l have both of the above speakers and l am trying to decide which to install in the fairing of my GL1800. As you know the alpine is 2-way 175 watt and more expensive but expensive does not always mean best. The sony is a 4 way 160 watt. l will be using an 80 watt per channel external amp.

Thank you for advice.

l would go with the Alpine's. l have not listened to either.
Sony makes a killer electronic but their sound is usually pretty crappy, car & home speaker's. Their electronics are obviously excellent.
Alpine makes good power and good sound, just watch the series models and go from there.
Pioneer, Boston Acoustic and Infinity have some really good 6x9's. Hope this helps.

when it comes to car audio all u care about is the RMS (contuious) wattage not the peak/max wattage becasue those specs mean nothing

they both have about the same RMS wattage & the Alpine dose not play as low but it does play higher notes & has a higher senitivity & a speaker with a sensitivity rating that is 3 dB higher than another speaker is only needs half as much power to deliver the same amount of sound

Sony is known for their home audio which is some of the best but when it comes to their car audio they r lacking-- go with the alpines they r all about sound quality