Advice needed for tweeter placement - pics included

[qwertvt 10+ year member]

I have read a bunch of threads on this topic and I believe the consensus is to place the tweeter as near as the mids as possible. I have seen many install pics; however, where the tweeter is in the A-pillar or on the dash.

After looking at my pics and with the understanding that the mid will be in the stock location, where is the best place to install the tweeters. I was thinking about the plastic part under the fuse box and hood release to the left of the break pedal.

Would I notice any difference if I installed the tweeter in the A-pillar or in the sail panel?

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[SRim23 5,000+ posts]

I have a 2005 honda civic, polk momo comps in the kick panels running on 150rms and i gotta say that it just isnt loud enough for me. going to try putting the tweets a little higher and see if that helps

my girlfriend on the other hand has the same car with alpine type R comps with the tweet in the sail panels and it gets very loud, a little harsh at times though. shes only running about 70 watts rms to her comps.

tomorrow im going to raise my tweets a little and see what happens.

 

[CrazedCat 10+ year member]

what comps are you running? this can affect suggestions.

 

[qwertvt 10+ year member]

I will be installing rainbow germaniums powered by a JL Audio 300/2 amp.

 

[CrazedCat 10+ year member]

I'd go higher up with the tweets...top of the door panel, dash or A-pillar. The Germ xovers offer a good amount of attenuation.

 

[xtremekustomz 10+ year member]

Try the different locations and listen, see which spot sounds the best and go from there. Every tweet is different and every vehicle is different.

 

[headless 10+ year member]

I would put them on the A-pillar. The germanium crossovers have awesome attenuation settings (i wish my much more expensive power line CS x-overs had some of the options the germaniums did...) and you will be able to make them sound excellent there - plus, having the tweeters up higher sounds better to my ear than having the sound come from low, down around your knees. It also helps keep your body or passengers body from blocking the high frequencies - with tweeters, ANYTHING between you and direct view of the tweeter will effect volume of the higher frequency. It's not nearly as pronounced as with low frequency sounds from the woofers. Just holding my hand up halfway between the tweeter and my head makes the tweeters' sound change dramatically...imagine someone's knee and entire leg between you and the tweeter. The soundstage sounds more natural to me coming from the same height as my head too, rather than sounding like it's coming from the lower door/floor area.

 

[Gary S 10+ year member]

From a post I made a couple days ago in another thread:

there are several compromises in speaker placement in most installs. Optimally, you want an unobstructed path to your ears from the tweeter... if you can see it, it will minimize drop-offs in response. But also, as stated before, your goal should be to keep them together with the mids.
My first choice would be high in the kick pannel... if you put them low in the doors, the passenger sitting next to you will often block your line of sight to tweeter with his/her knees. But in a kick, when your passenger has their legs relaxed and stretched out, often you will have a line of sight to the tweeter above their ankles... plus, they are close to mids mounted in the bottom corner of the door. This is the best compromise.

Second choice would be near the mids in the doors. Still better overall than sail panel mounting.

I know a lot of people like to mount them in the sail pannels... while it solves the problem of legs in front of the tweeter, it can cause other problems which are worse... now, the tweeter is closer to the windows which could increase bad, near-field reflections... plus, if you measure the distance from the speakers on your side, the tweeter is much closer to you than the mid... this is not recommended. And if you try to electronically time align or attenuate the volume of the tweet to compensate, then the volume of that tweet is too low for the listener on the other side.

 

[3.5Max6spd 10+ year member]

^^^

x10

I prefer kickmount for the more ideal pathlengths and better phase coherency with the midbass.

All the issues you mentioned with ear level tweeters I've encountered, and my experience tell's me to avoid them. The a-pillar is a better pathlength solution to the sail but it destroys yor stage width limiting it between the pillars and you'll still have side bias- then you have the dash, the steering column /gauge hump and windshield reflections..

From a post I made a couple days ago in another thread: