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i went to two audio shops this week to get ideas on doing some custom work on my dash. anyways, while talking with the people that work at these shops, i told them the stuff i have. here is what happened at both shops ( neither shop sold rockford stuff btw ), i tell them about my pioneer HU, they say its nice, diamond m3 components and boston acoustics coaxs, they say sweet, jl 12w3 sub, they say thats a nice sub, then i mention the amps ( yes, i got the 250M install, pics coming soon ) and they say ( and i'm not exxagerating ) "ewww! really? rockford amps, you should have gone better, like even lightning audio" one of the guys is like "i bet it sounds awful, your setup"
i wanted an explaination on why rockford sucked to them, but i go no proper explaination, just crap like "they just do".
but now that i think about it, even when i mentioned rockford on other boards, and to friends, they seem surprised about it, why? i always thought that rockford had a good name, what are the reasons these people have for putting rockford down?
i dont really care, i just got tired of all the dissing, i just dont get it.

 
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i dunno either, ive never heard anything to really back it up... rockford just has a bad reputation for some reason (thats why i got alpine instead )

 
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Rockford was one of the biggest supporters of independant dealers for years and was reigning champ for god knows how long. Rockford made a good business move to Best Buy with certain products and this is where most of it stems from. Rockford contrary to popular belief is not made cheaper then they were. They still use quality components inside of everything. They also don't manufacture the best buy stuff any differently. It's kind of become fashionable to hate Rockford just because. Kind of the way everyone hates the yankees, we're just so damn tired of them winning. My cars have always been rockford and always will be.

 
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I work for rockford and we have done nothing but improve our product. the best buy stuff is our Punch series and has a black heat sink, 12 db per octave crossovers (most are also fixed points), 8 guage power and ground and a 2 year warranty. The power series is the grey heat sink, 4 guage power and ground, 24 db per octave fully adjustable crossover, more power and a 3 year warranty. both are made here in Tempe AZ and are great quality. Its strange they talked about Lightning Audio.........Fosgate owns them and engineers them. If you have any questions about any Rockford corp brand feel free to hit me up on AIM (we have it at work) at RockfordAlex or call donw there. I can also help with MTX products..i worked there a year before Rockford

 
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i have rf amp. and i have no problem with it,,

 
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i have no doubt that RF stuff is good, i have 2 amps myself i think they are great. i just dont get why people have to diss them so much.
i just a read a thread at sound domain forums, some guy bought MB Quart components, then found out that RF bought MB Quart, so now he's pissed. why? i mean, there shouldn't be anything wrong with his speakers, i just dont get some people.
its like my friends father, buys a lexus, then finds out that lexus is owned by toyota, so now he feels he got ripped.
i would post at sound domain, but a lot of the people seem to hate RF, so i dont think there is a point, i will probably just get a lot of "they suck" posts.

glad to see there are normal, open minded people on this forum.

 
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what Dumb@ss's i bet they didnt know that Lightning Audio is made by rockford.

They are decent amps. the older ones are better before the waffel style

 
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dont know about rockford now, but i used to have their old school amps/subs and they were some of the best of that time[IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/IMG]

 
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I personally have a RF amp running my subs now (MTX Thunder 5k) and it's the only amp that I liked for power and sound IMO. If it ever dies, I'm getting another RF[IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/IMG]

 
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rockford are alright, i think it better than mtx

 
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What makes Rockford worse then any other company (especially their amps)??? Are there products not reliable or lacking features?

 
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rockford is the epitome of mediocrity...

 
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RockFord is Definately not meant to be the best stuff out there, it's quality stuff but shouldn't be perceived as being the best out there.

 
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To anyone who thinks rockford is a reliable product AS A WHOLE should come to my shop sometime and see the pile of blown amps and woofers we send back for repair. our biggest seller? noone in my shop wants to sell rockford. We sell more JL and eclipse than we ever sell rockford. how much eclipse or JL do we see in for repairs? compared to the rockford piles? basically nothing......

as to what components they put in their amps and speakers, i dont know. i can only quote hearsay and rumor. but what i CAN tell you is that we couldnt instlal a customer's amp inside his boat because the darn rockford amp went into protect running only on 12 volt battery. installed in a car, the amp ran great! installing other amps in his boat worked great! but we couldnt get a single rockford amp (and we tried half a dozen) to work in that boat.

rockford speakers? I guess they are ok, more rumor/hearsay, we know they aquired mbquart, right? their component sets MUST be on their way to improvement! yet i dont know a single person who is pushing both the woofers and tweeters to their full potential, either the woofers are crying for more power, or their tweters are flat out blown......

how many RF component sets have we sold at my shop since i started working there? one. how many rockford component tweeters have we gotten back for repair? ill giv eyou a hint. the number is greater than one.

