Now I know there are many other amps out that are better quality than the Rockford, but in my area (N Cali Bay area) these amps are highly used. Is it a good bang for the buck amp?

 

actually the amps are a little on the expensive side for the power etc. these amps are extremely well built and can take high amounts of abuse...they are rated pretty high by many of the audio mags...i used to have one...very powerful and made my subs hit very crisply....

 

Does the Rock amps have a built-in protection device in case it overheats? I just read a post with someone with a Orion amp who's having his audio sound cutting out when the volumne knod turn more than 2/3. Ten yrs ago I too did have a Orion amp, on many summer days the amp did cut out when it got hot.

 

Dollar per watt the current lineup is pretty cheap. The fact that they allow best buy to sell them deters me. I have never met a knowledgable best buy sales person so why whould a high quality product be sold there unless it is lowering it's own quality standards? Also their current power ratings are unrealistic unless they are using technologies patented by Blade audio and hiding this fact from the public. Most of their power specs require greater than 50% efficiency. Not possible from conventional class AB.

 

I said this once before without getting flamed, so I'll say it again... We audio fanatics are the types who will go off on tangents, debating which single unit is THE single best anywhere, rather than just saying, "Oh, that one's pretty good".

So, to answer your question.. The Rockfords are pretty good, as are Alpine, Soundstream, PPI, Phoenix Gold, Zapco, Xtant, Macintosh, and many others :-) Your ears won't fall off if you listen to them, and they are reliable, as are many others.

You have ten million alternatives, including what brand to buy, new or used, E-Bay or Crutchfield, Best Buy or a high-end specialty store, and other decisions to make. The good news is, there are lots of good brands out there. Shop carefully, and do your homework.

 

for the same reason everyone uses MB Quart speakers, Pioneer and Sony head units,etc. Because everyone sells them. Every Stereo store carries the same thing. Most people that work at these stores only know what they sell, nothing else. I don't know how many stereo stores I have been to that have never heard of Dynaudio, Focal, Tube Driver, Milbert tube amps, and the like. Most people buying systems, don't do much research other than going from one store to another, listening to the same equipment on sound boards, and finding the store with the lowest price. Theres nothing wrong with that at all, because that's the way al electronics are. People are driven by price. How many people would buy a pair of Dynaudio components for over $700 a pair , when you can get MB Quarts( Who everyone has heard of) 3 way sets for less than $500. 2 ways for around $200. Who would spend $5,000 for 1 pair of home speakers when you can go to circuit city and spend $1500 on an entire home theater setup.Did you know a true home theater starts at around $15,000. That's right 15 Thousand dollars. An entry level 2 speaker stereo system starts at around 3 to 5 Thousand dollars. Most don't want to spend that kind of money To most people, Bose is as High End as you can get. To top it off, Audiophile shops are hard to come by. Most of them are located only in larger cities, so most people don't have easy access to anything other than Sears, Cirtuit City, and The Wiz. Like I said, there's nothing wrong with most stuff out there. It's just easy access.

[Edited by Whitemax on 12-28-2000 at 10:21 AM]

 

When I was looking for an amp, I went to various specialty stores and none of them carried Rockford Fosgate. They mostly had Sony, Kenwood, MTX, etc. I did a lot of research and decided that Rockford Fosgate amps are suppose to be reliable and good quality. I ended up buying my RF amp off ebay for a very good price. I don't think it matters where you buy the equipment from as long as you get a good product for a resonable price.

 

Rockford amps are usually under-rated, their entire lineup puts out more watts than what it say on the boxes.
Plus RF is the easiest path to travel upon when it comes to car audio; there are so many people out there happy with their RF systems that a newbie doesn't particularly want to venture out on his own into unexplored territory.
For ease and convenience go with RF, but if you want a better value, shop around. I personally always put RF amps into all the cars I have done soundwork on, but thats because I can get them real cheap to make real nice extra ca$h.

 

Rockford amps are usually under-rated, their entire lineup puts out more watts than what it says on the boxes.
Plus RF is the easiest path to travel upon when it comes to car audio; there are so many people out there happy with their RF systems that a newbie doesn't particularly want to venture out on his own into unexplored territory.
For ease and convenience go with RF, but if you want a better value, shop around. I personally always put RF amps into all the cars I have done soundwork on, but thats because I can get them real cheap to make real nice extra ca$h.

 

Yes, RF amps are way underrated.

 

Whitemax - I guess just you and I.

 

I bought my RF because they seemed like they were good according to magazine write ups I've seen... I didn't even believe that many people had RF amps until now..

I'm no Audiophile(I couldn't afford to be one, but I tried) but they do sound much better than the Sony Amp and Advent amps I've had... I think what it boiled down to was that I wanted an amp company that concentrated on amps unlike what other major brand companies do.

 

I find many parallels between cars and amps. Rockford amps to me are very similar to Maxima's; not the cheapest around, are under-rated but they offer unusually good performance for the money, are exceptionally reliable, have a well-respected reputation, and are best appreciated by enthusiasts that like to tune/tweak.

Yes, there are better amps for those with esoteric tastes and more money. Yes, there are cheaper amps that would appear to offer the same power for the dollar. But for an amp that you can install and depend on to give you more than you expected, RF would be hard to beat. Interesting that many of the same qualities found in the Maxima would also attract you to the RF line.

Other parallels: Accord-Civic/Sony-Kenwood; Z28-TransAm/MTX-Earthquake; Maxima-Integra/Rockford-Memphis-Phoenix Gold;
Audi-VW/Zapco- PPI-ADS; Acura-Lexus-Infiniti/Esoteric-Xtant-Brax-Audison.

Nowhere is the law-of-diminishing-returns more evident than audio. To a point you get about what you pay for, after that point you pay a WHOLE LOT more for any improvement, eventually paying for what most people cannot discern. Rockford amps are just past the point where the curve begins to move upward. My .02, IMHO, FWIW.

 

 

Well put, SE-Raider...

The performance difference between Good, Very Good, and Fantastic are relatively small differences, while the price differences between Good and Very Good is moderate, and the price difference between Very Good and Fantastic can be astronomical. For example, Pioneer = Good, Rockford Fosgate = Very good, Macintosh = Fantastic.

The really high-end stuff can sometimes get into some serious matters of opinion too. In general, high end stuff is better than the "very good" stuff, but sometimes, specially with the really exotic stuff, it really is a matter of opinion

Personally, my goal in life (and how I'll make my fortune, of course) is to make the world's first Tube CD Player. I think I'll sell it for, oh, $15,000 a piece... :-)

 

But there already is a tube CD player. I'll have to do some research to find out which company makes it,(casue I can't remember) but there is one.

 

Damn, Damn, Damn! :-)

 

Don't know how they sounded.
Follow this like for a little info on Marantz's unit.
http://www.tnt-audio.com/sorgenti/tjoeb_e.html
I just save a few thousand bucks and bought a Musical Fidelity x-10 triode CD stage. Makes a nice difference in how CD's sound...

 

jsmiam
I have found, especially in the high end stuff that more money may not buy you better, just different. Sort of like which is the best wine, or beer, or who makes the best steak. Aplifiers especially have become basically a commodity in terms of how many watts per dollar, so the only diferentiation is in other features or qualities like reliability, aesthetics, etc. The basic rule I follow is: If I can't tell a difference, there is no difference, since I'm buying it for me, not someone else. Let your ears be your guide.

 

Care to complete that sentance?

 

They think that they are the only two that have enough power!

 

Can't be. There will never be enough power.