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Any Tips On Installing Tweeters In A Door Panel?

Discussion in 'General Car Audio Discussions' started by texcon, Apr 19, 2004.

  1. texcon

    texcon Full Member

    I recently scored a set of JL XR650-CSi's and am 99% sure I will be installing the tweets in the upper door panel, about 1.5 feet above the factory mid location. I have factory tweets in the far corners of my dash basically where the dash and the windshield meet. Without listening to the JL tweets in this location, I am conviced they will sound better in the door. I read many a post/thread about the refleciton off the windshield creating a somewhat harsh sound, which I am not too interested in. Any feedback on this issue would be great.

    So the idea of installing tweets in the door seems pretty straightforward. I have all kinds of tools and if I don't have it, my dad will. My plan is outlines below - any feedback on this plan would be great.

    First, find the location to install the tweets. I would first make my hole smaller than necessary and slowly remove whatever I need to ensure a tight fit. With regard to the outer upholstry, I plan to make a pattern about 0.25" smaller (maybe more like 0.5"??) than necessary and trace the line with a pencil and then cut away the upholstry with an exacto knife. Next I will remove any cushioning between the plastic shell and the upholstry in a similar fashion. As for the plastic shell, I would draw out the hole and SLOWLY remove the plastic with a Dremel. I'd like to leave excess upholstry to overlap it into the hole for a clean fit. Other than the wiring, which is pretty basic, this seems to be a straightforward job.

    BTW, this is for a 97 TL. Any tips/ideas/suggestions on this project are very much wanted. Thanks!
     
    texcon, Apr 19, 2004
    #1
  2. hobbes26

    hobbes26 Full Member

    I'd suggest playing around with positioning the tweet elsewhere on the
    doors before you finalize placement... It's easy enough to do, and you
    will probably like it better...
     
    hobbes26, Apr 19, 2004
    #2
  3. texcon

    texcon Full Member

    Sounds good - I suppose I can easily use some double stick adhesive tape to mount the tweeter on the door and see where it gives the best sound before making any cuts.
     
    texcon, Apr 19, 2004
    #3
  4. geolemon

    geolemon Full Member

    Exactly...
    Just hook up a temporary extra-long length of wire from the Xover, and you can temporarily mount that tweeter anywhere, using double sided tape (3M makes a good thin foam tape avaliable at auto-parts stores, made for holding trim and body-kit components to cars) and the surface-mount tweeter housing.
     
    geolemon, Apr 19, 2004
    #4
  5. hobbes26

    hobbes26 Full Member

    LOL.... I recommend that, but I think for myself I'm goinna put the tweets into
    the kicks close to the 6.5"s that will be in the doors... That's because it seems like
    the easiest way to mount the tweets, and I don't wanna cut other holes in the doors
    and the kicks are sacrificial....
     
    hobbes26, Apr 19, 2004
    #5
  6. texcon

    texcon Full Member

    I have read that the tweets should be at least 1 foot away from the mid, but I cannot tell if this is BS or there is a sound reason for doing this. Is there any validity to this?

    I have no problems cutting holes in my doors and in fact would have to since I don't have kick panels. I think that will be a fun project down the road though.
     
    texcon, Apr 20, 2004
    #6
  7. hobbes26

    hobbes26 Full Member

    The theory goes....that there may be some phasing issues between the tweet and the mid and that they won't match up properly... I'm not sure how much that affects it....

    It also has to do with your perception of "stereo" where you don't want to be hearing 4 separate points of sound - you only want 2! If you separate the tweets so that they're far from the mid, then you will be able to distinguish between 4 different speakers compared to having only 2 that you should be hearing.

    Some people also say ya gotta get down to within 6"s but ya gotta also stick to what's practical...
     
    hobbes26, Apr 20, 2004
    #7
  8. geolemon

    geolemon Full Member


    <!--QuoteBegin-hobbes26    @Apr 20 2004, 04:49 PM
    The theory goes....that there may be some phasing issues between the tweet and the mid and that they won't match up properly... I'm not sure how much that affects it.... [/quote]
    Actually, the tweet should be as close to the mid as possible, or there can be phasing and response issues.
    Of course, in reality, that depends on how the Xover was designed...
    But as the designer doesn't know where you are going to install the tweet (closer to your head than the mid? Farther from your head than the mid? How much?), he really can't design the Xover to compensate for any offset - so as a general rule, keep the tweeter as close to the mid as possible.
     
    geolemon, Apr 20, 2004
    #8
  9. texcon

    texcon Full Member

    So from reading your replies, I DEFINITELY need to play with the positioning of the tweets in my door. I have many places to put the tweets, so I will take my time with this project, since I can't go back and re-mount the tweets after the first cut. Thanks for the info guys.
     
    texcon, Apr 20, 2004
    #9