*SHOP* KICKER L7R Quad Box: amzn.to/3F0AOCX Handheld Amp Dyno: lddy.no/106tm Shop eBay for Rockford Fosgate Power Amplifiers: ebay.to/3Fdwr7D *VIDEO INDEX* 0:00 Intro 0:35 1996 Rockford Fosgate 0:56 Features and Specs 2:24 Amp Dyno Tests 8:16 Subwoofer Demo 10:38 What's Inside? 11:31 Pros and Cons 12:46 Extras *CAMERAS AND PHOTO GEAR* Camera - iPhone 13pro 1TB - amzn.to/3nCjGvc RODE Wireless Go II Microphones: amzn.to/3Q6NVHl Shure MV7 Microphone: amzn.to/3A4OICK Zoom H4n Audio Recorder: amzn.to/3BXjVsS 960 LED Panel: amzn.to/2Sxoq3S *TEST BENCH EQUIPMENT* SMD / D'Amore Engineering Amp Dyno: goo.gl/sJTcf7 XS Power D1400 Batteries - amzn.to/2BPFCKW XS Power PSC60 Charger - amzn.to/2CHGcfs Fluke 1000A AC/DC Clamp Meter: amzn.to/2Rw5WDA Handheld Dyno: amzn.to/2u2EgKV My Favorite Screwdriver Kit: amzn.to/2x0VzcE _DISCLAIMER: This video and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase from one of the product links, I may receive a small commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases_
my oldest brothers rockford fosgate system looked just like a waffle iron idk what year those came out or what wattage lik 500X1 500X2 he had a r.f. tweeters r.f. front speakers and i think back to and r.f. 10" or 12" speaker i forgot what code number it was because this was back in the early 2000's era so things changed a whole lot
I had a cheater amp in my first system but it was a bit newer. I think it was a punch power 50.1. It would get hot after a couple hours of hard playing but it didn't die on me. I had an orion 4 channel running my mids and it died during the same time period, it couldn't take the abuse a teenager put it through lol. I just spent all day yesterday working on my system, installed a Rockford prime 300x4. I went with ct sounds speakers and jbl gto tweets. I need to build a sub box next.
I had a punch 100ix that I paid 425 for back in 1995 or 1996. Was a fortune at that time. Powered all sorts of subs. 2-12's 1-15. Always performed. Even in the winter it would get hot and then when it would cool the amp would get covered in layers of frost. Never had one single problem. Miss those old school amps.
I remember when the 100ix amp went on clearance at Magnolia HiFi for $149ea and I bought their remaining inventory. Also got fourteen A/D/S 8” and nine 10” for $25ea/$45ea. Turned around and made a killing on resale at a weekend IASCA event.
I ran a 4 and a 2 channel in this series back in the day. They sold a heat sink section to join multiples together as one long amp. I left off the end caps, painted all white and used a panel to reveal only the sink fins. Loved that look and sound!
I was still using my old Punch 2 channel for a Pair of 6x9's in boxes up until last year.. that thing was clean and loud - and I beat the piss out of it for years...
@@BabyCharlotteschannel I donated my old punch 45 to my son’s pick up truck. Same thing, it’s pushing a old set of pioneer 6x9’s. That thing is still kicking!
Weak output for the money. It was just a cheater amp to compete in the low wattage catergories. Run 2 @ 2 ohm mono on a pair of 8” mid bass and horns. 100 watts total
Solid bass! Notice the woofer control in the sub bass frequencies! That's serious damping factor! Nichicon (and Rubycon) are the best electrolytic caps. That's a quality amp there! 😀
I still have this amp in my mustang with a Kenwood kameleon two W-0 10's and all infinity mids and highs and all monster wiring on everything still sounds killer when you want to drop the top and burn up some backroads
crazy part is they are all close in price but worlds apart in sq . those caps are $4 the kx are $5 from digi-key . personally Nichicon KX Series audio capacitors are the best caps money can buy . i recapped my memphis st-1300d with kx caps and for the $35 its just night and day ! is it zapco z-150.4ap good ...
I always ran Rockford Fosgate back in the 90's, starting with the Punch 150. That thing slammed! If I recall, the birth certificate said it was 306 watts, bridged. The Damping Factor was crazy good on their amps. I ran a pair of 12" Cerwin Vegas in a vented enclosure in the trunk of my 86 Cougar. When I played the Metallica black album, it could throw the loose change out of my center console.
We had so little power in the 80s and 90s and it sounded soooooo loud back then. Still remember fondly my 4080dsm powering 4 kicker gold 10s and 2 Boston 6x9s in my chevy luv lowrider. Had to be my favorite system I've ever owned. So loud so clear and I didn't need 1000s of watts to get there like today.
It’s crazy how my 500 watt system sounded better than my 3500 watt system now. I’m probably just looking back on it fondly but I swear it seams like it was the loaders thing I ever heard!
@@RealPivotTV what's the weird thing to me is how much further the sound traveled back then vs now. 250watts in my mini truck could be heard for 2 blocks. Now with 2500 watts and much larger drivers my system doesnt carry as far. I know some is do to sound deadener but I just dont hear the punchy bass we had back in the early days. Efficientcy, fs, I'm not sure what it is about todays woofers. I'll still take the old stuff over the new.
Hi BigD!! I'm a fan of Rockford Fosgate and these models with this frame for me are the most iconic of the brand, with a frequency response with a differential and that's why I have 2 of these in one of my cars. A big hug from Brazil. 👍👍👍
I used to have one of these and one of the higher wattage ones. I love the way they look how the ends hide the wires. Everything now looks alike. Back then they cared about how it looked and tried to be original. I have probably 10 times the amount of power in my truck now but I swear it doesn’t sound as good as my 400 watt system back in the 90’s. Dereck, that amp you got right there looks like it’s in great shape. I have seen a lot of these over the years and they are usually beat up with the end caps missing and what not. If you end up selling this one shoot me an email I’ll definitely buy it
I didn’t show but this one was in its original box as well with manual, I believe missing the birth sheet. You can send me an offer WillistonAudio (at) gmail dot com. Not sure I’ll wanna let it go or not 🤔
I've had the old Punch 40s and 60s made by Rockford Fosgate. As well as the Fosgate series one subs. Top notch. Those little amps are the ones with the chip cards you'd manually remove and put in one way for high pass and the other for low pass.
