Whether you enjoy background music while commuting to work or are serious about your car audio system offering studio-quality or concert-level performance, Rockford Fosgate has speakers, amplifiers, and subwoofer solutions for every application. The Prime series products are the most affordable offerings and include trickle-down tech from their industry-leading Punch and Power series. In this spotlight, we are going to look at the Prime Series replacement speakers, particularly the R165X3 6.5-inch set.

Rockford Fosgate R165X3 Design

The R165X3 is a three-way coaxial speaker with a vacuum-formed polypropylene woofer cone and a rubber surround. Rubber surrounds last much longer than foam and are usually not found on speakers at this price point, so you can expect many years of enjoyment from the set. Each driver features a silk-dome midrange and a silk-dome tweeter, whereas most speakers use polyetherimide (PEI) plastic dome tweeters at this price point. The mass of the textile domes typically allows the drivers to play lower, so the R165X3 will be less directional in the upper midrange while still offering excellent coverage thanks to the compact tweeter.

The drivers feature Rockford Fosgate’s Integrated Concealed Crossover (ICC) design. This design choice mounts the crossover parts to the stamped steel basket to save time during installation.

The R165X3 set includes a set of metal mesh grilles for applications where you are surface-mounting the speakers.

Mounting Options

One of the challenges of upgrading speakers is finding a driver that fits your application. The R165X3 speakers require only 2.15 inches of mounting depth. The tweeter post protrudes from the driver’s front side, but this keeps the factory grille away from the woofer surround. The total protrusion from the mounting surface is 0.44 inches.

Rockford Fosgate also provided every common screw pattern in the mounting flange. There are 22 holes, which sets a record for any 6.5-inch speaker we’ve come across.

Driver Specifications

The R165X3 set is rated to handle 45 watts of power continuously with a maximum power rating of 90 watts. Sensitivity is rated at an impressive 91 dB when measured with one watt of power at a distance of one meter. The frequency response is 52 hertz to 20 kHz. All the driver specifications comply with the ANSI/CTA-2031 standard for car audio speakers. The woofer Xmax is 1.9 millimeters in each direction. Rockford Fosgate typically uses an Xmax specification where the driver reaches 10% total harmonic distortion. So, while the number might seem lower than competing products, these are raw laboratory measurements that reflect real-world performance.

The woofer features a one-inch diameter voice coil and a winding with a nominal impedance of four ohms. Regarding Thiele and Small electromechanical parameters, the woofer has a resonant frequency (Fs) of 69 Hz, an equivalent compliance of 12.9 liters, and a Qts of 0.75. These numbers indicate the driver is designed for an infinite baffle application like you’d find in a typical car door or the rear parcel shelf of a sedan.

Prime Series Speaker Family

The R165X3 is just one of seven speakers in the Prime coaxial family. The solutions include 4-inch, 5.25-inch, and 6.75-inch two-way coaxial speakers, two-way 5×7 and 6×9 speakers, and a three-way 6×9 speaker.

All are designed to offer great efficiency and power handling. This makes them ideal for use with aftermarket radios or basic factory-installed units that produce roughly 20 watts per channel. You can also extract even more performance and enjoyment by using the drivers with an external power amplifier.

Upgrade Your Speakers Today!

If you want an affordable 6.5-inch car audio speaker with great efficiency and clarity, drop into a local authorized Rockford Fosgate retailer and ask to audition the R165X3 set. We think you’ll be impressed. You can find an authorized retailer by visiting their website and using the locator tool.

Be sure to check out their Facebook, Instagram and YouTube feeds and channel to stay up to date with their latest 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.

Not long ago, we took a look at the impressive PPS4-10 10-inch Punch Pro midrange drivers from Rockford Fosgate. While they are great for keeping up with a trunk full of subwoofers, what works in terms of reproducing those high frequencies? This spotlight focuses on the Rockford Fosgate PP4-NT Punch Pro tweeter. Let’s check it out!

Rockford Fosgate PP4-NT Specifications

The PP4-NT is a one-inch diameter aluminum dome horn tweeter designed for SPL systems. The tweeter is rated to handle 50 watts of power continuously and 100 watts maximum. The driver has a nominal impedance of four ohms and has an incredible efficiency rating of 105 dB SPL when powered with one watt and measured at a distance of one meter.

The Rockford Fosgate PP4-NT tweeters are sold individually. So, if you need a pair, then you have to buy two of them.

Punch Pro Tweeter Features

As mentioned, the PP4-NT is based around an aluminum diaphragm and is powered by a compact neodymium magnet. The voice coil is formed from high-temperature Nomex to help ensure reliability. This is all housed in an aluminum chassis that improves heat extraction from the voice coil assembly. To increase efficiency, the tweeter uses a horn design with a pointed phase plug.

