Alpine SBE-1243BR
A slot ported or bass reflex subwoofer enclosure fitted with a 12 inch Type-E Alpine subwoofer and internal blue LED lighting. It has a vertical front with the woofer mounted in it and a sloped back. The enclosure is covered neatly in grey carpeting and features an ‘L’ shaped window of clear plastic on the side and top surfaces with the Alpine logo decal upon it. This has a tinted edge finishing in dots to blur the edge of the illumination, a bit like the strip at the top of so many cars’ screens. The internal surfaces are finished in a speckle paint with reflective pale dots and the back bears two sets of connections. These are a 12V screw fitting (+ & -) and a set of binding posts that can take banana plugs from the amplifier’s output.
The carton it comes in has a pair of bent-ended steel bars with black crackle powder coating packed separately that fit across the front of the box into two plastic receptacles each. These form a simple two-bar grille or protector to keep large objects like suitcases from damaging the woofer. The carpet and the surface of the plastic window are perfectly matched to be one continuous surface without any ‘step’. The woofer also has a decal on the top of the magnet with the words ‘800w Peak’ on it.
– Loaded with SWE-1243E subwoofer driver
– Frequency response: 28Hz to 1kHz
– Power Handling: 250w RMS (800w max)
– Drenched Long-Fibre Pulp, two-piece parabolic Polypropylene Reinforced cone
– Titanium powder coated pressed steel chassis
– Dual layer two inch diameter voice coil with ASV former
– Y-30 HQ Strontium magnet
– Acrylic window on top and side
– Blue LED (6) illumination
– Dual protective bars act as grille
– Gun-Metal finish 5-Way binding post terminals with lock-nuts
– Woofer mounting depth 172mm
– Efficiency: 90dB 1w/1M
– Fms: 28Hz
– Qes: 0.43
– Qms: 3.27
– Qts: 0.38
– Vas: 75 Litres
Review by Adam Rayner
The funny thing is, this box was fated to be reviewed. I had asked initially for the bandpass version to see how the Alpine guys had managed to balance the stick upon their nose that is designing such things but it failed to arrive and ended up back at Alpine. Then it got ordered again and yet the Bass Reflex or ported or BR rather than BP version was sent!
However, in the real world, a louder item is generally the bigger seller and so reviewing the ported box is far more likely to resonate with readers than the tweaky-deaky bandpasser. The design is a classic, as seen in rows on the front of the Alpine truck for ruddy years and for those who are proper ancient, the same designs that were used in Glasford Daly’s Range Rover back in the days when he got a back page in the Sunday papers colour supplement! He was so sweet, converted from boom to SQ and admitted he was listening to crescendoic classical music.
But none of that here! I used an amplifier called the Vibe LiteBox Bass1 which is a class GH device intended to offer the sound quality of a classic Class AB design but with the enhanced efficiency of a class D. What it means is a fairly low signal to noise ratio but bags of clean power.
I tested the sub box with this amplifier and used a mad bass CD to do it. I also plugged in the lighting but to the Daiwa power supply, with the Odyssey PC925 battery left to drive the amp and the Pioneer P88RSII headunit now used to test things.
In the end, I was cranking the ruddy hell out of the amplifier and it sent a really fat slice of deep dropping lows to the box which loved it. The port design is a deep breather and allows huge amounts of air to move without causing any turbulence that results in audible chuffing sounds. It has a really wide passband and you cannot easily tell what frequency the box is tuned to as it drops so well and so deep. The suspension is well wobbly and the woofer could easily be used for one of those mad www.realmofexcursion.com subwoofer porn videos of speaker cones going in and out!
As it happened I had Atsu from Alpine to visit while it was still hooked up, so I gave him a blast and while he would of course have preferred it if I had used one of his own amps (but is far too polite to have said so) he grinned broadly as he heard what it could do.
For more than perhaps any big Japanese electronics company bar Pioneer, Alpine are deadly serious about making quality speakers and despite the whole package and bling being around a hundred quid all in, you do get a lot for the money. It doesn’t have the mad taut crispness of the Morel Ultimo, or even the madness of the RE Audio RE 12D4 tested recently but what it does have is huge output with a genuine ability to track the bass melody rather than merely boomp away at around the same note.
I loved the looks and the delicate blue lighting that the six LEDs within offer up. The item will look good in a boot and will easily make enough bass to fill a hatchback or even a saloon. A real air shifter with looks and performance for the money and easily scores enough to earn a Talk Audio Recommended flag.
Sound Quality 8.0
Build Quality 10.0
Power Handling 9.0
Efficiency 8.0
Value For Money 10.0
Overall rating 9.0 