MSRP: $199
Rockford Fosgate is one of the oldest names in car audio. A respected amplifier manufacturer, Rockford in the past has been known for their massive SPL subwoofers, but not necessarily for sound quality. This month RF steps into the arena to take a crack at gaining a sound quality reputation with the introduction of their all-new Punch P3 line of subwoofers. Typical of all Rockford products, the P3D212 is a gorgeous sight, with rich packaging that matches the overall expensive appearance of the P3 line.
The fit and finish is absolutely excellent on the P3. The cast-aluminum frame is powdercoated black and features a recessed area for the tall-profile, high-density, compressed, half-roll sealed polyfoam surround to mount into. This keeps the mounting screws and the trim ring from cutting into and possibly damaging the surround edge. The spider landing is two-sided to fit the dual poly-cotton linear spiders. Poly-cotton spiders are known for their inherent tear and fatigue resistance, and because RF mounts them in a mirror image fashion, they help eliminate distortions caused by nonlinearity in their design. The spider land is also elevated to allow venting of the spider cavity. This style of venting benefits the sub's power handing via heat dissipation, improves compliance linearity and reliability. Many subwoofers that feature spider venting have massive mounting depths-not the P3. It checks in with a very manageable 6.75", even though the magnetic structure is double stacked with large ferrite slugs. To help optimize the motor magnetics, RF added an extended pole piece and a bumped backplate, which also improves a maximum 2.17" of excursion. To further improve reliability, RF has a fatigue resistant and reduced strain "stitched on" technology for their lead wires, which are made from heavy-duty 16-gauge tinsel material.
The cone, which you will never actually see because it is completely hidden behind the ABS/acrylic dust cap assembly, is made from a Kevlar-fiber-reinforced semi-pressed paper in a closed-conical shape. A 2.5" diameter four-layer voice coil drives the cone with a spun-laced Nomex insulating reinforcement collar. The collar allows for a multipoint high-temp/high-strength neck joint bonding technique that RF created for this new line of subwoofers. All this high-tech stuff benefits the end user by giving this P3 subwoofer an impressive power handling rating of 500 watts RMS and 1,000 watts of peak power. The P3 one-year warranty at that price/value ratio isn't really a problem.
Installation
I opened up the owner's manual to see what RF had to say about setting up their subwoofer. They recommended a sealed enclosure with a volume of 1ft3 for the best SQ. Being that many companies will write just about anything in their owner's manual in an effort to tell customers whatever it is they want to hear, I called Daniel Hunter, RF's product planner, to find out if they were telling it like it is or cooking the books, as it were. Hunter tells me that a sealed 1ft3 is indeed optimal for the P3 subwoofer. Included in the P3's manual is probably the easiest to understand explanation of the difference between sealed and vented enclosures. I also liked the dimensional drawings and the table of dimensions, which was easy to read and understand.