I miss my old Alpine system. CDA-7949 and everything was the top of the line Alpine with 4 ZR 12”s, MRV-1507 for subs, MRV-F407 for components front/6x8s rear, the high end sound processor (with the mic and parametric EQ), CD changer then I changed to the CVA-1005 and the separate DVD unit. It was awesome. Only audio component that wasn't Alpine was the Epicenter and I loved that thing! I still have the receipts and Alpine catalogs complete with my bookmarks I had when planning it out. It was about $10,000 at the time and they only charged me like $800 for a week long install. They had 2 bays so basically I only paid that for taking all of their time and half of their space. As long as I didn't mind showing it off whenever I was nearby if they needed me to, it was a no-brainer there. The regional Alpine rep even met me and gave me some swag right when they were working on a Dodge Durango that didn't even have the equipment I had been able to have installed the moment it was released and combined quite well and since everything was the best they had, they were impressed. 😊🌎❤️🕺🏻🐶
I was born in the late 90's but I was able to witness the greatness that alpine used to put into their products my favorite amp is the MRP-M1K I have 2 and wouldn't sell them for ABY price but now you have to pay a arm and a leg for their products
I'll never forget when my brother had his '93 Honda Civic Hatchback. He had an Alpine 3555 4ch installed running 2 sets of Altec Lansing comps (M615/TW2 front and M514/TW2 rear). He was unable to install a subwoofer to accompany this setup, unfortunately, due to having everything stolen his first night in Salt Lake City visiting his fiancé at UofUtah. All I remember is how damn good those highs and mids sounded! He really didn't need a sub, but it would have made it a heck of a lot better, of course.
I had a 3527 for many years, it sounded amazing. It was under my passenger seat and it did run quite warm. It left a permanent indent in the carpet from the heat.
Love the classic blacked out styling. Alpine has always kept their style relatively subdued, but you knew this for the discerning customer that didn't want anything flashy. I would totally run these today if I could obtain enough of them for a fully active system.
Bought this amp brand new back around 1990. Had it in a few different cars powering anything from 4x10s to 6x9s. It sounded fantastic. Sold it to a friend in the mid 90s and wish I still had it. That era of Alpine was some of the best in terms of sound quality.
Iconic stuff from Alpine, I'll never forget seeing those green lights as a kid thinking it had to be the coolest thing in the whole damn world. Still drool over the 7909 to this day. Green and black on electronics will forever seen high end to me
I miss old Alpine. I had a 3522s and it was a terrific piece. I remember winning a CDA-7939 from Alpine, and then winning a CDA-7949 from them a year later. Such a great head unit. Ran Boston Acoustic Pro 6.4 components in custom kick panels, with 2 JL 10w6 powered by a bridged MRV-F400 for the fronts and TWO MRV-T500's for the subs (one sub per). Eventually swapped the subs for Rockford Punch DVC10s, and the amps for a chrome Precision Power PC4100. That system not only sounded great, but would knock the dust off if i wanted. I miss it.
I have 2 of the 3522s amps. I had one running a pair of 4" pioneer components up front and the other one ran a pair of boston acoustics 6.5s in the rear of my 1986 Honda Prelude Si. Alpine headunit and coustic crossover. Sounded awesome. Bought a pair of old school pioneer ts-w251c 10s and a Kicker zr120 off my friend for bass. Wasn't an spl setup but man I was complimented on how clean it sounded numerous times. Wish I still had the car, I'd put it all back in there lol.
It would be an awesome addition to your Channel if you could Implement a sound quality microphone and audio analyzing program to compare the output characteristics of these different amplifiers it's really hard to tell on a RU-vid video.
I had the 4-channel model 3545 around 1990 in my first car. This amp was awesome. Later in my next car i had a amp from the V12 Series. Think it was a 1507 and a smaller one.
Pretty cool baby amp shootout. I always said that they wanted to be real amps when they grew up, but never got the chance. I've had a few of this era Alpine throughout the years and have never been disappointed.
