Get the Alpine Touch

Back in 1997, when I was the Editor-in-Chief of Car Audio and Electronics, then the most widely read mobile electronics magazine in the world, Alpine's Steve Witt invited me to visit Alpine's facilities in Japan. It was to this day, the longest flight I've ever taken. I remember two things, that arriving in Japan I was met not only by Alpine's staff (David will need to help me with their names), but by the editor of Australian In-Car Entertainment (I think his name was Luke). It was a great trip, flying Business Class on the upper deck of a JAL 747 (Alpine always did things in a first-class way). I was surprised at how rural one of the facilities we visited was compared to the Alps headquarters which we also visited. So much has changed since then, as a lot of the production has moved from Japan to China and other parts of Southeast Asia. Still, to this day, as I continue to follow the industry as I contribute to CEOutlook.com, Alpine's products and programs are state of the art. While the focus has moved from aftermarket to OEM as market conditions have changed. But you can never underestimate the power of great brand position. Thanks to all the smart things they did during those years, the brand still enjoys considerable panache it built up from the years I was a dealer through my more than two decades as a journalist. That speaks really highly of the brand's equity in the minds of dealers as well as consumers.

My first real experience with Alpine was when we lived in New England. A new job took us up there from Long Island. The new job was great - but the commute was a bummer - 60 - 90 minutes drive every day, depending on traffic. So I got the bright idea to reward myself for the new gig and to make the drive more enjoyable. I sought the car audio retailer in the area that had the reputation for doing the best work - and visited them to see what they could do. I noticed as soon as I walked in that they featured Alpine, I loved the green glow and I loved the Alpine Lambo posters on in their shop. When I was talking with the floor sales guy, I mentioned that I was willing to get some customization done with this install. My kids were 9 and 7 at the time and my little Mercury Tracer wagon was used on weekends to haul all kinds of sporting gear and kid’s stuff. So I couldn’t just dedicate the back for a lot of gear or a big enclosure. Then the sales guy came up with a great suggestion. (I guess that’s why he’s the sales guy!) He suggested they build a sub enclosure and have the amps built on to the enclosure. They can set me up with an easily detachable umbilical so I could just disconnect the sub anytime I want to use the car for personal stuff. What a great idea! I said “Let’s freakin do it.” So they designed and built an enclosure for the 2 8” Boston Acoustics subs and figured a slick way to incorporate the amps into the design. We installed BA component drivers in the front and rear doors, used an Alpine CD head unit and away we went. It came out SO slick and the sound was simply amazing. I can’t possibly describe the sound, but I’ll try: Bass was deep, tight and fast. Super clean. Midrange - like vocals, instruments and drums were super crisp and detailed. The highs were fantastic - never sharp or shrill. And the imaging? Outstanding! The staging all took place out on front of me - above the dash. What was it like to ride in this sleepy looking Tracer wagon? Let me tell you about my drive home from the dealer with my new system for the first time. It was about a 90 minute drive from the dealer to my home. I brought with me my fave CD’s and cycled throught them all the way home. I was rocking and bopping to my tunes for 90 solid minutes. Very enjoyable! The next morning, my alarm went off to get up for work… and I couldn’t lift my head off the pillow - at all! I thought I had suffered a heart attack. Turns out, my jiving for 90 minutes straight had strained all the muscles in my neck. I had to spend the next 24 hours in bed, on muscle relaxors, letting my sore muscles recover. But it was all worth it. I kept that little Tracer wagon for several years, and enjoyed stellar Alpine tunes for many, many thousands of miles

As a 12-volt retailer. I opened my retail car audio facility, Kartunes Mobile Electronics back in 1980. It was one of the earliest specialty retail and installation shops in the entire area. A key goal for me was to do whatever I needed to become an authorized Alpine dealer. It was readily obvious to me that in an year dominated by wide-distribution product lines like Pioneer, Jensen, Craig, and others, the Alpine limited distribution was the way to go. Leaning heavily on the Alpine brand was the best way for a small, independent retailer to be successful and build local market identity. Just one year later, I was able to get recognized aas a full-fledged Alpine dealer. To help you understand the impact of the Alpine brand: in 1981 my annual sales were $150,000. By 1990 they had grown to over $1,000,000 a year. Much of that rapid growth and success has to be attributed to the Alpine Touch and the way it protected the specialist dealers. Furthermore this success needs to be fully grasped: fully half of all my purchase dollars, more than $175,000 in 1990 went to Alpine. I was indeed touched by The Alpine Touch. And my customers over the years were as well.