Are Rockford amps overrated?

[adamawayfrommpa 10+ year member]

I'm looking at a Rockford which says it'll push out 100X4 @ 2ohms.....it's model is the Punch 400.4....do you think that it will do this as far as RMS goes?

Adam

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[mrray13 10+ year member]

uuuuhhhh........yeah. rf amps are usually UNDERRATED. if it's new you should get a "birth certificate" that will tell you what it can do(in perfect conditions of course)

 

[zane 10+ year member]

Agreed mrray13.

My old 400.4 benched out at about 215 watts per channel @ 2ohms. I could hardly believe it, even had to have a friend re-measure it to make sure I wasnt doing something wrong- he got the same results.

good little amps! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

take it easy,

-zane

 

[Unregistered]

how u measure how much power its giving out?

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

current x voltage x percentage you think is effiecant to .45-.65 if ab.. .7-.8 if class d .......

watt meter

sticking your tongue on the speaker terminals with it cranked up

~~~feel the columbs~~~~~~~~

lol

 

[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

Originally posted by audiolife current x voltage x percentage you think is effiecant to .45-.65 if ab.. .7-.8 if class d .......

watt meter

sticking your tongue on the speaker terminals with it cranked up

~~~feel the columbs~~~~~~~~

lol

Um, you'd be guesstimating 2 of the 3 variables. I would have to imagine that wouldn't exactly be a precise calculation.

testing actual power output is not as simple as a DMM and a simple equation. You might as well just read the mfg. ratings if that's your method of testing.

here's a good thread:

http://www.carsound.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=12&t=000299&p=

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

guesstimating with a watt meter? hmm ok as for the first part power= current times voltage ............and a good guesstemation is better than a blind shot in the dark eh?=) how would you be guessing running a constant test tone on a resistive load current and voltage wouldnt change? i think 1 out of 3 would be a guesstamate . you have a lanzar vibe or a pyramid amp you wouldnt say it was very efficient ..you have a audiobahn or a mid range rf ,xtant mtx....you would guess towards the middle.......you have a big a$$ed pricey amp i would hope it would tend to be a little better on the juice..if not that is poor engineering. plus in a generic sense doing this gets you pretty close say if an amp was rated at 100 watts you figure it as 45 watts and truely know then it was rated at peak....kinda like pyramid they rate at peak times 2 hehe also doing it my way you could easily figure its effiecency from the real total out put ..divided by its curent draw*voltage... its all pretty simple

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

besides that its ohm's law you saying law's dont prove relivant? lol and you want to question how you want to get a propper reading i will tell it to you but power will always equal voltage times current....... more you play in it more acustomed to how to adjust for it we used to have make scientific guesses in out put in lab .... you do it enough unless its a messed up unit you can get a feel for it. then we would get real stats it sorta killed many birds with one stone as it tought basic trouble shooting as well as operating characteristics of the tested unit. make as much as you can a constant when dealing with an unknown ...now was i suppost to say "take a 4 ohm or 2 ohm or even 1 ohm high wattage resistor and put it to the amps output then play a desired test tone at a frequency you wish to use the amp. and then measure current and voltage" i can you see but it dont fit in a 4 to 6 word outburst.....//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/rolleyes.gif.c1fef805e9d1464d377451cd5bc18bfb.gif statements of "how to" anything never promote thought..they promote do..when you want to learn whatever it is should promote a why.........then apply what you know and find out.

 

[adamawayfrommpa 10+ year member]

wow I never expected to get so many replies to this thread...

Thank you all for your very helpful comments and information...

Adam

My site:

http://www.angelfire.com/electronic2/adam2000

My Email:

adamawayfrommpa2000@yahoo.com

send me any photos you would like me to show off on my site...

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

ahaha thats cool using the p tweet though that would give a more real world reading through a speaker only thing is i bet most newbies would get it to clip and want to get a reading if you want to amaze your friends get an osciliscope and show them what a "clipped wave" looks like is also a good way to show what dc would do to a speaker. shoulda used the piezo for that woulda been cheaper and never be replaced like those lil 5 dollar speakers ahah

 

[RangerMan Premium Member]

I would definitly agree that Rockford amps are way underrated. Great amps, but a little on the expensive side.

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

they were more underated a few years ago most under rated amp i can recall was the soundstream sleeping beauty.... i think it was rated at 1 watt or a half a watt was something unbelievable but into a low impedence it would do 500 watts easy. hifonics had one too rated at .1 watt but i never seen anyone use it -thinking it was called the planet x-

 

[Unregistered]

hmmm these manufacturers do make alot of money by having higher power amps, when most just habe more mosfets, and bigger bipolar transistors, mosfets are like 2$ EACH, they are maing a killing.. i guess it funds further research...