A Few Pics Of My Install So Far

[texcon]

I have a few pics of my install at the link below. I will continue to share pics as I do more. At this point I need to finish the big 3 upgrade (did alt to battery so far, but still need to upgrade the grounds) and I need to install my amp rack in the trunk.

I could have sworn taking pics of the baffles I made for my mids, which I was proud of. Those things took some real customization as far as rounding off the edges, installing, putting the door panels off, removing the baffles, re-sanding, etc.

The last two pics on that page show where my tweets were installed. It was a pretty cool little spot for them, since they provide better imaging versus mounting the tweets vertically on the door panels. I still have to put the mesh grilles back over the mids, but that is academic at this point.

http://www.s89008730.onlinehome.us/11615.html

[hobbes26]

Hah... you did the same, only with the mat instead of liquid. Update us when you finish putting it all back together! Looks good so far. The tweet location looks awkward, but maybe it works well - I haven't tried it in that position before. I'm going to drill holes in my kicks and install them in there in my car. That way, i'll have a little more room to aim them.

I've actually finished putting my car back together - I'm so happy that I can drive again! It took me about a week to finish my deadening project. But that's cause I could only work a few hrs each night.

[texcon]

Yeah, the pictures of the tweets are a bit awkward looking, but that's mainly because I cannot show the tweets relative to my ears. Like I mentioned, they are pointed up and back, practically toward my head, so they end up sounding very nice. They are also located about 6" from my mids, which was a must for me. I didn't want to drop the tweets way up high on the door panel and separate the highs and mids by 2 feet. I played with other positions and this spot was the best as far as door panel locations go.

I will post some more pics soon - I plan on installing my amp rack this weekend and starting my new sub box.

[WickedSurf]

(this is probably a dumb question but) is that a good spot to place tweeters or is there like an optimal point in the car to mount them

[texcon]

Originally posted by WickedSurf@Jun 9 2004, 12:26 PM
(this is probably a dumb question but) is that a good spot to place tweeters or is there like an optimal point in the car to mount them

For me, it was a whole lot of trial and error. I mounted the tweets up high, in the middle, down low, front, back, etc and found that this spot gave me the best sound. Short of kick panels, these spots give me the best imaging for my highs. I could tell a difference between the tweets being mounted flush vertically on the door panel and their current placement.

Even though JL specifically said my best options would be to keep the mid and tweet no more than 8" apart from each other, I listed to them spaced out by as much as 2'. But at that spacing, the highs and mid-bass were not blended at all and sounded too isolated from one another. So I ended up with this spot. I actually posed the question here a few weeks ago about where to mount the tweets and the replies I got was "as close to the mid as you can". So maybe the techs at JL know what they were writing after all!

I really should take a picture with the door closed from my persepctive as I am actually listening to my music - these are pics with the doors open, so they are not the best representation.

But to bluntly answer your question, there is probably not just one optimal spot to mount tweets (or any speakers for that matter), as the sound difference between certain locations is probably inaudible by human ears. I am sure my mids would sound better if I had them in kick panels or angled door pods, but I will stick with their current spots before I dive into more complex imaging issues, mainly because that is another project for another day (more like many days).

[hobbes26]

With my tweets in the kicks, they shouldn't be more than 6" from the woofer. They also wouldn't be blocked as much as if they were in the doors.

So there's no real optimal placement, but you want to try to not block the paths too much from the tweets to your ears unless it's intentional - for imaging purposes. A lot can be done with tweets with respect to imaging by just changing how loud they're playing - but with passive crossovers, you're kinda out of luck cause then you're changing the woofer level as well.

[texcon]

Originally posted by hobbes26@Jun 9 2004, 02:38 PM
A lot can be done with tweets with respect to imaging by just changing how loud they're playing - but with passive crossovers, you're kinda out of luck cause then you're changing the woofer level as well.

Unless you are bi-amping the tweets and mids, right?

[hobbes26]

Right.... but that's only doable with passive crossovers that let you do that... I believe some JL sets have that as do Alpine and MB, etc. I think mainly in their higher end sets too. I've got Kodas so I don't have that.

[texcon]

OK, that was mainly my ignorance talking. My JL passive capacitors allow for bi-amping, so I assumed ALL passive capacitors allowed for bi-amping.

[hobbes26]

lol... crossover... not capacitor...