"See" What the Alpine System Sounds Like

[troutspinner]

I had time today and finally measured the Sound on my Alpine System and thought I would post for people thinking about speaker / system upgrades.

The Setup
Vehicle: 2019 Ram Crew Cab
Head Unit: 8.4c (Stock)
System: 9 Speaker Alpine with Subwoofer (All Stock)
Software: REW (Mac)
Microphone: Dayton Audio UMM-6 USB (Calibrated)

I did three (3) sweeps. System Volume was set at 20, EQ was Flat, Fade Centered and Surround Off.





The Mic was placed at the driver’s headrest for all measurements.





I measured from 20Hz to 20kHz three (3) times and then averaged those sweeps for consistency and then smoothed the average to 1/24 to make it a little more pleasing to the eye.





Here is another graph of the same above settings but the front and rears measured separately. The Green is the Fronts, The Blue, Rears. You can definitely see a large volume difference when sitting in the driver’s seat.





It looks pretty good from a flat perspective but a picture from 20Hz to 20kHz can be very deceiving. Below is the “big” picture.




30Hz to 80Hz isn’t bad, only a 7dB variance but then there is a 18dB drop at 105 +/- Hz from an aggressive crossover slope I assume. Mid-Bass is pretty beefy up to 300Hz and then the system stays somewhat balanced from 400Hz to 6kHz. 6kHz to 10kHz has a 5dB decrease which isn’t too bad but then at 10kHz to 20kHz it has a pretty aggressive 20dB drop off.

So, there you have it. A visual representation to what your ears are hearing with the Alpine System. After seeing this, I can understand why people are changing out their dash speakers, better sensitivity to increase the 6k and up range. We do however have that all powerful 3 range EQ, LOL but if you increase your Mid to make the music height to your liking and then adjust Treble to please your ears you should find a nice spot, I know it sounds pretty good to my ears with just +3 on the EQ. I did not however make any measurements with where I like my EQ, sound is a very individual thing and seeing a graph based off of my settings won’t tell me anything my ears already know.

Just a quick note: While I show “Surround Off” on some graphics, the measurements did not make a difference with surround on or off. I assumed they would not as these are just sweep measurement sounds.

If you have any questions about specific frequency ranges, let me know, I can pull up the measurements and get some numbers if you need them. I'm not a total REW geek as it can get pretty complex but I've enjoyed using it in the past to find natural crossover points and help me EQ my DSP(s) on former builds.

 

[Wakesnowb]

This is excellent. Admittedly I do not understand a lick of it but I love the analysis and end conclusions. Would be pretty cool to see it on the Harmon systems also. Thanks for posting.

 

[Helmetface]

I've been waiting for some REW data!

Sadly, I've been out of the loop for a while, so I have some relearning to do.

I came into this truck not expecting much tbh. My last truck had a 3 way active system where I gutted everything built it from the floor up. Having a Mosconi 6to8V8 at the center of it all.

That said, I actually like my Alpine set up. I am going to experiment with upgraded dash speakers (Infinity's in route) and I'm going to do something to the sub (like wrap and stuff). But otherwise, it is totally not a bad factory system.

Thanks again for your analysis.

 

[troutspinner]

I've been waiting for some REW data!

Sadly, I've been out of the loop for a while, so I have some relearning to do.

I came into this truck not expecting much tbh. My last truck had a 3 way active system where I gutted everything built it from the floor up. Having a Mosconi 6to8V8 at the center of it all.

That said, I actually like my Alpine set up. I am going to experiment with upgraded dash speakers (Infinity's in route) and I'm going to do something to the sub (like wrap and stuff). But otherwise, it is totally not a bad factory system.

Thanks again for your analysis.

In my 14 Ram, I installed a 10 speaker system, all speakers DSP controlled (except 2 10" subs) and all speakers had their own amp channel. Tuning by ear can be a nightmare so I learned REW for PEQ corrections and crossovers. That system sounded amazing after I was done with it. That was actually one of the things holding me back from buying a 19 lol.

I do agree though, the Alpine System does sound pretty nice. It's not the 1200 watts I had before but it's enough to keep me happy at this point of the game.

 

[Helmetface]

In my 14 Ram, I installed a 10 speaker system, all speakers DSP controlled (except 2 10" subs) and all speakers had their own amp channel. Tuning by ear can be a nightmare so I learned REW for PEQ corrections and crossovers. That system sounded amazing after I was done with it. That was actually one of the things holding me back from buying a 19 lol.

I do agree though, the Alpine System does sound pretty nice. It's not the 1200 watts I had before but it's enough to keep me happy at this point of the game.

Exactly. I destroyed that trucks interior with custom pods and mounts. I'm just busy for that kind of project. Sound damping throughout.

I had two 4 channel 900w amps for just the front sound stage and 650w for the 10's in the rear.

Glad that truck had two batteries from the factory!

 

[Lize]

Very good, although I can't say as I really understand it, it does visually match the settings changes I made so maybe I'm not tone deaf!

I added more middle and a nudge of extra bass and heightened the treble plus set the rear volume to be much higher than the front as I felt I couldn't really hear that at all.
When I was showing my friends the truck they sat in the front and I got in the back and I discovered how loud I had set it, couldn't hear anything they were saying!

I'm sure others will find it very useful if they are thinking of changing speakers.

 

[riccnick]

Sweet

 

[ErikNJ]

This is great. It’s not my aging ears that think the top end is lacking in this system. Every time I listen, I wonder where the top octave went.

 

[revolutionz]

I need to do this in my HK system. It needs something, but I can't quite tell what. I wish it had an "advanced" option for the DSP so I could fix the damn imaging, it's not great. Still probably one of the best factory sound systems I've heard so far though. Would also like a drop in replacement sub that's more sensitive so I can get a few more db out of it when I want to relive my high school glory days

 

[Neokane]

Wow, nice work. Definitely need a comparison to the 19 HK.

 

[Hackmunch]

exactly why the alpine setup needs tweeters.