I am a huge car audio enthusiast. Ever since my first car back in 1997, I have been trying to push the envelope on what my vehicles can do. My very first car, a 1995 Mustang started out with the most simplistic of sound systems, featuring a floating box for ease of removal, with a couple of 12" subwoofers and just a basic amp. I upgraded the deck, the wires, and all of that, but at the end of the day, it was still your basic sound system.

Since then I have done much more work, including a full car audio system on my competition 2003 Toyota Celica GT-S. I went all out on that car, with custom fiberglass enclosures, custom highlights, and lots of performance to go along with it, including nine 10" subwoofers, and more door speakers than anyone could ever imagine. There were amps all over the place, extra batteries, capacitors, everything. It was definitely the sport compact car audio enthusiast's dream setup.

Ever since then I have been involved in the industry, attending shows, working on comptetition cars, while trying to avoid sinking too much money into my own vehicles, as I have a son to feed now. Regardless, I have managed to create quite the impressive sound system in all three of my vehicles, and plan on doing substantially more into the future.

But the one that comes from all of this, is that I truly do know my car audio. I have tried so many different subwoofers, played around with numerous decks, and seen a large variety of application combinations that have worked and haven't worked. I have touched hundreds of systems in my years, and with that experience, I know what will work and what won't work.

Alpine Type-X SWX-1242D Subwoofer
I recently purchased four of these subwoofers to go into my 2006 Mazda 6, which is slowly being converted for show purposes. The subwoofers are slowly becoming the centerpiece of what will be a fairly incredible sound system, for such a small vehicle. With these subs, due to their extreme 3,000 watts of peak power, I have to run them 1 to 1 with amplifiers, and I have a capacitor to run to every two subs. This makes for a pretty setup that takes up a pretty good chunk of space, once air flow is taken into consideration. All of this sits within a custom polyurethane enclosure, that runs from my trunk into where my back seat used to be. Water panels, neons, and built in screens highlight the subwoofers, and finish off the design... along with some decals from my hometown of Detroit to highlight the entire project.

Sound Quality
When I ordered these subs, I figured that I would have to run them in conjunction with some much smaller subs, in order to have the quality of sound that I craved for everyday driving, while having the power needed for competition. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, so rather than just making assumptions, I figured I would just order these subwoofers, listen to them, test them out, and see what needed to be done in order to make them work. My only other real experience with such a high volume subwoofer was with a 5,000 watt MTX, and a 5,000 watt Oz subwoofer, both of which had a lot of bass, but virtually no sound quality.

When I hooked everything up, I was extremely surprised at what I had heard. These speakers were capable of producing HUGE bass unlike anything that Alpine has produced in the past, while at the same time maintaining excellent sound clarity. While these subs aren't quite as responsive as lower wattage subs, they still outperform the large majority of smaller subs on the market. If you don't know, the lower the wattage, the easier it is for a subwoofer to respond quickly to bass hits, meaning that it is capable of producing better bass clarity, especially during quick repetition hits. A much larger wattage sub flexes too far to come back into position in time for quick response to bass hits. This is something that has caused some difficulty in the car audio industry as it means you can either have clarity or power, but rarely can you have a whole lot of each. You have to sacrifice one to have the other, at least to some degree. This is why many choose not to go above 600 watts peak power, because this is where the quality begins to disappear with most speakers.

The Alpine Type X is somewhat different than what you would expect, it products very high quality lows and mids, with great response timing in order to catch quick succession bass rips. This means that you can have competition power without completely sacrificing sound quality. This doesn't mean it's perfect by any means, but it is definitely the best sound quality of any subwoofer in it's class, and this includes the Rockford Fosgate subs, which are known for their sound clarity.

Durability
These are hardcore subs! When you are dealing with this much power, you need to make sure that you have a subwoofer that can keep up. These subs are built so strongly, that even running at peak power, I can see them lasting for years. They have incredible flex response even during long periods of operation. During my test run of the subs, I had them running for near three hours while we worked on the enclosure in the shop. These subs not only help up, but the clarity and bass remained unchanged throughout. We decided that we would even push them to their limits and push them as loud as they would go for the final hour of work, and had no issues with the subs giving out. A lot of times after a lot of heat builds up, subwoofer quality will go down substantially, and sometimes will blow out in the process. By testing them at their peak power for an extreme period of time, we were ensuring that they were going to hold up under any application. They definitely did that!

Product Details
* 12" subwoofer with dual 4-ohm voice coils
* carbon fiber/aluminum honeycomb cone with high-roll Santoprene rubber surround
* cast aluminum frame
* frequency response: 23-200 Hz
* power range: 500-1,000 watts RMS (500 watts per coil)
* peak power handling: 3,000 watts
* sensitivity: 83 dB
* top-mount depth: 8-11/16"
* sealed box volume: 0.65-1.25 cubic feet
* ported box volume: 1.0-2.0 cubic feet
* Recommended Q-Logic Box Type: 1, 2, 3
* warranty: 1 year

Final Thoughts
You just don't get much more powerful than this, without being able to distinguish anything. These subwoofers hit incredibly hard at all times, not just on peak, these subs were made for the aggressive enthusiast. If you are truly looking to blow your friends away, then this is what you need in your ride. I can't think of a better all around subwoofer in this category than the Alpine Type X. The power, the sound quality, just can't be beat. There is definitely a monster in this machine!

If these subs don't produce enough bass for you, then you might want to consider purchasing a bus, because it's going to take a whole lot of room for as many speakers as you're going to need.

Car Audio/Video Reviews by Richard Ramsey
Kicker Solo Baric L7 Subwoofer
Kicker Solo Baric L5 Subwoofer
Kicker CVR12 Subwoofer
Alpine Type R SWR-1242D Subwoofer
Infinity BASSLINK Subwoofer
Infinity KAPPA PERFECT 12.1 Subwoofer
Rockford Fosgate Punch Stage 3 Subwoofer

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 500