Car Audio

When defining realism in a car audio system, frequency response is one of the most crucial aspects. We want the midbass, midrange, and high-frequency information to be reproduced at similar levels. When done correctly, voices and instruments sound like they did in the mastering room at the recording studio, and not like a clock radio or smartphone. A key factor in delivering this sense of realism is to use high-quality tweeters with your midrange speakers. In that regard, Rockford Fosgate has the perfect solution with its Power Series T1T-S 1-inch tweeter set. Let’s check them out!

Rockford Fosgate T1T-S Design

The T1T-S tweeter set includes a pair of 1-inch audiophile-grade fabric dome tweeters, passive crossover networks, mounting rings, and installation hardware. Rockford Fosgate rates the set to continuously handle an equivalent of 75 watts of power. Maximum power handling is rated at 150 watts, and efficiency is specified as 90 dB SPL 1W/1M. Finally, the tweeters have a nominal impedance of four ohms. Like all Rockford Fosgate speakers, these ratings comply with the ANSI/CTA-2031 Automotive Loudspeaker standard.

The tweeter diaphragms are made from treated fabric. The balance of low mass from the fabric and damping from the treatment helps ensure linear operation up to extremely high frequencies without unwanted resonance. Undamped designs can cause resonance, which many people find harsh. Rockford Fosgate claims an upper-frequency limit of 22 kHz, which is very good. The design has a resonant frequency (Fs) of 1.8 kHz, which is nice and low for a 1-inch tweeter. An integrated neodymium magnet drives the tweeters. Neodymium provides a much stronger magnetic field than ferrite magnets, so you get more efficiency and output from a compact design. These are the same drivers you’d find in the T-162S and T-1652S two-way component speaker sets.

Passive Crossover Networks

The Rockford Fosgate T1T-S set includes a pair of passive crossover networks designed with a 3 kHz cutoff frequency and a third-order -18dB/Octave attenuation slope. Your installer has input connection options to adjust the output sensitivity to 0, -2, or -4 dB to ensure the tweeters blend well with the midrange speakers. On the output side, on- and off-axis connection options subtly alter the signal phase around the crossover point to improve the system’s coherence further. The crossovers use high-tolerance polypropylene capacitors and air-core inductors for good power handling. The circuit also includes a Positive Temperature Coefficient (PTC) thermistor. Should you drive the amp you are using into clipping, the PTC will limit the power going to the tweeters. Unlike fuses, the PTC resets itself to normal operating conditions once everything cools off.

Premium Mounting Hardware

At a time when many of the most expensive tweeters on the market require mounting with hot glue or backstraps, it’s refreshing that Rockford Fosgate provides real metal mounting hardware. You can mount the tweeters either flush or on the surface using the Discreet Dual Clamp (DDC) hardware. An installer might also create a custom mount to position the tweeter behind an OE grille in your car or truck.

Another key feature of the T1T-S set is the inclusion of a mesh protective grille with each tweeter. Without protection, many expensive tweeters have suffered damage, making this a welcome addition.

Upgrade Your Car Audio System with Rockford Fosgate T1T-S Tweeters

Whether you want to add clarity to a dull factory-installed audio system, need a solution to keep up with a few woofers in each of your vehicle’s doors, or are putting together a clean and classy system, the Rockford Fosgate T1T-S tweeter set is a great choice. They sound great and include premium mounting solutions that ensure they function reliably for years without any headaches.

Use their website’s locator tool to find a Rockford Fosgate retailer near you. You should also follow Rockford Fosgate on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube for new product releases and event updates.

This article is written and produced by the team at www.BestCarAudio.com. Reproduction or use of any kind is prohibited without the express written permission of 1sixty8 media.

Knowing that it takes power to make power isn’t rocket science. When feeding high-power car audio amplifiers, skimping on wiring invites problems. If starved for voltage, your amplifiers will run hotter and clip earlier. Rockford Fosgate offers a unique solution to ensure your amp gets the current and voltage it needs. Let’s dive into the Rockford Fosgate RFK1D Dual Amplifier Installation Kit.

Rockford Fosgate RFK1D Overview

The Rockford Fosgate RFK1D is a 1/0-AWG kit that simplifies installing two amplifiers in your vehicle. It includes 1/0 power and ground wire, 4-AWG wiring, a fuse holder, distribution blocks, a ground lug, three stereo interconnects, speaker wire, ring terminals, grommets, and zip ties. Everything needed to install amplifiers like the T1500-1bdCP for your subwoofers and a T1000-4ad for your mids and highs is included.

Power Wiring

The highlight of the RFK1D kit is the 17 feet of 1/0-AWG power cable and three feet of ground cable. Rockford Fosgate wiring meets the full American Wire Gauge (AWG) specification for size at 53.5mm², exceeding the 50.3mm² minimum. The wiring uses Pure Crystal Oxygen-Free Copper (PC-OFC) for maximum conductivity. The 1/0-AWG cable has 4,702 strands, making it extremely flexible.

