Pioneer stuff or Rocksford forsgate ??

[arwilliejai]

:wave: hey guys,

just got a question,

is mid-high range all pioneer stuff better

or all rocksford forsgate stuff donno what range yet...but just know one of the amp was used to push 2 12" subs

considering it being basically 2 amps, sub, front and rear speakers

thanks guys.

[J-MuN]

I am a Pioneer fan but only with their headunits and audio visual products. I'd choose the Rockford Fosgate stuff over the Pioneer stuff (in terms of speakers, subs and amps).

The reason to this is, as you know Pioneer have a renowned name in the car audio industry. They also have a very well known name in the Plasma industry. Headunits and A/V products costs range from a couple hundred to up to a couple thousands and when in terms of plasmas, they all start in from a few thousands. When you compare them to speakers, amps and subs, they only cost a couple hundred dollars or so (excluding competition gear). Pioneer obviously make alot of profit in Plasma's and Headunits and so on. When it comes down to Speakers and stuff, they usually put their name on speakers just to be in the competition. Where opposed to Rock Fosgate, they only emphasise in Car Audio.

[Q_ball]

rockford wins over pioneer for subs and amps...
like jmun mentioned, go pioneer for decks as they tend to perform well and look pretty,
but go for rockford for ya speakers

[Captiva_Blue]

Rockford gear is exceptionally good on quality. Their speakers tend to be a bit better for SPL applications than SQL but if you're not after audiophile quality then Rockford is the go over Pioneer in terms of speakers/subs/amps and will make you very happy. IMHO, always go for the specialist company. Electronics companies tend to do only one thing really well, for Pioneer, this is their home entertainment gear, not their car audio gear.

Sadly, Rockford no longer make Head Units, so thats one decision you won't have to make. I have and RFX9120G and it is a fabulous piece of kit. Retail in Oz was only about $750 at the time and it has 3 sets of pre-outs, MP3 capability (though I hate MP3s and never use this) a true 4x25wrms internal amp, rotary volume, flip down face, low pass filters for the sub out and a very low noise floor. But alas... they are no more, looks like you'll be going for Pioneers there :)

[SPL77Civic]

if you are in the market for some new gear have a look at Alpine and Eclipse for head units, I personally use an Alpine h/u and would probably buy an eclipse h/u if it wasnt for my SPL addiction. (ALPINE tends to be more SPL competitor friendly in terms of anti skip at high SPL.)

[2MPRSS]

rockfords is overrated MTX is the way to go

[kOncept]

^ agreed with 2MPRSS, I'd buy MTX over Rockford anyday...

rockford was good stuff till a few years ago when they were bought over by the chinese (i'm partly chinese, no racism intended but you know the quality of their products... ) so it depends if the Rockford gear you're looking at was still made in USA...

SPL77Civic: I'm not too sure but don't eclispse make units with 8V pre-outs which would be more SPL friendly?

[arwilliejai]

thanks for the great help guys !!! yer i used to work at megamart so i sorta know that pioneer stuff are great but i could also see bose (specialist audio company) are much much better in anyhow possible

well i wont be changing the head unit, just some dodgy panasonic that was already on the car

but like situation is i already have some pioneer gear in the car and was about to install a 2nd amp i just brought too (pioneer stuff were cheap)

and i've been offered 2nd hand rocksford forsgate brought from america like 5 years ago worth 3-7k in total apparently including install?? it's been taken out of a wrx for years ago that's y my rich frd decided to sell to me heaps cheap LOL...

so i just wanted to put the best out of my set and the rocksford set in the car that's all, like even replacing the amps if i need to.

all i know about the rocksford set till i see it is it's got 4 channel amp, mono amp, 2 x 12" subs, 6 speaker??, capacitators and all wiring.

obviously i dont need half the stuff there LOL but at the price i'll be shittin myself not to buy it

but yer after all you guy's help

i think i will take the set and most likely just replace my amps with the rocksford stuff

