help with focal tn51 location in ford super duty

[sswanny_1]

hi there, i am wondering if anyone has installed focal utopia components in a 04 f-350 crew cab, and if so, where they ended up installing the tweeters. i have them about 4 inches off the dash in the pillars facing the center of the windshield, on advice from a local shop. it's okay, but i think it could be better. any help would be appreciated.

alpine cda-9830

diamond d7152

focal utopia 165w

rockford 600.1bd

2 infinity 12's sealed

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[computerparts 10+ year member]

What do you think exactly could be better? You could position them so that they're facing each other but that might sound a bit harsh. That's about the best you're going to get with those tweeters unless you do custom kick panels.

 

[sswanny_1]

the driver's side is not blending as well as i would like

 

[computerparts 10+ year member]

Did you try reversing the phase of that side?

 

[sswanny_1]

no,

thought about it. was trying to fix it another way

 

[computerparts 10+ year member]

Blending often has a lot to do with the phase of the speakers as well as the corssover points. I would try reversing the phase to see if it helps. Are you running passive or active crossover? Are your mids in the stock locations in the doors? That may be a problem as well. Did you have a shop do the install or did you do it yourself?

 

[sswanny_1]

i am running the passive xover that came with the utopias and i installed everything. the mids are in the stock door location, with focal plain-chant on top of dynamat inside the door, with dynamat outside the metal. i'm using speaker size adapters and 1" spacers. adjusting the eq has taken some of the edge off. i might still mess with the angle of the tweet somewhat. it's more than decent, and i should just leave it alone. i do notice the passenger mid a little. i'm wondering if i can do anything with it in the door or if my only fix would be to put the mids in kickpanels to get a clear path for both mids. or if i moved the mids above my leg in the doors. but i don't think i will do any of those. i'm going to mess with the x-overs some, maybe switch phase on the passenger mid just to see what happens, but if it doesn't get any better, it's already better than other utopia installs i have heard, imho. i will say that the plain-chant helped some major reflection issues from the mids that were driving me crazy.

 

[computerparts 10+ year member]

I'm not familiar with plain-chant. Is it some type of foam? For optimal pathlengths it is always best to put the components in custom kicks. If you put just the mid in the kicks then you would have some major time aligning to do since the tweets are in the pillars. You may have some time alignment issues as it is. What head unit do you have? Overall if you're happy with it then I would just leave it alone. How do those Utopias sound? I had the K2 6.5's mated with some horns and didn't like it much probably because they were sealed in custom door pods and they're meant to be IB but my vehicle doesn't allow for that. I was going to get some 3 way Utopias but couldn't find any so I'm going to settle for the Polyglass 3 ways.

 

[sswanny_1]

plain-chant is made by focal and is an acoustical dampening material designed to absorb the back sound wave of the speaker getting rid of a lot of distortion that many don't even realize is there. it is listed as an accessory on focal's website. head unit is alpine cda-9830 into diamond d7152 for the utopias. as far as the speakers, they are the best car speakers i've heard. i realize if i put the mids in the kicks, the tweeters would go there too. i've moved them 4 times so far and auditioned them in numberous other spots. i'm going to leave it alone, at least for now. i tweaked the eq/time correction so more today, and have something i'm happy with.

 

[computerparts 10+ year member]

I see this plain chant is a cell foam, interesting. It doesn't state whether it's an open or closed cell foam though. I'll have to look more into it. Where did you get it and how much does it cost? I'm local and don't know of any Focal dealers. Glad you found something you're happy with.

 

[sswanny_1]

got it at the sound shop. was $70 i think.