I used to have a Punch Power 75.2 back in my high school days. Super solid amp and with a pair of 10" RF subs it hit way above what friends were running from other companies
There it is!!! Had 9 of these in an Astro back in 1997. 4 were on mid's and highs (2 1" tweeters, 2 6.5" mid, 2 8" mid bass in each door) and 5 on 12 punch 15's. That powder coat is supposedly ceramic infused for heat transfer, which is why it's silver. These were great "cheater" amps back in the day. Thanks so much for this follow-up review.
My first real amp was a Punch 60 in 94. So it's really awesome to still see them working today. I wonder if the Newer Punches from today can do their rated power and more?
My friendly neighborhood drug dealer was a big basshead back in the days. His wife and my wife were friends and we would ride around and he would show off his latest build. He always had the latest and greatest and would be selling off anything from his shed of audio equipment. I got one of these amps and a couple of 12" round Solo Barics in truck boxes all in near mint condition for next to nothing off of him and ran it for quite a while. That amp got down hard
I ran a Punch 60IX back in the day. It was bridged on a singe 12” JL. It hit pretty hard in my Civic Si Hatch fed by my brand new Kenwood KDC9000. Man those were the days.
I'm familiar with Punch from the early 90's. The generation of amps before they added those end-caps. The legendary Punch 45. I remember one little Punch 45 EASILY pushing two 12's without a hitch.
Great review Big D. Had this amp running a single Infinity 10" in a sealed box. Sounded great bounced/firing up off the hatch glass. 1 run of 1/0 OFC. 4080 was running 4 4x6s. Both those amps get really warm but sound great doing it.
I ageee but honestly these new powerful amps are sloppy they don’t have clean power same w subs most of these new brand subs n amps are just burps not able to play clean and not able To play all Notes the subs
@@willieurus To much bass is inaccurate unless you like Bass I guess . I prefer sound quality and you don't need a 3,000 watt system for that . I haven't been into car audio for at least 25 years as I learned home audio is king as I'd rather sit on my couch than be driving around in a car . But I used to run a 100% complete A/D/S system with a PQ20.2 running two 12's and a PQ40.2 running all A/D/S mids that sounded beyond good . I had the system set up to be crystal clear , accurate and not extremely loud . A/D/S amps were known for basically having little to no distortion . I know have vintage A/D/S L910 speakers running on my home stereo system that sound incredible . A/D/S made incredible top of the line products during the companies heyday for sure . Fosgate was also decent but sounded dirty and was better off for people that liked loud systems with a ton bass as the price point was also about half the price of A/D/S products although for what they were Fosgate rocked for sure and were known to take a beating .
@@manchesterexplorer8519 ive had a few of these amps over the years, when set up right they can produce fantastic sound quality, i was never a fan of rockford speakers though. i too prefer to be sat at home listening to music. but as i spend a lot of time in my work van i have a denon z1 cd player, denon 760bl amp powering focal 130k fronts and a denon 660bl amp powering a 10" focal sub. sounds really clear and goes loud too. still got my rockford amps and mb quart subs though for when i want to go loud bass again.
@@1979phill Yah I gave up on car audio as I like to hear and be aware of my surroundings as I'm driving but Fosgate used to make some nice amps though .
I remember how they used to send a printout of that amp's performance, and that always struck me as a quality product. The weight and aesthetic also made me think it was built with quality in mind, they were a nice looking amp. Sadly the only one that I ever owned was the Santa Ana and it developed a problem with one of the channels and got hotter than a frying pan. One thing I didn't like about those early amps was the crossover setup, I thought that circuit board setup was a half ass attempt to integrate a crossover because it was over looked in the initial design. I just never heard a system with Fosgate amps that I was overly impressed with. I never really thought it was the amp, though. I always felt like they weren't being utilized properly along with poor enclosure designs, leading to a muddy and sloppy sound. All in all, I think Fosgate had it right long before a lot of other companies.
Really like this video. I remember the first time I heard this amp back in 2002 from a friend of mine. It was hooked up to 2-12" JL Audio W-0 series subs in a Q Logic dual bandpass box in a 2001 Chevy blazer... It was Monster like bass Unbelievable for 2-12s and very tight , quality notes that hit deep hard and accurate. Keep the Great videos coming!!
Because it was a severely underrated power amplifier. It also was super clean in THD. My first amp was a Rockford Fosgate Punch 75 in 1991, I never looked back. Rockford Fosgate for the next 25yrs. I left Rockford when tha amp designs were not appealing to me and there prices kept going up. A 19" Pro series Sub is $2700, the RF bdp 2500 is the biggest amp they currently make. RF needs a 5K and a 10K model.
Amazing amps! My buddy had a Punch 50 I think it was, it was small but that thing pounded the hell out of two 10 inch bandpass in a 91 Honda crx. I couldn't believe the noise that thing made.
ive had a few of these punch amplifiers over the years. and still have a 60x2 and a 200x2. solid built, simple and with lots of power. i used to know a lad that had a box built at wheel sounds, it housed 2 12" precision devices subs and run off a little punch 40x2. that thing was a real bass machine.
These were everywhere in my home town until Phoenix Gold came in. There were some competition cars running Orion Redline and those amps were pretty nice. The shop I worked at sold Orion's, audio art, Lanzar and Kenwood. My favorite amp ever was a Carver KLH Broadway. Rated at 25*2 it would sum to 300. It was designed for a time when the 50w competition class was super popular in SoCal. If you can find one it might make an interesting video.
One of my ex girlfriends gave me an almost new Lanzar amp back in the late 90’s. I never knew what is was and thought it was a flea market brand 😂 sounded good in my beater of a car
I have been binging your channel for a week or so. Really appreciate all the great content. I know it takes a ton of time to do all of this and some of the comments are unfortunate. Just want to let you know you are appreciated from NC.
