I'm shopping for some Alpine stuff online, and I'm trying to find a place that doesn't sell "gray market" stuff. For those of you that bought online recently... where'd you buy it, how was their service & price, and most importantly... did it come with a serial number on it? Thanks.

Crutchfield is an authorized Alpine dealer. They have pretty good prices and excellent customer service too.

ikesound.com best prices around and they include shipping.......very good company

www.etronics.com quick shipment and perfect product... **don't know how they sound cuz i never used 'em... all i did was open the box 2 be sure it was the right ones... and i haven't gotten 2 hook 'em up or take 'em outta the plastic =( **

alpine doesn't authorize alot of online sales do they? and I believe ikesound is kinda gray market on most of there stuff.

"DISCLAIMER: *We are NOT authorized Alpine dealers. You will not received a Alpine warranty with this product. All items offered here are BRAND NEW and manufactured for use in the U.S.A. and are warranteed by IKESOUND for one year"

- quoted from www.ikesound.com

I whole heartedly agree with you.

I needed a system for my wife's car ('93 Mazda MX6) and I don't know crap about Mazdas. I got a HU, bandpass sub box, and connectors to hook up after market speakers to the factory wiring.

The band pass sounded like crap in a trunk so I sent it back to them within 30 days and got my money back. Plus it was pre-paid shipping so all I had to do was drop it off at UPS.

The HU came with the Mazda/Ford removal tools, wire harness, & full instructions for anything stock in a Mazda/Ford. It would have come with a mounting kit if I needed it. Plus they were giving away free 6x9's with that HU. Cheap Jensens, but they're now in my '83 1/2 ton

I would have ordered online, but the last catalog had a 15% discount offer IF I called it in, so that's what I did.

Plus I got a BUNCH of coupons for someone else to recieve $20 off. If they mention my name, I get $20 off my next purchase to. So if you want a coupon, let me know.

AJ

Crutchfields prices completely negate any reason i would have for shopping online though. I would only buy online to save a substantail amount off retail. I can go to a COUPLE of online retailers around here for Alpine, and usually do better. <shrug>

Ive heard nothing but good about ikesound.com. but i doubt there will be a cheap online dealer thats authorized with Alpine...

ditto

i got my Alpine 10s and my JBL1200 from Ikesound...both shipped promptly and everythign works great. Ikesound warranties everything for a year anyway... and free shipping.
- Andy

I can get the stuff cheaper from the local dealer than I can get it from crutchfield. The DVD player that I want is $1,200 from crutchfield. At most of the online sites, it's selling for under $900. I'm not usually one to promote buying online, but when there's this much of a price differential, I'm willing to do a little investigating.

The problem is, because alpine doesn't authorize online sales, the majority of the places are selling "gray market" stuff. It's all brand new and in the box, but the serial number is scraped off to make it untracable back to the original wholesaler. I would prefer a head unit with a serial number. If there's no serial number, the chances are that I'll never be able to get it worked on even after the warranty period, and with my Alpine track record, I know that it'll break at some point.

welp..........get an eclipse head unit.

i got my Alpine headunit and 6x9s of ebay for like half the price brand new......i recomend that...
bub

All my shtuff is grey


I guess it's the price I pay.
At least IkeSound warrentys stuff for a year.

They wont ship stuff to Hawaii, so I'm Fu*ked there...

Yeah, because that has everything to do with the topic of this thread.

Eclipse doesn't even EXIST on the Internet, and unless I can find my ski mask and oh-so-authentic looking AK-47 squirt gun and go chat with some bank managers, that's not likely to happen.