When it comes to premium car audio speaker upgrades, most enthusiasts know that Focal offers more solutions than any other. With offerings ranging from OE replacement to benchmark quality, there’s a speaker at a price point for every budget. In this spotlight, we will look at the PS 165 SF two-way, 6.5-inch Slatefiber kit. Let’s check it out!
What is the Focal PS 165 SF kit?
The PS 165 SF speaker kit includes a pair of 6.5-inch woofers, two 20mm tweeters and a set of passive crossover networks.
The woofers are based around a cast aluminum basket. The basket has five sets of twin spokes connecting the mounting flange to the base in what they call the Rotor Effect Basket. Four large (roughly 1-inch) slots in the mounting lip secure the basket to the vehicle. The basket has a bluish-slate color that matches the woofer cone color. Electrical connections are handled by a set of quick-connect terminals housed in a custom-tooled plastic block. The tinsel leads are neither rubber-coated nor sewn to the spider, but the plastic block has dedicated routing to ensure the leads do not slap the cone or spider at high excursion levels.
Slatefiber Woofer Features
The woofer cone is made from non-woven recycled carbon fibers and uses the marketing name Slatefiber for its blueish slate stone appearance. The random design of the cone helps with damping, resulting in smoother high-frequency response. As with many Focal speakers, there’s no dust cap, which helps reduce the mass of the moving assembly to improve upper midrange performance. A large rubber surround provides cone damping and a reliable, flexible seal at the top of the cone. At the base of the cone is a 25mm voice coil former that gives the set an 80-watt continuous power rating. A single ceramic magnet powers the woofer.
A quick look at the woofers’ specifications shows a resonant frequency of 66.8 Hertz, a Qts of 0.592 and an effective surface area of 132 square centimeters. Focal has chosen a slightly lower-than-normal impedance for the woofer, with the DC resistance being 2.8 ohms. This will increase the maximum power available from whatever amplifier you choose to drive the kit.
Focal Aluminum Magnesium Tweeter
The kit includes a pair of Focal’s proprietary aluminum and magnesium inverted hard-dome tweeters. The tweeters have an effective radiating diameter of 20mm, a DC resistance of 4 ohms and a resonant frequency of 2.6 kHz. Their efficiency is rated at 93 dB at 2.83V at 1 Meter.
While tweeter performance is crucial to hearing all your music, installation flexibility is equally important. The Al/Mg tweeters have a flush mounting cup with a grille and integrated phase disc. The raw tweeter can also be installed without the cup in OE applications. The kit also includes surface mount pods for the tweeters when used with their cups. This will allow your installer to mount the tweeters to your dash and aim them toward the listening position.
Passive Crossover Networks
A crucial key to the performance of a component speaker set is to use it with either a properly configured and calibrated digital signal processor or with the right passive crossovers. Focal includes passive crossover networks with the PS 165 SF kit. Uniquely, the woofers’ low-pass filters and the tweeters’ high-pass filters are in different housings. This allows your installer to split the wiring and mounting locations if you have a dash or A-pillar tweeter location and a door location for the woofer. The tweeter crossovers include a three-position switch on the circuit board that allows your installer to reduce tweeter output by 3 or 6 dB to compensate for different mounting distances and listening preferences.
Focal Slatefiber Speaker Design
Looking at all the features of the Focal PS 165 SF Slatefiber set, its efficiency is one of the many features that stand out. As such, these speakers can be used effectively with either a factory-installed or aftermarket radio using “deck power.” If you want more output, a small to medium-sized stand-alone amplifier will provide more output and likely improve clarity—the flexible crossover design complements the OE upgrade suitability of the kit.
If you are in the market for a set of speakers to enhance your mobile audio system, visit a local authorized Focal dealer and ask about the PS 165 SF Slatefiber set. You can find a dealer near you using the store locator tool on the Focal website. For more information on Focal products, be sure to follow them on Facebook, Instagram and on YouTube.
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