Finally had my system tuned by Ajay.
First impressions:
**Please keep in mind that the equipment has had only about 4-5 hours of play time, hence the experience will change over a period of time.**
The Components: The Alpines have made it a daily habit to surprise me every single time I listen to them. Every hour, they are changing in the quality (and quantity) of sound (read: improving).
The HEAVILY damped door are acting like good houses for the Alpine Midbasses that have been fitted WITHOUT any cutting or chiseling of metal/plastic. This, alongwith the flush fitting 5 by 7 adaptor provides a TIGHT, firm base for the speakers to rest on, and kick hard. Every time I start my journey, I appreciate the finesse and speed with which the Alpine Mids are kicking. There is NO issue with the small grille (speaker openings in the doors) and from my (puny) listening abilities, I can vouch for the fact that frequencies are not being suppressed as such.
The bass from the woofers (in the doors) is articulate, tight and the instant feeling of a 'kick' is observed. I never knew Alpine speakers would make me so happy. The woofers are considered as the 'weak link' of the set internationally, and I don't know why. I would say they are AS competent as the tweeters (ring radiators).
NOW, coming to the tweeters. They are the talking point on all international forums. From their reviews, I learnt (before buying the set) that the tweeters are 'open' sounding and very airy. Detailing is immaculate and the tweeter can go HIGH (without a semblance of harshness) and LOW (really low sometimes; scary low even, sometimes)
Liveliness is it's forte and as has been said a million times before, I am able to perceive instruments that I never knew, existed. Even in songs like Hotel California, which I can say, I have officially heard the most number of times, the tweeters have been churning out magic. Note by note. The passenger side tweeter has been placed on axis for me, and the driver side tweeter faces the passenger.
There is ONE MORE super thing that I want to speak about, and that is the imaging. I know it's the head unit, and the fact that I have rambled about it before, but I would like to add to that by saying that the (relatively) higher position of the woofers in the doors and the high placement of the tweeters on the dash have done wonders to the soundstage. The sound is NOW emanating from the center of the bonnet (something many people love to have). For me, it's new, and it's an eerie feeling as it feels that the performer of the music is performing just in front of me (slightly to the left, as I like it)
The bass from the mids is SO well centred that it gives one goosebumps sometimes. The imaging is really spot on this time, and I would like to thank Ford (and of course, Eclipse) for that ;-)
You'll must be surprised that I have only spoken about the front stage.
I have the sub stage in mind, but will comment on it ONLY when the rear speakers are removed from the shelf. They were stifling the bass from the sub (which incidentally is kicking SOSOOOOOSO hard that the shelf is going to vibrate to it's death if there is no airspace made for the air below it (to come into the cabin). Even then, the subwoofer feels like it's playing from the centre console and that is PARAMOUNT.
Initial review in a sentence:
The system sounds composed, detailed and punchy at any given volume.
BUT, we still have a lot of burning in to do (hence more performance to extract out of the equipment). So stay tuned for more information.
****Special mention must be made about Noisekill. The damping is very very effective and I want to make a point here. If ever anyone wants to upgrade their system, the first set of upgrades must ALWAYS include generous amounts of damping. It goes a long way in ensuring that the speakers are belting out music the way they are supposed to, and not impeded/accompanied by the symphony of cheap, vibrating plastic.
Comments and suggestions are welcome. Cheers! |