The kit also includes four feet of 4-AWG power and ground cables. Like the 1/0-AWG cables, the 4-AWG cable is full AWG-sized with 1,862 strands, more than required for its size. It offers a cross-sectional area of 21.1mm².

Additionally, the kit provides 30 feet of two-conductor 16-AWG speaker wire. This wire also uses PC-OFC, with a high strand count for flexibility and AWG compliance.

A high strand count is crucial for speaker wire as it helps prevent work hardening when the wire bends. For instance, if your installer uses Rockford Fosgate’s 65-strand wire for your door speakers, it’s less likely to fail than “value” products with just 26 strands.

All wiring in the kit exceeds ANSI/CTA-2015 Mobile Electronics Cabling Standard requirements and meets the BC-5W2 marine wiring standard. The flexible PVC jacket resists arcing up to 600 volts and handles temperatures up to 105°C without melting or becoming gummy when exposed to oil or fuel.

I can’t stress enough the importance of looking for cables that conform to industry standards. Many brands sell “4 Gauge” wire for a bargain, but once you inspect the number of strands and bundles, you realize there’s more insulation than the wire itself! Undersized or aluminum wire will starve your amplifier and prevent it from producing its rated power.

Fusing and Power Distribution

The RFK1D kit includes an RFFANL Inline ANL or Maxi fuse holder to protect the battery if the wire shorts. The block accepts the included 300-amp ANL fuse. It’s made from solid brass and features a High-Performance Plating (HPP) finish for corrosion resistance and durability.

The kit also includes one-input and two-output distribution blocks, which feature 4-AWG adapter inserts. You can run a 1/0-AWG cable from the battery and alternator, then split it into 4-AWG for a four-channel amp and 1/0-AWG for a sub amp like the T1500-1bdCP. The brass blocks have an HPP finish and come with injection-molded plastic covers.

RCA Interconnect Cables

Just as your amplifiers need efficient power delivery, they also need clean signals. The RFK1D kit includes three 16-foot, two-channel Rockford Fosgate twisted-pair interconnects. Twisted-pair geometry helps reject noise when used with amplifiers featuring differential inputs.

The interconnects feature split center pins for a solid connection. Injection-molded RCA ends provide strain relief, and gray and black markings make it easy to distinguish between channels.

Kit Accessories

The kit is complete and well-designed. It comes with ring terminals crimped onto the 1/0-AWG power and ground cables and the 4-AWG ground cable. A spare 1/0-AWG ring terminal and a brass grounding lug are also included. Additionally, there are 20 feet of 18-AWG remote turn-on wire, butt connectors, grommets, and zip ties.

Complete Dual Amplifier Installation Kit

You could piece together a similar kit from other brands, but matching this quality would take a lot of work. If you have two amplifiers that need reliable power, visit an authorized Rockford Fosgate retailer and ask about the RFK1D kit. If it’s too much, Rockford Fosgate also offers dual amplifier 4-AWG and single-amp kits in 4 and 8-AWG sizes.

To find a Rockford Fosgate retailer near you, use the locator tool on their website. You can also follow Rockford Fosgate on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube for new product releases and event updates.

This article is written and produced by the team at www.BestCarAudio.com. Reproduction or use of any kind is prohibited without the express written permission of 1sixty8 media.

In January of 2024, we had the privilege of reviewing the Rockford Fosgate T500-1bdCP amplifier. Based on our experiences with amplifiers from the company, it was no surprise that the amp sounded amazing, was impressively efficient, and exceeded all of its power ratings. The latter is the focus of the re-test. We’ve recently upgraded the power supplies in the BestCarAudio.com Test Drive Review lab. As such, we can supply the subjects with a full 14.4 volts to provide you with measurement numbers that comply with the ANSI/CTA-2006-D standard. So, let’s have another quick look at the highlights of this impressive amplifier, then dig into some new power measurements and efficiency calculations.

Rockford Fosgate T500-1bdCP Features

Here’s what you need to know without going into the same detail as the original Rockford Fosgate T500-1bdCP Review. Firstly, this is a dedicated subwoofer amplifier. It has an as-measured -3dB frequency response of 4.4 to 230 hertz. That bottom-end extension is pretty impressive.

The amp is rated to produce 300 watts of power when connected to a four-ohm load and 500 watts to two- and one-ohm loads. There are amplifiers that produce more power for less money. However, this amp also sounds fantastic. We measured an impressive 0.0213% THD+N at four ohms. Like many others, the amp didn’t fall on its face at lower impedances. Distortion numbers dropped to 0.0226% at two ohms and a still impressive 0.0294% when driving a one-ohm load. These measurements were taken at the ANSI/CTA-2006-D standard of 1-watt output. However, the graph you’ll see below shows the amp remains composed across the entire power output range.

Feature-wise, the amp includes an adjustable -24dB/octave low-pass filter that can be set anywhere between 35 and 250 hertz. It also has a selectable infrasonic filter fixed at 28 hertz with a -12dB/octave second-order slope. Lastly, and as you’d expect, the amp includes the Punch EQ control. Your installer can use this to dial in up to 18dB of boost at 45 hertz to add some extra slam to your audio system. The Punch EQ filter is nice and narrow, so turning it up doesn’t make your midbass sound terrible.

