What an amplifier should be!
Written: Mar 07 '02
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Pros: Extremely tunable, great sound quality, more power than it's rated for.
Cons: Relatively expensive
The Bottom Line: If you can afford this amplifier, go for it, you won't regret it. It's in a totally different class than your typical Kenwood and Pioneer amps.
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| rfman's Full Review: Alpine MRV-T707 Car Amp |
Well it’s about time Epinions listed this great amplifier! I’ve owned one since august of 2001, and ever since, I’ve wanted to write a review to share my praise for this amplifier. After my Clarion Pro Audio head unit, this is the best piece of equipment in mt car audio setup.
I bought it to replace a Kenwood KAC-729s amplifier that unfortunately wasn’t at all up to the task of powering my two JL audio 10” subwoofers. I had never spent this much on an amplifier, but I figured that having bought a pair of high-quality subwoofers, I might as well buy a good amp to power them. And I didn’t want to repeat the Kenwood mistake a second time.
As the old adage says, you get what you pay for. In this case, you get more than you would typically get in a low-price mass-marketed amplifier. Some of those features include a 180-degree phase shifting feature, which is basically the equivalent of reversing you signal wires at the flick of a switch. This is often the solution to standing-wave problems, and it’s really helpful to be able to change it on the amplifier itself.
Continually variable low-pass and high-pass filters are also included, which allow to really fine-tune your system. I use the low-pass filter to drive my subwoofers, and it’s critical that I be able to choose the exact cut-off frequency to optimize my system. This amplifier lets me do this, while lower-end amplifiers with a fixed-frequency on-off only filter leave me hanging out to dry.
Like other higher-end amplifiers, this Alpine amp is rated at both 12V at 14.4V. For those of you not familiar with automotive electrical systems, the voltage of the system is typically 12 volts when running off the battery alone with the engine off, and 14.4 volts with the engine on and the alternator feeding the electrical system. Most lower-end amps only rate their amps at 14.4 V and plaster that figure all over their documentation. Alpine (and other good amplifier manufacturers such as MTX) tell you the whole story. Also like MTX, alpine individually test all their amplifiers, and you get to know exactly what power you’re getting from your amplifier. The MRV-T707 is rated at 75W per channel at 12V and 100W per channel at 14.4V. The little test card I received with my amplifier indicated that my particular amplifier tested out at 83W per channel at 12V. That’s over 10% than advertised. Not bad at all. In the single channel bridged mode configuration that I’m using, the amplifier is rated at 280W RMS at 14.4V.
While this seems to be a rather low rating, I can assure you that the power is really all there. Compared to the Kenwood KAC-729s that it replaced, which was rated at 150W per channel, the Alpine is much more powerful (I have confirmed this with both an oscilloscope and a sound pressure meter). The simple that the Alpine immediately blew the 30 amp fuse that has never posed problems with the Kenwood amp also tells me something. Energy can’t be extracted out of thin air, and to produce more power, the Alpine has to draw more power.
But on top of that, the Alpine delivers absolutely great sound quality. Both on the oscilloscope and to the ear, I couldn’t really discern any distortion introduced by the Alpine amplifier. Granted, I keep the bass booster feature off, as most of these are notorious for distorting at extremes, but the high current capability of the Alpine MRV-T707 really does a lot to provide tight bass response that sounds extremely clear.
The amplifier itself is rather plain in understated in its appearance, unlike some products that light up and flash and seem to be made to attract attention. The housing is functional at dissipating heat well, and the single LED tells you that all is functioning well. Basically, it’s all that you need, nothing that you don’t. And that’s fine with me.
This amplifier has made me a great fan of Alpine, and Alpine will certainly be a first choice of mine when considering future amplifier needs.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 275
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Epinions.com ID:
rfman
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 - Top 1000 |
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Member: Luc Delorme
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Reviews written: 103
Trusted by: 15 members
About Me:
Electrical Engineer, amateur photographer, car buff, technophile, video game player and collector.
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