2021 Alpine Sound System Quality?

[JandS]

I agree the wrangler is not the best design for an audiophile pleasing system, but I was hoping for better....

You could spend $5,000 on a higher end system...and it wouldn't sound much better.

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[JeezAJeep]

You could spend $5,000 on a higher end system...and it wouldn't sound much better.

I agree...its like a tin can

 

[Twojayhawks]

OK, a question for those with the Alpine upgrade. I believe the Alpine upgrade was/is described as having 9 speakers. I would assume 4 pairs plus the sub. I have the pair on the dash and a pair on the roll bar and the big sub and that's it. Are they counting more than one speaker per speaker cover? Thanks

 

[MauiSteve]

I didn't pay any attention to speaker count but I imagine under the covers are a midwoofer and a very small tweeter.
As for Bose, I've never actually been a Bose fan, I just knew ordering the upgrade in my ZR2 was going to be better than the base system and I didn't want to do an upgrade myself. It works well. My 2012 Mini I had was Harmon Kardon, much nicer system.
The reason I'm not a Bose fan is a LONG time ago I repaired them in a shop while I was in school. The speakers inside the expensive looking boxes were, shall we say, less than expected. I really like small speakers when they are done well, I build them for my home systems, but Bose speakers are mostly psychoacoustics and great advertising. Amar Bose was a genius at lots of things, including making money.
That being said, their noise cancelling headphones are the exception, I don't think many competing models are better, just my opinion.
Bottom line, the factory upgrade in most cases is worth it if only from the custom fit speakers and integrated wiring standpoint.
Side note, I've listened to the Mark Levinson upgrade in a BIG Lexus and I was very UN-impressed. And Mark Levinson HiFi gear is way top of the line.

 

[JeezAJeep]

I didn't pay any attention to speaker count but I imagine under the covers are a midwoofer and a very small tweeter.
As for Bose, I've never actually been a Bose fan, I just knew ordering the upgrade in my ZR2 was going to be better than the base system and I didn't want to do an upgrade myself. It works well. My 2012 Mini I had was Harmon Kardon, much nicer system.
The reason I'm not a Bose fan is a LONG time ago I repaired them in a shop while I was in school. The speakers inside the expensive looking boxes were, shall we say, less than expected. I really like small speakers when they are done well, I build them for my home systems, but Bose speakers are mostly psychoacoustics and great advertising. Amar Bose was a genius at lots of things, including making money.
That being said, their noise cancelling headphones are the exception, I don't think many competing models are better, just my opinion.
Bottom line, the factory upgrade in most cases is worth it if only from the custom fit speakers and integrated wiring standpoint.
Side note, I've listened to the Mark Levinson upgrade in a BIG Lexus and I was very UN-impressed. And Mark Levinson HiFi gear is way top of the line.

I agree! My BMW has the Harmon upgrade..fantastic. My few Lexus had the Mark Levinson..unimpressed.

 

[LSguy]

Alright so I'll give my thorough review here on my alpine 2021 system. I would say that I am a low tier audiophile. I don't go as far as a dedicated DAC with resistor tuning and $5000 headphones in order to assurance proper stage and instrument placement etc. However, music is a large part of my life, and I have a very specific sound that I like to achieve. I've built many car audio systems, as well as had many factory sound upgraded systems.

I actually don't agree with much of what has been posted in this thread. For instance, my subaru legacy had the harmon kardon sound system. I think it sounded bad. Not 1980 Ford ripped paper cone speaker horrible, but definitely not what I consider premium. Zero bass, very low max volume. Mids and highs were ok, nothing special. Ripped out the system and went with a pioneer 13 band eq head unit, focal speakers and a 10 inch sub. 100% improvement over stock. The JL alpine system sounds much better than that vehicles factory system.

Bose. I had a bose system in my 2002 corvette Z06. That system actually sounded fantastic. Likely had to do with the tiny insulated cabin. Great bass, clean mids and highs. On the flip side, I do not like their noise canceling headphones at all. I purchased the NC700s for $400. While I liked the features and the build quality felt good, the sound was terrible. Non-existant bass. Very tinny sounding. I returned them for a set of Bowers and Wilcons. Side note for anybody in the market for some noise canceling cans, check out B&W, they arent usually included in the conversation about noise canceling cans, but they are worth checking out. If you want to see them in person, best buy has them over with the HiFi home theatre stuff, not with the headphones.

Anyway, that was long and drug out but here we go. The apline system is okay, maybe slightly better than okay. The max volume is decent, though personally I'd like to see it go about 20% louder. I like my music unnecessarily loud though. The bass is very present, but also not tight and crisp. If you listen to primarily rap, you should find this sub to sound pretty good. Dip into the metal genre with double bass etc, and things muddy up quickly. Mids and highs are actually pretty decent. Sound is fairly well defined, and clean even at max volume. My biggest complaint is midbass. It doesn't exist, especially at higher volumes. I like crisp punchy midbass. For this reason, I will likely start slowly upgrading this system.

Sorry for the book, hopefully it helps.

 

[JeezAJeep]

Alright so I'll give my thorough review here on my alpine 2021 system. I would say that I am a low tier audiophile. I don't go as far as a dedicated DAC with resistor tuning and $5000 headphones in order to assurance proper stage and instrument placement etc. However, music is a large part of my life, and I have a very specific sound that I like to achieve. I've built many car audio systems, as well as had many factory sound upgraded systems.