Thanks brother! I have over 650 videos created in the past 10 plus years, so you have quite a bit to choose from! Thanks for the kind words, it's really appreciated!!
RF amps were 🔥🔥🔥🔥 back then… they pushed out some major watts… the only downside was they blew fuses like someone eats skittles… cause of that I ended up going with Linear amps (in my 5.0) to run my two 10” woofers, one to run my 12” Cerwin Vega sub, and the last to run my Kenwood mids and tweeters…
This stuff is pretty amazing to watch when you lived through it. I had a US Amps HC100 that I paid like $800 for in the '90s, which would be $1,600 in 2022..
Crazy expensive!! I remember dreaming about getting a few Hifonics amps and Earthquake Speakers in the early 90's!! But my goodness was it all crazy expensive back then!!!
I have one of these and a matching 50m Power. I had the x2 running a pair of 8's, mids and tweets in the kick panels and the 50m running 8 12's at .5ohm in the trunk of my '67 Chevelle.
I have a Punch 30, a punch 45, and a couple of Punch 150s. These are OLD old school. One of the 150’s and the 30 needs work but the other 150 and the 45 work just fine. In fact, these two amps are late 80’s models. Holla!
I had the 500 amp just sold it along with two same 15-in subwoofers Rf. I regret selling it now. If I would have kept it it would have just been for looks because it suck so bad at pushing anything nowadays. The Rockford fosgate 15s had the tiniest magnet ever. But it worked perfectly with those. I sold the amp and the speakers for like 160 bucks. I bet if I waited about 5 more years I could have got more money out of it. But it's all good the guy was happy about he probably wanted to keep it as a collection.
I had a punch 45 that was square ⬛ it didn't come with end caps that everybody loses. 😲😳 Back in the day when being overrated was common with most amplifiers ... and then came along Rockford Fosgate with the Punch Series. Epic! These guys knew how to win over there customers.
I had one of these back in the late 90's. Bought it off a guy in high school for $150. I wouldn't pay $500 for it. It was more powerful than what it was rated at but it wasn't really bang for the buck compared to some of the Pioneer amps and Kicker, Soudstream, or Lanzar amps of the times. I ran a 12" Kicker Comp sub in a ported box with this amp bridged 2-ohm mono and it hit pretty good. I had 4 gauge with a circuit breaker ran back to a distribution box in the trunk and put two 8 GA power and ground into the amp. Had a Kenwood eXcelon CD player with 4v preamp outputs. Amp would get hot enough to fry eggs, but I don't remember it ever going into thermal protection like some of my other amps did.
is used to ABUST these amps all the way from the punch 40 to the 200 and above from the mid 90's to late 2000's, never had 1 failure, never smoked them due to distortion like todays garbage. SOME OF THE BEST MADE AMPS OF ALL TIME.
I had a 2 channel power 50x2 from my days at best buy. When i went to sell it to clear out my garage for $100, i had 12 buyers interested in under 5 minutes. I was shocked how popular these AB amps still were
2 years ago, I picked up 2 of these, at a local thrift store. The couole that owns the thrift shop, buys out alot of storage units, and i gave them my number, years ago. They call me when they get any audio in their store. Both had one end cap missing on each. Also, one worked perfectly fine and was nice after cleaning. The other powered on, but had some issues. It needed caps, as they were swelled. Recapped the bad one, and it runs my wife's components in both front and rear doors, in her suv and sounds as good as it did new. Threw the other on ebay, with both end caps. Kinda wished I would have kept both.
Those amps were absolutely amazing back in the day. I used them for my 3 JL 10’s and also for my MB quarts with crossovers the ones with the clear covers lol. You guys in your late 30’s early 40’s know exactly which ones I’m talking about 😂😂
You don’t need to choose crossover frequencies by the chip with X-cards. You can actually change the crossover frequency by changing the values of the capacitors and resistors on the X-cards. If memory serves me, the manual dedicates something like a page or half a page to a table showing capacitor and resistor values to customize an X-card.
Man this brings back memories of happier times. '94 I had a Toyota MR2 and loaded it up with a RF Punch100 amp and a pair of RF 10's, lol. Also had a pair of Rockford 1" tweeters, 4" and 6" mids. They weren't that great but the whole thing sounded awesome. Had a really nice Sony CD head unit. Damn I miss that car.
I loved my punch amps and punch subs. I really liked the MB Quarts I had for mids and tweets too. 1000 watts to the 2 12inch punch subs and 600 watts total to the mids and tweets. A big stinger snap cap to keep it from dimming my headlights. But I can't remember what else I was using 25-30 years ago. But I was very happy with it.
I had one of those amps running some Infinity components, along with a power 1000 running 2, 15" subs in an old Ford Thunderbird. It was a 2.1 system with a big emphasis in the .1. Dang I miss the 90s.
Rockford Fosgate/Stillwater Designs amps are expensive, but like the old saying goes, you get what you pay for. You want a cheap amp to run crappy subs, then go to a flea market. You want good subs and awesome amps, buy Rockford. We used to have a stereo place in Beaver Falls, PA called Ray's, and I bought a set of Rockford Punch HEII DVC 12s off of him in a box back in the very early 00s (that were most likely stolen) for $250 and they would POUND wired at 2 ohms through my Soundstream Reference 1000x4 amp. My buddy had one of the loudest systems around back in the day. He had four MTX 15s with a small Fosgate amp in the bed of his 1995 S-10 with a short cab long bed that had a HUGE box, no rear window, the cab was sealed to the bed with a box cap, and that truck won awards for over 180 db. We had to wear ear plugs or headphones while we were riding in it.
