Printer Friendly Forum Posts - rockford fosgate, opinions?

rockford fosgate is good for a basic entry level stuff (unless you get into the T1 and T2 subs) then your spending alot of coins for the sub alone, i do agree, RF stuff has gone down hill in quality since they first started, there new P1 and P2 subs have plastic peice's that will rattle as they get older and the looks....well..that's just another story.. i do also agree, there's better products then RF stuff for the money that your going to spend. but on a positive note about RF, i do like the looks of there pre-fab box's...even if they are half plasitc to.

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Tri County KustomZ
certified installer

In your sig line, I see your looking at T2's the power line is there best line of products right now, If you stick with the power you will have a good system, but as the others have suggested there are many other fine products in the same price range as Rockford Power Series

Best thing go out to as many Audio shops as you can and listen to all different combonations of equipment as you can

Then you will have a better idea on what you like

--Skold

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2004 Honda Civic Ex 4Dr

Kenwood DDX-7015/W Nav
4 Fosgate T152C
Hifonics Brutus BX1500D
RE XXX 12 in a 4 Cube Snail Shell

For subs and sub amps, the price/quality ratio is real good.

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Do it right the first time

I used to push fosgate religiously with my old shop. As the others have stated their lower quality lines have degraded. At my new shop we carry both Rockford and Kicker and I tend to like the kicker alot better.

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About six monthes to a year ago RF ran a one time production of there 10 or 15 year old " old school " amp.I'm not sure of the details because I'm not a dealer. But here's the question, if your brand new totally redesigned line is so good, why would you try to reintroduce a 15 year old amp? Because your old stuff is better then your new stuff.

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There is no such thing as free installation!

stay away from 'em. much better stuff for the money!!

I've have listened to some Fosgate woofers and some Kickers. At lower prices i thought the Kickers were better I thought. Fosgate is starting to slack a little on its quality though. There are a lot of other good woofers and amps in the same price range that are better than Fosgate.

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That's my opinion. Take it, leave it, or correct me.

I've been in the business for 15 years and Rockford has lost alot of ground-We discontinued RF when we had to wait months to get defective items back-Stay away from them. As it has already been posted-you can get alot more for your money in other product lines

If you get their amps, plan on having them in a very open space. Like the outside of the car. Otherwise they will over heat. Also very sloppy.

Rockford equipment is not bad at all..i agree with you on the P1-P3 models how the dust cover is plastic and i dont like that either but with their higher end equpiment. I really enjoy the sound and iIblow many systems away with mine. Refer to my signature if you want to see what I got.

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-2x T112D2 ported box
-T1001bd amp
-T162C (front)
-T152C (rear)
-Pioneer Premier Deh-P360 Mosfet 50Wx4 head unit
-Pioneer CDX-P650 c.d changer

if the amps have "Punch" on them .Then they ar egood!! the rest is rubbish. The "8" series head units are some of th ebest units ever made.

The speakers??? never used them

But I reccon" JL Audio" will go the same way.

london luke wrote:

if the amps have "Punch" on them .Then they ar egood!! the rest is rubbish. The "8" series head units are some of th ebest units ever made.
The speakers??? never used them
But I reccon" JL Audio" will go the same way.

The rest are rubbish?? haha obviously dont understand the power of well a power...their tweeers speakers put out a very clear vocal sound. What amp are you using on your system?

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-2x T112D2 ported box
-T1001bd amp
-T162C (front)
-T152C (rear)
-Pioneer Premier Deh-P360 Mosfet 50Wx4 head unit
-Pioneer CDX-P650 c.d changer

i have rockford p3's. i liked them they just wasn't loud enough for me. i got t2's on the way they should be loud enough. i had one problem with rf stuff (my own fault). it was some tweeters i burned up. i sent them to them and they promptly sent back the newer model. i like the power amps they're sooo underrated. you guys should check out the stats on the rockford web site.very impressive.

