Rockford Fosgate : Low Cost Boom Boom
Written: May 24 '03
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Sound Quality: |
 |
|
| Ease of Use: |
|
|
| Durability: |
|
|
|
Pros: Inexpensive, widely available, attractive, sturdy
Cons: A little boomy
The Bottom Line: An inexpensive and reliable option for a low to mid level install.
|
|
|
| AVaddict's Full Review: Rockford Fosgate RFZ3812 Car Subwoofer |
A Little Background
Two of these subs were used in this particular application. They are powered by a single Alpine MRD-M500 with single management handled by a Sony CDX-MP80. The subs are mounted in a 2.5 cubic foot sealed enclosure constructed of 1” MDF. These speakers were purchased at a local dealer at a “blowout” sale of some sort. Anyway, it was too good to resist at $109 plus tax. Rockford Fosgate has been around for quite some time and is known primarily for their subs but also for their amps. They are also no venturing into the head unit arena, we’ll shall se that how that pans out. These were part of a system that was installed in a 1995 Pathfinder, so there was plenty room to put the box in back.
The Sub
For a $55 component sub the RFZ3408 seems well built or as much as you might expect for a base model offering. The frame is simply pressed steel and seems a little prone to bending at the edges especially. The cone specifically is very stiff and doesn’t seem to deform too easily even when pushed hard. The dust cap is unusually large which I believe has to lend to rigidity to some degree. The magnet is larger than some other offering in roughly the same price class and actually effected a monitor when it was set a couple of feet away.
Included with the sub is an instruction sheet and spec chart as well as a little sticker and a couple of rubber rings. These rings are already installed on the woofer, one around the magnet the other around the edge of the driver meant to help seal it to the box, reduce vibration, and look good concealing the mounting screws. More than anything else they are cosmetic, but it's nice to have nonetheless even though I used neither of the top rings as they woofers were effectively concealed by the grilles.
The model number is important here primarily because the RFZ3412 is the 4ohm brother of this sub. Because it was the 8ohm versions on super sale, two were purchased to be wired in parallel for a resulting 4ohm load handled by the Alpine sub amp.
Specs and Performance
The following is per the spec sheet included with the sub.
General Description – 12”, 8 ohm, single voice coil subwoofer
Power Handling RMS – 150w
Power Handling Peak – 400w
Frequency Range – 20Hz-200Hz
These subs really impressed me. The whole system is obviously tuned well, between the head unit and the amps there so much adjustability it’s redundant. The frequencies and power input are absolute certainties and the box is sized to Rockford recommendations for a sealed enclosures. These things are important and contribute heavily to the performance. These subs are punchy and strong with no hint of stress or distortion even at medium high volumes. I mentioned in the cons section I felt them boomy, and this seems to happen sometimes with some music. It not a major issue, but I’ve heard cleaner subs though certainly not in this price range. They achieve very good sound pressure levels, so much so that they are rarely above 70% power, but hey also have a 1 farad capacitor upstream, so power is never an issue
Final Thoughts
These subs perform very well for the price paid. Normally found for about $79-$99, the fact they worked out to about $60 each makes the install that much sweeter. As long as the proper crossovers or filters are used and your power matches the subs ability to take it then you should be good to go. If you are not interested in spending a few hundred for a sub or simply get the 4ohm version, you ought to happy with this offering from Rockford Fosgate. Don’t forget, long exposure to high volumes causes permanent hearing damage, listen responsibly.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 109 for 2
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
AVaddict
|
 - Top 200 |
|
Location: Texas
Reviews written: 139
Trusted by: 134 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.