alpine pdx amps

[zfactor]

okay i have had the new pdx amps... i had 2 of them. the 4.150 and the 1000 models.. there are far from bad sounding, actually very great amps. a few comments i had is they ran pretty hot... the 4.150 is def not suited for bas. the low end just didnt sound right to my ears anyway. awsome though for top end very smooth and not to bright. had a pretty good sense of "air" and the staging was pretty good up there with the best ive used... just something bothered me in the lower bass and lower midbass areas that i just could not figure out... i tried all sorts of eq and couldnt get them to sound right to me. the 1000 is def a sub amp and a powerhouse at that. awsome for the low end and sounded totally different to me in the lower bass areas not sure why??? i think with some tuning they could be a very awsome amp.. i just could not get past the 4.150 and the way it sounded to me. i sold them a week later. and they are not at all cheap either....

this was my first post...

[zfactor]

well im not sure i remember exactly where... i just noticed the lack of at the time.. i set all my gains with a meter or o-scope so i know the amp was set correctly.. the amp i pulled out was a xtant x604 and with near half the rated power of the pdx the xtant was far better in the lower midbass/sub area. much more authroative and to the point if you will..i mean you could tell when switching them out.... its really a hard thing to describe.. just was not impressed with the lowest octaves of the amp...other than this is was a stellar amp... top end was great ......for its size if thats what you are deciding on id say nothing better....

this was my second post to him..... copied from the reg forum new titan suggested i also put these here...

[cvjoint]

I've noticed that some amp are ideal for mids and highs whereas some amps are perfect for sub stages. I've tried and arcxxk on a pair of seas lotus reference aluminums and sounded kinda bright for me, but the amp trully shined on midbasses. Kinda tuff to bulid a system using same brand amps or at least same amp series.

[MarkZ]

well im not sure i remember exactly where... i just noticed the lack of at the time.. i set all my gains with a meter or o-scope so i know the amp was set correctly.. the amp i pulled out was a xtant x604 and with near half the rated power of the pdx the xtant was far better in the lower midbass/sub area. much more authroative and to the point if you will..

Has anyone come across benchtests for these two amps? Power ratings usually vary considerably, especially in a "real-world" automotive electrical system. So it's conceivable that the ratings are out of whack and the xtant actually delivers more power.

[zfactor]

well i was nto able to get them benched... in the car audio review mag they did meet or exceed their rated power.. i dont think it was really a power issue rather just the 4.150 didnt perform as well with the midbass drivers...the x604 just had better punch and more oomph to the lower end. now for the top end it sounded really very good, not as good as others i have or have used (zapco, arc, tru, brax, etc... ) but im not sure that considered to be in that leauge or not by everyone anyway... im currently running pg ms series and they to me sound better as well... but then i have also heard a lot of amps that are "supposed" to sound awsome and sound like crap to me... so like i said def not at all a bad amp... just not an amp i would personally use for midbass/sub use...def sounded great for the top end...

[newtitan]

hmm very interesting, thx for the repost of the review by the way :)

ever heard the xa4000 eclipse class d version?

[effenay]

You're not the only one who found the PDX4.150 lacking in low-end.

http://www.caraudiomag.com/0607_cae_alpine_pdx_4150_amplifier/

[zfactor]

so has anyone else had the chance to try these out yet? just curious on some other thoughts on them. love to know if anyone agreed with my "thoughts"

[shinjohn]

so has anyone else had the chance to try these out yet? just curious on some other thoughts on them. love to know if anyone agreed with my "thoughts"
Hey Z-
Just FYI, I have one of these amps (PDX-4.150) that is in the queue to be installed in an '05 STI, likely this weekend. Once I get a chance to hook it up and audition it, I'll post a review.

Funny, I was torn between recommending the 4.150 and an Arc XXK for this install, but in the end, the form factor of the Alpine won out. It allows SOOOO much cleaner of an install..... Seeing it in person is really amazing. That thing is tiny for its output capability. That much I gotta say. Although I did not wire it up, I think the output connectors are just kinda weird, but hey, if it works, it works. More to come.

