watt speakers with a 200 watt amp. You just might make them sound good! If you have a set budget, get entry level speakers and high end amps.

If you can afford F1 status gear, then you have reached success and I envy you. If I had the money to build the ultimate system, I would be using an F1 deck and processor over any other in the world. But I would be using Audison HV venti amps and Focal utopia's over the alpine gear.

Alpine, IMHO.