Rockford p3001 Amp and 9" Punch P3 Sub, any good?

[bduane]

I have a amp and sub that must be about 10 years I purchased used when I was 10 years younger , anyone know anything about these and if they are any good?

Amp: Rockford Fosgate P3001
Sub: Rockford Fosgate Punch P3 (don't know specific model, measured at 9" diameter) - it is in a closed box, havn't figured out how to remove it yet to see if there is any additional model info. It looks just like one of these from the color/design:

I've got all of the original wiring any everything, thinking about throwing these in the ST and seeing if I can build a box for it to fit under the floor in the back like the others I've seen. Anyone know if this equipment will work well with the Fiesta and be as easy to install as others?

 

[CanadianST]

I'm sure some others with more experience than me will chime in but to me age shouldn't have anything to do with working well with our cars. Just installed some 40+ year old new old stock speakers in the Datsun and they connect the exact same as new speakers I've put in other rigs.

 

[MKVIIST]

It's considered a 10" subwoofer. P3's are decent and I think more than you'll ever need in the FiST.

The Rockford Fosgate P3001 is a little underpowered for the 10" subwoofers since they are rated to handle 500RMS and the amp puts out only 300RMS.

 

[Nosjunke]

It's considered a 10" subwoofer. P3's are decent and I think more than you'll ever need in the FiST.

The Rockford Fosgate P3001 is a little underpowered for the 10" subwoofers since they are rated to handle 500RMS and the amp puts out only 300RMS.

I agree with that, plus I think you'll only need one sub. The airspace requirements of that sub is about .6 cf3 per 10 in a sealed box. If you ran with a setup like I have you won't get that. You'll have to raise the box off the floor and it'll still be a tad smallish. One 10" in a correct box will sound leaps above 2 in a small box.

 

[bduane]

It's considered a 10" subwoofer. P3's are decent and I think more than you'll ever need in the FiST.

The Rockford Fosgate P3001 is a little underpowered for the 10" subwoofers since they are rated to handle 500RMS and the amp puts out only 300RMS.

I took it out of it's box and confirmed it is a P310P4. According to crutchfield, this is rated at 100-400 watts RMS. At 4 ohms the P3001 amp is rated at 150 watts RMS. The crutchfield page for the P3001 shows a different model, anyone know if this is just a redesigned version of the same amp? Mine looks like this.

Anyways, so if I have an amp that seems to be rated for 150 watts RMS at 4 ohms. Is a sub rated at 150 watts RMS at 4 ohms the "perfect" match, or do I then have to worry about pushing the limits of the sub and blowing it? I don't know much about all of this, and when I had it installed in my car when I was a teenager, it seemed ok, but what did I know back then? . I see glowing reviews for the P3001 amp on crutchfield and many people saying they are running 12" and even dual 12" subs... I don't know the specs of their subs, but are there 12" subs that require significantly less power than my single 10" sub?

Regarding the box, does the shape of the box matter much? I'd imagine it'd be easy to exceed 0.63 cubic feet with a shallow but wide box (like 2' x 1' x 6" = 1 cubic foot), or is this shape not optimal for some reason?

 

[bduane]

It's considered a 10" subwoofer. P3's are decent and I think more than you'll ever need in the FiST.

The Rockford Fosgate P3001 is a little underpowered for the 10" subwoofers since they are rated to handle 500RMS and the amp puts out only 300RMS.

I took it out of it's box and confirmed it is a P310D4. According to crutchfield, this is rated at 100-400 watts RMS. At 4 ohms the P3001 amp is rated at 150 watts RMS. The crutchfield page for the P3001 shows a different model, anyone know if this is just a redesigned version of the same amp? Mine looks like this.

Anyways, so if I have an amp that seems to be rated for 150 watts RMS at 4 ohms. Is a sub rated at 150 watts RMS at 4 ohms the "perfect" match, or do I then have to worry about pushing the limits of the sub and blowing it? I don't know much about all of this, and when I had it installed in my car when I was a teenager, it seemed ok, but what did I know back then? . I see glowing reviews for the P3001 amp on crutchfield and many people saying they are running 12" and even dual 12" subs... I don't know the specs of their subs, but are there 12" subs that require significantly less power than my single 10" sub?

I agree with that, plus I think you'll only need one sub. The airspace requirements of that sub is about .6 cf3 per 10 in a sealed box. If you ran with a setup like I have you won't get that. You'll have to raise the box off the floor and it'll still be a tad smallish. One 10" in a correct box will sound leaps above 2 in a small box.

Regarding the box, does the shape of the box matter much? I'd imagine it'd be easy to exceed 0.6 cubic feet with a shallow but wide box (like 2' x 1' x 6" = 1 cubic foot), or is this shape not optimal for some reason?[/QUOTE]

 

[Phinnegan]

Just keep in mind internal dimensions - a 1ftx2ftx6inch box is only .3cf using 3/4inch mdf and .5cf using 1/2inch mdf. You also want to have -some- room between your driver and the back of the enclosure for venting.

 

[Nosjunke]

Just keep in mind internal dimensions - a 1ftx2ftx6inch box is only .3cf using 3/4inch mdf and .5cf using 1/2inch mdf. You also want to have -some- room between your driver and the back of the enclosure for venting.

Exactly, plus you have to consider the woofers' displacement (basket, motor, and magnet assembly). That'll eat up a bit of space.

 

[bduane]

Just keep in mind internal dimensions - a 1ftx2ftx6inch box is only .3cf using 3/4inch mdf and .5cf using 1/2inch mdf. You also want to have -some- room between your driver and the back of the enclosure for venting.

How much space is "enough" between the back of the driver and the box?

Exactly, plus you have to consider the woofers' displacement (basket, motor, and magnet assembly). That'll eat up a bit of space.

Do you really need to take this into consideration? They don't list the displacement volume of the subwoofer in the specs, but they do recommend a sealed box volume... based on this I would assume they took the displacement into account when recommending a sealed box volume, no?

 

[bduane]

Well, I hooked it up to my car battery and used my stereo in my garage to supply a signal as a test... I started turning up the gain and I got to a point where it was starting to sound kind of distorted to me... Which I am surprised with the sub being rated so much higher than the amp. I am not looking to knock the pictures off my neighbors walls... Just looking for a little extra kick. What happens when an amp is under powered, simply less bass (which I can live with) or do you lose some range?

 

[bduane]

I'm learning more and will answer my own question, let me know if my understanding is wrong . I now understand that gain isn't meant to be used to control the volume of bass, but instead is to be optimally paired the amp/sub/input signal. In my case, following this guide, I have a 4 ohm sub and an amp that puts put 150 RMS at 4 ohms. So when playing a 60hz test tone at 75% volume from my head unit, I need to adjust my gain until I get an output AC voltage of sqrt(150 x 4), which is 24.49 volts.

One question I have, the guide mentions only disconnecting the speakers from the amplifier I am adjusting... do I not need to disconnect the other car speakers as well for fear of blowing them from the 60hz test tone at high volume?

 

[bduane]

I think I'm talking to myself here, but hopefully this info will be helpful for others! I found that my subwoofer is a DVC (dual voice coil) at 4 ohms, and this means that it can actually be wired up in such a way that it only actually puts 2 ohms of resistance on the amp. So, my amp can actually put out 300 watts RMS at 2 ohms, and the subwoofer has a max RMS of 400.

This crutchfield article states "You will want an amp that can provide at least 75% or as much as 150% of the subwoofer's top RMS wattage rating.". So I am exactly at the 75% mark, bottom of the range, but in the range nonetheless