Electrical connections are handled by a pair of spring-loaded chrome terminals on the bottom of the housing. The terminals are designed to allow wires to be inserted from underneath the tweeter, preventing wires from protruding and increasing the overall size.

SPL Tweeter Mounting Options

Rockford Fosgate includes two mounting solutions for the PP4-NT. If space is at a premium, then the compact outer trim ring will screw down into the body and clamp over materials up to 0.35 inches thick. Your installation technician will need access to the back of the mounting location to complete this installation.

Alternatively, the tweeter can be flush mounted through a 2.52-inch hole using the provided removable mounting flange.

With the compact mounting ring, the tweeter body is 2.52 inches in diameter and the ring is 2.09 inches across. The surface mounting ring measures 3.64 inches across.

Crossover Options

The PP4-NT includes a built-in 6dB/octave 4kHz crossover. This is equivalent to using a four-microfarad capacitor wired in series with the voice coil. You can also use the tweeter with the PP4-X Punch Pro passive crossovers. The crossovers are designed to apply a 3 kHz low-pass filter to whatever four-ohm Punch Pro midrange you choose. They also add 0, -3 and -6 dB output attenuation options for the tweeters. If you don’t have a DSP and amplifier channels dedicated to the tweeters, then the PPS-X crossovers are a wise investment.

Louder Than Loud for Music Fanatics

If you are working on building a car audio system designed to play music at rock concert levels, visit a local authorized Rockford Fosgate retailer and ask about the PP4-NT tweeters and the rest of the Punch Pro line.

You can find a local authorized Rockford Fosgate retailer at their Dealer Locator. Be sure to follow Rockford Fosgate on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube to learn about their new products and the amazing events they attend each year.

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.

What do you do when you need midrange speakers capable of keeping up with a pair of 15-inch Power Series subwoofers in the back of your SUV? The answer is the Rockford Fosgate PPS4-10 Punch Pro 10-inch speaker. These beasts boast a subwoofer-sized voice coil and handle 350 watts of power to ensure every word remains clear and audible over all that bass. Let’s dive into the details!

Rockford Fosgate Punch Pro PPS4-10 Features

The PPS4-10 is a high-efficiency midrange speaker with a massive 10-inch size. Sold individually, these speakers achieve an impressive efficiency of 96 dB SPL with just one watt of power measured at one meter. Each speaker includes a sturdy mesh grille for added protection in indoor installations.

Built on a stamped steel chassis, the PPS4-10 features a large 8.25 by 1-inch ceramic magnet. The basket uses the StampCast design, which provides the structural rigidity and provides the sleek look of a cast-aluminum design. Additionally, the mounting flange includes four slotted holes, allowing precise alignment during installation. Despite its large diameter, the speaker requires only 4.06 inches of mounting depth.

Punch Pro Midrange Soft Parts

The speaker’s cone is made from fiber-reinforced pressed paper, keeping the cone mass low to help the speaker’s efficiency. A treated textile W-shaped surround connects the cone to the basket, while a high-temperature 2.58-inch aluminum voice coil sits at the core, topped by a machined aluminum phase plug. Beneath the cone, a poly-cotton spider delivers excellent control and durability.

For electrical connections, the PPS4-10 uses spring-loaded terminals mounted on the basket. Fatigue-resistant tinsel leads, sewn to the spider, prevent noise at high power levels.

PPS4-10 Specifications and Application

The PPS4-10 has a resonant frequency (Fs) of 53.5 Hz, an equivalent compliance (Vas) of 1.24 cubic feet, and a total Q (Qts) of 0.26. With a maximum one-way excursion (Xmax) of 4.6 mm, it offers impressive performance for a midrange speaker.

To explore potential applications, we conducted simulations based on an estimated effective cone area for the PPS4-10. In infinite baffle setups, the mids perform with a -3 dB frequency of around 200 Hz.

Each speaker requires a minimum of 0.2 cubic feet of airspace for sealed enclosures. This setup delivers a -3 dB frequency just above 160 Hz. To bridge the frequency gap between these mids and a subwoofer, consider a woofer like the Prime R2 or Punch P1, which can comfortably play up to 150 Hz.

If you need the mids to handle lower frequencies, your installer can build a vented enclosure with a net volume of 0.25 cubic feet with a vent tuning frequency of 80 Hz. This configuration extends the output to just under 100 Hz. Unless you run massive, heavy subwoofers, you should be able to use a high-pass crossover at 100 Hz and still have the system sound dynamic and punchy.

Rock Out with the Rockford Fosgate Punch Pro Mids!

If you need midrange speakers to keep up with a wall of subwoofers, the Punch Pro series, including the PPS4-10, is an excellent choice. The Punch Pro lineup also features 6.5-inch and 8-inch mids to accommodate different installation spaces. All three sizes are available in four-ohm configurations.

You can find a dealer near you using the locator tool on their website. Be sure to follow our friends from Tempe on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube to keep up with new product releases and the events they attend.

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.