Alpine Electronics 4 Channel Amplifier

I bought this amp for my vintage VW campervan, which is so noisy, that you couldn't hear the 4x20W stereo above 40 mph! I did quite a bit of research and was quite pleased to find proper RMS power figures stated for this amp. However, you would only get the quoted 70W per channel if you have 2 Ohm speakers. These are very rare!. Most car speakers are at least 4 Ohm, which reduces the power to 50W per channel (according to the specifications). My speakers are 8 Ohm (probably the most common) so theoretically, this will reduce the continuous power output to only about 30W per channel (120W total). This looks much less impressive than the stated "Max 600W" total, doesn't it? But all amplifier manufacturers use these potentially misleading figures, especially "maximum power". Nevertheless, the RMS output is the only one that really means anything useful. Maximum power is nonsense, since no amplifier can sustain this for more than a few moments.However, we shouldn't get to hung up on the numbers. Even with 8 Ohm speakers, its very loud inside a car! Even in my noisy van, its got quite a bit of power to spare.A lot depends on the speakers too. Use speakers that are rated (RMS rating) just a little higher than the amp and it will be fine. You could blow underpowered speakers. Overpowered speakers will be less efficient and therefore sound quieter.The amp is really solidly made. Its going to dissipate a lot of heat, so needs to be well designed. Also it needs to be somewhere where there's plenty of room for the heat to get away.The connections are of good quality and well labelled. Inputs on one end, outputs on the other. No wiring is supplied, but this is sensible, because it depends very much on the circumstances. The instructions give useful advice on wiring, but the main thing is to to use a heavy enough gauge of wiring for the power. Get advice if you are not sure. This thing could be drawing 30 amps or more, if you crank it up! It should have its own fused supply, straight from the battery, not the fuse box, and not tapped off anything else. Don't use Scotch-loks etc., they can get hot with this kind of load.There are separate high and low pass filters on each pair of channels (ie front/rear). The rear also has Bass Eq if you want to use a Sub-woofer arrangement. These can all be left switched off, if you are just using it as a booster amp (like me). Your head unit will still control the volume and Eq as normal.A useful feature is independent gain control for front and rear. This means you can balance the sound properly between front and rear if your speakers are not all the same, eg. larger speakers in the rear.Also you can limit the power output, if your speakers are a little under-rated. That way you won't blow them up by mistake. As per the instructions, turn up the head unit volume to max, then gradually turn up the gain, till you start to hear a little distortion, or your ears bleed. Probably best to back it off a bit at this point.Installation was quite straightforward, I has no suppression issues, even in an old vehicle.The unit may be bigger than you expect, so read the dimensions, and don't forget there will be cables to route out of each end.Thoroughly recommended!

One of my old Amps from another company went faulty, the system always sounded lower quality than I would like, I even tried buying another head unit but I never sorted it.As soon as I fitted this it was apparent the sound quality problem was my old Amp (differant make).The sound is cristal clear and higher fidelity with this Amp, I am very pleased with it.I may replace sub & bass Amps as well.

I've been using the Alpine BBX-F1200 amp for 5 months now, and I'm very happy with it. It's a great amp for the price, and it's been very reliable.I'm using it to power my four door speakers Alpine S-S65 coaxials in the rear doors with the components in the front doors, and it's made a huge difference in the sound quality of my car stereo. The speakers sound much clearer and louder, and I can really hear the difference in the bass response.The amp is also very easy to install. It comes with all the necessary mounting hardware, and it only took me about 30 minutes to install it in my car.Overall, I'm very happy with the Alpine BBX-F1200 amp. It's a great amp for the price, and it's been very reliable. I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a new car audio amp.Here are some of the pros and cons of the Alpine BBX-F1200 amp:Pros:Great sound qualityPowerfulReliableEasy to installAffordableCons:Can be a bit bulkyNot as powerful as some other amps in its classOverall, the Alpine BBX-F1200 amp is a great choice for anyone looking for a powerful, reliable, and affordable car audio amp.

All good so far, easy to wire up, no problems.

Having had a massive car sound system alteration - then I wanted to add two more speakers (3 way speaker pair) in a custom made back train/console. This needed an amplifier and I'd heard of Alpine. It powers the speakers solely and frankly, the sound quality is superb. The ease of install is 'as normal amplifiers' and I put it in the boot, secured with two bits of sticky backed velcro. Be warned, the item feels top notch and has a quality finish, but has NO wires in the package. So I had to buy a Vibe amplifier wiring kit (about £30). It's 600watts and although I don't crank it up 'rude boy' style, I like to know there's power wriggle-room and there's a lot of tinkering with settings that can be done, though my head unit is sophisticated enough to cope with the whole system rather than tweak individual components - it seemed great value for money compared to others offering roughly the same for £20/30 more. Overall, still early to say but it's evened out the system and seems to be quite the full package save the wiring. It's low profile but surprisingly wide. Quality product for the £95 I paid.

Very good quality amp great sound replication high notes and lows all nice Alpine quality would buy more of these amps at Amazon price.

Great value

As always lovely amplifier, alpine never fail to impress