I always liked those amps but I liked Orion more. I surprised with all your dynos. Fosgate seems to have underrated their amps and Orion over estimated theirs on alot of models. And the dollar per watts was terrible back then. They both always sounded very good and just had some torque to them if you would with the low wattage. I have mint Orion hcca150r from 98. Its a beautiful amp. Have all original box and all. I dont use it anymore tho. Its to big and not meant to be hidden. Try to find one to test😁. I would like to sell mines👍Anyways.. another great vid. Thanks bigD
Every time you do a test on an old school amp, I cry to think I pretty much gave away my PG ZX & M series amps years ago. I knew I should have kept them.
Rockford Fosgate makes THE BEST amps and subs..I had the Punch 500a2 and it pushed 2 Fosgate 12" DVC's to the max..2 twelves in a Supra hatchback and you couldn't even breathe when they hit! It would get hot enough to fry an egg bridged down to 2 Ohms and never missed a beat
I have a set of Punch amps new in box along with the rest of my high-end 90s system. I always thought I'd find something to do with it all these years, but never did. 😕
The answer is right on the back of the amp!!! anyone else see it? I used nothing but fosgate radio equipment back in the day and never had any big issues and if i did it was rectified immediately!!!
I've got an old Punch 500.2. It came with a cert sheet that said it put out 747 watts in dual channel 2 ohm. Amp was only 4 ohm rated when bridged. I ran it bridged at 2.67 ohms for many years pushing 3 punch HX2 12s. Ended up melting the 8 gauge power wire so had to run a 4 gauge and step it back down to a short run of 8 gauge with a second fuse holder before the amp (would only fit 8 gauge). Would have loved to know what it was putting out all those years. Still sitting in my basement.
Sure , the amp would test closer to it's rated power at the specified THD level . But in real world application the difference to your ears between .01 and 1 percent THD is almost undetectable , especially in light of your speakers being orders of magnitude more nonlinear than the sum of your signal chain . Testing to 1% THD is fine for real world power levels . Damping factor and slew rate might be nice , but , you can easily go down rabbit holes and make 3 hour long videos few would watch . Personally doing a pros and cons seems a little pointless for an amp sadly out of production for decades , and listening tests are dubious at best , unless the amp has very obvious distortion problems . Change if you want , but I love what you do for us as it is . Thanks for another bit of electronic archaeology and a walk down memory lane , Big D .
@@wal I always wanted to see how it compared to my Crunch 50SHC, a friend of mine was running a Power 50m and beat me by .1db (granted he had 3 12" RF subs to my pair of AutoTek 12" subs)
I had a Punch 250.1 mono amp back in the late '90s. That little sucker could put out some serious bass, I remember hitting 149.1 on a Dyno run with one 12 inch he2 sub not bad.
Great video Big Dwiz!!! I have this amp and also the 50m matching pair that I bought on eBay a few years ago!!! For $545.00 the pair!!! If the 50x2 was $500.00 in 1996 how much was the 50m??? I'm just curious about it!!! Thank you and keep your great videos coming Big Dwiz they are always fun to watch!!! 👍👍👍
My brother's system back then was a punch 200 for bass and two punch 240×4 i believe for mids and highs it sounded so good and loud as hell. He is still using the mid and high amps but switched to a power 1000 several years ago. At one point before he got the 240's he was running a nakamichi 45×4 for mids and a soundstream dual50 for highs but accidentally spilled his drink on the nakamichi never again did he put amps on the floor under his seats.
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*VIDEO INDEX*
0:00 Intro
0:35 1996 Rockford Fosgate
0:56 Features and Specs
2:24 Amp Dyno Tests
8:16 Subwoofer Demo
10:38 What's Inside?
11:31 Pros and Cons
12:46 Extras
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_DISCLAIMER: This video and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase from one of the product links, I may receive a small commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases_
my oldest brothers rockford fosgate system looked just like a waffle iron idk what year those came out or what wattage lik 500X1 500X2 he had a r.f. tweeters r.f. front speakers and i think back to and r.f. 10" or 12" speaker i forgot what code number it was because this was back in the early 2000's era so things changed a whole lot
I had a cheater amp in my first system but it was a bit newer. I think it was a punch power 50.1. It would get hot after a couple hours of hard playing but it didn't die on me. I had an orion 4 channel running my mids and it died during the same time period, it couldn't take the abuse a teenager put it through lol. I just spent all day yesterday working on my system, installed a Rockford prime 300x4. I went with ct sounds speakers and jbl gto tweets. I need to build a sub box next.
I had a punch 100ix that I paid 425 for back in 1995 or 1996. Was a fortune at that time. Powered all sorts of subs. 2-12's 1-15. Always performed. Even in the winter it would get hot and then when it would cool the amp would get covered in layers of frost. Never had one single problem. Miss those old school amps.
@rustytr or apple. 2400 I to apple back then...man...what could have been.
I had a punch 60 around then. Always pounded.
I remember when the 100ix amp went on clearance at Magnolia HiFi for $149ea and I bought their remaining inventory. Also got fourteen A/D/S 8” and nine 10” for $25ea/$45ea. Turned around and made a killing on resale at a weekend IASCA event.
I ran a 4 and a 2 channel in this series back in the day. They sold a heat sink section to join multiples together as one long amp. I left off the end caps, painted all white and used a panel to reveal only the sink fins. Loved that look and sound!
Almost 30 years later and this thing is still impressive. 👏
Rockford was the social standard in my neighborhood. Lol
👌😝👍
I was still using my old Punch 2 channel for a Pair of 6x9's in boxes up until last year.. that thing was clean and loud - and I beat the piss out of it for years...
@@BabyCharlotteschannel I donated my old punch 45 to my son’s pick up truck. Same thing, it’s pushing a old set of pioneer 6x9’s. That thing is still kicking!
Weak output for the money. It was just a cheater amp to compete in the low wattage catergories. Run 2 @ 2 ohm mono on a pair of 8” mid bass and horns. 100 watts total
Still my favorite line of amps. I ran mine at 1ohm bridged the day I bought it and never had an issue.....other than heat.
