Tweeter placement
01-22-2009, 07:58 AM
#21
my suggestion to Zs is always the same
if you have time alignment and generally a good DSP and a desire to achieve the best possible results in terms of SQ, a pillar mounted tweeters is the best to get you a high, well centered, and non-rainbowing front stage
if you do not have this option, then to me, mounting hte tweeters in the kicks will be best, it reduces the tendency for the stock location to give you very bright and harsh highs, and it also reduces path difference, meaning you will get a more centralized image.
but in the end, car audio is about personal preference, go get yourself a 3 dollar pack of double sided tape, have hte tweeter wired up on a long extension, tape it to the door, to the pillar to the kick, and see for yourslef?
but in general, the focals are IMO not very laid back tweets and can get a bit harsh, so off axis in kicks will acutally do them soime good
if you have time alignment and generally a good DSP and a desire to achieve the best possible results in terms of SQ, a pillar mounted tweeters is the best to get you a high, well centered, and non-rainbowing front stage
if you do not have this option, then to me, mounting hte tweeters in the kicks will be best, it reduces the tendency for the stock location to give you very bright and harsh highs, and it also reduces path difference, meaning you will get a more centralized image.
but in the end, car audio is about personal preference, go get yourself a 3 dollar pack of double sided tape, have hte tweeter wired up on a long extension, tape it to the door, to the pillar to the kick, and see for yourslef?
but in general, the focals are IMO not very laid back tweets and can get a bit harsh, so off axis in kicks will acutally do them soime good
01-22-2009, 08:13 AM
#22
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Thank you Bing! It sounds like A-pillars would be the best in SQ terms but I have no money for A-Pillar mold or DSP right now... when I do down the road, I will def. contat you to mold me some A-Pillars!
This is what I found on Focal's website and based on what you said, I think I will mount the tweeters in the kick panels and aim them across the car at the opposite front seat headrest.
quote from focal's website:
This is what I found on Focal's website and based on what you said, I think I will mount the tweeters in the kick panels and aim them across the car at the opposite front seat headrest.
quote from focal's website:
Don't use tweeter 'surface mount pods' if you can devise a way to recess mount the tweeters into the doors or into a fibreglass or body putty custom mount. I have heard some good results from mounting tweeters at the base of the A pillars. This will involve making up a fibreglass or body-putty moulding on the A pillar. The mirror pods are probably second-best position. The mirror pod is the easier position to mount tweeters on, the A pillar gives better sound quality but will cost more labour.
If you are shaping up a tweeter mount using fibreglass or bog, try to create a flat area extending a centimetre or two around the tweeter. This reflects the 'spill' from the tweeter out toward the listener.
The aiming of the tweeters is also important. They should aim across the car at the opposite front seat headrest. In other words the passengers side tweeter should be aimed at the drivers head and vice versa. If you pay attention to these details you will get 100% better sound quality.
When people complain that their tweeters sound bright and intrusive, you can bet they have broken one or all of these installation rules.
Adjust the crossovers at installation, then again two months later. If you have installed tweeters at or above dash level, turn the level down a little with the adjustment switch inside the crossover. The KP and K2P range have eight tweeter level settings inside their crossovers, the other Focal ranges have three, so you should be able to find a setting that suits you.
There is a principle that tweeters and mids should be in the kick panels to get them equidistant from the listener. It sounds great in principle, I can never deny the theory is absolutely correct. The problem in practice is that your legs obstruct the sound. Kick panel mounts sound best if you sit with your feet tucked under you. Another important principle is that woofer and tweeter should be within fifteen inches of each other. Technically correct again, but it's not always possible without rebuilding the whole door panel, an expensive operation.
(http://www.focalaustralia.com.au/advice.htm)
If you are shaping up a tweeter mount using fibreglass or bog, try to create a flat area extending a centimetre or two around the tweeter. This reflects the 'spill' from the tweeter out toward the listener.
The aiming of the tweeters is also important. They should aim across the car at the opposite front seat headrest. In other words the passengers side tweeter should be aimed at the drivers head and vice versa. If you pay attention to these details you will get 100% better sound quality.
When people complain that their tweeters sound bright and intrusive, you can bet they have broken one or all of these installation rules.
Adjust the crossovers at installation, then again two months later. If you have installed tweeters at or above dash level, turn the level down a little with the adjustment switch inside the crossover. The KP and K2P range have eight tweeter level settings inside their crossovers, the other Focal ranges have three, so you should be able to find a setting that suits you.
There is a principle that tweeters and mids should be in the kick panels to get them equidistant from the listener. It sounds great in principle, I can never deny the theory is absolutely correct. The problem in practice is that your legs obstruct the sound. Kick panel mounts sound best if you sit with your feet tucked under you. Another important principle is that woofer and tweeter should be within fifteen inches of each other. Technically correct again, but it's not always possible without rebuilding the whole door panel, an expensive operation.
(http://www.focalaustralia.com.au/advice.htm)
Last edited by ninor; 01-22-2009 at 08:16 AM.
01-23-2009, 03:23 PM
#26
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Bing presents the best suggestion (use a temporary mount testing your tweeters in different locations). If you are doing the installation yourself, your effort doing the test positions is minimal, and it costs you nothing. That way you can discover what suits your listening preference.
In my experience kick-positioning your tweeters sounds best, but that advantage disappears as soon as you and your passenger sit in the car and block the best angles for the directional high-frequency sound from your tweeters. You never have this problem with A-Pillar mounting, so that is my choice. In my case I simple drilled a hole for the tweeter and mounted it flush in the A-Pillar. The sound is great. Adding a tweeter pod/mount to the A-Pillar is better, but more expensive. The stock Sail Panel mount is awful.
--Spike
In my experience kick-positioning your tweeters sounds best, but that advantage disappears as soon as you and your passenger sit in the car and block the best angles for the directional high-frequency sound from your tweeters. You never have this problem with A-Pillar mounting, so that is my choice. In my case I simple drilled a hole for the tweeter and mounted it flush in the A-Pillar. The sound is great. Adding a tweeter pod/mount to the A-Pillar is better, but more expensive. The stock Sail Panel mount is awful.
--Spike
01-23-2009, 03:54 PM
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Thank you for your input Spike. I will use double-sided tape and try out few different locations and decide if I will place them either in the stock kick-panel location as shown in my post above (post #18) or place them in pods that came with them and mount them on the A-Pillar... I know this would look little bit ghetto, but as long as the sound is good I won't really care. However, I don't know how would they sound in A-Pillar as I will only use Imprint to EQ my Alpine 9887 as Bing mentioned above that I would need to spend a lot of time eqing and such if I place them in A-Pillars.
Here are the pics of the pods:
Here are the pics of the pods:
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