Any quality headunits anymore??

aaharvel

yeah my alpine must be one of the older "nicer" (?) units. It has bbe not that media expander whatever the hell you call it.

I think my alphine sounds wonderful. I'll keep it forever. Even when i get that Audi i've always dreamed about- i'll be taking my hu with me.

MacLeod

I even like the Media Expander. I use it on level 2 (out of 3). It aint the fanciest thing in the world but it works for me.

For the money mine had very good features. It was the only one with 3 sets of 4 volt pre outs in its price point.

Best lookin' one too.

1996blackmax

I agree that there is nothing wrong with companies selling more volume, as long as they continue to provide quality products. I just believe that Alpine's focus has changed somewhat. They are no longer considered to be top dogs with their head units.

I am not anti Alpine, just stating what my experience has been with them. I have owned many Alpine products since the early 90's. I have never had any of their products quit or malfunction on me. I have an Alpine VCR that still works great, as well as the older Alpine monitors (work great as well). I also own an Alpine MRD-M501 amplifier and I am very happy with it. Great fetures and good sound. I also owned an MRV-T757 and I thought that it was also a nice amp. My sister's boyfriend is getting his system together. He asked me for recommendations. After hearing what he was after I recommended an Alpine CDA-9847 and an Alpine MRD-M301 amplifier (great price at Crutchfield). For the price I think that this is a nice unit. My problem is with their upper end HU's basically having the same guts as the lower stuff. You basically only gain more features not better sounding units. I believe the last unit to actually put some better internal part was the 7998. I actually spoke to a couple of guys over at Alpine over the phone regarding this unit and they told me that if I was to put it side by side against all of current units at the time I would be able to tell the difference. They were right. I had swapped out my 7894 with the 7998 a few times in my Maxima and left all settings the same. I only messed with the time alignment (this setting were also identical). The 7998 did sound nicer, just not as nice as my previous Alpine HU and processor. My only beef is that they are not keeping up with what is going on in the market, and I cannot justify throwing down hundreds of dollars for a head unit that is not going to sound as good as several other units on the market that are similar in price.


I am actually about to install an Alpine CDA-7998 in my sister's car along with some Polk 6 1/2" DB components in the front, Polk 6 1/2" coaxials in the back, along with some Kicker amps and sub. She bought the 7998 when it was $399 at Crutchfield and with he discount she paid $359. For that price I though it was a steal. She is not into car audio as much as me, and she loves the Fantom Face. No worries about a detachable face she says she will lose. I will keep an eye out for what they come out with next year. If they come around, I will come back to them for my next head unit.

Toxis

Originally posted by MacLeod the Tool
Take MTX for example. A Circuit City brand right? MTX amps are among the best built, most powerful and all around excellent amps on the market! Yet theyre considered simply a department store amp.

Best built... That's kinda like saying the Cavalier is one of the best built compact cars out there. That and the Neon. Sorry my friend, but they might be good built but their sound quality is really kinda booty. They also have no nuts to them anymore. Now back in the Blue Thunder days, they had nuts but still lacked on SQ. MTX is a sub company and they're really not even phenominal at that. They're a middle of the line company to me and that's it. This year, the only thing I even remotely like of all their products are the 7500 series subs. The rest are just not impressive IMO.

Originally posted by MacLeod the Tool
Now that Circuit City is carrying Kicker, does that mean that Kicker is no longer any good?

Kicker stopped being quality the second they came out with square subs. Period. That's when they said "Hey, who gives a **** about quality, let's make **** that hammers and sounds like two monkey's f***ing." Way to go guys, you have the second worst looking amps on the market, only to AudioBling.

1996blackmax

That is the thing if you are happy that is all that matters.

I was just upset that after I spent $800 dollars for my 7998 it was not in the same league as my Alpine setup from the late 90's. I expect that if I go after the top dog in the line it should sound like it. I tried to hang with it for 2 years but finally gave up on it.

1996blackmax

I still think that Kicker makes quality products. They are not the Kicker of old, but still good. Audiobling is known for not putting out what they state. This is not true for Kicker, their stuff still puts out more than the rated power.

I did sell my S12L7 for something that was more SQ oriented .

I am still running my Kicer ZR240 (supposed to put out 60 watts x2 at 4ohms but can throw out over 400 watts RMS) and ZX460 (30 watts x4 but can also dish out over 400 watts RMS) that I bought in 1997. Along with my old Kicker Resolution R6 components . Not their newer RS6's.

MacLeod

Originally posted by Toxis the ****
Best built... That's kinda like saying the Cavalier is one of the best built compact cars out there. That and the Neon. Sorry my friend, but they might be good built but their sound quality is really kinda booty. They also have no nuts to them anymore. Now back in the Blue Thunder days, they had nuts but still lacked on SQ. MTX is a sub company and they're really not even phenominal at that. They're a middle of the line company to me and that's it. This year, the only thing I even remotely like of all their products are the 7500 series subs. The rest are just not impressive IMO.
Kicker stopped being quality the second they came out with square subs. Period. That's when they said "Hey, who gives a **** about quality, let's make **** that hammers and sounds like two monkey's f***ing." Way to go guys, you have the second worst looking amps on the market, only to AudioBling.