I had 2 of these in my 91’ Nissan Maxima on (1) Kicker 15” sub and Alpine mids & highs. Such a great sounding system and these amps lasted forever!#Alpine🔊❤️
Ran one of these w/ the golden screw terminals on a computer PSU into a homemade boombox for YEARS as a kid/teen. Started humming really bad but I suspect it just needs a deep cleaning with some deoxit because otherwise it still works perfectly!!
When I was in high school in the early 1990s, there was a dude who had an alpine system in his VW Golf. Everyone called him "Alpine". He was the man of the moment but unfortunately he also played the radio too hard. It messed up his heating.
Back in the day, Alpine was always the poor man’s sound quality amp. They were reasonably priced for the time and sounded pretty dang good. I’ve had my fair share of Alpine amps and have always been happy with them. Thanks Big D for another video of some old school equipment!!
I have an Alpine 3522S it still works fine and has all the subwoofer controls. Gold plated terminals but no duo mentioned on the case. It's still sounding great. Only recently removed it from my truck. Was bridged running a 6" sub.
Oh that brings back memories that was the very first amp i ever messed with came with a car my sister bought probably what got me interested in car audio I remember thinking it was an off brand because I had never heard of alpine come to find out its top of the line.
I had 2x 3542 amps. One bridged for a single 8" sub and the other running 4x 4" speakers and 4x 1" tweeters in stereo in my 1987 Supra Turbo back in the early 90's to the early 2000's.
I believe those were designed by rich coe. He designed amps for audiomobile and many other brands after that.. my favorite alpine is the 3555. Wish you would test one
It is nice to see the older zed audio Amplifiers and it is sad that Steven Mantz doesn't get the credit for all of the Amplifiers that he designed and built in the similar valley ca location.
Big D, do you collect boxes that amps came in? I have a really nice late 90's kicker impulse 652xi box that I bought in around 99 I think. I don't have the amp anymore it was stolen in the 2000's along with my Rockford fosgate 12 and Panasonic head unit😢 . But I do still have the box and the literature and high input plug that came with it still in the wrapper.
Parker the bass head had one of these little Alpines in his Truck. The SQ was far superior than when he swapped to Taramps. The Alpine had a way better frequency range and sounded cleaner
I have a 3550 4 channel it still works but the installer broke it down and bridged it to a two channel may use it in my car she been a wall hanger for years now like a all of my amps are
I'm reaching out to you, I'm rebuilding my 73 chevy short box. Same truck I had, exact truck from h.s. (graduated in 89) after h.s. I built it slammed it, rims tires ect. Along came 1992. I finally got to do my stereo. I had 2 of these alpine amps for mids and highs. Alphasonix mids and tweets with passive crossovers. I had the Clarion 5632 for my head unit... 2 punch 150hd and 2 punch 15s and 2 punch 10s we cut the cad and removed the back of the bed... I've found and re bought everything but the head unit ... Clarion 5632 if you or anybody has one.... please let me know.. ty for All of your info over the years. Greatings from Washington State
It duo beta circuits, that they got the rights to after buying luxman. If it truly is it in there that epic AF, the duo beta MPs from luxman are still top notch audiophile amplifiers.
@misterhat5823 wrong you need to get a decent sorce to watch the videos on I can definitely tell a difference in the sound of the different amplifiers big d wiz uses a calibrated microphone recorder and the same speakers so you can tell a difference 😉 when he demonstrates different amplifiers
I’ve learned that the new stuff blows the old stuff out of the water in terms of sq and power. However, the dinosaurs refuse to go away 😂. It’s nice to know alpine underrated their amps. Thanks for the review and test.
I found the Pioneer GM-H50 to be a better sounding amplifier. Only bettered by a Soundstream Class A 3.0. I felt the Alpine amps to be a bit dry and etched in sound. Too clinical for my taste.
This was my very 1st amplifier I bought in 1993, and it was $150 bucks. I was 13 yrs old and hooked it up all kinds of wrong, but this amp was a tank. It never shut off even though it got so hot it burnt my leg😂. I didn't care I banged that amplifier until I lost it in a car wreck, never got out stuff out the car. It was an excellent amplifier💯👍
