passanis

Is there a prevailing wisdom on where aftermarket tweeters should be installed (other than in a door pod)? I know the door pod would be best, but I didn't want pods for various reasons. I would like to have the stealth look and put the tweeters in the stock location, but I'm worried the plastic moulding will block the sound. What is the thought on putting them on the surface of the current location? Or on the kick panel?

Thanks.

z350boy

iTrader: (9)

The kick panel is a good option for both the tweeter and mid range/woofer speakers. You can have a FG panel easily made by one of the many customizers on the forum!!

JimRHIT

iTrader: (6)

Ask Danny8ng what can be done with some custom molding in the stock location that I did for him

I'll see if I can dig up pics

james840a

iTrader: (7)

I installed my aftermarket tweeters in the stock location. Here is a picture, i know its not the best picture i have right now.

16psibrick

iTrader: (10)

i still stand by my conviction that he stock location is a horrible horrible place for a tweeter:

1. it provides seperation from the midbass

2. it pulls the sound stage even closer to the left or right depending on where you are sitting

3. it acutally requires more work than flsuhing them into kicks

so my suggestion is, if ou can do a full door pod or kick panel set up, is to do flush the tweeters in the kicks. i have done this in quite a few Zs and Gs all wtih great results

PM member myst and ask him how his set up sounded in his G

b

Paul350Z

iTrader: (1)

And I will stand by my conviction that mounting the tweeters next to your feet is a bad thing.

1. High frequencies are very directional - think more like flashlight beams and bare light bulbs of the sub-woofers.

Home theater and home stereo speakers go though all kinds of trouble to remove and reduce early reflections. Mounting a tweeter in the kick panel causes all kinds of reflections to be produced if you have feet or legs. It does tend to equalize the time difference a little bit but there are electronic circuits that can do that ... and done which will unscramble the reflections.

2. Every time you move your foot - like if you were actually driving the car - the sound is going to change. Simple science. Listen to a clear passage of music from a good source and place your hand next the tweeter. Move your hand about and you should hear the movement - even a tiny bit causes major differences in the sound patterns.

3. The tweeters localize the sounds. Take your home theater towers and flip them upside down so that the tweeters are now 3 feet below your projection TV and see what the dialog sounds like - it sounds like the speakers are under the video. Home stereo systems have their tweeters up top even with the ears for a reason.

Ideally I would enjoy an "A" pillar pod which would move the driver's side speaker around another 8" or so.

From my observations of most modern music it's so poorly recordered and mastered to lose all sense of instrument location. The sound is so overly compressed that any subtle differences are distorted and destroyed. Guys like Orban and Dolby have been very anti-compression but most producers are mastering music for use in iPods and headphones it would seem. Modern classical and jazz music still has much life it in and listening to a good recording (SACD) is like a breath of fresh air.

Build me a better mouse trap and I will beat path to your door. Back in the 1970's we'd mount seperate left and right tweeter modules for the driver and passenger. We'd mount the driver's right and the passenger's left tweeters to the console as high as possible angled to the listener. Door pods were mounted to mirror the console speaker. The wires were run across the car to deliver the correct sound to the correct speaker.

03zsmith25

iTrader: (5)

what if you dont have any?

03zsmith25

iTrader: (5)

passanis

Thanks for all of the suggestions. So I'm leaning towards mounting in the stock location, since there is no clear better choice.

In the stock location, will the tweeters be blocked by the plastic moulding? Would it be better to install on top of the stock location (more specifically, is it worth destroying the plastic moulding to install on top of them)?


Also, my tweeters (Perfect 6.1) have wires attached already. Do I just use my rather large speaker wire to patch between them and the crossover? Am I able to find connecters for large gauge on one side and small on the other? Should I consider getting rid of all of the tweeter speaker wire and re-wire with large gauge only? Or just find some small wire to connect the tweeters?

Thanks for the help.

JimRHIT

iTrader: (6)

Just get a some "butt connectors" ... they are basically a metal sleeve with an insulator that covers them. You use a wrench or some other compression tool to crimp them together. Dont worry about the size of the wire going to your tweeter ... anything is more than enough.

On the subject of mounting them to the stock location, I will hightly advise against placing them behind the grill .. rather you will need to cut out the grill and make them fit in the stock location. It's not too difficult .. just takes time.

james840a

iTrader: (7)

You have the Infinity component tweeters? There is a how to on installing tweeters in the stock location. http://www.350z - tech.com/zwiki/Tut...r_Installation

We should get some of these how-tos on this site. But the other site above has a very good how-to on removeling and installing speakers.

jdohman

iTrader: (1)

No offense but the stock locations on this car are horrible. It makes the car image up around the rear view mirror. Way to high. Cancellation is also a issue due to reflection of the waves off the front glass. Best place in this car are in the kicks or some type of high end component that can be mounted coax with a angle like the polk SR series.

james840a

iTrader: (7)

For stock tweeter Yes, for adjustable aftermarket tweeter No. The adjustable tweeters you can angle them toward the driver, the stock tweeter are a fixed and is pointed toward the center/rear view mirror.

16psibrick

iTrader: (10)

well, this debate can go on forever, but why not when you dot he comps, run a long set of wires out, first run hold the tweeters to the stock location area, and then hold them down by the kicks, whcih ever sounds better to you is your choice

b

jdohman

iTrader: (1)

Hmmm. Took a pair out yesterday. Thought they were firing slightly down and tward's the center console. Direct swap seems to project very high like I said.

james840a

iTrader: (7)

Yes the stock tweeters are fixed and if you did a direct swap in the same fixed mounting they would project like the stock. I said if you went with aftermarket tweeters that are adjustable then you can project with more toward the driver. And when i mean adjustable you have to modify the pods that have the stock tweeters to mount the flush type adjustable tweets. here is a picture of how i have mine, and they project just right.

03zsmith25

iTrader: (5)

link no workie

james840a

iTrader: (7)

http://www.350z - tech.com/zwiki/Tutorial:Tweeter_Mod
______________^ ^ remove spaces