# Can I fix this sub - Alpine Type-X



## MadMaxSE-L (Oct 19, 2006)

When I was about 17, a friend of mine came across a 15" Alpine Type-X, dual 4ohm coils IIRC - the thing is huge. We built a sealed box for it that took up almost the entire back of his Probe hatchback, and powered it w/ a BOSS 4000w(what it said anyway) 4ch amp, 2ch bridged to each coil. He played it like that for a year or so, never had a problem. The surround has been fixed, but other than that it ran great. 

Last year I gave it to my brother, and he had it in a slighlty smaller box, with 1 - 1000w(again, what the amp read) DHD 2ch amp bridged to each coil - he had it for a month and blew it. Is there any way to fix it? Only reason I would bother is b/c the Type-X looks like a badass speaker, and I'd like to try and save it if at all possible.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

-Matt


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## Lightninghoof (Aug 6, 2006)

If I'm not mistaken, the Alpine Type-X is a fairly new subwoofer (debuted 2 years ago) and only comes in 10" or 12" options. First model was SWX-xx42D and the new 2007 model is SWX-xx43D. I'm not aware of there being anything called a "Type-X" subwoofer prior to these releases. Can you post pictures of this driver or link us to a spec sheet?

I have heard of people on Ebay selling 15" Alpine Type-R drivers while replacing the "Type-R" logo with "Type-X" logos and falsely selling them at a premium.


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## solacedagony (May 18, 2006)

MadMaxSE-L said:


> Last year I gave it to my brother, and he had it in a slighlty smaller box, with 1 - 1000w(again, what the amp read) DHD 2ch amp bridged to each coil - he had it for a month and blew it. Is there any way to fix it? Only reason I would bother is b/c the Type-X looks like a badass speaker, and I'd like to try and save it if at all possible.
> 
> Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.
> 
> -Matt


What "blew"? Did he burn or unravel the VC? Tear part of the suspension?

You'll probably need a recone.


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## exmaxima1 (May 31, 2007)

MadMaxSE-L said:


> When I was about 17, a friend of mine came across a 15" Alpine Type-X, dual 4ohm coils IIRC - the thing is huge.


AFAIK, the Type X has 2/2 DVC voice coil (Not 4/4). I took a few apart for a project I was consulting on, and the VC is amazing! The coils are wound on the INSIDE as well as the outside of the former. Very massive coil, weighs about 200 grams by itself, whereas most conventional coils weigh far less than 100 grams.

The motor structure has massive copper rings AND heat sink fins. It weighs over 20 lbs as well! The cone is even built of numerous molded and laminated components---total MMs on the TypeX 10-inch was well over 300 grams!!!

If you managed to fry one of those beasts, you need to look for another speaker. I doubt anyone (other than Alpine) could re-cone that thing.

Matthew


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## MadMaxSE-L (Oct 19, 2006)

Lightninghoof said:


> If I'm not mistaken, the Alpine Type-X is a fairly new subwoofer (debuted 2 years ago) and only comes in 10" or 12" options. First model was SWX-xx42D and the new 2007 model is SWX-xx43D. I'm not aware of there being anything called a "Type-X" subwoofer prior to these releases. Can you post pictures of this driver or link us to a spec sheet?
> 
> I have heard of people on Ebay selling 15" Alpine Type-R drivers while replacing the "Type-R" logo with "Type-X" logos and falsely selling them at a premium.


It may not have been that long ago, actually I may have only had it close to 2-3 years. It just looks like a whole different animal than a Type-R. I will try and get a pic when I get home. 





solacedagony said:


> What "blew"? Did he burn or unravel the VC? Tear part of the suspension?
> 
> You'll probably need a recone.


The spider looks ok, and the speaker still plays, it is just very distorted, no matter the volume. The more you turn it up, the worse it sounds. There are no burn marks that I could see anywhere either, and the tinsel's look ok...




exmaxima1 said:


> AFAIK, the Type X has 2/2 DVC voice coil (Not 4/4). I took a few apart for a project I was consulting on, and the VC is amazing! The coils are wound on the INSIDE as well as the outside of the former. Very massive coil, weighs about 200 grams by itself, whereas most conventional coils weigh far less than 100 grams.
> 
> The motor structure has massive copper rings AND heat sink fins. It weighs over 20 lbs as well! The cone is even built of numerous molded and laminated components---total MMs on the TypeX 10-inch was well over 300 grams!!!
> 
> ...


It may have 2/2 coils instead of 4/4, it has been in my garage so long I can't remember, for some reason I thought it had 4's, but then again when my bro had the 2 seperate amps hooked up toe each coil, they were 2ch bridged, so that would have made them run @ 4ohm and those amps would not have put out hardly any power at that...

Any yes, this thing is MASSIVE That's why I don't think it is a re-coned Type-R, the thing must weigh 40lbs. I would think it may be worht sending it back to apline to have it re-coned if possible.


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## Lightninghoof (Aug 6, 2006)

I just want to clarify that the Type-X drivers are Dual 4-ohm coils, and that includes the newer 2007 model. (I own 2)

I did some research and these drivers debuted in 2004 and have only been offered in 10" and 12" versions. From what I can tell, only DVC 4-ohm coils have been offered since they came out.


