The speaker was shipped immediately. I had it within 3 days. It was very easy to install and sounds great. Shipping was free and I will be sure to deal with Crutchfield again!

Alpine have made quality audio gear for years and the SBS-05DC continues the tradition. If you have a double-DIN space in your dash, this center channel is the one to have. The unit is solidly constructed and looks great with or without the supplied grille. Internally, damping material and polyester fiber fill are used to quell enclosure resonances just as in any quality loudspeaker cabinet. The unit uses a single high-level input to connect to an amplifier or head unit. The Alpine SBS-05DC uses a tuned port enclosure to extend its low frequency range beyond the typical compact automotive center channel. While most everything about the SBS-05DC is top-notch, the one thing that might be improved is its internal crossover board. The high-quality dual mid-woofers are driven full range with a first-order bass filter which comes into play at around 200 Hz. The dome tweeter uses a first-order high-pass filter which has a cutoff frequency of around 12 kHz. Despite the simplistic crossover design, sound quality is better than many other automotive center channels that I have heard with good off-axis tonal characteristics. The tonal balance could be described as a bit bright and edgy, which should compliment most component sets sold today. It can be made to sound warmer and smoother by replacing its internal crossover board, adding an attenuation circuit to the dome tweeter, or simply disconnecting the tweeter as the mid-woofers do a respectable job of reproducing higher frequencies without it. While there might be other automotive center channels that are cheaper and/or come with dedicated amplifiers, they likely won't sound quite as good as the Alpine SBS-05DC.

This is one of the best things Alpine has done for the Car Theatre market. I had a 3 1/2" Alpine speaker in the stock center location on my Armada and it sounded OK. Now, with the IVA-D310 and a double din opening, I forgot how great Alpine really is. I am running SPS-171a components in the front and back and this center channel in the dash, all powered by the Alpine MRA-F350 with an Alpine Mono Block Sub amp. This is awesome, I love it. Alpine, you've done it again.

I have the older KVT-915DVD which had a 5.1DTS/D.D. processor and 5.1 channel amplifier on board. I used the Kenwood 900CTR and the 700CTR, a little tiny speaker set in a 1/2" depth housing. "THIN" is all i could describe it as. With this new alpine installed the voices come to life. they actually sound like people talking instead of an old modem speaker we all remember and cringe at the thought of.

Buy ALPINE for the center channel... unless you have the time and money to put a 5.25 or 6.5 custom in your dash...


Adios!

Zach

Excellent solution for those who do not wish to have a center channel speaker sitting On their dash. I've got this paired in the dash with a Pioneer AVH-P7800DVD setting under the sspeaker so I knew that the flip out screen would interfere with the proper imaging. Even with the screen sitting about an inch infront of it, it still performs well. Like the previous reviewer said, make sure you set your crossover properly. This speaker should not be seeing the lower frequencies or else it WILL sound like a tiny speaker in a plastic box. Two thumbs up here.

The little speaker
that could! This
speaker does what it
was deigned to do.
It deliver
tantalizing Highs
and Mids and will
look right at home
next to your double
DIN Head Unit. I
removed the vents
from my 2005
explorer to make
room for this
speaker. I powered
it with the Alpine
50 watts per channel
theater amp. I roll
the bass frequencies
off this speaker
pretty early and
steeply and treat it
gently. If you
adjust your cross
overs correctly it
will play very loud
and clear. Another
superb product from
Alpine. No
complaints, very
high quality build
and Sound
reproduction.