alpine 3515 vintage amp

[wilzyx 5,000+ posts]

i was at the local flea market today looking through old electronics and found this amp. it says Alpine 3515, that was all i could read that wasnt scratched. it was about 6x4x4, a very small footprint, but the thing must have weighed 10 lbs. it was all black and the whole top looked like a heatsink. he was selling it for $25, anyone know anything about this amp?

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[SonnyD 10+ year member]

That from around the early 80's, I might have even had one. I had a 3518, and a 3502, I think it was and some other 35XX amps. Probably has a DIN out on it too. They were pretty solid amps and fairly expensive. I've forgotten alot about the numbers, but I think the last one I had was a 3518, which I think was 2x18 but I may be way off. My memory isn't what it used to be. I bought a whole Alpine system in 1982 that included 3, 35XX series amps along with a 3316 EQ, and something like 63XX series 2 ways, and a 7146 HU, along with a Sub. It sounded pretty good for 1982 and ran about 1500.00 not including install. I like the old Alpine stuff.

Regards Sonny

 

[wilzyx 5,000+ posts]

i found some specs on the 3518, 30x2 at 4 ohm, but that was it. it might have even been that because the model number was kinda scratched off in some parts. do you know how low these could be wired?

 

[Rich B 5,000+ posts]

i found some specs on the 3518, 30x2 at 4 ohm, but that was it. it might have even been that because the model number was kinda scratched off in some parts. do you know how low these could be wired?

Well, it sounds like an older version of my Alpine 3522s (from the early to mid 90's), which is also 30w x 2.

According to my owners manual, its 4 or 2 ohms stereo and 4 ohms bridged.

At 2 ohms stereo it puts out 40w x 2.

In bridged mode it puts out 80w.

I hope that helps.

 

[wilzyx 5,000+ posts]

thanks, do you think this thing would be stable down to like .5 ohm stereo or 1 ohm bridged like a lot of older amps?

 

[Rich B 5,000+ posts]

thanks, do you think this thing would be stable down to like .5 ohm stereo or 1 ohm bridged like a lot of older amps?

Not without fireworks.

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[wilzyx 5,000+ posts]

really? shoot, i thought all these old amps were built like tanks and could take abuse like its nothing. oh well.

 

[SonnyD 10+ year member]

One of those amps is a 2x18 I thought it was the 3518 but I guess not. the 2x18 was about 6"x2x1-1/2 or so. You should be able to wire any of those without the DIN cord, the only Alpine DIN I ever used was for an Alpine changer. I Used to have all of the current Alpine brochures from the early 80's along with a bunch of other brands of equipment, they are still around somewhere.

Yeah, I wouldn't run any of those old amps down to .5 or 1 ohm.....They'll fry faster then Colonel Sanders on the 4th of July!!//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/eek.gif.771b7a90cf45cabdc554ff1121c21c4a.gif

Regards Sonny

 

[SonnyD 10+ year member]

I started checking some old info. and the 2x18 I was thinking about was the 3503...4-3/4x1-1/2x4". That was from 1991, I had two of those, one in 1982 and one in about 1991. My 1991 info doesn't list a 3515, but it does list a 3513, which is 2x25 and it's stable to 2ohms.....size is listed as 7-7/8"x1-1/2"x5-1/8" retail was listed as 125.00

Regards Sonny