Installed SLC 230's in F250, Soundstage too low

[medik13 10+ year member]

I installed the SLc 230's in my F-250. The Mids were put in the factory location and the tweeter was placed about 8" away and flush mounted in the door panel as well. It sounds like the sound stage is too low and it lacks depth. The doors were deadened inside and out. How can I get better sound and raise the front stage.

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[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

I'd experiment with A-pillar tweet placement...//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[jacka 10+ year member]

^word

 

[medik13 10+ year member]

If I mount the tweeter in the A-pillar what are the options of repairing the hole in the door panel? It does sound clear, just not full. It is lacking depth. I have played around with the Eq and it has improved some, but it is still in no way, WOW!!!... I was think of an upstage kit or imaging kit from CDT? What do you think?

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

Is it a leased vehicle?

If not, and you're worried about resale, just leave the tweeters in for the next buyer.

I'd avoid CDT tweets myself, but it's a personal opinion. I just think LPG or Seas makes a better product.

 

[medik13 10+ year member]

No, It is not a lease, but I don't want to leave holes in the door or tweeters that are not being used. It is brand new so I need it to look nice.

 

[djdilliodon 10+ year member]

What is the set crossed at ?

 

[xtremekustomz 10+ year member]

You usually don't want to seperate the tweeter too far away from the midrange. If I were you I would look into doing a second set of tweeters in the a pillars and using an L-Pad or some attenuation circuit. As for repair on the door, it will depend on if the piece is coverd or just has hard plastic. Hard plastic can be fixed by sanding the area around the hole with some 36 grit paper. After that get a piece of hardboard or something thin but strong and cut it a little larger than the hole you cut out. Sand it some with the 36 and glue it behind the hole in the panel. After that you can take some duraglass or everglass and spread it around the area and sand it down where the area is smooth. SEM makes a textured paint that mimics the texture on the door panels. Just spray with that and then buy the SEM paint that is the same as your interior. Problem fixed.

 

[60ndown 10+ year member]

I installed the SLc 230's in my F-250. The Mids were put in the factory location and the tweeter was placed about 8" away and flush mounted in the door panel as well. It sounds like the sound stage is too low and it lacks depth. The doors were deadened inside and out. How can I get better sound and raise the front stage.

how bad you want it?

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5664

 

[medik13 10+ year member]

how bad you want it?

How bad I want what???

xtremekustomz, I don't have to fix the hole in the doors if I go with a second set of tweeters.

djdilliodon, I am using the components' passive crossover. I then set the HP on the AMP to 80 for the mids.

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

Most times it's nearly impossible to get a good soundstage from factory locations without time alignment. The time arrival differences for the mids can't be overcome with moving the tweeter.

You could try playing with the phasing of the various drivers. That some times will move the soundstage.

But really, you need time alignment if you're using door mounted mids.

 

[medik13 10+ year member]

Most times it's nearly impossible to get a good soundstage from factory locations without time alignment. The time arrival differences for the mids can't be overcome with moving the tweeter.
You could try playing with the phasing of the various drivers. That some times will move the soundstage.

But really, you need time alignment if you're using door mounted mids.

I wish I had time alignment on my deck. Do I compensate for the bad imaging by adding an imaging kit to the sail panel or a pillar?

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

I wish I had time alignment on my deck. Do I compensate for the bad imaging by adding an imaging kit to the sail panel or a pillar?

That might help raise the stage slightly.

But moving tweeters or adding tweeters, as I said above, is not going to compensate for the differences in pathlength between the mids, which is a huge problem in regards to imaging and soundstaging and is very, very likely a large part of your problem. Midrange and midbass are sensitive to time arrival differences. This is why kickpanels and/or time alignment help so much. Without proper consideration to time arrival differences in this frequency range, the soundstage and general sound coherency is going to....****.

In my old install w/ door mounted mids/tweeters using time alignment was an obvious night and day difference. With zero time delay the soundstage was nonexistent, the sound was "low" and it was very diffused. You could sit in the drivers seat and turn the knob to increase time alignment, and as you turned the knob you could hear the sound "slide" to it's proper positioning and increase in coherency. At about 1.75ms, the imaging was pretty darn good (depth and width weren't stellar, but not bad...then again, that's one of the downfalls of time alignment).

 

[medik13 10+ year member]

Another solution that would allow me to play with the imaging is some mounting cups that are flush mount but swivel. Where can I find these for 1" tweeters???

 

[6spdcoupe 5,000+ posts]

Most times it's nearly impossible to get a good soundstage from factory locations without time alignment. The time arrival differences for the mids can't be overcome with moving the tweeter.
You could try playing with the phasing of the various drivers. That some times will move the soundstage.

But really, you need time alignment if you're using door mounted mids.

Or for us analog fans.. variable phase shifters. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif