alpine vs infinity?

[chrisl311]

hey all i was hoping to find my answer on the old forums, but came across nothing. i was hoping someone with experience with these brands can make any comments on them, because i was considering their component setups. really, its down to the type r or the kappa's. the kappa's are more expensive, but im not sure if they are worth it since im trying to keep the cost down. also, if anyone has anything for sale let me know, ill be needing a 4 channel amp, too. thanks in advance.

[99SEsport2K4]

Kappas > Type R's....trust me. I just put in 4 Kappa 682.7cf's in my doors. The bass is more tight rather than booming and deep but the clarity is amazing. They come with tweeters that rotate 270 degrees and crossovers as well. The power handling is 100 watts rms and 300 peak at 2 ohms. I got them through a friend at Best Buy, so I paid about 40% of retail. My deck only has 25 watts rms/50 peak so as soon as I save up some more money I'm adding a 6 channel Inifinity amp and a sub. My buddy has Alpine type R 6.5's and 6x9's in his Sonoma. I heard them before being amped and after. Unamped vs unamped the Infinity's sound wayyyyyyyy better and would still blow away the Alpine's once amped.

my .02

[SVTJON87]

i have kappa comps in the front and daul rang kappas in the rear. there great!!

[CarpePoon]

Any speaker you put into a contour is going to have "tight" rather than "deep" bass because the doors of the contour flat out SUCK for SQ. This is why so many people here use rear-deck subs. Not so you can go boom boom, but just to fill in what the contour lacks compared to most vehicles.
Also if you look at your speaker through the speaker grill of your door you'll notice that Ford did as good of a job lining up the opening to the speaker as Dick Cheney does lining up a quail shot. Half of your speaker is firing right into the door panel. Which is why alot of us here have gone to a component setup with a seperate tweeter. Any speaker will make a nice improvement over stock. But Alpine vs Infinity really won't matter to much on this platform.

[CEM Rider]

Alpine- Great HU and amps -electronics
Infinity-Great speakers -acoustics
I would go Kappa>Type R's

[chrisl311]

ok i appreciate the feedback. i was originally planning on the refrence's becasue they are 108, but the apline r's are 118, i can put an extra 10 in but the kappa's are 158 so im not sure i want to do 50 more than reference's, so do you think the reference's would still be better than the r's?

[SVT3Rivieres]

got 4 kappa's 6X8 on a eclipse EA4000 and its a really thigh and crispy sound and i love them

[CEM Rider]

The REF series 6x8 have very good highs but their lows absolutly suck so I would spend the extra 50 and get the kappas, ir pick the type r's over them

[chrisl311]

ok thats good to know, ill probably do the type r's for the price. i appreciate the feedback.

[CarpePoon]

Alpine- Great HU and amps -electronics
Infinity-Great speakers -acoustics
I would go Kappa>Type R's

You obviously shop at best buy and circuit city and have never heard a pair of Alpine Type X's or F1's Keep in mind that Infiniti has the Reference Kappa and Pefect while Alpine has Type E, R, X and F1 Even though you'll only see 2 in stores.

[chrisl311]

^ agreed, those f1's look bad, but its all about how much you spend. from reviews though, comparing speakers in this price range, i would say the reviews favor the infinities.

[SVT3Rivieres]

i still prefer my kappa to my old type-r... but type-x is something else.. they do make f1 6X8 ??

[CarpePoon]

they do make f1 6X8 ?? 2 ways and 3 way components only.

[CEM Rider]

You obviously shop at best buy and circuit city and have never heard a pair of Alpine Type X's or F1's Keep in mind that Infiniti has the Reference Kappa and Pefect while Alpine has Type E, R, X and F1 Even though you'll only see 2 in stores.
I was saying for his price range trying to keep it post oriented

[PurpleMystique]

Shop around!! I got my Kappa 682.7cf's for $87 shipped brand new off eBay, they're amazing.
Here's another pair for $92 from the same seller:
http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?sofocus=bs&sbrftog=1&from=R10&satitle=682.7cf&sacat=-1%26catref%3DC6&bs=Search&sadis=200&fpos=50010&ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saprclo=&saprchi=&seller=1&sass=maxitronics&fsop=1%26fsoo%3D1

[chrisl311]

^^yea,,, i appreciate the effort, but i was only talking about component speakers.

[SVT3Rivieres]

anybody tried the 6x8 kappa component ?

[Pete D]

I have the Infinity reference 6x8 components and I like them a lot. I couldn't see spending much more money, unless I was going to invest a lot of time in reducing the background noise (this is in my Escape, so a little louder than a contour would be). I didn't like the Kappa's because the CMMD tweeter is too bright (IMO), even with the EQ adjusted.

I don't think Alpine speakers (and subs for that matter) are anything to write home about. Are they bad? No, but I think in the same price the Infinity's are better.

