# Tweeter placement



## drop1 (Jul 26, 2015)

Im toying with 2 positions. These tweeters are so big that flush mounting isnt really a possibility on my truck without building something. Id like to just use the pods they came with. These are the 2 spots im looking at. Either spot can be rotated and angled do to the large rear screw slot on the rear of the pod.
If you leave your opion here id appreciate a little bit of info on why you chose that particualr position. Asthetics do not concern me. Sound only.
Also do any of you use Asymetrical aiming to get both tweeters directly on axis? In the past ive found that aiming at the dome light would give me the best imaging and line up depth with my mids. With these pods i can rotate and change the angle any time but id like to install them without a month of moving them all over the truck. Which ever position gets the most votes by the time i install them is where they will go and ill tweek them from there. Thanks.


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## GEM592 (Jun 19, 2015)

OK first reply I vote for #1, the left option.

Why, let's see.

1.) Closer to mid in door -> easier to blend. Others may disagree.

2.) Away from windshield. If you go for #2, I advise you listen first and adjust. With that glass right there slight changes can produce big differences.

3.) No sunlight on tweeter constantly, whenever you have to park outside. Small concern if any maybe.

It looks like the instrument part of the dash is sort of in the way on the driver's side. I guess, if I wasn't going to test aiming first, I would try aiming them as much driver-side-at-passenger-and-passenger-side-at-driver as possible without firing directly into the rise in the dash on the driver's side.


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## drop1 (Jul 26, 2015)

Im kinda feeling the same though ive never used that area before. I usually go with the corners of the dash and try to get 3 or 4 inches away from the glass.

The way the factory tweeters are aimed at the glass from the pillars i have a huge Hump in my response between 5 and 8 khz. Like 15db before processing.

What drew me to that spot was the tweeters would be somewhat hidden from the outside and it gives me the clearest lines from obsticals. My gauge cluster is very high. Far higher than my previous truck.


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## SkizeR (Apr 19, 2011)

GEM592 said:


> OK first reply I vote for #1, the left option.
> 
> Why, let's see.
> 
> ...


Without any testing i would say this, because of the instrument cluster


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## AyOne (Sep 24, 2016)

I would go with the left to get a little more width for your soundstage.


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## seafish (Aug 1, 2012)

Position #1 and then add a dash mat and maybe even add some felt or foam on the sail panel to help with tweeter reflections off the side window.


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## Truthunter (Jun 15, 2015)

First option for the same reasons already stated by others.


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## High Resolution Audio (Sep 12, 2014)

Position #1 for better stage width.

Position all speakers symmetrical in vehicle not on axis with driver. I started out this way and realized there were too many un-equal reflections to ever get the system balanced.

Might want to consider aiming the tweeters directly back or slightly towed in ( maybe up as well ) and use reflections off the side glass to increase your stage width even more.


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## JH1973 (Apr 21, 2017)

Mine are very close to your left pic and I love it.System isn't even fully tuned yet and my front stage is strong.


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## drop1 (Jul 26, 2015)

Well this has been overwhelmingly one way. The sail panel position also has another benifit. It puts the tweet in line with the door mid on the vertical.


Now i just have to work up the nerve to drill holes in my dash. I considered mounting to the sail panels but they pop off rather easily and these tweeters with the pod feel like they weigh at least a pound. I dont think it would last over time opening and closing the doors.


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## DPGstereo (Jan 16, 2013)

I've always had better luck locating the tweeter as far away from drivers position as possible. I've found, with a tweeter to close, after attenuating it so it doesn't overpower... the mix/tone, relative to overall system, changes as you go thru volume range. 
For that reason, I'd choose, in your case, mounting closer to windshield. Then do you decide on or off axis. Or how much, off-axis? 
Currently I'm 90 degrees off-axis, tweeters flush in pillar.
View attachment 191018

However that creates it's own set of issues. One, you have to increase output volume of tweeters. You do get wide sound stage and easy to localize center image. But you do loose some tonal accuracy in the high frequencies. 
When talking about "best sound", you wouldn't consider positioning speakers off-axis in home audio. With car audio, speaker positioning is the obvious issue. I've found positioning upper-mids and tweeters close to on-axis will give the most accurate results.


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## disconnected (May 10, 2017)

The farther away the better. Aim it at the left ear of the passenger.


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## Kcmoto (Mar 11, 2021)

Anytime you face tweeters directly at your face you lose your true sound stage and all transparency. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. For 20+ years I've only installed tweeters facing up at the windshield. Yes, not as loud but I always prefer quality over quantity.


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## Niebur3 (Jul 11, 2008)

Kcmoto said:


> Anytime you face tweeters directly at your face you lose your true sound stage and all transparency. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. For 20+ years I've only installed tweeters facing up at the windshield. Yes, not as loud but I always prefer quality over quantity.