Like Glenn Fry
Solid bass! Notice the woofer control in the sub bass frequencies! That's serious damping factor! Nichicon (and Rubycon) are the best electrolytic caps. That's a quality amp there! 😀
Says something when an almost 30yr old amp performs this well…
How many of these Chinese amps will hold up 5 years +. Considering the quality of the components especially the caps. Doubtful.
You can thank the Transnova Circuitry for that damping control 😎
I still have this amp in my mustang with a Kenwood kameleon two W-0 10's and all infinity mids and highs and all monster wiring on everything still sounds killer when you want to drop the top and burn up some backroads
crazy part is they are all close in price but worlds apart in sq . those caps are $4 the kx are $5 from digi-key . personally Nichicon KX Series audio capacitors are the best caps money can buy . i recapped my memphis st-1300d with kx caps and for the $35 its just night and day ! is it zapco z-150.4ap good ...
I always ran Rockford Fosgate back in the 90's, starting with the Punch 150. That thing slammed! If I recall, the birth certificate said it was 306 watts, bridged. The Damping Factor was crazy good on their amps. I ran a pair of 12" Cerwin Vegas in a vented enclosure in the trunk of my 86 Cougar. When I played the Metallica black album, it could throw the loose change out of my center console.
Curious, why isn’t RF used as much as it used to be used ?
@@TheDudeInTheWild007 you seen the prices of RF? It's ridiculous just isn't competitive price/watt anymore
We had so little power in the 80s and 90s and it sounded soooooo loud back then. Still remember fondly my 4080dsm powering 4 kicker gold 10s and 2 Boston 6x9s in my chevy luv lowrider. Had to be my favorite system I've ever owned. So loud so clear and I didn't need 1000s of watts to get there like today.
It is crazy to think just how clean and loud our old stuff was! I don't know exactly what made it that good but my goodness it was so awesome!
CDs instead of streaming helps the quality
It’s crazy how my 500 watt system sounded better than my 3500 watt system now. I’m probably just looking back on it fondly but I swear it seams like it was the loaders thing I ever heard!
@@RealPivotTV what's the weird thing to me is how much further the sound traveled back then vs now. 250watts in my mini truck could be heard for 2 blocks. Now with 2500 watts and much larger drivers my system doesnt carry as far. I know some is do to sound deadener but I just dont hear the punchy bass we had back in the early days. Efficientcy, fs, I'm not sure what it is about todays woofers. I'll still take the old stuff over the new.
@@trecedaves3159 totally agree
love that old RF stuff.... still got my 2 RF amps from the 90s including the punch woofers..... soundquality is still awesome
I had a 40 punch with two 12" inch kickers in a closed box.and Kenwood deck... very, very impressive!! Quality 😎👍
Hi BigD!! I'm a fan of Rockford Fosgate and these models with this frame for me are the most iconic of the brand, with a frequency response with a differential and that's why I have 2 of these in one of my cars. A big hug from Brazil. 👍👍👍
Thanks for watching and commenting!
I had a Rockford back in high school. I think it was the punch 100. That thing was freaking crazy powerful
I still got my old 800A2 she's a beast!
running it 2 ohm bridged you couldn't even touch it (rated 4 ohm max) but never let me down
I stil have my old bd1500.1-- when I get rid of a vehicle, the amp comes out.
I used to have one of these and one of the higher wattage ones. I love the way they look how the ends hide the wires. Everything now looks alike. Back then they cared about how it looked and tried to be original. I have probably 10 times the amount of power in my truck now but I swear it doesn’t sound as good as my 400 watt system back in the 90’s.
Dereck, that amp you got right there looks like it’s in great shape. I have seen a lot of these over the years and they are usually beat up with the end caps missing and what not. If you end up selling this one shoot me an email I’ll definitely buy it
I didn’t show but this one was in its original box as well with manual, I believe missing the birth sheet. You can send me an offer WillistonAudio (at) gmail dot com. Not sure I’ll wanna let it go or not 🤔
I've had the old Punch 40s and 60s made by Rockford Fosgate. As well as the Fosgate series one subs. Top notch. Those little amps are the ones with the chip cards you'd manually remove and put in one way for high pass and the other for low pass.
I used to have a Punch Power 75.2 back in my high school days. Super solid amp and with a pair of 10" RF subs it hit way above what friends were running from other companies
There it is!!! Had 9 of these in an Astro back in 1997. 4 were on mid's and highs (2 1" tweeters, 2 6.5" mid, 2 8" mid bass in each door) and 5 on 12 punch 15's. That powder coat is supposedly ceramic infused for heat transfer, which is why it's silver. These were great "cheater" amps back in the day. Thanks so much for this follow-up review.
Thanks for watching and commenting!
My first real amp was a Punch 60 in 94. So it's really awesome to still see them working today. I wonder if the Newer Punches from today can do their rated power and more?
they continue to underrate as they've always done
My friendly neighborhood drug dealer was a big basshead back in the days. His wife and my wife were friends and we would ride around and he would show off his latest build. He always had the latest and greatest and would be selling off anything from his shed of audio equipment. I got one of these amps and a couple of 12" round Solo Barics in truck boxes all in near mint condition for next to nothing off of him and ran it for quite a while. That amp got down hard
“Friendly neighborhood drug dealer” 😝
I ran a Punch 60IX back in the day. It was bridged on a singe 12” JL. It hit pretty hard in my Civic Si Hatch fed by my brand new Kenwood KDC9000. Man those were the days.
I'm familiar with Punch from the early 90's. The generation of amps before they added those end-caps. The legendary Punch 45. I remember one little Punch 45 EASILY pushing two 12's without a hitch.
Bought a punch 75 in '91 or 92 and at one point had it on a pair of cerwin vega 6x9's. Man did it rock.
Great review Big D. Had this amp running a single Infinity 10" in a sealed box. Sounded great bounced/firing up off the hatch glass. 1 run of 1/0 OFC. 4080 was running 4 4x6s. Both those amps get really warm but sound great doing it.
I had a Rockford Power 300 back about 1990. I think it cost me over $1000. My friend had the power 650 and it was sooooo powerful.