An essential feature of the amplifier that many overlook is its cast-aluminum heatsink. Unlike extruded designs, cast heatsinks offer significantly more surface area. When combined with expertly designed efficient circuitry, your amplifier will play longer without overheating. We tested the T500-1bdCP for over an hour at full power into a two-ohm load, and it never shut down. By comparison, we’ve had several amps go into thermal protection in under four minutes. Cast heatsinks are significantly more expensive to manufacture, but if you want to know why people are still using three-decade-old Rockford Fosgate gear, this is one of the reasons why. Think of it like comparing a Zippo lighter to a plastic BIC lighter. Both might light the candles on a cake, but only one is designed to last for your entire life.

Re-Testing the T500-1bdCP

The ANSI/CTA-2006-D Testing and Measurement Methods for In-Vehicle Audio Amplifiers standard has changed a bit from previous versions. Specifically related to continuous power testing, the sensitivity control should now be set to its minimum sensitivity setting. Looking at it from the opposite perspective, the amp should be set to make its maximum power from the highest amount of input signal. For the T500-1bdCP, that would be five volts, according to the owner’s manual. We’ll discuss why this matters in another article.

The next clarification is that the amp must be able to produce this power level for at least 15 seconds. Previous versions of the CTA-2006 standard required the amp to be capable of making this rated output for one minute. While the technician side of me thinks the longer the test, the better, one minute at full power is a long time. Many low-quality amplifiers would be close to overheating. Our testing runs for a little over 15 seconds, which makes it fully compliant with ANSI/CTA-2006-D.

Lastly is voltage. All the standards have stated that the primary continuous power rating be measured with the amplifier supplied with 14.4 volts with a tolerance of +0% to -5%. We fine-tune the adjustment on our new power supplies to be within a few hundredths of a volt of 14.4, which significantly exceeds the 13.68-volt minimum. When it comes to making power, more voltage is always better.

We set the T500-1bdCP up on the bench, turned the sensitivity and Punch EQ all the way, turned the infrasonic filter off, and set the crossover to its highest frequency. We started with the continuous four-ohm power test first. In the original review, we measured 334.9 watts at 1% THD+N with 14.47 volts. With the sensitivity control lower and, thus, less noise in the signal, we saw 339.1 watts at precisely 14.4 volts.

Next, we added our second bank of four-ohm load resistors to provide the amp with a two-ohm load. The original test showed 544.4 watts from 14.12 volts. In the new test at exactly 14.4 volts, the amp produced 583.4 watts. The observed additional 29.3 watts from 0.28 volts is impressive.

Finally, we get to the 1-ohm testing. The original test saw the amp produce 697 watts when fed with 13.9 volts. Now, with an extra half-volt on tap, we measured 766.2 watts. Ignoring the extra 69.2 watts, this means the amplifier produces 53.2% more power into a one-ohm load than it’s rated for. If you’ve ever wondered why the Power Series amplifiers seem to jam harder than they should, this is why.

With this re-test, we are going to introduce a new way of presenting the power versus THD+N graph. Rather than having them in separate graphs, we’ve taken the time to overlay all the traces into a single chart. You can see how clean the amp is right from 100 milliwatts up to where it reaches clipping. The traces are color-coded to make things easy to compare. The red trace is the four-ohm measurement, the green shows the two-ohm performance, and the blue trace is the one-ohm information.

Interestingly, the amp isn’t plagued by noise at low power levels. This is another topic we will cover in a future article.

Increased Efficiency

A secondary benefit of providing an amplifier with more voltage is, in this case, an improvement in efficiency. Based on the original power numbers and associated measurements, the amp was 86% at four ohms, 83% efficient at two ohms, and 63% efficient when driving a one-ohm load. Our new measurements show that these numbers have improved to 87%, 84%, and 74%, respectively. You can see these calculations in the power measurement chart above.

Improved efficiency is a big deal. First, it means the amp won’t heat up as quickly, translating to more playtime. Further, and what matters in the case of your vehicle, it means you get more output power from the limited power available from the charging system.

An Amazing Subwoofer Amplifier

The T500-1bdCP’s performance already blew us away. Having the chance to repeat the power tests with the proper supply voltage shows the value that Rockford Fosgate’s product presents. They could easily rate the amp capable of producing 750 watts into a one-ohm load. Even though they don’t, you now know it can.

If you are shopping for a subwoofer amp that sounds amazing and makes lots of clean power, drop by a local authorized Rockford Fosgate retailer and ask about the T500-1bdCP. You can find a dealer near you using the locator tool on their website. As always, follow the gang from Tempe on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube to stay up to date with all their car, marine, powersport, and motorcycle audio product releases.

This article is written and produced by the team at www.BestCarAudio.com. Reproduction or use of any kind is prohibited without the express written permission of 1sixty8 media.