Alpine Electronics was founded in 1967 in Tokyo, Japan as part of the Japanese Alps Electric Co, which jointed with Motorola for the new name in a new country. It currently sells navigation and audio systems for cars. Alpine, although currently not the leading company in the car audio industry, has produced many lines of successful car subwoofers, all under $300 (with the exception of a couple of lines). The looks of the subwoofers are of note. Customers have reported that Alpine subwoofers are made so both sides look fantastic. One has even rated the clean look as a weakness, as a simple installation “will not visually do it justice”.
One of the more popular lines in the Alpine company, the Type-R series is also the largest: it has seven subwoofers compared to the three or four the other lines have. The Type-R series is composed of 10-inch, 12-inch, and 15-inch woofers. Alpine has really packed a whole lot into those inches, because there’s power, yet it doesn’t hurt like other subwoofers that sacrifice sound quality for strength. The two 15 inch products in the Type-R line are the only ones priced over $300, but that’s not to say they aren’t worth it. The entire line is priced as it should be, because high quality 15-inch subwoofers are actually quite difficult to find; most tend to stick to 10 and 12 inches. An owner of an SWR-1242D subwoofer (12 inches, part of the Type-R series) said that sound could be heard from the car from 2 miles away. He parked his car in a gas station and even made the shelves shake. You can get the 10-inch Type-R series for $200, the 12-inch for $220, and the 15-inch for $400. Continue reading ‘Alpine Car Subwoofers – Quality and Affordability’ »