In the end, i dont have to tell you how rockford products sound, or behave, or look, or operate. Their fantastic track record speaks for itself.

 
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And I can tell you in my shop we rarely ever have a problem with Rockford, only time we have a return is when some moron tried to install something the wrong way or abused the speakers. JL amps crap out on us everytime. And Eclipse is pure crud to me. My point is that for every shop that doesn't like something there is a shop that does. JL may work great for you for amps, but not for us. Rockford all the way baby. And no they are not the top amps in the world, they never claimed to be, but in that price range it is a no brainer.

 
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eclipse pure crud? thats a strong statement there my friend

 
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A few things -

1 - Rockford aquired MB quart but they're not doing anything with their product line.. Quart is still building and designing all their speakers.

2 - I had rockford in my car for 2 years and loved it. Why? Because it was the best power and sound quality I could get for what I could spend. Like someone else said - they never claimed to be top of the line but they certainly don't suck. Now I have more money (and accomodation through JL and MB Quart) so I'm getting them.. why? Because now I can afford it and now I feel that it's the best I can get for my money.

3 - Everyone on this forum is not a pro SQ competitor so they have no reason to go spend thousands and thousands of dollars on all this stuff everyone here thinks is the best. Anything's better than stock!

Personally I feel that rockford is the best in it's price range. It serves it's purpose for what people want to spend. Nothing wrong with someone who get a decent sounding rockford system because they didn't want to spend the money on more expensive equipment. They went out and got the best bang for the money they had.

 
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for the money, earthquake will beat rockford every time. every time.

abstract, im glad to hear that at least somewhere, people are satisfied with rockford. you wont find very many in ccentral california, thats for sure

 
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Earthquake will beat RF? Look at the DB Drag finals. Four first places with amps, three with subs. I worked at a shop that sold JL and Eclipse. We dropped Eclipse because of all the returns. I know they still have a ton of B stock if you want it. As far as better amps out there, there is always something better. Same with cars. You have a honda? its no Ferrari. You have a Ferrari? Its no Laborghini. the argument will continue forever. Just know that if anybody ever has a problem with a Rockford Corp problem call Alex at 1-800-669-9899 and let me know that your a 7th gen owner and I will take care of you the best that I can without getting fired

 
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im saying their olderstuff was decent their new stuff i wouldnt touch. JL make is one of the best sq amps to most people. even some pro sq people. Check my avatar for my thought on eclipse. they might not make the absolute best stuff. but better than your everyday name brands.

 
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I have an RF 700X in my current car with 2 HE2 12's in a box. The car pounds, and it sounds great. Crystal clear bass. I have not had a problem with this amp or my subs, and I would recommend their products to anyone. I had the 360a2 in my last civic and it also sounded great. I blew a channel on the amp and called rockford. They told me to send the amp back to them, and that they would pay for shipping, and fix the amp. I sent it to them on a saturday, and I had the amp back fixed the next friday.....I would get any rf product. I recommend them 100%

 
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Rockford Suck, WHAT? How is this even a consideration....let me point out the following link to the 2002, yes, THIS YEAR, USAC finals

read this **** and you be the judge, rockford kicks ***, no doubt about it

http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/2002home/ then Click on "2002 USAC Finals"

(And I'm not just sayin that cause I work there[IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/IMG]


hey, Alex053, what dept do you work in at Rockford?

~Tbone

 
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I talk to a sales person at Best buy and he insisted the Rockford made the best car audio products on the market!!!!







J/K!! [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/IMG]


But, I bet this happens all the time at BB.

 
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so you're goin to de-rate the entire Rockford line just because they made a huge business decision by selling their products to big box retailers like best buy? Let's talk financials, where is MTX, Orion, Zapco, DEI anyways (and those only name a few) They are tiny co's barely surviving by their foreskin of their teeth because other compnmaies keep buying them up. None of their products (besides MTX) are made in the USA anyways...if Rockford took its manufacturing plants to those ****-hole 3rd world contries,, well then yeah, they'd be able to make a 1000W amp for $10, but I guarantee the quality would reflect the price.

