question about custom kick pods?!

[newb 10+ year member]

I am seriously thinking about taking on the project, but I have a couple of questions that's bothering me.

1. Wouldnt your legs block all the frequencies coming from the kicks? I would think so, because the mid and tweet sits low. Plus I had my tweets mounted pretty close to my mids on my doors, (it was kind of low) and my leg was blocking all the frequencies coming from the tweeters, it isnt as noticeable if it's just me in the car, but if I have someone in the passenger seat their leg blocks all the highs and it doesnt sound as good as if the tweeter were mounted up high on the door panel. 'I think kicks is only good for comps.' Someone please clarify this. Thanks!

2. Wouldnt you lose comfort due to less legroom?

3. Wouldnt it get in the way of your clutch pedal or footrest?

4. Does it matter if the tweeters are mounted above, below, to the right, or left of the mid?

5. Positioning/imaging the mids and high, I read up on it but I dont understand what they're talking about when measuring it up to the dome light, and coming from outside the window, I am lost when it comes to this. Someone please help?

That is all for now.

Thanks!

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[cheyenneboy 10+ year member]

i neeed some of the same questions. anyone

 

[bikejunkie223 10+ year member]

Everything you mentioned is the problem with kick panels. When done properly they sound great, but aiming them is difficult, and living with the lost footroom from them is difficult to live with for most people. As far as tweeter location it depends on the car. for the driver, clearing the steering column is usually the main difficulty in imaging the system (extreme angle for the driver to get the best sound compared to the passenger side. I have found a good set of comps, with the tweeters up high (base of the a-pillar) gives great results, and can be further helped if needed by processing devices such as an Audiocontrol Esp-2, though if done right, things like that arent necsisary.

 

[newb 10+ year member]

that sucks, I guess I"ll just stick to the stock door locations.

 

[bikejunkie223 10+ year member]

I would, you can get it to image well if you play with the tweeter location a bit. Also speaker choice matters too. Some tweeters play lower than others and that affects imaging a lot.

 

[Jim85IROC 10+ year member]

Yes, your legs and especially your passenger's legs can and will block some of the sound. But, even when it's being blocked, it images and stages better than sticking them into the doors. For me, it's a worthwhile tradeoff, especially considering that when I have a passenger, I'm not exactly doing critical listening anyway.

 

[Darth Audio 10+ year member]

I totally agree with IROC. Kick panels are the same as everything else in car audio, you gotta give to get. In this case all things you mentioned. An alternative for improving imaging would be to use a center channel.

Also I would advise against moving the tweeter too far away from the mid-woofer, you can get into phase alignment issues. I've found that adding an additional set of tweeters will help imaging tremendously. Usually on the A-pillars a few inches above dash level .

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

kicks>doors and if they dont stage and image well you didnt place them well and or have something wired wrong. as far as blockage goes a speaker disperses wider than most of you think

 

[ramos 5,000+ posts]

I always thought the main reason for kicks was to try and even out the path distance. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

it is if they arent equal they can then only sound good from 1 position while the other end sounds bad...stageing and imaging are all "when you hear it"

 

[drkodin 10+ year member]

I personally perfer door pods over kick pods for all the negative reasons you mentioned newb. I saves a lot of leg room, especially if you have a clutch, and your leg only gets in the way as much as it does currently. I have my mids in door pods at the moment with the tweets mount in the door about 7" away, the midbass jumped dramatically when moving from door mount to door pods and balanced out the whole imaging quite nicely.

give it a try, it might be the best solution for what you are looking for.

 

[newb 10+ year member]

Yea, I dont think kicks are going to work for me. Im sticking with doors. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/veryhappy.gif.fec4fed33b4a1279cf10bdd45a039dae.gif