Crazy to think how much of a beast these amps was back then and just how powerful amps are now
Yes, agreed!
I ageee but honestly these new powerful amps are sloppy they don’t have clean power same w subs most of these new brand subs n amps are just burps not able to play clean and not able
To play all
Notes the subs
@@willieurus To much bass is inaccurate unless you like Bass I guess . I prefer sound quality and you don't need a 3,000 watt system for that . I haven't been into car audio for at least 25 years as I learned home audio is king as I'd rather sit on my couch than be driving around in a car . But I used to run a 100% complete A/D/S system with a PQ20.2 running two 12's and a PQ40.2 running all A/D/S mids that sounded beyond good . I had the system set up to be crystal clear , accurate and not extremely loud . A/D/S amps were known for basically having little to no distortion .
I know have vintage A/D/S L910 speakers running on my home stereo system that sound incredible . A/D/S made incredible top of the line products during the companies heyday for sure .
Fosgate was also decent but sounded dirty and was better off for people that liked loud systems with a ton bass as the price point was also about half the price of A/D/S products although for what they were Fosgate rocked for sure and were known to take a beating .
@@manchesterexplorer8519 ive had a few of these amps over the years, when set up right they can produce fantastic sound quality, i was never a fan of rockford speakers though. i too prefer to be sat at home listening to music. but as i spend a lot of time in my work van i have a denon z1 cd player, denon 760bl amp powering focal 130k fronts and a denon 660bl amp powering a 10" focal sub. sounds really clear and goes loud too. still got my rockford amps and mb quart subs though for when i want to go loud bass again.
@@1979phill Yah I gave up on car audio as I like to hear and be aware of my surroundings as I'm driving but Fosgate used to make some nice amps though .
The Punch amps were so underrated!! Rockford Fosgate and Orion Audio were the pinnacle of car audio back in the 90's!! Fun times!
I remember how they used to send a printout of that amp's performance, and that always struck me as a quality product. The weight and aesthetic also made me think it was built with quality in mind, they were a nice looking amp. Sadly the only one that I ever owned was the Santa Ana and it developed a problem with one of the channels and got hotter than a frying pan. One thing I didn't like about those early amps was the crossover setup, I thought that circuit board setup was a half ass attempt to integrate a crossover because it was over looked in the initial design.
I just never heard a system with Fosgate amps that I was overly impressed with. I never really thought it was the amp, though. I always felt like they weren't being utilized properly along with poor enclosure designs, leading to a muddy and sloppy sound. All in all, I think Fosgate had it right long before a lot of other companies.
Installed one of these bridged to an 8" Kicker sealed sub in my Volvo 240 DL in 96. Drove that for years and never had any issues with the amp.
I think amps from the 90’s are still the best amps out there.
Really like this video. I remember the first time I heard this amp back in 2002 from a friend of mine. It was hooked up to 2-12" JL Audio W-0 series subs in a Q Logic dual bandpass box in a 2001 Chevy blazer... It was Monster like bass Unbelievable for 2-12s and very tight , quality notes that hit deep hard and accurate. Keep the Great videos coming!!
I still have my bd1000 and working very good up till now 15 years and going strong love old school Rockford amp best channel best information bro
Because it was a severely underrated power amplifier. It also was super clean in THD. My first amp was a Rockford Fosgate Punch 75 in 1991, I never looked back. Rockford Fosgate for the next 25yrs. I left Rockford when tha amp designs were not appealing to me and there prices kept going up. A 19" Pro series Sub is $2700, the RF bdp 2500 is the biggest amp they currently make. RF needs a 5K and a 10K model.
me 1993 Punch 150 and ran 4 15's with it
Amazing amps! My buddy had a Punch 50 I think it was, it was small but that thing pounded the hell out of two 10 inch bandpass in a 91 Honda crx. I couldn't believe the noise that thing made.
Man this channel brings back some good 'ol memories
It's dual use! Combo space heater and amp! All you need is a fan and you are set for a winter day at the lake, it thaws all. 😎
Always a rockford fosgate fan. I have the 50M Power. Old school rocks.
Those Punch Apps was the best Amps ever made I hade a Punch 500 mono block pushing 3 JL Audio W6 10’s
its 3am why TF am I glued to this video... LOL
ive had a few of these punch amplifiers over the years. and still have a 60x2 and a 200x2. solid built, simple and with lots of power. i used to know a lad that had a box built at wheel sounds, it housed 2 12" precision devices subs and run off a little punch 40x2. that thing was a real bass machine.
These were everywhere in my home town until Phoenix Gold came in. There were some competition cars running Orion Redline and those amps were pretty nice. The shop I worked at sold Orion's, audio art, Lanzar and Kenwood. My favorite amp ever was a Carver KLH Broadway. Rated at 25*2 it would sum to 300. It was designed for a time when the 50w competition class was super popular in SoCal. If you can find one it might make an interesting video.
One of my ex girlfriends gave me an almost new Lanzar amp back in the late 90’s. I never knew what is was and thought it was a flea market brand 😂 sounded good in my beater of a car
Thanks for the suggestion
I have been binging your channel for a week or so. Really appreciate all the great content. I know it takes a ton of time to do all of this and some of the comments are unfortunate. Just want to let you know you are appreciated from NC.
Thanks brother! I have over 650 videos created in the past 10 plus years, so you have quite a bit to choose from! Thanks for the kind words, it's really appreciated!!
RF amps were 🔥🔥🔥🔥 back then… they pushed out some major watts… the only downside was they blew fuses like someone eats skittles… cause of that I ended up going with Linear amps (in my 5.0) to run my two 10” woofers, one to run my 12” Cerwin Vega sub, and the last to run my Kenwood mids and tweeters…
A buddy of mine had one of these powering a single 12" punch sub and it sounded fantastic and hit pretty hard for such a small amp.
I had 2 tens in a jeep wrangler totally epic sounding
those mid 90s amps were powerhouses. I miss my Memphis 1000d.
This stuff is pretty amazing to watch when you lived through it. I had a US Amps HC100 that I paid like $800 for in the '90s, which would be $1,600 in 2022..
