New Alpine Europe Demo Car: Superb Peugeot RCZ
This just in from Alpine Europe. They have had a fabulous new demo car created in a sexy wee Pug RCZ sporty item and it is based around six dual voice coil eights and a single set of high quality but actively driven front component speakers. The release we have was high on brevity and low on fabrication detail but here it is, entitled, ‘Power meets Passion’ It is a simply beautiful install and I know that Alpine UK are keen to get it over here for Expo come the spring and we can do some more in-depth stuff on it.. but for now, love this car!
After we have all seen enough stainless steel, aluminum and carbon in car design. The Alpine installer Team headed by Manfred Stengl (at Alpine Europe, Ed) turned to a material which has been in cars since day one, just not as a design element: copper.
The combination of glossy black and copper is both appealing and classy. Changing the OZ Ultraleggera HLT rims from their original design was one of the challenges, the aluminum arches which outline the distinctive twin bubble roof were another. When it all came together in the end, it was certainly worth the effort.
How many subwoofers can you get into a sports coupé? How many would you expect? Two, three, four? Think again. Half a dozen SWR-843 woofers made it into the latest Alpine Demo Car. Driving them with a single powerhouse does the trick. The new MRX-M240 provides plenty of power, a maximum of 4.4kW to the six-pack of woofers.
The front system is composed of a set of SPR-60C speakers in active configuration. The driving force behind the speakers is the new MRX-F65 four channel amplifier.
Several tweaks needed to be done in order to achieve a linear frequency response as well as perfect front staging. If you think an audio processor was needed, you will be surprised. All alignments were done with the built in digital signal processor of the ICS-X8.
If you thought the ICS-X8 App Link Station is just a nice gadget for people with MirrorLink enabled phones, you will be surprised. It is Alpine’s state of the art A/V receiver. Not only DVD playback, USB video playback, iPod/ iPhone controls and MirrorLink are part of its feature set; but also a Bass Engine Pro, allowing the audiophile user to chose from time alignment, nine-band parametric equalizer, MediaXpander, Crossover and 4V pre outs.
In the trunk copper frames and plates give the whole install a very unique character. Using white LED light in the right places make the components seem to hover. Not only the amplifiers seem kind of light, the massive subwoofer enclosure is rather deceiving. You won’t be able to tell the number of subs from the trunk.
The copper elements emphasise the installed products in a very nice way. The copper rings which surround the speakers and the piano black surfaces around the copper rings try to outshine each other.
Driving the car is a lot of fun by itself. Adding your favourite soundtrack to it makes you want to keep driving forever.
To make sure the sporty RCZ handles the additional load, KW automotive supported the Alpine installer team with a coil over kit VARIANT 2 suspension. To make sure the lion stays on the road, Pirelli P Zero 235/35R20 sized rubber provide the needed traction and control.
One of the most appealing sports coupés gives home to an audio system which provides sheer fun and pleasure.
And check out all seventeen images we were sent by Alpine Europe, right here in a pretty Talk Audio gallery slideshowsing the Vision-On Song.
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Here is the layout of the system. Very clever, very Alpine and with ACTIVE front speakers NOM!