Is the Alpine V12 line of amps still as good as they used to be. Id be looking at there top of the line 4ch and Mono Channel the MRV-MRV-F545 & the MRD-M1005. Also do you think the M1005 is good enough to run two 12 Adire Brahma's in a sealed well box?

 

i've been using an MRD-M501....and its pretty good...you can push these things pretty hard and they still keep on putting out power!!!... it takes a while for them to get hot...even while pounding the bass!... overall i'm very happy with mine

 

They’re OK. But the whole Alpine line has hit the crapper this year. They still have the SQ, but reliability have taken a bit if a dip. Even in the V12 line.

 

Now thats just disappointing, Alpine used to be so topend a few years ago. I have never used any of there amps though.

 

Not even a few years ago, last years stuff was great. It must be the Best Buy affect...

 

Yeah we have Best Buy here in Canada now too. Don't think they sell Alpine though. Mainly more the Panasonics and Pioneers and Sonys, the generally middle of the road stuff with the the price tags of the High end stuff.

 

According to who? I have one of the new Alpine Mono amps in my car and I have no complaints at all.

 

ya it seems like alpines priced dropped off a bit and best buy now carries alpine???? They even have "type-rs"

 

According to the guy that has to fix a crap load of them...

 

Are you an Alpine tech or what? What usually goes wrong with these amps?

 

The part that makes them a PITA is there is nothing that is usually wrong, it’s something different all the time. Ya, you get some for the same thing, but with the Alpines is all over the place. The F240 had some come in with damaged insulators from poor production quality. Odd ball bias problems in the pre-amp and driver stages, bad microprocessors, power supply shut down problems, … It’s not like Pioneers, it’s either the switching FETs in the power supply, or the output transistor, and you can tell which one by looking at the fuse most of the time. Your in better shape with the Alpine amps then their HUs.
And yes, I’m a factory certified tech for Alpine, and several others. I work for a third party repair shop.

 

maybe that was a camaro joke of the "r's" part of the [Type-R] product line... (in plurality)... maybe not... if not, you should know they've had the Type-R family for a very long time...

It's a love-hate relationship... in one hand, Best Buy offers the best replacement plan/warranty out of any retailer I've ever seen, hands-down... in the other hand, you've got the crappy Alpine decks, the the new lackluster Pioneer decks. Then you have the ultra-crappy stuff that's even cheaper...

what happened to the days(read: a year ago,) when they actually had decent decks that ranged from $500-$700 (no DVD)!?