Fairly clean sound at medium volume. Handy 5 channel amp. PRICE!

That's 100 watts to that sub channel? I DON'T THINK SO! Gets HOT easily.

I paid $290. for this amp. so...I really shouldn't be giving it a bad rap. BUT, has Alpine quality gone downhill? I purchased this amp based on my experience with my other Alpine v-12 amp I have had in my truck for the last 7 years...They have the same RATED power, but this new amp. just doen't have the uumph! that my old one has. I can't live with amp. any longer, I'm sure glad I didn't pay more for it...
I would NOT recommend this amplifier (unless you listen to your music at a reasonable volume, and smoke a pinner subwoofer)

Similar Products Used:

Alpine v-12 4x40

-Awesome bass punching power!
-Rich, deep bass
-Ear piercing highs

-Be prepared to have a higher powering alternator

I have used both of these amps for 4 1/2 years now and have them in 3 different cars now. They are still going strong and they look great! You can't go wrong with this purchase!

Similar Products Used:

Nothing compares to it!

Outstanding amp. Awesome sound. 5 channel amp does it all.

None found, and none expected.

Installed this amp with an Alpine CDA-7863 head unit, Polk 693A 6x9 rear speakers and Polk EX 2560 component speakers (6 1/2 mids in the door and silk/polymer dome tweeters in the dash), and a Sony Xplode Mobile ES 10" sub. Used all Monster cables and wiring for the install in my 2000 Honda Accord EX V6 Coupe. Oh baby, does this system sound great!!! The best sounding system I have heard, regardless of price. I did alot of homework on the net and in magazines/car audio shops, etc. before I bought anything. Every review and discussion I had about this amp was positive. I was very particular in my choice of equipment. I was looking for clean, powerful, full sound, without knocking down walls or impressing anyone else with my "volume". My interest was in getting the best equipment I could at the cheapest prices (my idea of value), and I was not in a hurry. Also, I had the system professionally installed by certified technicians (no sense buying good equipment and screwing it up by going cheap on the install). Wow, I could not be happier with the outcome. The clarity of the sound and imaging is actually beyond my expectations.

I am very pleased with both the amp and the head unit I selected. This is my first experience with Alpine, and all the positives I have read in reviews like this one were well deserved. If you are looking for a 5 channel amp with excellent quality and power, stick with the 357 (stay away from the 356).

Many thanks to all those who wrote reviews I relied on to obtain my current equipment.

Similar Products Used:

None

-Great power(300 watts peak power at 2ohms)
-Small footprint
-Doesn't kill you battery

none

This amp is a good quality amp. I've had it for almost a year now and I have had no problems with it. It has a very small footprint so you can mount it anywhere. I have it pushing 2 10" Alpine SWS subwoofers in a bandpass box in my '91 4Runner and it can bump pretty hard. I would recommend this amp to anyone who wants to have a great amp powering their subs.

Similar Products Used:

This is my first amp I've bought

good clean bass and looks good

gets hot even though at 4ohms

good amp. powered 10 JL w3 alright but needed for power now have 5001 JL amp glad I changed.

Similar Products Used:

trade in Alpine for JL 5001

great power, sweet sound. Same high quality i've come to expect from Alpine. Fairly good cross-overs, could be better for the price

I dont remember Apline stating "that it could also be used as a portable FRYING PAN"!!!!! this thing heats up like a little B*tch and shuts down, the worse conceivable heat sinks i have ever seen in my life, i dont know how Alpine let this products out the door in this form. What a waste of a great product, i cant even use it, it just shuts down after 10mins of play...AND ITS NOT EVEN PLAYING IT HARD!! i have completly fried the insides of it, warranty covered it.

could be such a good product but if only the heat sinks were worth a damn

Similar Products Used:

Kenwood excelon-amazing cooling fans, can over heat this sucked...and believe me, i tried

Very Responsive, provides good tight bass, good frequency cross over on the amp, great power, not a drainer on the battery, who wouldn't want an amp that can perform at 1OHM stable????

none, except that the peak power of 300W wasn't its RMS

I am running a 12" PPI Flat Piston Pro with this amp and I couldn't believe it. I figured that it would give sloppy bass because of its low RMS rating, but that was a brutal judgement. This amp has enough juice to even out pound my buddies system who has two 12" JL's. As well, the tight bass and the clearness of it is wild. All in all it is very responsive, if you don't need all that power in the world, a definite buy. Very clean bass, play with the crossover and gain and you can make any system sound superb/

Similar Products Used:

none, blew away others in price range

awesome sound without a doubt, and a fair amount of ease regarding its use.

none that i can see yet.

i spent a month looking for the amp i wanted. I was trying to find a great deal, but i couldn't come up with anything that i preferred. Sound Idea told me to try this amp because it would blow me away. It powers a Rockford/Fos FE 10" and a Pioneer 350W 10"... WOW. this monlaural sub-amp just kills it. super clean and smooth, it's what i'd expect from Alpine. When Alpine says theyre giving you 200 watts, they're definitely giving you 200 watts.

-Good Power
-Good Features
-Great Price

Too Large!

First of all I'd like to say that in my opinion, this amp is as good as I've heard for the money. It has plenty of power to run any combination of subs- and has a good clean sound with little distortion.

As far as what it'll push- mine is hooked up to four 8" RF HX2s, and they sound sweet. I recently hooked up another system with a 1507 to four 10" RF HX2s in a 6th order enclosure. That system was sick. The amp pushed those three speakers without a hint of running out of juice.

It will get hot if it is run under 4 ohms bridged. To set the record straight- I spoke to an Alpine tech rep about the amp. He said it is 4 ohm stable bridged, and 2 ohm stable stereo. Mine did heat up when I tried running it at a ~3 ohm load bridged. It never shut off, but it did get a little toasty. So make sure you use an appropriate impedance load on the amp and you shouldn't have any problems.

Similar Products Used:

Rockford, Xtant, Kicker, HiFonics

Excellent amp! Clean, strong signal. It is everything I hoped it would be.

None that I have found

I had been looking for a 5 channel amp that would power 4 speakers and a sub. Over the years I have used a couple of different amps and none of them really put out the sound that I was looking for. When I installed my new 357, I was blown away by the difference. The highs and mids are exceptionally clear and the sub now hits stronger than ever. I am completely satisfied by the purchase. Some other reviews have stated that their 357 was running a bit warm and that the 5th channel was just not enough to run their subs. I have not found any of these problems with the MRV-357. In fact, I am sold on the V12 series. VERY IMPRESSIVE.

Similar Products Used:

Coustic 4 channel, Precision Power 4 channel.