The Rockford Fosgate Punch HE sub reviewed is a 12-inch subwoofer with a max power rating of 400 watts. Features include a stamped basket, a treated pulp cone with a foam surround, a bumped and vented pole piece, and 2-inch, 4-ohm voice coils. A pair of these subs were delivered for testing in a sealed subwoofer enclosure constructed of 5/8-inch MDF with an internal volume of about 2.5 cubic feet (Rockford Fosgate’s 3412).
Subjective
The Rockford Fosgate Punch HE series performed quite well during our in-car audition, although it did leave a bit to be desired on much of the esoteric hi-fi stuff. My favorite acoustic bass tracks were reproduced quite smoothly, without emphasis in any particular range, but there did seem to be a lack of overall definition. The Rockford Fosgate Punch HE produced an above average degree of gut-shaking output from our usual compliment of pipe organ tracks, but, given that we’re talking about a pair of 12-inch woofers, I could always enjoy more.
Above the subsonic range, things got real tight. The subs reproduced any type of bass-heavy popular music with gusto. Boom tracks, in particular, leave the biggest impression. Got seasonal allergies with nasal congestion? Take this subwoofer with two Bass Mekanik tracks to breathe freely once again. Interestingly enough, this same remedy is also effective at locating loose body panels on your car and chasing away almost anyone over the age of 30.
While I would pull short of recommending this one for a jazz enthusiast, the Rockford Fosgate Punch HE is definitely in its element when it comes to producing semi-lewd amounts of throbbing bass. It’s the type of subwoofer that should be played at high volumes, preferably, in a residential area...that wasn’t printed in the manual!
Objective
All tests were performed with the woofers wired in parallel. Impedance measurements for the Punch HE woofers show a maximum of 25 ohms at 49 Hz and a minimum of 2.8 ohms @ 81 Hz. Average impedance measured 6 ohms. Out-of-car measurements below 100 Hz show a 5 dB rise centered at 64 Hz, followed by a 12 dB-per-octave roll off below system resonance. In-car measurements show a relatively flat overall response that fits within a window of about 4 dB, and a one-watt sensitivity averages 99.1 dB between 10 Hz and 50 Hz. At the lowest frequencies, the high-powered in-car sweeps show about 2.5 dB of power compression at 300 watts and about 4 dB of compression at 1kW. Maximum SPL at 1kW measured 129.6 dB at 46 Hz.