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## exmaxima1 (May 31, 2007)

Lightninghoof said:


> I just want to clarify that the Type-X drivers are Dual 4-ohm coils, and that includes the newer 2007 model. (I own 2)
> .


You are right, I just checked my notes. My project used 2 of them, and the total impedance was 1 ohm. So they had to be 4/4 DVC.


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## Lightninghoof (Aug 6, 2006)

exmaxima1 said:


> My project used 2 of them


Did you like them? Mms/Mmd is so heavy and Qts/Qes is so high that these yield a veeeeery low anechoic F3 in even a small sealed box. In my car they seem to have like a natural 30dB/oct rolloff above 50Hz. At 70Hz, there is little to no output. Above 80Hz, forget it, no output at all.

They are definitely a true "subwoofer", but not what I'm used to. Hard to work with, IMO and extremely inefficient. If I can't get the FR and output levels worked out with my H701 and MLS setup, I may sell them and go with something with much better top-end extension and efficiency.

As it stands, I wouldn't recommend these drivers for SQ purposes unless some efficient dedicated 8" midbass drivers were being used to make up for these problems.


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## khail19 (Oct 27, 2006)

I've never seen or heard of a 15" Type-X sub either.


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

exmaxima1 said:


> I took a few apart for a project I was consulting on, and the VC is amazing! The coils are wound on the INSIDE as well as the outside of the former. Very massive coil, weighs about 200 grams by itself, whereas most conventional coils weigh far less than 100 grams.


Well that's something you don't see every day!
Wow.

Chad


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## MadMaxSE-L (Oct 19, 2006)

OK, so in light of all these new revalations, it may NOT be a Type-X, but I sure thought it was...

Still wouldn't be worth reconing?


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## Lightninghoof (Aug 6, 2006)

We don't know what it is. Take some pics for us, or find the model number that is stamped on the driver and post it.


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## exmaxima1 (May 31, 2007)

Lightninghoof said:


> Did you like them? Mms/Mmd is so heavy and Qts/Qes is so high that these yield a veeeeery low anechoic F3 in even a small sealed box. In my car they seem to have like a natural 30dB/oct rolloff above 50Hz. At 70Hz, there is little to no output. Above 80Hz, forget it, no output at all.


I'm not at liberty to reveal the details, but for my project I actually only used the Alpine's frame and cone assembly---I threw away the motor and voice coil. I did not use it for music, so I can't comment on the sound quality.

I will note that I did not care for the rock-hard suspension and the high MMs. My models predict the bass response would be rather smeared, but LOUD.

Matthew


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## MadMaxSE-L (Oct 19, 2006)

Ok, I have been looking around tonight and I believe itis a Type-R 15. 
Knowing that, can it/is it worth being fixed?


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## MadMaxSE-L (Oct 19, 2006)

exmaxima1 said:


> I'm not at liberty to reveal the details, but for my project I actually only used the Alpine's frame and cone assembly---I threw away the motor and voice coil. I did not use it for music, so I can't comment on the sound quality.
> 
> I will note that I did not care for the rock-hard suspension and the high MMs. My models predict the bass response would be rather smeared, but LOUD.
> 
> Matthew


It is a really stiff sub, it just seems like it would eat up a thousand watts and crave more. IIRC it wasn't much on SQ, but it did get loud, and we had it in a poorly made sealed box that I'm sure was nowhere near the correct size. 

Since I already had it, I was just going to design a PORTED box on WinSD, tune it low and feed it as much power as I could in my Bronco and see what happened, assuming it couls be fixed of corse


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## robbyho (Oct 21, 2005)

MadMaxSE-L said:


> It is a really stiff sub, it just seems like it would eat up a thousand watts and crave more. IIRC it wasn't much on SQ, but it did get loud, and we had it in a poorly made sealed box that I'm sure was nowhere near the correct size.
> 
> Since I already had it, I was just going to design a PORTED box on WinSD, tune it low and feed it as much power as I could in my Bronco and see what happened, assuming it couls be fixed of corse


You can get a brand new one for about$200 shipped from ikesound. You could get a 15" Dayton H.O., a much better sub IMO for $150 shipped. So it's a tough call. After shipping it out for $30, then paying whatever a recone costs, waiting a couple weeks, then paying to get it shipped back and probably getting no warranty on it, will it be worth it? 

Rob


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## MadMaxSE-L (Oct 19, 2006)

robbyho said:


> You can get a brand new one for about$200 shipped from ikesound. You could get a 15" Dayton H.O., a much better sub IMO for $150 shipped. So it's a tough call. After shipping it out for $30, then paying whatever a recone costs, waiting a couple weeks, then paying to get it shipped back and probably getting no warranty on it, will it be worth it?
> 
> Rob


That's what I was thinking, but the website I was looking at wanted $400 for one, so yes it probably would have been worth it for that much, but then again I didn't shop around. Maybe I'll call Alpine just out of curiosity.

It's not like I'm really digging this sub, I just wanted to use it since I already had it just to play with, but I am definatly not buying a new one...


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