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in process of putting rockford t2 12's in my 97 chrysler cirrus

OK!! I have 2 T1'S in my system... I have them facing forward in a 1997 corolla with 2 4" ports 11" long ported through the rear deck... now playing nellys E.I. It will do 140 db I know this isn't much but I'M MORE THAN HAPPY WITH IT!!!... off a FOSGATE power 20001 amp... I haven't tried playing test tones or getting new batterys or upgrading the altinator yet... I absolutely love their new power series line! There power amps are fan cooled and I have pounded on my sub amp for hours on end on long road trips and it stays BARELY warm... They have done a very nice job on the new amps with the venting! GO ROCKFORD!! And the T1 woofers POUND!!!!! I couldn't imagine what this would sound like facing backwards... my set up is built for sound quality.

AT our shop in maine it takes MAYBE 3 weeks to get repaired rockford gear back... No longer... I have been a rockford woofer and amp fan for the past 6 years!!! I used to love their speakers too but I can't seem to keep a pair longer than 1 summer... what can I say I LIKE IT LOUD!!!!!!!!!! maybe its just my fault? lol but I love the new gear!! You'll get what you pay for!! make sure the woofers are in the right box and feed them enough power and you should LOVE 'EM!!! I don't mind the low end gear but I have moved passed low power handling woofers lol I am power hungry haha but the low end gear may be cheeper but some kids can only afford that stuff and they are more than happy with it!! Some kids have never experienced a few thousand watts into a multi woofer set up and when they do their usually blown away!!!!

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BoominRolla wrote:

Some kids have never experienced a few thousand watts into a multi woofer set up and when they do their usually blown away!!!!

Yeah... if all you want is loud, and reliability is not an issue for you, then by all means, go for the RF stuff. I would NEVER put RF in any kind of SQ category. The slew rate is far too slow (poor high frequency response), the damping is worthless (sloppy bass), they run FAR too hot for my taste.

As far as speakers? Metal domes an' cones. 'Nuff said.

Basically, RF SUX! Better than Audiobahn in my book - but not by a wide margin... Wouldn't have the stuff. Nope. Probably couldn't give me the stuff. Well, ya could, but I'd sell it - NIB to highest bidder (AKA eBay) - to somebody that knows no better... Gimme Eclipse ANY day of the week. I will blow your mind with ONE 12... Eclipse Ti woofer with 3kW driving it. You'd never believe it was only one woofer!

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It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."

HAHAHA I love it....i blow away pretty much every system with SQ and SPL in my whole area where I live with my rockford system..kenwood sony audiobahn pioneer JBL JL kicker MTX infinity...kick their asses. A few systems that had the W7s and Solo X Thunder 9500 had real good SPL....well the Solo same as the 9500 had good SPL but low SQ. Rockford does not suck. They are far from sucking. I have 2 12 inch T1s and they have a real good sound and knock really hard.

Also whats wrong with metal cones?

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-2x T112D2 ported box
-T1001bd amp
-T162C (front)
-T152C (rear)
-Pioneer Premier Deh-P360 Mosfet 50Wx4 head unit
-Pioneer CDX-P650 c.d changer

There could be one major problem with debates like this?

************* AGE************************ !!

Most young people today have only ever listened to badly recorded ,compressed (And krap music anyway!!) sound.

very few will have listened to good records. Most have not got aclue as to what is REAL bass etc. Its all noise to them.

Thats a good point there Luke, one can even see the difference in marketing and advertising that is aimed at younger folk from these companies. It's rather comical.

And for some, if it's loud, it sounds GREAT. posted_image

Try going to the Mcintosh web site then RF's. You sure as hell won't see Bam Margera or cheesy customer installs hangin out on the Mcintosh site!

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I'm with dwarren and haemphyst on this one. RF and Audiobahn become "brands for the masses". It bumnps, it grinds, and makes you the hit of the neighborhood. Great.

