Introduction

We’ve talked about the Blaupunkt Costa Mesa 900 in our previous update of the audio installation, and this time, we’ll look at the other end of the chain: the speakers. What we’ve been given are two sets of speakers from the Prime series of speakers manufactured by Rockford Fosgate.

Optimised Prime

There are three ranges that you can have a look at from Rockford Fosgate: the audiophile-grade ‘Power’ series are for the serious audio enthusiast, the ‘Punch’ series are for the middle-of-the-road type of people or those who don’t want to splurge too much on their speakers, and the ‘Prime’ series is designed for those on a budget, or are looking for an upgrade from their factory speakers but without having to worry about much research. What we’ve got are Rockford Fosgate Prime R165-S component speakers for the front, and Rockford Fosgate Prime R675 three-way full-range speakers for the rear.

The R165-S is a 6.5” 2-way component system. The frequency response ranges from 60Hz to 20Khz. It is rated at 40W RMS and a peak of 80W. These are ideal for the front because the tweeters help raise the sound stage closer to the level of the driver’s ears. That means more clarity no matter the situation. The R675 is 3-way full-range speaker, meaning there are three elements in it but they’re all housed in the same place. We chose 6’75” diameter ones for our test car. The frequency response of the R675 is slightly wider compared to the R165-S, from 48Hz to 22KHz. Its power handling capability is identical, with 40W RMS and peak handling power of 80W.

It’s a real shame that both these speaker sets were hidden away in the doors, because Rockford Fosgate has obviously put a lot of thought and effort into making them look good, both with or without their grilles. They look especially fetching with the grilles on, and the subtle logo on one side.

In our next article, we’ll talk about the amplifiers used to drive the Prime speakers, and the subwoofer used to round out the low frequencies.

Images: Kaustubh Gandhi

Prices

Rockford Fosgate R165-S:₹ 8990

Rockford Fosgate R675:₹ 4590