Blaupunkt Velocity Vc 662 component speakers
A two-way speaker component set based on the larger six inch size and with a one inch swivel-mount tweeter. As is so often the case these come complete with a set of mounting hardware to offer options of angle mounting them on the surface of a panel, or else flat or best of all, flush using the supplied fixings. You get speaker wire extensions for their trailing cords but no cable is supplied to hook the midbass speakers to the passive crossovers. These crossovers contain just nine electronic components. Air cored coil inductors of reassuringly thick wire, plus a small iron cored one, presumably for the highs as well as three each Bennic capacitors and ‘Mate Ford’ ceramic five watt resistors. There is a switch marked -3dB which hooks one of these resistors into the circuit with the tweeter for when the highs are too in your face due to proximity of installation. Like the encapsulated fixings on the posher VPc series, the open speaker wire fixings on the Blaupunkt Velocity Vc 662 crossovers are Gold plated crosshead fork type.
The midbass drivers have neat tight moulded rubber boots on their magnets and yet still bear a fully finished decal underneath them. The chassis is powder coat finished with a rough feel to it that makes handling easier and grippier and the top part has the fourteen holes that allow it to be fixed into the silly different ‘standard-fit’ screw hole positions that are used by the different car makers. It makes any custom-replacement speaker’s edge look like Swiss cheese.
The cones are honest Polypropylene. Still an amazingly cost effective material and often used in some high quality speakers as well as the more commodity types. This one though, has a neatly fitted inverted dome and is imprinted with a crosshatch effect to mimic Carbon fibre. It does this so well, you actually have to take a second look and with the open frame grilles upon then and the same Velocity badge shining out at you, it would be understandable if those looking at them thought they were Cf. The terminals are simple differentially sized Gold plated lugs for normal spade crimp receptacles on your speaker wires. One vital thing to spot is that the system is rated for merely three Ohms, rather than the normal four which means it will suck a good slice more power from any given amplifier than a four Ohm set.
– Power Handling 80w RMS
– Impedance 3 Ohms
– Sensitivity 92dB 1w/1M
– Passband 35Hz to 25kHz
– Tweeter diameter 25mm
– Tweeter Mounting Depth (measured) 25mm
– Midbass Mounting Depth 56mm without magnet cover, 60mm with it. Gold plated lug terminals
– Cone: injection moulded Polypropylene with crosshatch carbon-look finish
– Tweeter: Silk Dome with swivelling eyeball mount
– Crossover slope & point: 12dB per octave (frequency not quoted)
– Chassis: Pressed powder coated steel
– Complete with: surface/flush/angle mount tweeter kit, three baggies of fixings and tweeter wires
Review by Adam Rayner
Blaupunkt’s Velocity line is clearly their peak product and yet they manage to make and sell it at a price that belies its quality. The recently reviewed VPc 542 Pro two-way component speaker set was a reassuringly sensible £200 but I reckon was at least £250 worth of anyone’s wedge. Or is that me being fogey and sort of reversed pensioner not-aware-of-real-prices-any-more sort of thing? The costs of consumer electronics continues to drop, much to the chagrin of those involved in going on holiday on the profits. However, at £85 RRP, these are remarkable value for money.
Made to be as much like their posh brethren as possible yet with limits only to keep the costs down, the cones on the bass drivers are really cute. The cross hatch design is made to look like the weave of fibres, with one square with lots of tiny striations and the next blank – just like when you look at woven Carbon fibre, you can only see the weft in on direction, the warp just looks black. You really have to look closely to see it is just a pretty injection moulding. Likewise the magnets on the drivers although bigger than the VPc 542 in cone size are much less major on this range. That said, they are still made with nice moulded rubber boots around them, that when you look underneath have a perfect back-of-magnet decal stuck on them as smart as any speaker that had no boot. Just stuck on there for Blau’s own satisfaction and manufacturing needs.
Supplied with an excellent array of mounting options of flush, surface or angle via the kit of bits, the eyeball mount tweeter is a fabric dome and so inherently sweeter to listen to than the nasty Mylar types so often found on budgety components. In fact despite their price being a lowish one versus some other brands, again, I feel you are getting more than you are paying for. The passives are sexy with their large-hole perforated mesh grille covers and never sounded like they were saturating when I gave the set some real power. Again, they many be made to sell at a certain amount but the bits that really matter are heavily and well engineered.
I cannot help but make comparisons with German car engineering and since that is what speakers are really all about, that’s no bad thing. High performance to cost ratio, handsome looks and a solid quality sound that although not up to the detail and standards of their higher priced ranges, acquits itself more than merely well when compared to designs of similar price.
Overall 7.8
Sound Quality 7
Build Quality 7
Power Handling 8
Efficiency 8
Value For Money 9