[arwilliejai]

hey need help again, i found out the models

it's
http://www.adelcom.net/FosgateMultiChAmps.htm
basically it's the rockford fosgate punch amp 160.4 running boston front splits and rear + a rockford fosgate punch amp 400.4 pumping 2 x 12inch boston sub

or the set up i have already
http://www.pioneeraus.com.au/car_entertainment/amplifiers/index.html
pioneer amp 480w 4ch running pioneer front spilts and rear + pioneer amp 2 channel GM5100T pumping 1 x 12inch jbl sub

it's just i had a look at the rockford fosgate stuff and the rms rating on them is HEAPS low, i was just thinking how such low ratings possiblily run the subs

thanks again

[lebema43]

get a pioneer head unit and Rocksford forsgate amp speakers and sub

[Fhrx]

Guys, with all due respect you cannot simply say that Pioneer is better or worse than Rockford or vise versa. It is all relative to the listener. For me personally I don't like either and would chose many other brands long before both for speakers, subs and amplifiers. Now before someone tells me to rack off let me first take a step back and explain why I said what I did.

I'll start with the speaker issue first.
Now Pioneer make some fantastic decks as did Rockford. Both companies speakers and subs are very well designed and constructed too but I (and a serious % of audiophiles) find Pioneer speakers sound a little weak and artificial sounding while the Rockfords attack is way too harsh and too in your face. Now bare in mind this has nothing to do with actual sound quality; this is all about having your speakers sounding as close to the real instrument / voice as possible. Pioneer speakers just don't seem to possess the natural sounding hard hitting attack that many people desire from their system where as Rockfords seem to just attack you with sheer noise.

Moving along to the amplifiers.
Again Pioneer / Rockford midrange amplifiers are very well designed and constructed but Pioneer amps tend to lack serious power ( try reading the 12 volt 4ohm rating ;) ). Rockfords have the opposite issue in that they make tonnes of power but suffer from relatively high THD levels, low damping factors, bad slew rates etc are not overly impressive when compared to many other amps within the same price range.

Now some brands I would recommend adding to your audition list (do still include Pioneer and Rockford too) include:

Speakers:
Boston Acoustics
Phoenix Gold
Diamond Audio
Scanspeak
DynAudio
Hertz
Focal
Crossfire
Morel
Vibe
Phass
Eton
Rainbow
Lotus

Amplifiers:
Audison
Phoenix Gold
Diamond Audio
Boston Acoustics
Crossfire
ARC Audio
Zapco
Tru-Tech
Milbert
Digital Designs

Remember at the end of the day let your ears do the decison making.
The key is too listen to as many products as you can and let your own ears deside for you. There is no special scientific formula behind the choice. Just go with what you like the sound of. Please don't just take my word for it nor any salesmans word either. My opinion is only one of many. Other audiophiles here may well have totally different tastes. Check the products out yourself and see if you remain with the afore mentioned ones or you settle on something else.

[Jus-10]

JL Audio is your friend! (Well it's my friend)

But out of the 2 Rockford fo' sho'...I hate pioneer (h/us are oK)

[SPL77Civic]

Koncept, there are amps that dont liek input voltages above 6v, IE, my eaudios have a input sensitivity range of 0.2v to 6v. anything higher the amps wont run, just constantly protect.

I'd like to add Treo and Image Dynamics to that list Marty

[arwilliejai]

you guys have all be very helpful !!! i will surely keep all those things yous told me in mind

another question

i am going to use the set of speakers that came with the system my frd sold me, it has front 6" splits and rear 6" all boston stuff, as opposed to the pioneer splits i already have in the car

is it better if i use the

2ch pioneer amp 760w -> run front only
4ch pioneer amp 480w -> run front and rear
4ch rockford fosgate amp 160w -> run front and rear

just askin which of those options are best cause i already have those amps sittin at home

THANKS !!