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Crazy expensive!! I remember dreaming about getting a few Hifonics amps and Earthquake Speakers in the early 90's!! But my goodness was it all crazy expensive back then!!!
I have one of these and a matching 50m Power. I had the x2 running a pair of 8's, mids and tweets in the kick panels and the 50m running 8 12's at .5ohm in the trunk of my '67 Chevelle.
I have a Punch 30, a punch 45, and a couple of Punch 150s. These are OLD old school. One of the 150’s and the 30 needs work but the other 150 and the 45 work just fine. In fact, these two amps are late 80’s models. Holla!
I had the 500 amp just sold it along with two same 15-in subwoofers Rf. I regret selling it now. If I would have kept it it would have just been for looks because it suck so bad at pushing anything nowadays. The Rockford fosgate 15s had the tiniest magnet ever. But it worked perfectly with those. I sold the amp and the speakers for like 160 bucks. I bet if I waited about 5 more years I could have got more money out of it. But it's all good the guy was happy about he probably wanted to keep it as a collection.
I had a punch 45 that was square ⬛ it didn't come with end caps that everybody loses. 😲😳
Back in the day when being overrated was common with most amplifiers ... and then came along Rockford Fosgate with the Punch Series.
Epic!
These guys knew how to win over there customers.
I'm looking at a 30-year-old amp and I'm thinking about it being newer than the one that I had. 👴💀 where did that time go?
😏Oh yeah at work.
I had one of these back in the late 90's. Bought it off a guy in high school for $150. I wouldn't pay $500 for it. It was more powerful than what it was rated at but it wasn't really bang for the buck compared to some of the Pioneer amps and Kicker, Soudstream, or Lanzar amps of the times. I ran a 12" Kicker Comp sub in a ported box with this amp bridged 2-ohm mono and it hit pretty good. I had 4 gauge with a circuit breaker ran back to a distribution box in the trunk and put two 8 GA power and ground into the amp. Had a Kenwood eXcelon CD player with 4v preamp outputs. Amp would get hot enough to fry eggs, but I don't remember it ever going into thermal protection like some of my other amps did.
is used to ABUST these amps all the way from the punch 40 to the 200 and above from the mid 90's to late 2000's, never had 1 failure, never smoked them due to distortion like todays garbage. SOME OF THE BEST MADE AMPS OF ALL TIME.
Back in the 90s I only ran Fosgate amps, had a Punch 200 running four 12s in my Escort GT and you could hear that thing for blocks lol.
Those end caps are heavy. It’s solid metal!! I remember them being so solid
Oh ya baby, now we're back in my wheelhouse!
Amps back then had incredible damping factors. Damping factor basically boils down to ability to control the speakers.
I had a 2 channel power 50x2 from my days at best buy. When i went to sell it to clear out my garage for $100, i had 12 buyers interested in under 5 minutes. I was shocked how popular these AB amps still were
Wow, i remember Punch150 was more than enough back then. Back windows breaking....lol
2 years ago, I picked up 2 of these, at a local thrift store. The couole that owns the thrift shop, buys out alot of storage units, and i gave them my number, years ago. They call me when they get any audio in their store. Both had one end cap missing on each. Also, one worked perfectly fine and was nice after cleaning. The other powered on, but had some issues. It needed caps, as they were swelled. Recapped the bad one, and it runs my wife's components in both front and rear doors, in her suv and sounds as good as it did new. Threw the other on ebay, with both end caps. Kinda wished I would have kept both.
Those amps were absolutely amazing back in the day. I used them for my 3 JL 10’s and also for my MB quarts with crossovers the ones with the clear covers lol. You guys in your late 30’s early 40’s know exactly which ones I’m talking about 😂😂
You don’t need to choose crossover frequencies by the chip with X-cards. You can actually change the crossover frequency by changing the values of the capacitors and resistors on the X-cards. If memory serves me, the manual dedicates something like a page or half a page to a table showing capacitor and resistor values to customize an X-card.
Thumbs up for an amplifier that I wanted so bad at 17 years old back in 97'. I did have four of the DVC punch tens on 2x punch 40's tho. 😁
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Man this brings back memories of happier times. '94 I had a Toyota MR2 and loaded it up with a RF Punch100 amp and a pair of RF 10's, lol. Also had a pair of Rockford 1" tweeters, 4" and 6" mids. They weren't that great but the whole thing sounded awesome.
Had a really nice Sony CD head unit. Damn I miss that car.
you are the best TH-camr that tests audio equipment the rest is not even close to your level
Thanks for watching and commenting!
Awesome blast for.the past! A buddy had some old punches with the link caps that were Nickle plated running a few 15s
I have a 500 from the 90s and it's still going strong
Had one of these. Ran it very hard for years. Could have cooked eggs on it but she never let me down!
That’s why it looks like a grill!
I loved my punch amps and punch subs. I really liked the MB Quarts I had for mids and tweets too. 1000 watts to the 2 12inch punch subs and 600 watts total to the mids and tweets.
A big stinger snap cap to keep it from dimming my headlights.
But I can't remember what else I was using 25-30 years ago.
But I was very happy with it.
Long live my Rockford 250a2 and Dual Punch XLC's. Best setup for a HS kid back in '99!
The pros and cons at the end really made me laugh!! Almost implying we can go out and pick it up at any store hahaha!
Guess I should be more specific about the old amps 😊
I had one of those amps running some Infinity components, along with a power 1000 running 2, 15" subs in an old Ford Thunderbird. It was a 2.1 system with a big emphasis in the .1. Dang I miss the 90s.
This was the very amp that got me into Rockford Fosgate to begin with. I've had nothing else since.
