FD components up front, tweeter mounting
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Joined: Jan 2003
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From: Montgomery, AL
FD components up front, tweeter mounting
Just wondering if you guys who have put components up fron in your FD have pictures of your mounting locations. If so I'd like to see a couple. Thanks
-Nic
-Nic
No pics but...
My 1" soft dome tweeters are in angled surface mounts bolted to the little "triangles" at the front of the doors. With the angled mounts they face the driver and you can experiment with pointing them in different directions. Doesn't require cutting holes in the door panels and the tweeters actually face you. Looks damn good IMO and was easy.
My 1" soft dome tweeters are in angled surface mounts bolted to the little "triangles" at the front of the doors. With the angled mounts they face the driver and you can experiment with pointing them in different directions. Doesn't require cutting holes in the door panels and the tweeters actually face you. Looks damn good IMO and was easy.
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2003
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From: Montgomery, AL
Thanks.
I'm going to play around with a couple positions before I permanently place them. I like the triangles idea but I'd like to get a bit better position for imaging. I'm a bit unsure of how I'll do it since the panels are different but we'll see. Thanks for the input.
Any more from others?
-Nic
I'm going to play around with a couple positions before I permanently place them. I like the triangles idea but I'd like to get a bit better position for imaging. I'm a bit unsure of how I'll do it since the panels are different but we'll see. Thanks for the input.
Any more from others?
-Nic
Originally posted by Broken09
I'm a bit unsure of how I'll do it since the panels are different but we'll see.
I'm a bit unsure of how I'll do it since the panels are different but we'll see.
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,507
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From: Montgomery, AL
Yeah you're right after looking at it there is no good way to get the imaging any better than in the triangles. I tried a couple more things out over the past few hours and got the best results from that location. Thanks for the input.
-Nic
-Nic
Don't you run into problems when you put your tweeters so far away from your mids? Some companies like JL Audio recommend that the tweeter be no farther than 4 inches from the mid...?
What's with that?
What's with that?
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1. It confuses your brain when it hears sounds coming from different directions.
2. If the speakers are far apart, the signal from each driver may arrive at different times -- this is not good for detail.
Further to the above two points, the tweeters and mids are producing the same frequencies over an octave (cross-overs aren't brick wall filters).
In the FD however, due to the small cabin and ride height, I doubt that mids mounted in the doors and tweeters mounted in the "triangles" would present much of an imaging/detail problem.
2. If the speakers are far apart, the signal from each driver may arrive at different times -- this is not good for detail.
Further to the above two points, the tweeters and mids are producing the same frequencies over an octave (cross-overs aren't brick wall filters).
In the FD however, due to the small cabin and ride height, I doubt that mids mounted in the doors and tweeters mounted in the "triangles" would present much of an imaging/detail problem.
The other reason I chose the triangles and not the a-pillar is because the distance from midrange to ear and tweeter to ear is about the same (at least in my 6'4" case where the seat is moved way back) so the delay problem is reduced.
It is certainly preferable to have the mid and tweeter close to eachother but in the FD's case that means the tweeter had to be low down in the door. My personal preference is to seperate them in that case as my left leg and arm are going to be in the way from there. Tweeters are much more directional and you can easily "block" the sound from them if things are in between them and your ear. Listen to most installs where the tweeter is low down in the door or in a kickpanel and you'll find that from the left seat you can hear the right channel much more clearly because your body or the steering wheel is in the way of the left channel. IMO that's a dumb idea. In those cases I prefer to move the tweeter to a different location, your opinion may differ.
It is certainly preferable to have the mid and tweeter close to eachother but in the FD's case that means the tweeter had to be low down in the door. My personal preference is to seperate them in that case as my left leg and arm are going to be in the way from there. Tweeters are much more directional and you can easily "block" the sound from them if things are in between them and your ear. Listen to most installs where the tweeter is low down in the door or in a kickpanel and you'll find that from the left seat you can hear the right channel much more clearly because your body or the steering wheel is in the way of the left channel. IMO that's a dumb idea. In those cases I prefer to move the tweeter to a different location, your opinion may differ.
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2003
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From: Montgomery, AL
I agree. After I played around with some positions it is very difficult to find a location for the tweeter near the mid where something isn't blocking it whether it be your leg the seat or something else. Well thanks for all the input guys I do appreciate it.
-Nic
-Nic
Originally posted by DamonB
My 1" soft dome tweeters are in angled surface mounts bolted to the little "triangles" at the front of the doors.
My 1" soft dome tweeters are in angled surface mounts bolted to the little "triangles" at the front of the doors.
Originally posted by t-von
Is their enough clearence to "flush" mount the tweeters in the triangles for a more clean look?
Is their enough clearence to "flush" mount the tweeters in the triangles for a more clean look?
Thx for the reply. Hmmmm do you think there would be enought room if I cut a hole in the sheetmetal to flush mount the tweeters? If it doesn't work, I guess I'll have to buy some new triangles to cover up the hole.
Originally posted by t-von
Thx for the reply. Hmmmm do you think there would be enought room if I cut a hole in the sheetmetal to flush mount the tweeters?
Thx for the reply. Hmmmm do you think there would be enought room if I cut a hole in the sheetmetal to flush mount the tweeters?
Originally posted by rotarynemesis
anyone want to post some pics?
anyone want to post some pics?
Originally posted by DamonB
No. The door is too shallow there. Look it at.
No. The door is too shallow there. Look it at.
I had the tweeter mounted onto the triangle, and then built up the whole triangle so the tweeter essentially sits flush...(sorry about the picture quality, I dunno why it didn't come out so nice). Oh and I still have to paint it black, cuz the primer took forever to dry...