Age and experience has an effect on what brands you see people are buying. It is easy to see in many threads the seperation between the new guys and the veterans when it comes to brands and products. I listend to 12 different amp models before I was happy. RF didn't make the top 10. Don't play the name game, listen to what you are buying! compare!

It was a sad day when RF bought Quart.

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Quart is coming out of bankrupcy ( or receivership as it's called in Germany) and two guys are forming a company to distribute it once again in the USA. Should be interesting to see what happens.

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There is no such thing as free installation!

oh god! I hit a perfect+40 when I was 18 just out of highschool with all rockford speakers and amps with a 14 band digital symmetry epx with MAYBE $3,000 into my TOTAL SYSTEM COST EVERYTHING! don't talk to me about "sq"...

OK price category people! you can't compare an $800 3 way rockford set of speakers to a $3,500 3 way morel set or focal, or diamond or whatever else is out there I haven't heard of yet? Thats like comparing strawberries and whip cream on Angelina Jolie to cheese fondue on ricki lake... THERES NO COMPARISON!!!...

car audio is all about opinions... you might not like the way something sounds but to someone else who isn't a musical engineer or a symphany instructor, or a record producer, it might sound awesome! You say its all noise to the "kids" thats right, whatever? if all kids wanna do is make noise and there willing to drop a few thousand in your shop that happens to sell rockford fosgate or put the gear they've already bought in the hands of your installation time are you going to turn them down? no, most normal people wouldn't. unless your rich and really don't care about business,customer service, or reputation...

Now if a man or woman comes in with his or her brand new mercedes or chrystler 300C and he or she a general surgeon or owns 26 mcdonalds in your state now thats when you may look for the "HIGH END" gear sale... companies who spend millions on speaker research and the absolute best sound money can buy... Which I still think rockford sounds awesome don't get me wrong but for the average customer what you are comparing them to is not right... Its like comparing a chevrolet cavalier to a lamborghini or a mercedes... just not the same.

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agreed 100%.....but im still wondering how an amp that puts out more then its rated power is not a good amp. Rockford is not crap especially since they have been in business for 25 years and have not failed. And for those who say Rockford is too expensive for what your getting is way wrong considering all their equipment is underrated and can put out some good quality and massive sound. AND 1 MORE THING mmmmm Angelina Jolie in nothing but whipped cream and strarberries great thought haha

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-2x T112D2 ported box
-T1001bd amp
-T162C (front)
-T152C (rear)
-Pioneer Premier Deh-P360 Mosfet 50Wx4 head unit
-Pioneer CDX-P650 c.d changer

BoomingRolla, was that a perfect +40 at the Nationals or a local show? In the early days Rockford made some awsome products and I have installed plentyl of it. Orion and PPi were also the top of the list. Since then Directed has castrated the two and Rockford has gone into mass production mode.

Ok so an amp puts out more than it's rated power. At what impendance, at what distortion level, continuous or peak? Most quality amps have 1.5 to 3 db of headroom. This is to cover peaks. Most amps will put out more than they are rated. Does this make them better? The old power standard was very loose in it's rating system. This was the EIA-517B standard. Most companies set the ratings themselves. Many companies recently have banded together to form a rating standard to compare apples to apples when it comes to ratings called the CEA2006 standard.

Theirs still the companies that put big numbers on their amps to make people feel they are getting more that what they are buying when the amp is underrated. Im not talkig about the super expensive amps from the high end companies....im talking more on a consumer level. To me rockford is a little higher than the average consumer level but still at a good price range for the power and quality of their amps.

