Back in the day, most cars and trucks had 6.5-inch round speakers in the doors and 6×9 speakers in the rear. Now, to improve efficiency and bass reproduction, new vehicles often use a three-way front stage with 6x9s in the doors and midrange or coaxial speakers on the dash. The development team at Rockford Fosgate saw this trend and included a dedicated upgrade solution with their new Punch Series P3V2-69C3 speaker set. Let’s check it out!
Coaxial Component Set Features
We’d looked at several Punch Series speakers in the past, and the P3V2-69C3 set takes all the performance-improving design elements from the P1 and P2 solutions and combines them into a three-way solution for cars, trucks and SUVs.
The P3V2-69C3 set includes two 6×9 woofers, two 3.5-inch coaxial midrange drivers, passive crossover networks and OEM mounting adapters for the midrange speakers. Rockford has also included speaker wire, terminals, and even some zip ties.
In terms of specifications, the kit is rated to handle 75 watts of power continuously, with a peak of 150 watts. All drivers have a nominal impedance of 4 ohms, and the system has a sensitivity of 89 dB when powered at 1 Watt and measured at 1 meter. All specifications comply with the ANSI/CTA-2031 Loudspeaker Standard, so you can trust the numbers.
Design of the Rockford Fosgate P3V2-69C3 Woofer
The set starts with the 6×9 component woofers from the P2V2-69 system. The woofers are based on an injection-molded basket made from 15% glass-fibre reinforced PA66 Nylon. The addition of glass fibre increases both tensile strength and stiffness while improving thermal stability. When combined with advanced 3D modelling and structural analysis, this results in an extremely rigid design.
The cone is made from mica-reinforced polypropylene. Just as with the glass fibre in the basket, the mica mineral improves damping and rigidity while boosting thermal stability. The result is a more rigid and stable cone. The curvilinear shape also adds additional strength to prevent cone breakups. At the base of the cone is a large-diameter, 1.25-inch vented Kapton voice coil former. The woofers use high-grade Y35 ferrite magnets to boost efficiency. The magnet cover on the woofer can be removed to shave 0.24 inches off the speaker’s overall depth, avoiding window tracks or the glass itself.
The cone is attached to the basket using a Santoprene rubber surround. Unlike foam, rubber can last for decades without fear of degradation. The surround is attached to the basket with Rockford Fosgate’s proprietary Vertical Attach Surround Technique version 2.0 geometry. The key benefit of VAST 2.0 is the increased cone area compared to conventional surround mounting. This translates to increased efficiency and better bass reproduction. A fatigue- and tear-resistant linear Nomex spider rounds out the driver’s compliance components.
Midrange Speaker Features
The P3V2-69C3 set includes a pair of P1V2-35 coaxial 3.5-inch midrange speakers. The mids feature the same basket and woofer cone materials as the woofers. Likewise, they are optimized in diameter and depth to fit into OEM applications. Twist-Lock Factory Location Woofer Rings (FLWR) are included to simplify installation in Jeep, Tesla and Mercedes-Benz vehicles. Nevertheless, the rings can be mounted right-side-up or upside-down, depending on mounting depth and speaker grille limitations.
The tweeter assembly in the P1V2-35 set is actually a two-way design. The main 19mm tweeter uses an inverted Tetolon fabric dome to deliver smooth and detailed output. There’s also a 9mm polypropylene piezo super-tweeter integrated into the tweeter pod. This tweeter improves high-frequency directivity, so your music will sound great whether you are listening on- or off-axis.
Passive Crossover Networks
Though often overlooked, proper frequency steering is paramount to getting great sound from your car audio system. The woofers don’t need to reproduce midrange frequencies, while the mids and tweeters shouldn’t try to produce bass information. Rockford Fosgate includes a set of their Multi-Configuration Crossover Chassis (MC3) filter networks for the woofers in the kit. There is also a set of 33 microfarad capacitors to be wired in series with the mids.
Upgrade Your Car or Truck with Rockford Fosgate Today!
A few last notes about the Rockford Fosgate P3V2-69C3 kit. Rockford Fosgate offers surface-mount grilles for the woofers and both flush- and surface-mount grilles for the mids, should you want to create a custom installation. The system is backed by a two-year warranty when purchased from an authorized retailer.
If you own a Chevrolet, Chrysler, Dodge or Toyota vehicle and are interested in dramatically improving the clarity and output capability of your audio system, drop by a local authorized Rockford Fosgate retailer and ask about the P3V2-69C3 kit. You can find a retailer using the locator tool on the website.
Don’t forget to follow Rockford Fosgate on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube to stay up to date on the events they attend and all the cool product releases they have planned over the next few years.
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.
