Tweeter Mountin
 

Anyone have suggestions/photos on where to mount tweeters?

Can you just swap out the stock tweeters???

Also, what guage speaker wire should I use for the tweeters? And what guage should I use for the Focal 165v1's???

Thanks,
Tom

as long as your new tweeter will fit you could put it back in the stock sails, i have mine mounted custom inside the door right above my door pods. The wire does not have to be thick, 14gauge is good.

14 guage for both the tweeter and the 6.5?

12 or 14 would be ideal for the mid, but 16 will also work. Tweeter's usually use 18-22 ga from the factory iirc

I have A-pillars already cut for Tweeets, wanna trade? Im looking for A-pillars that arent cut, dont need the stock tweeters either.


Ops I mean sail panel , not A-pillars

I've had my tweeters in both the A-Pillar/ Sail Panel and the Kick-panels... I prefer them in the kicks....

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1113/...8c5e44049f.jpg

my tweets are in the a pillar and sound great there
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h1...ainbows014.jpg

:icon43: Unless you are running 500 watts to your components, I feel 12awg or 14awg might be a bit of overkill. Realistically you can run 16awg to your components. I have even known of some high end installs that reused the factory speaker wiring. I never would have known by listening to it.

true. I'm only running 16ga, but I've sent my speakers 300 watts each temporarily and it was bliss...

Isn't that called the Sail Panel?

Yes, you're right. It appears that dkMesa350z has his tweeters mounted in the sail panel, and not the A-pillar as he states.

--Spike

Tom,

I installed Focal 165V Slim component speakers (the "Slim" version since I elected to put the speakers in the stock door position and not use door pods).

I tested two positions for the tweeters (sail panel and A-pillar). I didn't like the sail panel mounting since it blasts the tweeter right into the driver's ear. The A-pillar postion allows better sound-staging. I put the tweeters about 2.5 inches up and on the wide point of the A-pillar, so the tweeters actually point at the windshield and bounce the sound back to the cabin.

I used 14 gauge wire for the doors and 16 gauge for the tweeters. I really have no idea if that is "overkill," but the cost of the wire is cheap. I'm driving the Focals with a Clarion H/U and an Eclipse amp.

Hope this helps.

--Spike

Spike, Thanks for the info! Do you have any pics of the A-Pillars?

This is a picture of my Focals' tweeters mounted in the A-pillar.

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o...calTweeter.jpg

The "Sail Panel" is where I did not like the tweeter. The tweeter mounted there blasts into the driver's ear or passenger's ear depending upon how you balance the front speakers. It is not a good mounting position since you cannot stage the sound.

I mounted the tweeters in the A-pillar (labelled "Actual Tweeter" in the picture). The oval area labelled "Tweeter Reflection" is not where the tweeter is mounted; this is the reflection of the tweeter's sound projection off the front windshield. With this arrangement, the tweeter's very directional sound bounces from that angle of the windshield towards the middle of the car. This configuration allows you to set the balance on the front speakers to a neutral position that provides a good left/right sense of the sound for both the driver and passenger (very good sound-staging).

I cannot offer advice on how other speakers work with this arrangement since I only have experience with the Focal 165. Of course, the mid/low door component part of the Focal 165 is nothing less than exceptional. I honestly can say I have never listened to any speaker that is better than the Focal.

--Spike

yeah sorry, it was late...err, early as it were

+1 on that A-pillar install! I just remounted my kappa 6.1 tweeters in the sail panels and seriously think I am going deaf in my left ear! And this after just only a few weeks!!

Anyone know what the part number is for these sail panels so I can return them back to stock?

Hmm.. or maybe in the kicks?? Man, this is a tough decision.. bc still wanna keep it all stealth.

Putting tweeters into the "kicks" still presents the problem of staging the tweeters' very directional sound. It is much better there than the sail panel, but still difficult to stage when you want "equal listening rights" for driver and passenger.

The A-pillar mount allows bouncing the tweeters' directional sound towards the center of the car where both driver and passenger hear the highs (and distinctly left/right).

No need to worry about stealth when mounting tweeters in the A-pillar. Notice how inconspicuous the tweeters are in the picture I posted (albiet it is a poor picture).

--Spike

Another thing about kick panel mounted tweeters (in my case) is that if you have door pods, the driver's side tweeter will be blocked by the pod.

Here is how i have mine mounted, in the kicks above my mid range
http://img104.imageshack.us/img104/6312/img1065xr2.jpg