[DS-21]

but in the end, the form factor of the Alpine won out. It allows SOOOO much cleaner of an install.....

I continue to find it astounding that the car-fi industry at large has yet to realize that smaller amps are better amps, all else equal. I bet Alpine's going to do really well with those things...and when some mass marketer or intrepid internet-based value-audio startup starts putting out small class-D amps for lower prices, the whole industry's going to shudder in between head-slaps.

[bassfromspace]

are these amps on ebay yet?

[zfactor]

yep they are ... everywhere... i really want another opinion on the 4.150.. i know i have listened to a ton of amps.. and i def know what im listening to.. i really want some other opinions of these mainly due to the price of them.. i just dont know if i can justify spending this much on all 4 of these i would need to run the whole system.. only 1 reason i could justify it would be size / power ratio...

[bassfromspace]

yep they are ... everywhere... i really want another opinion on the 4.150.. i know i have listened to a ton of amps.. and i def know what im listening to.. i really want some other opinions of these mainly due to the price of them.. i just dont know if i can justify spending this much on all 4 of these i would need to run the whole system.. only 1 reason i could justify it would be size / power ratio...

Size and power ratio are perfect for my CRX. Ill do an ebay search.

[DS-21]

i just dont know if i can justify spending this much on all 4 of these i would need to run the whole system.. only 1 reason i could justify it would be size / power ratio...

Well, that's going to be the only advantage they can offer compared to any other good amp, assuming that they are good amps. Maybe not the only advantage; likely they'll give you lower power consumption, too. That could be an issue if you're talking about eight channels of amplification.

If it's a sound quality upgrade you're looking for, step away from amps entirely - assuming you already have some decent ones, if not obviously you can't step away entirely - and focus on more important areas of your system: speaker placement, raw drivers, signal processing (crossover/EQ/time alignment maybe).

[zfactor]

no its not that my amps are not good.. we have a baby now and i need my trunk back.. so doing a fully active 4 way setup now.. 3 way up front and sub.. these would fit in perfect but like i said for alpine amps they are pretty $$$ i have never really been a huge fan of alpine's amps.. always liked the heads though until recent ones.. amps never really did anything for me... but damn they are small...its hard to really believe how small these are till you see one in person.. when i got the first one in i had prior i literally could not believe how small these actually were it really kinda crazy they were able to make em so small...

[bobditts]

are these amps on ebay yet?
lol. I still dont understand why people buy electronics on ebay. There are way too many risks involved with all the scams out there. Ive heard too many horror stories to risk it.

[bassfromspace]

lol. I still dont understand why people buy electronics on ebay. There are way too many risks involved with all the scams out there. Ive heard too many horror stories to risk it.

It's a fiscal decision for me. Having worked in the car audio industry, I'd rather take my chances getting NIB equipment at half msrp rather than buying from a brick and mortar thats gonna pole me on price with no technical support or warranty.

[zfactor]

only reason i look to ebay is for brands we dont carry that i want to purchase. being in the business i know what the markup on stuff is. now if i went into the local alpine dealer and they were willing to work a little on price i wouldnt mind spending a little more to buy from them i know how the internet hurts things... but when i go in there and he says it will be xxx.xx amount of money at a full 50-60 points and then proceeds to tell me he is already working on the price i walk straight out and look elsewhere. i know people can buy online and i try the best i can with pricing in our shop... they do understand we need to make someting but i dont hose people on pricing like some of the shops do.

[bobditts]

Im not talking about the money. Im talking about the supposed NIB items that have been tampered with. IE the serial numbers have been scratched off or moved. That automatically voids the manufacturers warantee. So what happens if you buy a NIB item off of ebay from joe schmoe and it goes bad after a month? now youve spent all that money that is more than you saved by buying it at your local dealer and now its a very expensive paperweight. Imnot saying this happens all the time, but i do hear these stories quite often

[bassfromspace]

Im not talking about the money. Im talking about the supposed NIB items that have been tampered with. IE the serial numbers have been scratched off or moved. That automatically voids the manufacturers warantee. So what happens if you buy a NIB item off of ebay from joe schmoe and it goes bad after a month? now youve spent all that money that is more than you saved by buying it at your local dealer and now its a very expensive paperweight. Imnot saying this happens all the time, but i do hear these stories quite often

On the opposite side of the coin, what happen's when you paid full boat and the shop refuses to warranty a product?

