Rockford Fosgate RF 2000 home amplifier.
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daddyjt
Posts: 3,263
Yes, you read that correctly - HOME amplifier.
Having been a teen in the 80’s, I have always been a fan of Rockford Fosgate car amplifiers. Their innovative MOSFET designs were very innovative in their ability to deliver prodigious power from small chassis, with little heat, and run stereo AND mono AT THE SAME TIME. Indeed, I’ll never forget a display vehicle in the Car Concepts (SLC, 1989) showroom. It was a converted hearse (a Lincoln, IIRC) that was running THIRTEEN speakers at once, from a single Punch 45. That’s four sets of 3-way separates and a 12” sub on an amp “rated” at 22.5 wpc - and it sounded spectacular! Now granted, the Punch 45 was significantly underrated, and that amp routinely measures at 35+ wpc, but still… and the 45 was the smallest amp in the Rockford stable - the lineup at the time being the Punch 45, Punch 75, punch 150, Power 300, Power 650, and the 30” long Power 1000.
Well, unbeknownst to me until this very evening, Rockford Fosgate produced a VERY short-lived run of home amplifiers, patterned after the Power 1000 - The RF 2000. And the numbers it drove from a ridiculously small (but heavy) chassis are indeed very impressive. I won’t spoil the video, but take a look…
https://youtu.be/Z-Dz07Rm7aA?si=kUAx_drbn1vTPAOr
Having been a teen in the 80’s, I have always been a fan of Rockford Fosgate car amplifiers. Their innovative MOSFET designs were very innovative in their ability to deliver prodigious power from small chassis, with little heat, and run stereo AND mono AT THE SAME TIME. Indeed, I’ll never forget a display vehicle in the Car Concepts (SLC, 1989) showroom. It was a converted hearse (a Lincoln, IIRC) that was running THIRTEEN speakers at once, from a single Punch 45. That’s four sets of 3-way separates and a 12” sub on an amp “rated” at 22.5 wpc - and it sounded spectacular! Now granted, the Punch 45 was significantly underrated, and that amp routinely measures at 35+ wpc, but still… and the 45 was the smallest amp in the Rockford stable - the lineup at the time being the Punch 45, Punch 75, punch 150, Power 300, Power 650, and the 30” long Power 1000.
Well, unbeknownst to me until this very evening, Rockford Fosgate produced a VERY short-lived run of home amplifiers, patterned after the Power 1000 - The RF 2000. And the numbers it drove from a ridiculously small (but heavy) chassis are indeed very impressive. I won’t spoil the video, but take a look…
https://youtu.be/Z-Dz07Rm7aA?si=kUAx_drbn1vTPAOr “Human beings are born with different capacities. If they are free, they are not equal. And if they are equal, they are not free.”
― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Comments
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I had a 4 channel Class A Soundstream back then. Righteous!
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I had a 4 channel Class A Soundstream back then. Righteous!
Sound stream was solid stuff indeed. My first “real” car amp was an Orion 225 HCCA, before I dove head first into Rockford gear….“Human beings are born with different capacities. If they are free, they are not equal. And if they are equal, they are not free.”
― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn -
That is a very cool amp! I had no idea.
That is a pretty huge torrid and massive caps to go with it.
Yea, HUGE transformer and caps. I can’t help but wonder if the test would have been different if the amp had a fresh recap - I mean those caps are over 35 years old…!“Human beings are born with different capacities. If they are free, they are not equal. And if they are equal, they are not free.”
― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn -
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You know it does make you wonder.
When I called the company that refreshes my Aragon 8008bb that Indy labs (new Aragon owner) recommend as they do not do anything with the older Mondail amps. The recommended company told me that the 4 X CORNELL DUBILIER
35,000 µF 80 VDC Rarely needed replacement. BUT if they did replace them at my request they were $350 ea. That was 4-5 yrs ago, I thought that sounded expensive, who knows. In my research I never found any to buy on my own.
CORNELL DUBILIER
04-1012
DCM353U080CC2B 35,000 µF 80 VDC
-10% +75%
-40°C TO +85°C
MADE IN USA 658-9831-834
That is everything off the side of one.
That -10% to +75% is a head scratcher 😂😂
If I were to attempt a recap on the RF amp, I’d create a bank of 5 of these per large cap for 41,000uf. I’d have to measure, but it looks like there’s room. Cost would be $55ish per cap, and they would have a much better ESR…:-)
“Human beings are born with different capacities. If they are free, they are not equal. And if they are equal, they are not free.”
― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn -
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That does get tricky when the mechanical hurdles that are more difficult to overcome than the electrical. Have you checked to see if something with slightly higher voltage or capacitance is available in a size that would fit?“Human beings are born with different capacities. If they are free, they are not equal. And if they are equal, they are not free.”
― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn -
There was also a Fosgate tube phono preamp made some decades ago also.
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Let me know the diameter, length and screw terminal spread, in mm and I’ll see what I can find…“Human beings are born with different capacities. If they are free, they are not equal. And if they are equal, they are not free.”
― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn -
30 or more generally would mean it's being ordered from the manufacture and would have substantial wait times, ymmv- Not Tom ::::::: Any system can play Diana Krall. Only the best can play Limp Bizkit.
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The big supply capacitors last a lot longer than the small capacitors because they dissipate heat better and they usually have more airflow around them also. When Krell was still around they told me they very rarely had to replace big supply capacitors.
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