flush mounting tweeters

[niq_nak]

has anyone done a install with flush mounted tweets? how easy do u think it would be to do in the e30 door panel?

and i feel kinda dumb asking this question, but could i put flush mounting tweeters in the premium location?

[KenC]

you could easily put them in the doors, but I'd only put them in there if they're movable in the flush mounts so you can aim them. Or you can chisel out the old shitty tweeters from the premium a-pillar pods and then mount them in there.

[christophbmw]

higher notes are directional and it will sound hella shity if they are in the door panels.

[StereoInstaller1]

So, according to the previous post, all of the (literally) thousands of tweeters I have installed in flush mount cups into door panels sound like shit because they are directional?

WTF, man...you are as wrong as possible.

First, we discuss directionality. As a general rule, high frequencies (at the top of the human hearing specrum, don't give me any shit about xrays or microwaves or even visible light) are directional. The sound coming from a tweeter is very much like a flashlight beam...not a lazer, not a floodlight, just a nice conical pattern. (yes, this can be changed, leave it for another post) This pattern is best placed equidistant from you, the listener. Kind of tough, when we sit on one side of the car, generally (gangsta lean notwithstanding, yo) thus the general idea of placing them just below ear level, at or near the top of the door. Ideally, the tweeter will be within 1/2 of 1 full wavelength at the cutoff frequency, but leave the math alone...just figure it is best to have the woofer and tweeter close together. Not too easy in our e30's though.
BMW has chosen an adequate location in the corner of the window. The midrange location is too low in the car for my tastes, but it could be worse.

Use the factory locations. Run a seperate amp for your tweeters, another for midrange and a proper electronic crossover, (small 4 channel is OK too) and you can have clear sparkly highs with terrific detail, loud as hell too.

HTH,
Luke

[PeaveyBassist]

I am in the middle of putting the JL XR 3way comp set in my e30. Midranges in kicks, midbasses in doors, and tweets on dash. I have tweets right now in the stock sail panels, only aimed sorda up at the windshield. The tweets and mids dont have to be as close together as possible to get a good stage. I just put the 4.5's in today in the kick panels. The passenger side mid is in stock spot firing straight sideways. The driver's side mid is angled a little bit towards the firewall and the center image is dead on with just the midranges playing. I quickly tested it with the tweets and as long as they are aimed right, you get an awesome front stage. I went to finals in Louisville in November (the MECA/IASCA combined finals) and stayed mostly on the SQ side and there were a LOT of SQ cars where their mids and tweets werent as close together as possible. Its not necessary...although it might help. But you can still get a good stage if theyre far apart. Trying to get equal pathlengths is the idea for each tweet to your ears. Thats where aiming comes in. Play around with it. Put em in and listen with your eyes closed and see how the stage is, and keep playing with it till you get it right.

Will

[808BMW]

There are MANY rules on what you "should" and "could" do but ultimately, trial and error may contradict those rules, and is the only real way to know.

[christophbmw]

So, according to the previous post, all of the (literally) thousands of tweeters I have installed in flush mount cups into door panels sound like shit because they are directional?

WTF, man...you are as wrong as possible.

First, we discuss directionality. As a general rule, high frequencies (at the top of the human hearing specrum, don't give me any shit about xrays or microwaves or even visible light) are directional. The sound coming from a tweeter is very much like a flashlight beam...not a lazer, not a floodlight, just a nice conical pattern. (yes, this can be changed, leave it for another post) This pattern is best placed equidistant from you, the listener. Kind of tough, when we sit on one side of the car, generally (gangsta lean notwithstanding, yo) thus the general idea of placing them just below ear level, at or near the top of the door. Ideally, the tweeter will be within 1/2 of 1 full wavelength at the cutoff frequency, but leave the math alone...just figure it is best to have the woofer and tweeter close together. Not too easy in our e30's though.
BMW has chosen an adequate location in the corner of the window. The midrange location is too low in the car for my tastes, but it could be worse.

Use the factory locations. Run a seperate amp for your tweeters, another for midrange and a proper electronic crossover, (small 4 channel is OK too) and you can have clear sparkly highs with terrific detail, loud as hell too.

HTH,
Luke

....dude is it just me or did you just contridict yourself? first you said i was wrong about mounting them in the door panels and then you said that it would be better to mount them in the factory location. whatever dude.

[808BMW]

....dude is it just me or did you just contridict yourself? first you said i was wrong about mounting them in the door panels and then you said that it would be better to mount them in the factory location. whatever dude.

Just you.

Luke was saying if it souns "hella shitty" in door panels then thousands of installs he's done must sound like shit.

Our cars have good enough factory placement that it doesn't really warrant hacking up perfectly good door pods.

[sweetride01]

OK, well I'm gonna mount my tweets in the kicks, my the mids.
Where the heck do you mount a crossover though? On the bottom of that metal box thingy thats above the kneeboard?

[Digitalwave]

OK, well I'm gonna mount my tweets in the kicks, my the mids.
Where the heck do you mount a crossover though? On the bottom of that metal box thingy thats above the kneeboard?

The kick panels are a poor enough location as it is, you should have just got 2 way speakers if you are going to put the tweeters down there. Put them in the stock premium locations.

I put my crossovers on the back wall of the inside of the glovebox.

[sweetride01]

Yea, I could put the pass. side crossover there, but the driver's side one will have to go somewhere else.
As far as the tweeters go, this is really starting to annoy me. I already had to buy one new tweeter pod, I don't want to have to get a second. How bad would they sound in the kicks, if I could get them angled up pointing towards me? Afterall, CDT even says on their website to put the tweeters as close as possible to the speakers.

[Digitalwave]

No matter how you angle them the sound won't nearly be as good as if they were up high.

It shouldn't be hard to remove the old tweeters from the pods, they are just glued in there.

[808BMW]

You can run longer wires and mount the crossovers wherever the hell you want.


CDT's website is right about keeping the speakers closer together, but IMO the e30 is just too small (at least for my driving position it is) for good kicks.

[sweetride01]

Well, I'll get some long wires and hold the tweets down low, and then up by the original, and see the difference. Then I'll mount them. :)

The only problem with the crossovers is that I got a shop to run the wires back for me, so there's only one speaker wire going to the front on each side. Therefore I will have to mount the crossover up front. Otherwise I'll have even MORE to do. :(

[netcsk]

do it right, do it once. Don't do a crappy install or you'll get sick of it and do it again later.