One more thing, though hard to live with, a dash mat can and will make any system sound dramatically better. I just wish there was an easy and elegant way of doing it, if I ever build a full competiton system again I will be upholstering the dash with the right materials to do this well and look as good as possible

In the mean time, fire up your system with a great audio track, listen carefully to all the details like stage height, width, depth, location of the instruments, etc....if you have a good home audio system use it first. Then listen to the track again in the car, shut it down, lay out some towels nicely across the whole dash, listen again, I have never heard a vehicle that was not a great deal better with the towels(dash mat) yet.

If there was a market for it and it could be done reasonably in cost I would offer upholstered dashes! Please do not ask me to at this time though, I need two clones as it is right now do help in all I am doing

Sincerely
Rick

 

Save yourself the trouble, that DIY idea is not going to work unless you are willing to learn how to aim them precisely, have the right tweeters(metal domes are going highly likely to be to harsh as some soft domes as well) and can live with big pods hanging from your A pillars (probably getting the wrong kind of attention when parked where you cannot watch your car AND, you may have to use some serious processing even if aimed perfectly, right speakers used, etc......another learning curve, more cost, etc........

I have only heard such systems work with a three way setup, mids and tweeters build into the dash, pillars, etc and it takes a great deal of effort to get it right, far more than most have the experience to even know what they are listening to.

I used to all kinds of pods, doors, pillars, etc, hundreds of hours wasted following the wrong lead, once the real experts taught me the right things to do I stopped chasing my tail and just do what I know works. The methods I recommend were not developed by me, I just had incredible results with them so I pass them on to everyone I can so they can skip all the wrong leads and get it right the first time

Rick

 

So drill the hole in a different spot and point them wherever you want. Yeah, it may not be "acoustically perfect," but it's a cheap and easy way to get your tweeter mounted, which seems to be what this thread was all about.

 

It does not take much more effort, if any depending on method chosen, to point them in the right direction and have dramatically better sound

Rick

 

so if im reading everything right...the correct way to try and mount the tweeters is pointing them at one another..just above the hump in the dash? Does anyone have a writeup or any pics of them fabing something up. I want it to look nice....but dont want to be spening a boat load in the process. If the pillars have to much of a curve to them...then fiberglass fabricating is prolly the only way to do it...just dont know how to go about starting this.

 

This is simply not true...

 

Ok, I am a vendor here so I have to be nice

Can you validate your statement?

I only post advice when I can back up what I have said with real world experience so I can help others keep from doing things wrong.

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To be brief, 40 years into car audio(and home), prior audio competitor, judge, have beaten world champion, twice in two different builds, co judged 10 top all time cars ever built, worked along side some of the best installers ever where I learned what I have posted, etc......

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Rick

 

The main issue on our cars is lack of space behind the pillar trim, that means building up the pillars as has been done and the results shown on this site recently. Or, as I am am experimenting with, use a really small tweeter(very good ones of course though) and just cutting holes into the pillars, have to remove and reinstall the covering to do it right, and then have a small black tweeter sticking out, does not look bad at all, cost is $0, etc...but it is not entirely easy for some to do.

Once I get mine up and running, my standard height and aim point is not pleasing to the eye so I am doing to locations in my pillars, one lower, slightly aimed up and forward a bit to see if it will sound right and look better, I will offer them for those that do not want to tackle the job. That will be much less costly than paying to have molding done.

I will post pics of the process for those wanting to do it themselves which I prefer as I am not in the fabrication business, no time really but will do so to help those needing it for the systems I sell (not likely to do others but will consider it case by case)

Rick

 

Tweeters are designed to be used on axis. Some are designed to minimze loss of frequency responce off axis. Does your home system point the tweets at each other?

Also, the pods do work. I've had several in my car. Stage is wide and deep. You can hear singers take breaths.





They aren't there for looks

 

Tweeter A-pillar relocation is definitely a project I need to do. The nice setup I recently installed in the wife's C5 sounds great but I know moving the tweeters up and forward will make it that much better. The big question is, obviously, "What's the best location/orientation in a C5?" I am going to start experimenting with tweeter location next weekend since I need to pull interior pieces again to install upgrades.

I have the factory Monsoon system in my '08 H3 which sounds damn fine for a factory system. One of the obvious placements the designers decided on was the tweeters. I'm assuming they could have angled them any direction they wanted to based on optimized sound - but, did they? Just wondering if this was one of those 98%-is-good-enough cost-saving measures they implemented by pointing the tweeters towards each other or if they went the extra mile and placed them optimally for the interior of the H3. I mean, how hard would it have been to mold the A-pillars a bit differently than what they ended up with to get the best sound (starting from scratch as they did)? I know, I know - this is GM we're talking about here.

