# Tips for mounting HLCD under my seats



## 2chGUY (Feb 1, 2009)

Howdy...

Man am I glad this forum started a board for HLCDs... Leave to Diyma to keep their finger on the pulse of the community and continue to improve this holy grail of mobile audio.

Now, I've been running a pair of MD horns under my front seats for some time now, but I just can't seem to get the sound stage up to windsheild level. Would anyone with a similar set-up comment on what tweaking they did to get awesome HLCD SQ...?


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## mikey7182 (Jan 16, 2008)

Pics of said install...


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## DanMan (Jul 18, 2008)

The way it was explained to me is that the dash of the car acts as a continuation of the horn. For this to work, I believe the horns should be mounted under the dash. A seamless, smooth transition from the horn to the dash is the next piece of the puzzle. A DashMat is often recommended to deal with reflections off the windshield.

At least one of Diyma's members mounted the horns such that they would transition to the windshield directly. I am not totally clear on the specifics. I believe they were mounted behind the dash, more or less parallel to the rake of the windshield itself. He was very happy with the results.


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## subwoofery (Nov 9, 2008)

When I first saw horns on the ID's website I though that it was supposed to be mounted above the door... nope higher than you think... Where the door meets the a-pillar :blush: lol

Kelvin


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

do you mean, like *UNDER *the seat? because having the horn mounted there would mean they are firing toward the pedals, or the rear passangers. 

please clarify whar you are referring to...


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## DanMan (Jul 18, 2008)

subwoofery said:


> When I first saw horns on the ID's website I though that it was supposed to be mounted above the door... nope higher than you think... Where the door meets the a-pillar :blush: lol
> 
> Kelvin


At least you had a clue. I couldn't even venture a semblance of a guess what they were or how they were used.


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## mattyjman (Aug 6, 2009)

you can't possibly be serious, can you?


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## Mic10is (Aug 20, 2007)

There was an install many years ago, guy had a Truck and had horns mounted under the seats that fired forward.

No idea how it sounded, but I was just looking at the article in car audio mag the other day.


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## ClinesSelect (Apr 16, 2006)

There was a VW (if I recall correctly) that had them under the seats in addition to the Dodge Ram.


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

if i would make an assumption, they would be low frequecny horn drivers, not midrange\high frequency. the directionality of a horn would make it sound completly rediclious if they were high freq drivers.

basically using a horn as a subwoofer.

thats why they are so large.


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## ncv6coupe (Oct 25, 2009)

ClinesSelect said:


> There was a VW (if I recall correctly) that had them under the seats in addition to the Dodge Ram.



Thank You for this, Just gave me an idea..... Any idea what program made the simulations too?


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## rezdawgaudio72 (Apr 9, 2010)

req said:


> if i would make an assumption, they would be low frequecny horn drivers, not midrange\high frequency. the directionality of a horn would make it sound completly rediclious if they were high freq drivers.
> 
> basically using a horn as a subwoofer.
> 
> thats why they are so large.


Hay thats a pic of the real ultimate subwoofer,that uses something like 16 15"-18" subs,which is in a $$$ no object set up,a little differnt,then our underdash set up,but i tell ya when i read that story,i was gonna buy a big ass truck to try even half that sub set up,cool tho,


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## rezdawgaudio72 (Apr 9, 2010)

So back to more what this new thread was for HLCD,from what I've learnt setting up my USD waveguides,as what all installers that have used & set this up say these are not easy to set up,with the normal varibles that underdash set up has,you are adding afew more variables that just dont seem realistic for the mid/hi freq. to over come, by placing that driver under the seat,maybe because they are more omni directional
midbass & bass horn loaded drivers could be placed under seats with some success,but the higher freq. need so much work & Eq setting underdash to sound as well as they do,don't get me wrong I'm not saying it cant be done,there was a dude with a four runner that has one of the craziest dash rebuilds i have ever seen to dash redoes,you guys know which one i mean right.I would give anything to sit in that setup even for 2 minutes,good luck,


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## fredswain (Jan 19, 2011)

I remember that truck. It was a Dodge Ram from sometime in the mid to late 90's. That vehicle had USD Waveguides placed as shown above, directly under the seats firing forward. After seeing that I was intrigued with the idea and played with it using USD and Image horns. A huge disadvantage that I found with this setup is that efficiency fell off the planet. All of your sound energy is now reflected energy as well and I couldn't make it image very well or very high. I never pursued it further. I had the horns under the dash for a while but later on built them into the top of my RX-7 dash. Matt (Borgardt, who I worked with at the time) said it would never work. I actually really like it though.


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## BigAl205 (May 20, 2009)

You should mount them in the sub boxx like the audio experts at MTX does.


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## Notloudenuf (Sep 14, 2008)

Mic10is said:


> There was an install many years ago, guy had a Truck and had horns mounted under the seats that fired forward.
> 
> No idea how it sounded, but I was just looking at the article in car audio mag the other day.


I was just about to post this same comment. The guy was a competitor if I remember correctly.

I've always liked unconventional installs...so long as they work.


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