I actually don't agree with much of what has been posted in this thread. For instance, my subaru legacy had the harmon kardon sound system. I think it sounded bad. Not 1980 Ford ripped paper cone speaker horrible, but definitely not what I consider premium. Zero bass, very low max volume. Mids and highs were ok, nothing special. Ripped out the system and went with a pioneer 13 band eq head unit, focal speakers and a 10 inch sub. 100% improvement over stock. The JL alpine system sounds much better than that vehicles factory system.

Bose. I had a bose system in my 2002 corvette Z06. That system actually sounded fantastic. Likely had to do with the tiny insulated cabin. Great bass, clean mids and highs. On the flip side, I do not like their noise canceling headphones at all. I purchased the NC700s for $400. While I liked the features and the build quality felt good, the sound was terrible. Non-existant bass. Very tinny sounding. I returned them for a set of Bowers and Wilcons. Side note for anybody in the market for some noise canceling cans, check out B&W, they arent usually included in the conversation about noise canceling cans, but they are worth checking out. If you want to see them in person, best buy has them over with the HiFi home theatre stuff, not with the headphones.

Anyway, that was long and drug out but here we go. The apline system is okay, maybe slightly better than okay. The max volume is decent, though personally I'd like to see it go about 20% louder. I like my music unnecessarily loud though. The bass is very present, but also not tight and crisp. If you listen to primarily rap, you should find this sub to sound pretty good. Dip into the metal genre with double bass etc, and things muddy up quickly. Mids and highs are actually pretty decent. Sound is fairly well defined, and clean even at max volume. My biggest complaint is midbass. It doesn't exist, especially at higher volumes. I like crisp punchy midbass. For this reason, I will likely start slowly upgrading this system.

Sorry for the book, hopefully it helps.

Thx

 

[MauiSteve]

B&W is good stuff.
I suspect the car to car comparisons are very dependent on the cabin details and the manufacturers commitment to the system. I'm sure some do a better job of execution than others. Hence the variation of same brand amongst various vehicles. Great observations.

 

[MacJack]

You counted correctly. Enjoy it... I don't know if I said this to you or another post but after 2 years my dash speaker crapped out and put in for less then $70 Infiniti 3032cfx and they are great easy to do... My 12 yo G Daughter did most of the work.... I also added poly fill and makes a great difference... We are like the sound like it was new... you will too. So when one of the two in my sound bar goes out, I'm hoping the speaker guys can get a easy replacement with out cutting plastic.

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_108R3032CM/Infinity-Reference-REF-3032cfx.html

I'm waiting for Infinity Support to get back to me as Crutchfield sent me two capacitors.. Sounds good without them as found them in bottom of box after I installed speakers.

Crank the volumn up....

OK, a question for those with the Alpine upgrade. I believe the Alpine upgrade was/is described as having 9 speakers. I would assume 4 pairs plus the sub. I have the pair on the dash and a pair on the roll bar and the big sub and that's it. Are they counting more than one speaker per speaker cover? Thanks

 

[MauiSteve]

The capacitor limits the low frequency sent to your tweeter. Careful with volume without it, could blow the tweeter.

 

[MauiSteve]

It goes in series with the plus terminal on the tweeter.

 

[MacJack]

Thanks, will do that today... No did not crank it up yet as waiting for your comment...

It goes in series with the plus terminal on the tweeter.

 

[jimim]

I have the alpine in my Jeep. It’s good I feel. I have never been blown away by any car audio setup. I mean I have been pretty impressed but it’s still in a car or truck. I accept it for what it is.
I have been in the home theatre (dedicated rooms, full home audio and such) for over 30 years. Like someone else said even in a living room it’s hard. Any open space. I mean we achieve some great sounding open rooms but nothing will sound like a sealed up room so over the years I have learned to enjoy what is able to be achieved within reason and I think the Jeep upgrade is good for in and out of ur Jeep or even if your job puts you on the road daily.

as a side note I’m not an audiophile I don’t buy into the thousand dollar wires and power cords. Even high end is kinda the laws of diminishing returns at this point. Money on amps first and then speakers. Everything else is tech needing to be replaced every 5-8 years. Money spent putting those into a dedicated space with proper acoustic plans and designed room next. Bit like I tell every customer if that isn’tyour thing it is so easy anymore to achieve great sound in what you have to work with.


Sorry I went on. I was thinking back to the post about the installer to rip it all out. It’s just not needed. I would never tell a customer that. I would work as much as I could with what they got. Maybe it’s how I was taught to undersell to capture more jobs then scare people away.

 

[calemasters]

I am not an audiophile, but the Alpine system in my 2021 JL Unlimited sounds very good. My 2010 JK had the uplevel Infinity audio system and it was nothing to brag about. The JL Alpine system has 552 watts going into 9 speakers, including the subwoofer. For me it sounds great.

 

[Twojayhawks]

I was the guy that was told to start from scratch. I went elsewhere & Have a 10" Stinger head unit on order to replace the 7". We'll start there and maybe just keep everything in tact. Better EQ may help? The perspective in my negative review of the Alpine in the JL is as follows. Wife also got a new GC w/Alpine that I rode in for weeks before my JL came in. I don't need to be reminded of the different speaker layout, acoustics, etc. of the GC vs the JL but I DID assume it would be the same actual equipment. It sounds fabulous in the CG at high volume. In my JL at much lower volume mine is already clipping? Frankly it lacks balls at higher volume compared to (I thought) same hardware in the GC.

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