# Stock Tweeter Pod A pillar aiming: Well thought out by designer?



## TallTexan (Dec 14, 2007)

Some of the newer cars/trucks have nice stock (or premium) tweeter locations in the A pillar. My wife's Chevy HHR has them low and almost pointing towards each other. My buddies late model Ford F-150 has them up 1/3 and pointing down and away like towards the middle of the opposite seat. Not exactly where I would either put or point them. But what do I know?

This leads into my debatable question: Are those locations/directions something that was tested as the best by the designers of the system? If so, then granted any replacement driver is going to be superior to stock (you hope), is using the stock location/aiming as good is not better than what you can do DIY?

I guess what's fun about this hobby is with a minimal investment of a USB mic and free REW measuring software a DIY can get pretty close to what the designers of the car can do. (Depending on your skill level).

I wish I had the dash to do a DIY popup acoustic lens using some of the design ideas Patrick Bateman has explored.


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## sirbOOm (Jan 24, 2013)

In the last, most immediate generations of vehicles (like last 5 years till now, maybe), I've noticed in a lot of cars that there has been legitimate attention paid to speaker placement and aiming. There seems to be some evidence of a shift from just placing speakers in a door and maybe somewhere on the A-pillar to actually having had some kind of sound engineer develop that element of the design of the car. This is evident in my truck, where the dash speakers are actually aimed toward the rearview mirror frankly exactly as I would want aim them - otherwise I would expect them to just be facing up. What I suspect is this: car interiors (specifically speaker placement) are being designed with the highest-end, upgraded stereo in mind. And if you don't get that upgraded stereo, you basically just get a less wattage, potentially less speaker, less processed version of a system that was tailored to the car (with cheap speakers) but the locations are usually the same due to the mass production of the vehicle.

Now, take into account your better aftermarket speakers. I don't think it's accurate to figure that stock locations even in these newest cars are the ideal location for them. They're certainly where I go first because I am not really a huge lover of cutting and fiberglassing, but ya know... probably your system will sound better with aftermarket speakers properly installed, but maybe those aftermarket speakers in your car will sound better placed differently.


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## bigfastmike (Jul 16, 2012)

Funny. Was just having this discussion last night. It does seem a lot of thought goes into sound design and speaker placement in newer cars. I think people can actually learn a bit from different layouts in some cars.


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## TallTexan (Dec 14, 2007)

Even back in '04 when my Impala was made, the door speakers are in plastic mounts that aim them out and up from each door. This was probably done because the tweets are next to the mid woofers on the bracket and the desire to aim both more towards the occupants.

My latest construction was to reproduce that semi flimsy plastic mounts out of HDPE. Stacked multiple 1" thick pieces and cut at the same angle and overall size/thickness as the stock. HDPE is easy to cut, but melts fairly quickly if your blade starts to bind (which happened often in the thick sections). When I get around to copying some cell phone pics, I'll post something in the fab section of DIY.


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## theviking (Mar 22, 2012)

TallTexan said:


> Even back in '04 when my Impala was made, the door speakers are in plastic mounts that aim them out and up from each door. This was probably done because the tweets are next to the mid woofers on the bracket and the desire to aim both more towards the occupants.
> section of DIY.


I had an 03 Impala with a pair of Diamond components in the stock mounts and was very impressed with how well that setup worked. Had a nice soundstage and imaging compared to most factory location setups I've heard.


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## gregerst22 (Dec 18, 2012)

A lot more people are opting for the fully loaded vehicles nowadays. e.g. premium packages with all the bells and whistles. Car manufactures are spending more time on better audio experience. Instead of a check box. and basic digital processing and class d amps have been getting much cheaper for car manufactures to implement.


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## Elgrosso (Jun 15, 2013)

I wonder how much these stock dash locations were selected especially based on the available low power, and how to maximize its use.

We know their goal is to minimize cost/maximize effect.
And it's a whole system, they pick the cheapest off-the-shelf driver with the right response for their needs, high sensitivity to minimize amp size and watts consumption, thinking for 4 people tune, etc etc
Since there's plenty of space in a dashboard, it's easier/cheaper than messing with the door cards design, handles, electric layout etc. And probably 80% of the customers needs are covered with this paradigm.

My experience, in my cars, with my abilities (I insist here): drivers on dash easily messes the tonality and gives a wrong idea of staging.
But they're fun! They have big presence/impact/& psycho effect.
> good cost-effectiveness ratio

It was ok for casual listening, low volume… until I had more power, then it went a bit crazy all around, like if all trade off were revealed.
Now that they're all in doors I'm much more satisfied.

Don't get me wrong guys, we all know some crazy dash speakers cars like Gary's mercedes or many others here for example.
But I doubt if would fit in the constrained cost/result ratio of this big companies.

Any thoughts?


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