Alpine 7347 (ca. 1983–1984)

Not much information on the Alpine 7347 has survived. What the record shows comes almost entirely from period magazine reviews. The 7347 was a car radio/tape player - a combined AM/FM tuner and cassette deck - that Audio (March 1984, cover) called a model that “advances the art” of car stereo. The same issue’s test report (p.63-66) gives the clearest picture we have.

The tuner section, AM included, performed unusually well. Audio (March 1984, p.66) measured an AM frequency response flat past 5 kHz, which was remarkable for a car unit at the time. The cassette transport delivered wow and flutter of 0.055% wtd. rms, against Alpine’s claimed 0.09%, with the main wow component at 5 Hz. A review in HiFI-Stereo (August 1983, p.24) noted that pressing the tuning knob ejected a loaded cassette. It also noted that the volume control had a detented feel like the tuning knob but varied level smoothly. The 7347’s button layout was horizontal, in two rows of three, which set it apart from the vertical arrangement of the earlier Alpine 7136. No owner’s manual, service literature, or factory specifications have surfaced in the archive.

Type: Car AM/FM stereo receiver with cassette player
Cassette wow & flutter: 0.055% wtd. rms (measured)
AM tuner response: Flat past 5 kHz (measured)
Controls: Horizontal two-row, six-button layout; volume with detented feel; knob-press ejects cassette
Period: On sale by mid-1983; tested in early 1984