Scosche EFX C65

If you’re an avid enthusiast, you’re likely quite familiar with the name Scosche. The family owned and operated company has been providing dash kits, adapters, harnesses, and all manner of high quality installation aids since 1980. But what you might not know, is in recent years, Scosche has also introduced a couple of amplifier, speaker and subwoofer lines known as REALM and EFX. The REALM brand is more focused on audiophile performance with higher pricing, while the EFX line of gear is directed at the everyday enthusiast with a tighter budget, but still seeking high quality, good value and excellent performance. 
This time we’re going to run a set of the EFX loudspeakers through the test lab and see how they perform and compare to other brands at a similar price. The speakers we chose are the $229.00 (USD) EFX C65’s, which are sold as a 6.5-inch full range system, utilizing a convertible design allowing the tweeter to either be mounted separately or coaxially.

Features and Design

The EFX C65 midrange drivers come out of the box configured as separates, with a tapered phase plug screwed in the center of the speakers pole piece. The stamped steel basket is designed to work with a variety of mounting sizes and bolt patterns. While sold as a 6.5-inch speaker, the basket actually only requires a 5-inch mounting hole diameter. This allows the EFX C65 to be a drop in mount in many cars where a full size 6.5-inch speaker won’t fit without cutting.

Another interesting feature of the EFX C65 is the way the crossover network comes attached to the midrange driver. It can be dismounted from the driver and mounted separately if you prefer, but I liked how it solved the age-old problem of “where do I put the crossover” when installing separates. Plus it makes the install a bit quicker and easier, so the idea gets a big thumbs up from us! The EFX C65’s midrange driver uses good quality fairly conventional materials, such as the NBR rubber surround, and an injection molded high gloss black polypropylene cone.

Motivation for the cone comes from a 1-inch high temperature copper voice coil, wound on a Kapton former. The suspension is handled by a single vented Nomex spider. The magnetic motor of the driver is a 3.4-inch ceramic ferrite material, with the base and top plates finished in the same corrosion resistant gloss black powdercoat as the basket.

The tweeter used in the EFX C65 system is a 19mm titanium dome design, and is pre-mounted in a swivel cup and protected with a steel mesh grille. The swivel cup uses a bayonet style connection design that allows them to be quickly and securely mounted on posts that replace the phase plugs for a coaxial type installation, or you can transfer the tweeter to one of two different kinds of housings to allow separate tweeter mounting.

The patent pending design of the reversible “Universal Backmount Adapter” provides simple and secure mounting of the tweeter behind factory panels or A-pillar locations, or a well designed flush mount cup can be used in a typical door panel.

As mentioned previously, the crossover provided with the EFX system comes already attached to the midrange driver, but it can be removed for remote mounting if you desire. In that case, a soft rubber sealing cover is installed on the removed crossover to keep moisture and debris from entering the assembly. From and electrical perspective, the crossovers utilize a 1st order (-6dB) low pass filter for the midrange, effectively reducing its output at about 4500Hz. The tweeter gets its signal via a 2nd order (-12dB) high pass filter, also at about 4500Hz. The output level of the tweeter can be cut by 3dB with a switch found opposite the input terminals.

While there is nothing terribly exotic or fancy about the systems individual components, the C65 is obviously built with care and attention to detail. Build quality and value are excellent for a speaker system in this price range, and all the required parts, pieces, wires, and terminals are all found neatly packed in individual re-sealable plastic bags. The owner’s manual is a fairly basic affair, but it provides you with all the instructions and information you’ll need to install the system correctly. The EFX system comes with a one year warranty.

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