Here's another shot of it...

Here's what they look like from farther away...
The passenger side tweeter:

...And the driver side tweeter:

Hope that helps some
Last edited by FDNewbie; Jun 16, 2004 at 05:19 PM.
Ah, gauges. I don't have "A" piller gauges so I mounted mine in the "A" piller covers (they just pull off). Imaging is fine due to the small (very small!) cabin size. I used JL Audio two way speakers, and the tweeters came with flush and external mount parts. I mounted them externally, as there isn't that much space behind the "A" piller covers. The mount parts allow them to be moved to point in the correct direction (driver's ears
.
.
Here's the 1" silk dome in an angled surface mount cup on the passenger door. Driver door is the same. The cup is mounted to the triangle with small screws and the speaker wire extends through the triangle and then behind the door panel.
Surprisingly I notice the defrost vents on the side glass are still just as effective as they were without the tweeters there.
Surprisingly I notice the defrost vents on the side glass are still just as effective as they were without the tweeters there.
I'm in the process of making custom door panels with 6" Alpine S series speakers with the tweeters in the center. If youre just looking for tweeter mounting locations, i've seen them in the second din space, if you have an aftermarket cd player.
Damon, I'm sure you already know this, but instead of mounting as such, you can always make a hole in the triangle, and push the tweeter back a bit. It won't be flush of course, but it'll save you a little room, leaving the tweeter well behind the vents (even though they work fine as is), and not leaving the tweeter "bulging out" as much.
This is a pic of mine (kinda fuzzy), and yes I have a small enclosure around the tweeter, but the tweeter isn't just stuck on the face of the triangle; it's base sits a bit behind the triangle, and the tweeter comes thru a hole in the triangle.
This is a pic of mine (kinda fuzzy), and yes I have a small enclosure around the tweeter, but the tweeter isn't just stuck on the face of the triangle; it's base sits a bit behind the triangle, and the tweeter comes thru a hole in the triangle.
Originally Posted by FDNewbie
This is a pic of mine (kinda fuzzy), and yes I have a small enclosure around the tweeter, but the tweeter isn't just stuck on the face of the triangle; it's base sits a bit behind the triangle, and the tweeter comes thru a hole in the triangle.
The install looks very professional though.
Originally Posted by AustinCustoms
If youre just looking for tweeter mounting locations, i've seen them in the second din space, if you have an aftermarket cd player.
Originally Posted by DamonB
Your tweeters aren't singing to the listener, they're singing directly to eachother and the back of the steering wheel. I didn't want them 90 degrees off axis from the listener so I used an angled pod.
It sounds phenominal (they're the tweeters from the Boston Acoustics Z6 Audiophile Components...so they'd incredible tweeters). But I wonder how much better they'd sound if they were angled at me! 
I might give that a shot later on... thanks for pointing out the stuff I miss as always haha. But right now, my front stage is ALL high's (the rears are mids, and the sub is for lows), but man...I can't imagine it being even directed at me even more.
On that note, you know what I've found, Damon? Speaker (like dash mounted speakers) tend to fill the cockpit much better when they're aimed at the windshield. My theory is that the waves hit the windshield, then bounce off it, scattering widely into the cockpit. All I know is the overall sound is better in such vehicles.
The install looks very professional though.