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Rockford Fosgate/Stillwater Designs amps are expensive, but like the old saying goes, you get what you pay for. You want a cheap amp to run crappy subs, then go to a flea market. You want good subs and awesome amps, buy Rockford. We used to have a stereo place in Beaver Falls, PA called Ray's, and I bought a set of Rockford Punch HEII DVC 12s off of him in a box back in the very early 00s (that were most likely stolen) for $250 and they would POUND wired at 2 ohms through my Soundstream Reference 1000x4 amp. My buddy had one of the loudest systems around back in the day. He had four MTX 15s with a small Fosgate amp in the bed of his 1995 S-10 with a short cab long bed that had a HUGE box, no rear window, the cab was sealed to the bed with a box cap, and that truck won awards for over 180 db. We had to wear ear plugs or headphones while we were riding in it.
Great video , fosgate old school goodness !! Always impressed ! 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
Awe yeah!
The 250m² and the 500m were really killer amps in their days, I had 2 x 250m² .....still my favourite amp till today.
None of those #'s were available back then, but everybody knew Rockford Fosgate kicked ass!
I always liked those amps but I liked Orion more. I surprised with all your dynos. Fosgate seems to have underrated their amps and Orion over estimated theirs on alot of models. And the dollar per watts was terrible back then. They both always sounded very good and just had some torque to them if you would with the low wattage. I have mint Orion hcca150r from 98. Its a beautiful amp. Have all original box and all. I dont use it anymore tho. Its to big and not meant to be hidden. Try to find one to test😁. I would like to sell mines👍Anyways.. another great vid. Thanks bigD
I have the Concept version the 97.2
How much
@@wal you are so lucky!
To have that 97.2
Sorry guys. Struggling with this reply and comment stuff.
It’s cool that Rockford gives you a birth sheet with new amps. 8:55
Makes me miss my old 200x thing was a beast!! Had 3 12” jl audio w0 running off it.
I had the RF punch 50 pushing two 10’s back in 1997. Loved seeing this!
Every time you do a test on an old school amp, I cry to think I pretty much gave away my PG ZX & M series amps years ago. I knew I should have kept them.
😳
awesome video ! And love seeing dinosaurs like that still around going strong
I had a Punch 200 back in the day with 2 kicker comp 15's. That was the first year they came out with the inverted dust caps.
Got a Rockford phoenix gold 300x2… works great pushing 2 12in kickers… loud enough pushes them out
End bells/caps worth more than the amp itself. These 50x2 and 50m amps for $100 on ebay all day long at auction
I didn’t think ANY RF amp sold for $100 on eBay…
I had the Trans Ana 40x2 back in the day loved it!!
I remember having a Kenwood KAC-716 Mono Amp on some dual 12" Orion XTR subs in a sealed box. Would be nice to see that amp on the Dyno.
Rockford Fosgate makes THE BEST amps and subs..I had the Punch 500a2 and it pushed 2 Fosgate 12" DVC's to the max..2 twelves in a Supra hatchback and you couldn't even breathe when they hit! It would get hot enough to fry an egg bridged down to 2 Ohms and never missed a beat
I had a punch 40 amp on two old school crunch subs and man they slapped so hard
I have a set of Punch amps new in box along with the rest of my high-end 90s system. I always thought I'd find something to do with it all these years, but never did. 😕
Had a Punch 45HD in My 1984 Chrysler E-Class with 2 12" kicker and Kenwood Deck back in 1994 them was the Dayz.
The answer is right on the back of the amp!!! anyone else see it? I used nothing but fosgate radio equipment back in the day and never had any big issues and if i did it was rectified immediately!!!
I've got an old Punch 500.2. It came with a cert sheet that said it put out 747 watts in dual channel 2 ohm. Amp was only 4 ohm rated when bridged. I ran it bridged at 2.67 ohms for many years pushing 3 punch HX2 12s. Ended up melting the 8 gauge power wire so had to run a 4 gauge and step it back down to a short run of 8 gauge with a second fuse holder before the amp (would only fit 8 gauge). Would have loved to know what it was putting out all those years. Still sitting in my basement.
Sure , the amp would test closer to it's rated power at the specified THD level .
But in real world application the difference to your ears between .01 and 1 percent THD is almost undetectable , especially in light of your speakers being orders of magnitude more nonlinear than the sum of your signal chain .
Testing to 1% THD is fine for real world power levels .
Damping factor and slew rate might be nice , but , you can easily go down rabbit holes and make 3 hour long videos few would watch .
Personally doing a pros and cons seems a little pointless for an amp sadly out of production for decades , and listening tests are dubious at best , unless the amp has very obvious distortion problems .
Change if you want , but I love what you do for us as it is .
Thanks for another bit of electronic archaeology and a walk down memory lane , Big D .
This comment explains EXACTLY why I don’t get any deeper technically. So true!!! 👍👍👍
*Big D* great review as always, and I know you can only review what you have available to you .. *any chance you have a RF Power 50m to review?*
I don’t at this time but who knows what I’ll have tomorrow
@@wal I always wanted to see how it compared to my Crunch 50SHC, a friend of mine was running a Power 50m and beat me by .1db (granted he had 3 12" RF subs to my pair of AutoTek 12" subs)
Good clean power from back in the day 🤘🏾
These Rockford Fosgate amplifiers with this type of heat sink always reminded me of a giant aquatic isopod
Rockford fosgate punch was always my favorite
I had a Punch 250.1 mono amp back in the late '90s. That little sucker could put out some serious bass, I remember hitting 149.1 on a Dyno run with one 12 inch he2 sub not bad.
Great video Big Dwiz!!! I have this amp and also the 50m matching pair that I bought on eBay a few years ago!!! For $545.00 the pair!!! If the 50x2 was $500.00 in 1996 how much was the 50m??? I'm just curious about it!!! Thank you and keep your great videos coming Big Dwiz they are always fun to watch!!! 👍👍👍
Thanks for watching and commenting!
My brother's system back then was a punch 200 for bass and two punch 240×4 i believe for mids and highs it sounded so good and loud as hell. He is still using the mid and high amps but switched to a power 1000 several years ago. At one point before he got the 240's he was running a nakamichi 45×4 for mids and a soundstream dual50 for highs but accidentally spilled his drink on the nakamichi never again did he put amps on the floor under his seats.
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