4 years old, and they still thump!
Written: Oct 05 '00
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Tough, durable, high power handling, reliable, powerful sounding
Cons: somewhat pricey, strain when up REAL loud
|
|
|
| GTADriver19's Full Review: Rockford Fosgate RFZ1412 Car Speaker |
So I'm driving home from school one afternoon shortly after getting my first car. I'm listening to my tinny, anemic factory installed car stereo, and one of my favorite songs comes on the radio, so I of course hit the volume control. All 4 speakers fart and become so unbearable-sounding that I vow, right then and there, that something WILL be done about this as soon as possible.
What I noticed most about my car stereo is that it lacked any kind of bass response. So subwoofers were a given. But, in order to put in subs and make them sound good, I had to replace the head unit first, so I could get some preamp outputs to hook the amplifier into. Oh yeah, I needed to get a powerful, high quality amp also. D'oh. This is turning into an expensive project. However, this whole stereo thing was bugging me, I decided to bite the bullet and spend the cash. So, after getting some funds together, I headed over to Car Tunes.
After considering my options, I went with a pair of 12" Rockford Fosgate Punch RFP-1412 subwoofers, a bandpass MTX Thunder Box, a Rockford Fosgate in-dash CD player, and a HiFonics Eagle 110Wx2 amplifier with built in crossover. I chose the Rockfords because I had heard nothing but good things about them, however, the Rockford Fosgate amplifiers were just too expensive. I took one look at their installation prices -- No way was I paying them to do it, so I got home and figured out how to do it myself. I hooked everything up in the space of a day, turned on the stereo, and...WHAM. The sound in my car could have killed a fly at 50 feet!!
The speakers sounded deep and powerful, exactly what I was looking for. The higher output wattage of the stereo even made the 4 remaining factory speakers sound ten times better. Of course, those were replaced in short order as well, but that's another review. The cones are nice and stiff, so they don't flex under heavy usage, and they are very difficult to dent or put holes in. The Fosgates have an attractive raised red and white logo in the center and can handle quite a bit of power, 200 Watts RMS (400 peak). They ran me $139.95 apiece, but that was almost exactly 4 years ago, Fall of 1996. I used and abused those speakers pretty harshly every day for the next two years. They never blew out, and never let me down. I am currently starting my 3rd year of college, and my brother inherited my speakers and amp, and I put them in his car, where he plays them just as hard as I did. To this day, they still sound like brand new.
As far as cons are concerned, I can't really think of too many. Of course, when it comes to mobile audio, you get pretty much what you pay for -- there were a couple times when I was really pushing it and I could detect the subwoofers straining, so I backed off. There's always going to be products available that are better than yours, obviously at much higher cost. Considering what I paid, I honestly don't think that I could have done any better, and prices have come way down in recent years as mobile audio got more mainstream.
Other complaints that I have don't really have anything to do with the subwoofers themselves - installation of the whole system was kind of a pain. Proper polarity must be observed, or else your subs will sound awful, and all subwoofers should be run attached to a low pass filter or crossover - I kept mine set at 110 Hz. Frequencies much higher than 120 Hz can damage subwoofers over time. Also, if you install any high powered stereo system with subwoofers in your car, be prepared to start blowing out alternators (the part that runs off your engine and charges the battery). I was on my 3rd one when I got rid of my car, and that was in the space of 2 years. Also the air moved by the speakers caused my trunk and rearview mirrors to rattle quite a bit. Just some things to consider if you plan on putting a powerful stereo in your car.
An interesting side note is that Rockford CD player was used pretty harshly as well, the buttons are still snappy 4 years later, and the unit still looks like it just came out of the box. No paint is wearing off, it performs flawlessly, and nothing has ever gone wrong with it. A lot can be said for the quality of Rockford Fosgate products, in my humble epinion.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
GTADriver19
|
|
Member: Evan Harding
Location: East Lansing Michigan
Reviews written: 8
Trusted by: 4 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.