I cannot disclose any particular information, but lemme say this, Rockford will be steping up to the plate soon., just you wait and see...(while you're serving fry's at McDonald's)


~Tbone

 
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nope, im gonna de-rate RF cause we have boatloads of it in here for repair, we couldnt get a single RF amp to work in a boat, their tweeters pop like crazy, their midwoofers need massive amounts of power to play at a decent volume and range, the crossovers fry half as often as the tweets, and thier woofers are WAY too expensive (as a dealer) for the "good" ones.

i shoudl say now that when i put good in quotes, im not implying that they dont hit! you can give me dbdrag and usac spl links all day, i understand that if you put a woofer in a large ported box in a heavily modified car itll get loud! you can do the same with sony xplod! im just saying that as far as transparancy is concerned, as far as range is concerned, as far as clarity is concerned, an IDQ will best it at a third of the price. just at a third of the volume, is all [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/IMG]

ill agree, they get loud, a punk at a local show who demonstrated that he knows jack about audio hit 166 outlaw with a pair of HX2 15's. so what? SPL to anyone who is a true audiophile is meaningless. and for the dollar/dollar comparison, you cna get alot better.

edit: now that i think about i should admit that ive never been able to blow a rockford mid, and that they have an exelent range at high power. Id love to try a set out in my car when i replace my midrange amp, to see if i CAN blow them, but its enough now to prove that under normal usage conditions, they arent gonna go. just thought id say something positive so you didnt think i hated RF or anything, just that id never sell nor run their products for the above reasons [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/IMG]

 
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Im in Tech support on the phones. R6. Is that your black 7th gen on Toxins in the parking lot? I have the silver one. all stock until this weekend

 
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That is my favorite comment abotu Rockford that people loved the old stuff but not teh new. That shwos pure miseducation, the components inside teh amps have only gotten better not worse? Do you really think RF dumbed teh stuff down? Geez

 
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Maybe you guys need a refresher on how to install properly then. I rarely ever have a RF problem, and we sell more than anyone on teh east coast for an independant.

 
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I didn't say that Rockford products are bad??? In fact, I said that they were no worse then anyone else. What I DID SAY is that according to some of the people that I have talked to at Best Buy they claim Rockford to be the "Best"! I think Rockford makes good amps, but being the best is subjective [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/IMG]



I don't think they would hire a UCLA grad at McDonald's, but I wouldn't know [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/IMG]

 
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thats a terrible thing to say. at least keep it on the product, not a cheap shot at us. dont make it personal. Just talk abotu rockford.

and there is something ot be said about the PRODUCT, not the install, when it is exclusively the brand amplifier that will not work, when all other factors are held constant.

there is something to be said abotu the PRODUCT when one driver requires boatloads of power to play to its potential, when half that power will make the other driver scream for mercy.

there is something to be said about the PRODUCT when usac SQ judges (spl doesnt count at all for woofer quality) are even ripping on rockford randomly and repeatedly throughout the opening of the competition.

there is something to be said abotu teh PRODUCT when tried and true audiophiles (forget competition, these are the people up to their elbows in MDF dust building hi-fi home and car audio systems) dont REFUSE to run rockford, but quite the opposite! pay good money out of their own pockets to purchase rockford, along with JL, rainbow, even illusion, brahma, just to give every brand a chance, to give each one a listen! the kind of people who change audio equipment more often than you or I change clothing! what do those people run day in and day out in THEIR cars? check their trunk, cause it sure aint rockford. even the mighty ND-12 took the backseat to the 12w7!

you want to link me SPL numbers, go ahead. records will be broken all the time, thats what they are there for. SPL potential is meaningless as a woofer standard. SPL to me is like the land speed record is to my mother. its nice, but its useless! this isnt USEABLE sound!

what do I look for in a speaker? clarity, crisp, transparancy, frequency range, price. does rockford have some of this? a little. does it have more of it than other brands for the same amount of money? definitely not. When our rockford rep comes, its all smiles and nods as he hands us our documentation and goes through the new products. BUT EVEN HE RUNS A FULL DIAMOND SYSTEM IN HIS 300M!!

whether a caraudio brand is "good" or "bad" is a HORRIBLY misused term out in caraudio land, ESPECIALLY online. It would be grossly negligent for ANYONE to call rockford a bad company or a bad product. but best bang for the buck? certainly not! all these posts above say "sure there is better" Im saying that for the same investment there is better! forget absolutes! even dollar to dollar, watt to wat, inch to inch, tweeter to tweeter, you will find SOMEthing better. guaranteed.