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-2x T112D2 ported box
-T1001bd amp
-T162C (front)
-T152C (rear)
-Pioneer Premier Deh-P360 Mosfet 50Wx4 head unit
-Pioneer CDX-P650 c.d changer

RF build quality has gone down hill . i remember the days of the punch 60 IX and the 200 DSM. the punch audiophile subs. thats when RF produced quality products. IMO when it went to BestBUY it started going down hill. as far as what you get for what you spend. thats got a lot to do with the dealer. for example i can go to my SS dealer in MN . get a soundstream Van gogh 1600.2 for under $600 but then turn around go to a dealer in AZ and pay over double that . granted i don't know the dealer in AZ . but why do you have to make a $800 bucks profit off 1 amp ?

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1974 ford pinto 4 15" punch Z power punch bd 1001 pioneer DEH-6700

Rockford doesnt have their higher end gear at best buy just a couple of their Punch amps and P1s and P2s. Just because they sold to best buy doesnt mean that their quality has gone down. Put a T1 compared to a Power HX2 and the T1 will out perform IMO and many others.

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-2x T112D2 ported box
-T1001bd amp
-T162C (front)
-T152C (rear)
-Pioneer Premier Deh-P360 Mosfet 50Wx4 head unit
-Pioneer CDX-P650 c.d changer

ya the subs are getting louder. so are many companys. what i am talking about is that the punch amps and subs went into mass production. when they went to bestbuy. the RF that was good was the days of the 60IX ,200DSM,THE POWER 50 . you wanna talk about underrated amps. i hade a 60IX rated at 60 watts pounded a 15" SPL 160 . thats when RF produced top quality gear. don't get me wrong i'm not trying to say it's flea market gear. just not what it was. for quality.

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1974 ford pinto 4 15" punch Z power punch bd 1001 pioneer DEH-6700

I know a guy in London .he buys all the old school amps from Rockford. he sells them on and this funds his Car installs.

Second hand, RF amps from the DSM,Punch times are the best you can get.

On the speaker side,There are a few sets that I have heard that sounded very very nice.

finally some positive remarks

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-2x T112D2 ported box
-T1001bd amp
-T162C (front)
-T152C (rear)
-Pioneer Premier Deh-P360 Mosfet 50Wx4 head unit
-Pioneer CDX-P650 c.d changer

Does that mean my "negative " remarks dont make sense??

Look at the last lot of headunits they made!! RUBBISH. They are a bit like nakamichi... They traded on their early stuff.

Rockford did a lot for the industry.. It Took on the likes of Pioneer and kenwood etc. But they have lost the plot a bit.

Too much Fashion and trend was used in the designs. I reccon if they stuck to the simple designed stuff and kept th e quailty They would be a great pain in the arse to JL Audio

london luke wrote:

Does that mean my "negative " remarks dont make sense??
Look at the last lot of headunits they made!! RUBBISH. They are a bit like nakamichi... They traded on their early stuff.
Rockford did a lot for the industry.. It Took on the likes of Pioneer and kenwood etc. But they have lost the plot a bit.
Too much Fashion and trend was used in the designs. I reccon if they stuck to the simple designed stuff and kept th e quailty They would be a great pain in the arse to JL Audio

i agree .you understand my view on this completely. it seems it was made trendy so to speak. also for $3000 from the soundstream dealer i buy from i can get a DAM good set up . for SQ or SPL. soundstreams old stuff was great also.

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1974 ford pinto 4 15" punch Z power punch bd 1001 pioneer DEH-6700

If you like the way it sounds and it fits your budget, then buy it regardless of what logo is stamped on it. (You hear the music, not the logo)

I have heard many speakers, subs, amps, etc. and have not always been more impressed with a prodcut that has a higher price tag. For instance, I think the old MTX 4000 series subs sounded great, and better than other subs that cost twice the price. However, other people had different tastes and preferred the sound of the more expensive woofers. Does that mean I was wrong, or they were? Of course not. This goes on the same idea of peoples tastes in food differ. Some people would prefer chicken to roast beef. Just because one costs more, than doesn't mean that it must taste better. Its all about what the individual likes. So, go out, listen to as much as possible, and make your decision from what you heard, not what you read.