Alpine recently slid the cover off many new products at the ongoing CES. Marking their presence in the in-vehicle audio category, these new devices should excite users who love living it up in the fast lane. The products include the INA-W900 Audio/Video/Navigation system, iDA-X305S digital media receiver with Pandora link, SWR-T10 and SWR-T12 Type-R thin subwoofers, PDX amplifiers, CDA-118M waterproof 1.8-DIN marine head unit and the CDA-118M waterproof 1.8-DIN marine head unit.
The INA-W900 is claimed to be a versatile all-in-one media center offering easy touch-screen control over the users’ in-vehicle digital media sources along with built-in navigation and driver assist products. Showing off an easy-to-use interface in the 7-inch WVGA touch screen, logical hard buttons are also onboard. Users are assured high-quality audio courtesy the Burr-Brown 24 Bit DAC. It supports many navigation features as well like turn-by-turn driving instructions, six million unique POIs and a Guide View Window.
The iDA-X305S is supposedly the company’s premier digital media receiver that offers direct control over the iPhone Pandora App. Users simply need to connect the iPhone to the iDA-X305S via the USB connection to play Pandora stations from their Pandora account in the iPhone app. Users also have a choice of keeping or discarding new songs suggested by Pandora.
Next, the SWR-T10 and SWR-T12 Type-R thin subwoofers distinctly blend in superior performance of a high-end subwoofer with the installation flexibility of a shallow-mount subwoofer. While the SWR-T10 10-inch sub has small enclosure requirements and mounting depths of 3.25-inches, the SWR-T12 12-inch sub has depths of 3.5-inches. These subs should suit tight space applications like pickup trucks, small cars and door panel. Sporting an advanced motor and suspension design, these subs are capable of producing high x-max (>15mm) for the thin sub category.
Alpine’s second generation PDX power density digital amplifiers are next in the pipeline. They claim to offer superior power and sound quality in a small yet efficient and elegant package. Two mono amps namely the PDX-M12 and PDX-M6 as well as two 4-channel amps mainly the PDX-F6 and PDX-F4 are the PDX models included. Thinner by 20% than the first generation models, they include a new stacking system that lowers the space between the amps for a more compact set-up. Users are provided with high-sound quality with distortion levels nearly less than 0.01%, high damping factors over 1,000 for mono models and over 500 for the 4-channel models, low noise greater than 110dB at full rated power and extremely wide bandwidth flat from 5Hz-50kHz for full range models.
Enabling the integration of virtually all digital media sources, the CDA-118M is a fully waterproof marine head unit. Boasting of a simple, easy to use interface, it is treated for UV and salt/fog exposure. Having a NEMA rating of iPx5, it withstands water intrusion. Users can look forward to different volume levels inside versus outside the cabin courtesy the multi-zone volume control. Other features of the unit include direct source buttons, a large LCD display and a rotary encoder knob allow for easy control of the audio sources. This includes popular sources like iPod and satellite radio for boating. Users can easily upgrade to it from existing marine head units with its common 1.8-DIN size.
The Alpine system integration audio processor PXE-H660 marked its presence in the in-vehicle control/OEM integration category. Using the company’s latest Imprint sound tuning technology, the processor enables aftermarket components to be easily added to complex OEM head units without requiring any change in the functionality of the system. The processor has the ability to accept the OEM system’s input, remove the factory equalization, apply Imprint automatic sound tuning and then output the RCA signals to the aftermarket audio components. The best part is that this entire automated sound tuning process should only take five minutes.
As of now there is no word on the price or availability of these products.