[bobditts]

why would they do that?

[zfactor]

some dealers are assholes ... we have one like that here in town.. we get most of their customers after they figure it out for themselves... they also pawn most of their extra stock on ebay so they can meet the requirements for the largest discounts.. we had one of their former employees working for us for a while. and we hear it from customers all the time.. and btw they are alpine dealers,..lol

one customer brought me a reciept to show me.. his amp went bad right... they charged him a full hour to remove it.. another hour to re-install it when it got back and a total of 50$ for shipping and their handling fees.. damn for that you my as well have bought it from ebay and them just paid alpine to fix it yourself it would have been cheaper.. im not at all saying all shops are like that but they are out there

[bobditts]

sounds like you need to find a new shop to deal with then. Ive never had a problem with my shop denying warantee work. The one time they did think it was somewhat questionable, they still sent the item off to the manufacturer to see if they could repair it. And they did. I also buy the 4 year extended warantee so im all set. Do you have a cartoys near you?

[zfactor]

umm we are a shop lol.... this is a competing local shop i am speaking of... and i only would get stuff on ebay i cant buy direct myself...and even then ill give another local guy the chance first to help me out some before going to ebay.. but i am not paying what some of these guys want at full retail i dont even sell at full retail in our shop we usually sell at map pricing.. these guys i spoke of wanted full blown retail and they would mark up the stuff well over retail and then work down to retail or just below to make it seem like they were giving someone a deal

[bobditts]

that is shady. I still say you need to find another retailer that sells the amps. Heck, I bet best buy does better selling than that shop. lol.

[zfactor]

anyone get to test these out yet?? im just thinking i was to quick and maybe to judgemental... i really would love the size but im feeling maybe i didnt give them a fair shot time wise...lol i do that a lot if i have one thing or another i dont like off the start...thanks

[hc_TK]

This thread is VERY off topic. This is a review thread for the amp, not complaining about alpine dealers, or ebay... :p

[shinjohn]

Hey Sorry Z,
I didn't get to install the amp as the owner was not available to bring the car over to my place last weekend. I'll write up a review just as soon as I have experience.

I was talking to my local contact who sold me the amp and he tells me that the demand for the PDX amps have been VERY high. This even though they are more expensive than Alpine's typical/prior lines. His comments were that, as mentioned in this thread, that their form factor allows ease and cleanlines of install. In as far as sound quality is concerned, he thought they were top notch, and he also sells Arc Audio, JL, Macintosh, etc... The last install he did was an F1 Status with all PDX amps. More info once I get some experience with it.

[OldOneEye]

This is what kills me. I work for a big retailer, with lots of brands, and I still am considering buying the PDX amps because nobody else is making stuff like it yet. The closest thing I could find was the Eclipse XA amps (got a 5 channel for the wife's car).

Pretty sad when you see a Rockford Fosgate Power series amp that measures 33" long and 11" wide.

Xtant supposedly was going to have a series of amps based on the technology of the Xtant 1.1i but it doesn't seem to have happened.

I don't see any sign of relief. Nobody seems to be following Alpine's lead for now (although this Ice Power stuff seems to be a step in the right direction, and if Alpine, Pioneer and Eclipse can license it (like Tripath in the back) I don't think they are making exclusive agreements).

Juan



I continue to find it astounding that the car-fi industry at large has yet to realize that smaller amps are better amps, all else equal. I bet Alpine's going to do really well with those things...and when some mass marketer or intrepid internet-based value-audio startup starts putting out small class-D amps for lower prices, the whole industry's going to shudder in between head-slaps.

[Rodek]

I've been complaining about amp size for years. I wish we could go back in time where more companies made amps that fit in vehicles smaller than a large SUV. I don't want lights, mirros, chrome or vu meters. I want an amp. The PDX amps look very promising. I'd like to see more amps that are "stackable" like they are.