Wavecor 2.75-in. fullrange as in-dash speaker

[Maytag Snow]

I would like to call everyone's attention to a relatively new speaker with what I think is a lot of potential for remarkable sound in tiny spaces. I've been following various threads on 3 and 4 in. speakers for dash mounting, to upgrade the 3.5 in. paper cone speakers in my Saab. The problem is that these are the main speakers in the system (I guess confirming that Saab is a driver's car). The other speakers are 2-way 6x9s in the rear that the engineers installed for immediate and complete image and soundstage destruction. Before adding speakers to the doors, I wanted to hear the effects of upgrading just the dash units.

The stock speakers are relatively rare two-screw 3.5s, and the hole is not large enough for most 4-in speakers. After a long search, I landed on the small, but promising spec'd 2.75-in Wavecor (FR070WA01), which would fit easily with an adapter plate. (fs 113 Hz, Vas .62. Qms 12.9, Qes .55, Qts .55)

I hoped their small diameter would aid high-end performance, and the .52 Qts and cabin gain would help extend the 113 Hz fs that I could get away with only subwoofers in the rear. I had the chance to audition them in a DIY dealer showroom mounted in coffee-mug sized sealed enclosures. Even then, they sounded smooooth and accurate and satisfyingly musical--not even disturbingly bass shy (until compared to a 2-way bookshelf system with 7-in drivers).

I've looked at the box calculators, which promise a 150 Hz (.475 L sealed) or 93 Hz (1.4 L ported) performance, but before attempting to build an install such enclosures (like a ship in a bottle through a 3.5 in hole), I thought I would try just stuffing the dash with dense fiberfill and hope for the best.

What I got is almost certainly NOT the speaker's best, but I am already tempted to give up on the enclosures (for a few hundred miles or so). The sound has the same full mid-bass to treble smoothness I heard in the showroom and about another octave more bass than the stock paper-cone speaker (cellos!) and much more than I expected. What is most satisfying is their complete lack of small-driver nasal shoutiness. They extend higher and lower than the old speakers and don't mess up in between.

They sound so good that I am going to get another pair and experiment with a desktop system designed to get the most out of them. My gut feeling is these could become a new DIY favorite (at least for me).