Completely disagree (although this is a 4 year old thread)


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## drop1 (Jul 26, 2015)

Kcmoto said:


> Anytime you face tweeters directly at your face you lose your true sound stage and all transparency. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. For 20+ years I've only installed tweeters facing up at the windshield. Yes, not as loud but I always prefer quality over quantity.


I find this odd as studio design basically says to line the tweeters up height wise with your ear and turn the speakers inward to create a triangle with the tweeters pointing directly at you.
Now the tweeters I've ordered for the sails aren't dead on axis but they are within 30 degrees of being on axis. I dont have the option of up firing off the windshield but we did just to a set in a buddies truck that way.
Damn. Didn't realize how old this thread is. This is what I wound up ordering.


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## MythosDreamLab (Nov 28, 2020)

Nice looking set up Drop1, if they sound good, I wouldn't worry about it...


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## InstantCrush (Sep 2, 2015)

How "on axis" a driver should be depends on the driver. With tweeters you mostly want to know if it has a rising response, and if it has breakup (and how bad and at what frequencies) and how it compares at various degrees. And its dispersion pattern.

Reflecting sound can sound good but it's MUCH harder to control and I definitely would not say that it's more likely to sound better.

Reflections add a lot of complexity and unfortunately there's not much you can do to decrease this in a car (compared to home audio where you have a helper hold a mirror (or even 2 helpers with 2 mirrors) and walk around and figure out where to put sound damping material based on where you see speaker reflections when you're sitting in your prime spot).

I think that's a nice looking install. And I personally like the tweeter placement. I think it would take a LOT of very, very careful tweaking to be able to beat that.


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## drop1 (Jul 26, 2015)

MythosDreamLab said:


> Nice looking set up Drop1, if they sound good, I wouldn't worry about it...


It's not mine. Just a pic of what I ordered. It going on 2 months and still no speakers. Mti must be backed up pretty good for it to take that long.


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## Kcmoto (Mar 11, 2021)

Niebur3 said:


> Completely disagree (although this is a 4 year old thread)


Tweeter dispersion is not a new or inferior design. It's also not a home install shoot-in-the -dark placement. Microphones coupled with a good spectrum analyzer is needed. For the record I personally never use 4 ohm car audio drivers in cars either. Amplifiers love a bit of resistance and 8 ohm audiophile drivers sound much cleaner. 
Sorry if I'm not not as expert as all the pros here. I don’t use words like"bump" and "hit" but in over 20 years I've never had a complaint.


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## Niebur3 (Jul 11, 2008)

Kcmoto said:


> Tweeter dispersion is not a new or inferior design. It's also not a home install shoot-in-the -dark placement. Microphones coupled with a good spectrum analyzer is needed. For the record I personally never use 4 ohm car audio drivers in cars either. Amplifiers love a bit of resistance and 8 ohm audiophile drivers sound much cleaner.
> Sorry if I'm not not as expert as all the pros here. I don’t use words like"bump" and "hit" but in over 20 years I've never had a complaint.


I have to say, I'm not sure what you are saying in most of this. Who is using "bump" and "hit" for anything with tweeters and how does that make anyone a pro? 4-ohm speakers are not "dirtier" than 8-ohm speakers. This is nothing but myth and psychoacoustics. Firing up at a windshield can sound good but is 100% reflective sound but the results are less predictable as the slope of the windshield and distance to it plays a big role.


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## Kcmoto (Mar 11, 2021)

Niebur3 said:


> I have to say, I'm not sure what you are saying in most of this. Who is using "bump" and "hit" for anything with tweeters and how does that make anyone a pro? 4-ohm speakers are not "dirtier" than 8-ohm speakers. This is nothing but myth and psychoacoustics. Firing up at a windshield can sound good but is 100% reflective sound but the results are less predictable as the slope of the windshield and distance to it plays a big role.


 Speaking car audio in general the "pros" around me use "hit and bump" excessively which has nothing to do with "phychoacoustics"(?). Lack of electronic theory and physics is not a legitimate excuse to call anything a "myth". My side vocation is teaching in the surgical realm. I just made a very simple and very experienced comment. I'm sorry you can't understand and I certainly don't have time to waste trying. I thought other surgeons were sometimes a bit resistive to new information due to their inherent "god" complex of already knowing absolutely everything but apparently I've found their competition. I'll step carefully and leave the "discussion".


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## Niebur3 (Jul 11, 2008)

Your 4-ohm being “dirtier” than 8-ohm comment is what I called nothing but psychoacoustics. I am merely disagreeing with your assertion that firing a tweeter at a windshield is always better than on axis. It can work fine but on axis is much more predictable. I completely understand (other than referring to bump and hit when discussing tweeters), I just disagree. So go ahead and play the victim here.


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