I was sticken last week when my two year old Alpine MRP1000(1000 watt subwoofer amp) wouldn't fire up. Power, ground and signal are all there, the indicator lights up, but no sound. After verifying that it was the amp and stressing that the $500 unit that I can't afford to replace just now is dead with no warning. Seriously, this unit and the rest of my very nice sound system have worked flawlessly since they were installed and the unit didn't fail during use, but just wouldn't turn on after a day or two of not being used.

At any rate, I decided to call Alpine even though the one year warranty is up. I expected to hear that after shipping it several hundred miles to the nearest repair center, I would be given a repair estimate close to the price of a new unit. Instead, I was told that Alpine repairs their out of warranty amps for a flat fee of $70 regardless of the cause of failure. "Whatever is wrong with it, we will fix it for $70." Now that is product support and why it's worth it to buy quality.

 

I have been surprised by them too! i LOVE their stuff, although i am now running pioneer.. But yeah, always been a great company to deal with!

 

My system also includes Pioneer Premier full range speakers in the dash and B pillars, Kicker CVR subs, and a Kenwood head unit. I use a premium unit with 6, 4volt preouts. An Alpine full range 4 channel amp runs the fronts and the MRP1000 runs the subs. I have been pleased with this system.

 

A quick follow up to finish this thread. I got my amp back from Alpine yesterday. Repair was $70 no questions asked. They replaced several parts, including a few ICs, and restored the unit's performance to brand new. For those looking to buy car audio equipment: Alpine may cost a bit more than some of the bargain priced equipment out there, but will those cheapo manufacturers stand behind their products like this? I don't know.

A note on amp ratings: There is a new standard for rating amps. It is standard CAE 2006 as I remember. It is intended to standardize RMS ratings as well as signal to noise and distortion. When you see an amp advertised be sure to check its ratings to verify whether they comply with this standard. For instance, Alpine does comply. The MRP-M1000 is rated at 1000watts RMS into 2ohms. I looked at another amp that was rated at 6000watts but on checking I found that its RMS rating was only 650 watts into 2ohms. Six times the stated output but in truth not even equivilent.