[chrisl311]

good info pete, im glad to see the reference speakers backed up because thats what im leaning towards.

[99SEsport2K4]

good info pete, im glad to see the reference speakers backed up because thats what im leaning towards.

Skip going out to dinner a few times and spend a little more. Your ears will thank you :) If you get the Kappas, they really really need to be amped to make the most out of their capabilities.

[chrisl311]

right on, i already picked up an amp, but im also in prospect for a 3l too, so i already skipped dinner, the movie, and the motel room.

[CEM Rider]

I understand that ur trying to save money but to already have the amp and to go with infinity referance would be a mistake. Spend the extra fifty and go kappa you will be much happier.

[PurpleMystique]

Skip going out to dinner a few times and spend a little more. Your ears will thank you :) If you get the Kappas, they really really need to be amped to make the most out of their capabilities.

Definitely. I ran the Kappas off the HU for a day or two before my amp came in, and they were terrible. Powered from the amp, they are amazing!

[CEM Rider]

Definitely. I ran the Kappas off the HU for a day or two before my amp came in, and they were terrible. Powered from the amp, they are amazing!
Thats because for the price kappas are amazing
So have you picked n e thing yet?

[chrisl311]

no i really like the price of the references, but since im getting conflicting opinions, ill wait til i see one favored or another.

[Honkeytonk Monkey]

I like that chunky stew stuff, you know the really good **** with big veggie chunks and get stuck in your teeth pieces of beef. Man that stuff is so tasty I get an erection from eating it.

[elcontouro]

hey honkeytonkmonkey do you ever pour a can on your girlfriend and lick it off her?

[chrisl311]

what the hell...

[CEM Rider]

chris have you gone to a store with UR music and listened to diffrent speakers with an unbaised opinion?

[Pete D]

Definitely. I ran the Kappas off the HU for a day or two before my amp came in, and they were terrible. Powered from the amp, they are amazing!

How loud did you have them turned up? I am running my Reference components (up front, ref coaxials in the rear) and only when I get to the point that I am taxing the HU (pretty f'in loud) do they start to pick up distortion.

I suppose it depends on what you want out of the speakers. To me the Kappa's were more money and the highs weren't as natural, a good reason for me to not get them. But if you want to drive around with the music as loud as possible with less of an emphasis on SQ or accuracy they might fit the bill.

[chrisl311]

i havent, if was the chris you were referring to. i dont think it would help because unless it was in a contour it wouldnt be an accurate depiction.

[99SEsport2K4]

Definitely. I ran the Kappas off the HU for a day or two before my amp came in, and they were terrible. Powered from the amp, they are amazing!

I would say nowhere near terrible off the HU. Maybe your HU doesnt kick out a lot of power. Mine sound great for being unamped. I rotated the ring around my tweeters to give the highs a 3dB boost. When I play Money by Pink Floyd, it feels like I am there live. The clarity is just mind blowing. Since I have installed them, I have slowly been able to run a higher volume before they begin to distort. They do distort due to the lack of an amp, but like someone said earlier, its not till you have it at around 80% or more of the deck's full volume. Money well spent.

[PurpleMystique]

I thought they sounded terrible because the lower frequencies were way off...they were totally different from the Kenwood 5x7s I had up there. After I amp-ed them and turned on the high pass filter, everything was much better. It wasn't distortion, it was just bad frequencies, even though the included crossover.
I chose not to do the +3db on the tweeter, but should I? I recently turned the bass boost off the sub channels on my amp, and I'm able to absolutely crank it now, I think it's quite amazing. What are the advantages?

[dn9979]

i just switched out all my audio to alpine,I purchased the type s 5x7 and im very please,no distortion and lots of bass.Im running a older alpine
mrv-f357 5 channel for everything.

[99SEsport2K4]

I chose not to do the +3db on the tweeter, but should I?

I would definitely say do it. If you look at the angle of where the tweeter is aimed and how the speaker sits in the door, you'll notice that the tweeter points down and away. When you turn it to +3dB it aims the tweeter up and back, more towards where you sit. It helped even better when I kicked up the treble through the deck. I've gotten a lot of compliments from how it sounds despite the lack of an amp.

[PurpleMystique]

I would definitely say do it. If you look at the angle of where the tweeter is aimed and how the speaker sits in the door, you'll notice that the tweeter points down and away. When you turn it to +3dB it aims the tweeter up and back, more towards where you sit. It helped even better when I kicked up the treble through the deck. I've gotten a lot of compliments from how it sounds despite the lack of an amp.

Well my tweeters rotate so I pointed them up towards the driver/passenger. Not as good as true components but they work. Maybe next time I pull the door panels off (seems to happen far too often) I'll switch 'em, but I'm not wasting time pulling them off just for that.