A new car audio start up called Alpha-Nav based in Fremont, CA is launching two in-dash navigation radios with step up features and a 2-year warranty.
Head of sales for the company is Jeff Abrams, a 15-year veteran of Clarion who served as director of special markets and who also served at Valor.
“We wanted to build a product that was high performance, easy to use and bullet proof,” said Abrams.
Step up features include a built-in steering wheel interface that may be programmed for most automobiles. The radios also come with iPod AV interface cables and anti-glare screens.
An Alpha-NAv rep network is almost fully in place and the first product should be available at the end of January called the AN5650AN.
The double DIN unit has a 6.2 inch touch screen, built-in navigation, Bluetooth with audio streaming and iPod/iPhone control. It offers iPod video control from the touch screen and it has a rear vision camera input at a suggested retail price of $599.
A single DIN version will ship in March, which adds a flip up 7-inch screen (but does not have iPod video control from the screen) at $649.
“We want people to understand it’s not all about price but it’s very price competitive,” said Abrams.
Other in-dash features include USB port, 24 bit A/D decoders, coupled with adjustable center frequency, gain and Q factor for the bass, midrange and treble tone controls. Ten EQ settings are available, and each source can have its own EQ settings. A subwoofer output is included, with an internal electronic crossover, along with 4 channel line level outputs and 4 x 40 watts from the internal amplifiers.
Alpha-Nav will display at the Consumer Electronics Show in January in the North Hall at booth 6423. It’s web site will go live in January at www.alpha-nav.com. To contact the company email [email protected].
Source: Alpha-Nav
What a great time for a new headunit manufacturer to enter that marketplace. Maybe they can suppliment their income by also manufacturing audio cassette tapes and carbureted engines.
This immediately seems like a product that will go straight to eBay, where returns will be high and profits will be low. If they make it to a second, I will be amazed.