MTX amps have no nuts? What the hell does that mean? They make nearly double their rated power cleanly. How much more "nuts" do you want?

Kicker square subs sound like monkeys f**king? Ive heard several of these and think they sound damn fine. Theyve always got stellar reviews in mags as well.

Ill give ya the homely amps.

Toxis

Originally posted by MacLeod
MTX amps have no nuts? What the hell does that mean? They make nearly double their rated power cleanly. How much more "nuts" do you want?

I've done a decent amount of systems using their amps and have taken them out for JL or even Alpine V12 amps and was by far more impressed. The Xtant 2.2 or 6.1 blow away damn near anything MTX makes and for not a whole lot more. They just don't seem to have any nuts behind them. Sure they might put out double power but in current, they just don't give me the impression they're pushing any. It's all watts. Yawn.

Originally posted by Monkey's f***ing-Leod
Kicker square subs sound like monkeys f**king? Ive heard several of these and think they sound damn fine. Theyve always got stellar reviews in mags as well.

Ill give ya the homely amps.

True, and how many mags rave about the Bose 321? Magazines can be bought off VERY easily. I even heard the IASCA champion from 2 years ago who had 4 of them in the back of an old impala (can't remember dude's name) but I sat there talking and listening with him and even had to tell him I was not impressed. He said it's something he hears a lot but doesn't hear it himself... nor do his sponsors.

Toxis

Originally posted by 1996blackmax
I am still running my Kicer ZR240 (supposed to put out 60 watts x2 at 4ohms but can throw out over 400 watts RMS) and ZX460 (30 watts x4 but can also dish out over 400 watts RMS) that I bought in 1997. Along with my old Kicker Resolution R6 components . Not their newer RS6's.

those are some bad **** amps and was always a fan of them. But they had some serious recall issues and we had a 35% return rate on them due to defects. But when they worked, dear god did they sound good and have some serious power.

aaharvel

back in 1998 i had a rockford 150watt mono sub amp hooked up to a 12" alphine. When the amp broke (it was my fault damnit!) i bought a 300 watt bridged 2ch. Kicker amp as a cheap replacement. I have to turn the volume ALL THE WAY UP and still don't get near the power that tiny Rockford gave me around with 50% power. Weird.

I haven't heard Rockford since- but if they have gone down in quality then that's disappointing. I still to this day have that Kicker amp - to its credit it still works. If I was half the aficionado for car audio like i am for home audio- i would upgrade- again from my past experience to a RF amp- but it's not important to me to justify the cost.

and btw- regarding alphine upper line H.U. sounding the same as the lower line- that's why i bought the second cheapest one- for $170 at circuit city. it has the same 50x4 amp that the $300- $500 alphine h.units have. I luvs it.

MacLeod

Originally posted by Toxis Loves Bose
I've done a decent amount of systems using their amps and have taken them out for JL or even Alpine V12 amps and was by far more impressed. The Xtant 2.2 or 6.1 blow away damn near anything MTX makes and for not a whole lot more. They just don't seem to have any nuts behind them. Sure they might put out double power but in current, they just don't give me the impression they're pushing any. It's all watts. Yawn.
True, and how many mags rave about the Bose 321? Magazines can be bought off VERY easily. I even heard the IASCA champion from 2 years ago who had 4 of them in the back of an old impala (can't remember dude's name) but I sat there talking and listening with him and even had to tell him I was not impressed. He said it's something he hears a lot but doesn't hear it himself... nor do his sponsors.

So they cleanly make nearly twice their rated power but they dont give you the impression theyre pushing much. Well obviously if theyre making twice their power then its your perceptions that are incorrect!

Im witcha tho on Xtant pretty much ruling. Theyre in the top .1% of amps as far as Im concerned.

I see your point on the Kickers. They arent SQ subs and arent up to the standards of a W7 but for an SPL sub they do sound very good. But I dont buy into the theory that these mags sell off good reviews. Ive read several bad opinions on stuff like MB Quart subs, Alphasonik amps, Cliff Design components, Alphasonik subs, Orion P subs and a host of others. This is these guys reputations here and if they give stellar reviews to a bunch of crap, they lose a their credibility.

1996blackmax

Originally posted by aaharvel
back in 1998 i had a rockford 150watt mono sub amp hooked up to a 12" alphine. When the amp broke (it was my fault damnit!) i bought a 300 watt bridged 2ch. Kicker amp as a cheap replacement. I have to turn the volume ALL THE WAY UP and still don't get near the power that tiny Rockford gave me around with 50% power. Weird.

I think that you probably went with their lower line of amps. I believe they were Kicker Impulse. Back then their top of the line amps the ZR,ZX, and XS amps were putting out a lot more power than advertised. They were the cheater amps, especially the XS models, pretty much like the Fosgates. None of their 2ch. amps from this line were a 300 watt amp or cheap, this is why I think it was a Kicker Impulse amp.

Also did you adjust your gains on the amp after installing it.