Upgrading Rockford Amplifier

sne2040 · Apr 3, 2009, 07:23 PM

Hey I'm sick and tired of the Rockford sound system.. The auto leveling is annoying and i noticed that even my friend's Mazda6 with basic factory speakers sounds better than the Crapford audio.

Anyone have any suggestions on what amp is a good upgrade yet won't burn a hole in my pocket? I was planning on getting more power mods but I've had enough with the crappy OEM quality audio so i'm going for an amp.

Also how hard is it to install an aftermarket amp? Isn't the factory one some kind of 8-channel or what not? So would a 4-channel be sufficient for powering all of the car's audio?

TheBlueBlur · Apr 3, 2009, 07:36 PM

I don't know if you can do this in your car, but I turned off auto-leveling through my Navi.

THEMEMPHISFORCE · Apr 4, 2009, 03:51 PM

There isn't a way to really do this "RIGHT" without it burning a hole in your pocket. At least a grand is needed to fix it right. You would need a 5 channel amp if want to here the sub, or a 4 channel and a mono amp <---this is what I am going to do.

c_reber · Apr 4, 2009, 09:05 PM

Or a 4 channel with the rear bridged to the sub <--- What I'm going to do.

THEMEMPHISFORCE · Apr 5, 2009, 05:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by c_reber

Or a 4 channel with the rear bridged to the sub <--- What I'm going to do.

So then you running the other 4 speakers bridged at 2 ohms on the front side of the amp then? That would seem to be a little much, but if you have the right components would be okay.

c_reber · Apr 5, 2009, 10:26 AM

Actually from what I have read on here, the speaker set (1 woofer, 1 tweeter) is already at 2 ohms, so I will try to run them in series at 4 ohms. But I'm not sure on this. I'm just waiting for my steering wheel control adapter to come in the mail. Maybe I'll start the install today and find out.

THEMEMPHISFORCE · Apr 5, 2009, 10:30 AM

So you will have a "glorified" front channel then with no fading. I had this in one of my previous cars and it was terrible, it was like the rears didn't even mean anything and in our evos we have components in the front and coaxials in the rear.....so good luck on the sound differential.

c_reber · Apr 5, 2009, 09:09 PM

Thanks for the luck.

Here's an update: the front woofers are 2 ohms, tweeters 4 ohms. The rears are 4 ohms. I wired the front tweeters and woofers in series for about 6.x ohms, then parallel with the rears for a total of about 2.8 ohms.

You are correct that I will not have fading. That is not important to me, but it is to some people. So if you want to fade front to rear, you can't use a 4 channel.

I just have to finish a few things tomorrow like the B/U cam wiring and put everything back together. I will of course have to take the dash apart again when my steering wheel adapter comes in the mail.

But I will say the stock sub and speakers sound a LOT better with some power going to them!

I'll start my own thread in the audio or show/shine section of my install.

Spy007 · Apr 6, 2009, 09:12 AM

Sounds great! Looking forward to a write up and some more reviews.

MOB EVO X · Apr 6, 2009, 11:59 AM

I have a 5 Channel Infinity amp with the rockford system and it sounds great. very clean and loud.

Titaztik · Apr 6, 2009, 05:32 PM

So are you guys still using the Factory deck, bypassing the Rockford amp, and using an aftermarket amp??? Is the Auto-Leveling of the sound still there or is it completely gone now?? Also do guys have the Nav system or just the normal deck?? Sorry for all the questions, I'm getting ready to get rid of my Rockford amp and go with a PDX5 but I don't wanna still deal with the Auto-Leveling sh*t.

Thanks

Adam

c_reber · Apr 7, 2009, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Titaztik

So are you guys still using the Factory deck, bypassing the Rockford amp, and using an aftermarket amp??? Is the Auto-Leveling of the sound still there or is it completely gone now?? Also do guys have the Nav system or just the normal deck?? Sorry for all the questions, I'm getting ready to get rid of my Rockford amp and go with a PDX5 but I don't wanna still deal with the Auto-Leveling sh*t.

Thanks

Adam

Adam, I'm using an aftermarket Nav deck. Origianally I had the SSS package deck with the 6 cd changer, no MMCS. With aftermarket deck, of course there is no auto-leveling.

Ltdanish07 · Apr 7, 2009, 11:51 AM

Sorry for the noob question, but what is this auto leveling you speak of?

Spy007 · Apr 7, 2009, 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ltdanish07

Sorry for the noob question, but what is this auto leveling you speak of?

SSS Stereo Volume Auto-Limiting

salukidude · Apr 7, 2009, 07:51 PM

I went with two Alpines. 1 4x150 and 1 1x600. It's a serious freaking improvement over the Crapford setup.