Rockford amps?
Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Car Audio
Forum Discription: Car Stereos, Amplifiers, Crossovers, Processors, Speakers, Subwoofers, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=29108
Printed Date: May 11, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Topic: Rockford amps?
Posted By: boomer_106
Subject: Rockford amps?
Date Posted: March 27, 2004 at 1:37 PM
Hey Guys and gals I was wondering how you feel about the quality of Rockford Fosgate amps? I have been looking on ebay and I see alot of refurbished units from a company named high desert audio. I dont think I want to buy a refurb unit but I was looking at a new Punch 401S. Im just a little leary wondering why so many need repair. Im sure some of you have shops selling them and many of you own them. So are they good reliable amps? It will be pushing an 8 inch kicker solo baric. Thanks for your opinions. Boomer
Replies:
Posted By: forbidden
Date Posted: March 27, 2004 at 1:50 PM
When a compnay builds something to hit a price point, they have to use cheaper components that are much more prone to failure. I dropped the Rockford line when the failure rate became excessive, much like the new Kicker line. If you get a good Rockford amp and use it properly, you may never have a problem but with the number of returns I had as a retailer, it told me to find a higher build quality line with a lower failure rate.
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Top Secret, I can tell you but then my wife will kill me.
Posted By: Teamrf
Date Posted: March 27, 2004 at 8:15 PM
The RF line that will be appearing in retail all around the world here pretty soon are nice. I can't wait to re-do my car in all RF. But almost ALL products will fail due to poor installation. So you really can't blame RF for that.
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~The Rookie~
Rookie of the year that is...
Don't let the smoke out of your equiptment..it doesn't go back in.
Posted By: Clean Install
Date Posted: March 27, 2004 at 8:36 PM
never had a problem with my rockford amp had for about 3 years now, I have let friends borrow it and have had no trouble....
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If we learn from each success and
each failure, then we can improve ourselves
Posted By: erinh
Date Posted: March 28, 2004 at 1:35 AM
i have bought 2 amps and 2 subs refurbished from high desert audio on ebay. it is actually rockford fosgate who does those auctions - i don't know why they use that ebay account name. anything you buy from them will come with a warranty for 90 days. the prices are unbeatable. i have turned some friends on to their auctions, and they are happy (and were skeptical like you at first). look at their feedback - very few negative.
Posted By: erinh
Date Posted: March 28, 2004 at 1:38 AM
by the way if you do end up deciding to get an amp from them - look through their auction history and see what that amp has been going for and be patient trying to win it. their buy it now prices are way higher than what you can usually win the auctions for, and they repost all of those auctions every week.
Posted By: Clean Install
Date Posted: March 28, 2004 at 1:44 AM
How do you know that RF is the ones selling the stuff? Ive seen the name before.... ...cant remember though if they were selling RF products or not... ------------- If we learn from each success and
each failure, then we can improve ourselves
Posted By: mobile1
Date Posted: March 28, 2004 at 2:11 AM
that line of RF does not have any fuses on the amp itself. Alot of times I see these amps come in because of power handling issues. The amps are rated to run at 2 ohms, but in reality I've seen them fry because of that. without the protection on the amp itsef there have been cases where the amp is wired at 2 ohms and it fries.
Posted By: erinh
Date Posted: March 28, 2004 at 2:41 AM
Clean Install: I say that because when I've paid them through paypal it was listed as "Rockford Corp" and also that is what was listed on the shipping return labels. I think "highdesertaudio" just has to do with them being located in Arizona.
mobile1: would it be worth putting the same rated fuse, as the one near the battery, a few inches from the amp?
Posted By: Clean Install
Date Posted: March 28, 2004 at 2:43 AM
thanks for the info erinh... ------------- If we learn from each success and
each failure, then we can improve ourselves
Posted By: Clean Install
Date Posted: March 28, 2004 at 2:53 AM
some of those amps are really cheap....
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If we learn from each success and
each failure, then we can improve ourselves
Posted By: septicdeath
Date Posted: March 28, 2004 at 10:49 AM
I've gotten amps and subs from High desert, all were drop shipped from the arizona RF facility. Just another user confirming the hda is rockfords refurb'd ebay unit..
Posted By: DYohn
Date Posted: March 28, 2004 at 11:39 AM
Foctory refurbs are sometimes a great bargain and sometimes a waste of money. Beware of warranty... or lack thereof...
Posted By: boomer_106
Date Posted: March 28, 2004 at 12:10 PM
This post has gotten good input thanks and feel free to keep it coming. erinh How long have you seen these high desert amps continue to perform well? Have you had them awhile now? Also how do I look through their auction history? septicdeath Have yours from high desert worked good for any length of time? Forbidden Wow you must have really seen alot of amps come back to drop the Rockfords. Seems like everyone used to rave about those old punch amps but, as you said perhaps their quality has slipped as they try to compete price wise. Clean install which Rockford do you have? Is it a model from a few years back? I have the sub wired for 4 ohms so I can leave it that way to keep the strain off the amp. The punch 401 has plenty of RMS power bridged to 4 ohms for the 8 inch kicker. The reason Im looking at Rockford is Id like to have a remote level control. I have seen that some kicker and MTX models have this as well.
Posted By: DYohn
Date Posted: March 28, 2004 at 3:13 PM
Remote level control? Bazooka, Alpine, JBL, Directed, Kicker among others offer amps with this built in. Or use a PAC LC-1 to remote control the level of any amp.
Posted By: superstreet786
Date Posted: March 28, 2004 at 7:16 PM
Rockford quality is great... they will push out like brand new for a very long time and they take quite a while to die
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---- 1996 Chevy S10 ----
1 Lightning Audio S2.600.2 Amp
2 Lightning Audio 12" Subs
1 Lightning Audio 1 Farad Cap
Posted By: erinh
Date Posted: March 29, 2004 at 12:13 AM
i've had this stuff for 2 months now (still under warranty) and had no problems. the amps stay cool to the touch, so hopefully won't ever have problems with it ever burning up. i don't turn my speakers up to the point that they distort... so i don't really see why they'd ever blow. i've never had an amp or sub go bad. my only friends that have blown subs always turn theirs up way too loud (where they sound distorted). i personally think its safe to say if you install this stuff and it works then it will continue to work as long as you use some common sense. and if they don't work after you hook them up, they have a warranty. good luck.
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