Anyway, it does sound very good. Here are a couple of pics of my H3 tweeters.

 

Your statements are pretty general in nature Of course they are designed for on axis but far field, not near field unless specific to studio monitors or a car audio speaker designed for that and thus some may be so. Firing at you or cross firing is still pretty much not as most are meant to be used so we are both using them differently that designed.


The only good systems I have heard to date and I have heard hundreds of competition systems, had mids and tweets very very carefully installed to have a great sound stage when mounted in the pillars or into the dash which is even more work. I have not heard one that could win even a local competition(properly judged of course) with just tweeters aimed like that. Can it happen, probably, can the average guy do this right, not likely.

I have posted other things concerning the use of tweeter pods aiming towards the passengers and my post that it will not work, which I must amend because it can if done very carefully but most have no idea on how to do this, not even when you take the time to show them as their ears just do not have the experience to know what to listen for.

So, from the perspective of those without the experience to make this work right, those that do not want great big pods or mid size pods(anything easily seen as not stock invites theives and just want a slam bang get it done, sound great setup, cross firing them hidden as well as possible is a superb solution.

I have judged world class sound quality competition vehicles using cross firing tweeters and have installed many so I know for fact it works very well and it is incredibly simple to make sound great I have done this with fully active highly tunable processing and with passive systems both with excellent results.

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If you have not tried it please do so but the smaller the tweeter(shallower is the primary concern) the wider the sound stage as further apart. Your setup may actually be better and for those ok with doing the work, living with big pods, etc, please do so

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Most guys here just want a good sounding system without a great deal of effort, sophisticated tuning, reasonable investment, not to much added weight, stealthy so they have less of a target as these cars are already attention magnets, etc...so I am working strictly from that perspective.

If I was building a serious audio competition system(though I certainly can do well with the simple two way door, mids, crossfire tweeters) I would be running horns or spend the probably huge effort to perfect kick panels, 3-ways setup, etc.....I would not want big two way pods in my dash or on my pillars unless it was the only thing that would work in our cars(our cars have to be great for horns with the dash design and big midbass sizes we could use to support the horns high output.)
Getting in and out of a car with horns can be a hassle sometimes though.
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Sincerely
Rick

 

Rick, I meant no disrespect to you. And, I agree that the pods could be above the skill/knowlege level of most here.
If you ever make it to Austin, LMK. I'll buy you a cup of coffee and give you a demo

 

Thanks buddy, none meant to you either, just this sore knee I guess made me a bit grumpy and that is something I seldom ever have happen. I usually post much more nicely, known for it, prefer it, etc....

I was going to ask what speakers those are, look full size which I love to use when I can, have some Seas aluminum domes in my old Tacoma that sound incredible paired with the RS180 mids, a very low cost and very effective system but not for those without some tuning and build skills.

I would like to hear your car, really, if you know what you are doing and it sure seems you just might, I bet it is great and it would be the first I liked with the tweeters by themselves aimed that way so that would be even cooler to hear.

I am mounting the ID XS tweeters in the stock door locations and using their very adjustable crossovers to dial in the best possible door locations I can get for those wanting to stay with stock locations.

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Talking about horns earlier, our Studevette project will have the top line current ID horns, 6x9's(one of a few every built right) deep in the footwells and some serious IB mounted subs(I would scrounge up some old IDW18's but will not fit in this project since using a stretched C5 chassis due to the fuel tanks unless I put a cell in the rear which may)

On some horn installs you end up needing a supertweeter, with the design I am going to do I should not need it though.

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Have a great day and thanks again, sorry to have gotten off on the wrong foot buddy.

Rick

 

Sorry to the OP for totally derailing the thread...My best advice is use double-stick tape and try the tweets in several locations. See what sounds best.

LOL, not sure if I know what I'm doing, but have a friend that's an awesome tuner.
Those are morel mdt-105s, tweets (crossed at 1.6k 12db)
also using ID oem mids and a dayton ho 15. Full active, off alpine 9886 and pxa-h100. Powered by arc 4150xxk and arc 2500xxk.

 

I agree, sorry OP, we got carried away here.

SublimeZ: Nice system sending a PM

 

well after thinking on it i realized i rather not tackle fabricating pillars for my dls tweets sooooooooooo i dropped off my a pillars today to have them done for me i qill post picks of the finished product when i get them back!!!

Oh and i was going to go stealth look with them but the dls tweets are dome tweets that have that cage so they will be fabbed with the cage showing and yes they are going to be aimed directly at each other and 2" above the hump of the dash!! see i actually did listen

Rick

 

Please post pics and your thoughts once you get them done. I may consider getting that done.