Alternate tweeter locations?

[rallyshark]

I've done some searches, and seen some ideas, but nothing concrete that really looks like I want to go that route. Have any of you guys doing audio upgrades installed tweeters in locations other than the factory area in the dash? Those of you that have, could you please post some pictures. I've seen where someone made pods for a 3 way setup, but I'm not really wanting to do that.

I have a Dynaudio component set, and the tweeters are kind of large. I'm not a fan of dash mounted tweeters anyway. The cutout hole to mount these tweeters is around 2", with the overall diameter being about 2.5". Right now, I'm thinking my best option is going to be the sail panels. I know they're kind of hokey in the way they attach, so I'd have to come up with a way to make those sail panels a bit more sturdy. The another option is to use a pod mounted to the A pillar trim piece, something like these:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/274356560415

The pods would give me the ability to aim the tweeters better, but they don't look that great to me. Any other ideas you guys might have are definitely appreciated. Oh, and I drove home my Maverick today, so it's time to get serious

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[colinl]

If you searched you might have read some of my previous comments about this.

I would not put them in the factory sail panel because it has a single connector that in my experience (2 trucks) never fits well after the first time you take it apart. I would be expecially concerned about it staying fully in place if you put a heavy Dynaudio tweeter in it. I would question whether the sail panel has the depth also.

If you gut the area where the factory tweeters are housed you actually have quite a lot of space. I've been pleasantly surprised by the imaging and overall performance of my tweeters in the factory location using the stock B&O amp.

A carfi shop definitely could fabricate fiberglass pods for either 3 pc components or a single large tweeter but that might not be budget friendly.

 

[rallyshark]

As always, thanks for the input Colin! I have read about the problems with the sail panels, which is why I stated above I'd probably need to come up with a way to solve those problems if I ended up mounting the tweeters there. I suspect the tweeter hole would have to be right where the catch for the sail panel is, if I don't want them tucked behind the edge of the dash(and I certainly don't). I agree, it's definitely not an ideal scenario. I'm pretty sure using the sail panels will involve me coming up with a different way to attach the panels to the door.

I'm hoping some others have done the tweeters in a non-factory location, and can give some more insight or an idea I haven't considered. I don't want to have those nice tweeters baking in 150 degree sunlight when my truck isn't sitting in a shaded area, and I'm not fond of wiring the tweeters out of phase to make them sound right bouncing off the windshield. Mostly, not wanting to put them in the dash is me being nit-picky, no doubt. I'd still like to see what other folks have come up with. I have the ability to fumble my way through making some pods of some sort, but I'm sure it will be a lot of time and cursing. I always end making things harder than they should be

 

[rallyshark]

I was just inspecting the dash location again, and realized the actual cutout in the grill for the sound to go through is smaller than my tweeter. Still, I haven't ruled out giving up and putting the tweeters in the dash. Another option is making a small triangular pod and mounting it on top of the dash grill in the corner. That may be my best compromise, be a bit less work and reversible too. I'm not rushing right now, because I got a megaohm module and switch to install for today. Noise makers while rolling into the deer woods ain't cool, but I'm going to wire a switch into it, so I can just disable the noise maker when needed.

 

[kkreit01]

I do not like the sound of tweeters firing up at the windshield. I unhooked my factory tweeters and put decent coaxials in the doors. It sounds 10x better.

 

[Jamsandolina]

I do not like the sound of tweeters firing up at the windshield. I unhooked my factory tweeters and put decent coaxials in the doors. It sounds 10x better.

What coaxial speakers did you go with? How and were did you disconnect the dash tweeters from? Are you using an amp with your new front door speakers? How is the imaging of the highs with the new tweeters lower in the door? Sorry about all the questions. I'm gonna be doing my sound system soon. I just picked up a kenwood kac-m1814 4 channel amp to run the front and rear speakers. I'm not gonna run a subwoofer I'm just gonna use very good 6.5 and 4 inch speakers. Now I'm stuck on whether I want components up front or not. I don't really want to mess with the dash speakers. Thanks

 

[CurtisB]

Jamsandolina

Your concept will work. If you have the non-Bose speakers (like I do), upgrading all the speakers and putting in an amp will make a tremendous difference. The front door acoustics accomodate a fairly nice base sound, but the speakers suck. Replacing all speakers all around and pushing more power to them all will make a huge difference.

In my truck, I first did a 10" powered woofer spliced into my rear speakers. Made a huge difference, but the sound was not balanced at all. So I then hooked up a amp to the front speakers for more power and now it is much better. But the stock speakers just aren't separating the sound right. So, my next venture (probably end of the year) will be a front speaker upgrade that will include tweety birds!

There is a HUGE write up about how to do this by a guy who I can't remember. Non-shakey video plus what harnesses to use, where to tap power..........everything you need to know! If only I remember who he was!! His thread is in here somewhere.

 

[Jamsandolina]

Jamsandolina

Your concept will work. If you have the non-Bose speakers (like I do), upgrading all the speakers and putting in an amp will make a tremendous difference. The front door acoustics accomodate a fairly nice base sound, but the speakers suck. Replacing all speakers all around and pushing more power to them all will make a huge difference.

In my truck, I first did a 10" powered woofer spliced into my rear speakers. Made a huge difference, but the sound was not balanced at all. So I then hooked up a amp to the front speakers for more power and now it is much better. But the stock speakers just aren't separating the sound right. So, my next venture (probably end of the year) will be a front speaker upgrade that will include tweety birds!

There is a HUGE write up about how to do this by a guy who I can't remember. Non-shakey video plus what harnesses to use, where to tap power..........everything you need to know! If only I remember who he was!! His thread is in here somewhere.

I'm gonna replace all the speakers with most likely morel maximo ultra mkII coaxial speakers. My main concern is whether or not to leave the dash tweeters connected or not. Since I will be running coaxial speakers up front. I don't want some screwed up imaging up front if I leave the dash tweeters connected AND running coaxial speakers in the front doors. Thanks

 

[CurtisB]

Some have removed the stock tweeters and put in the appropriate resistors. Others have left the stock tweets in and put in the coaxial speakers in the front doors to get more highs and lows. From what I have read in here, both sound great.

 

[jewc75]

I have tweets in the sail panels and stock location. I have the components/sail tweets on an amp and the factory location tweets are on the radio. I ran all new wiring to separate it all.

 

[Jamsandolina]

I have tweets in the sail panels and stock location. I have the components/sail tweets on an amp and the factory location tweets are on the radio. I ran all new wiring to separate it all.

Could you post a few pics of the tweeters in the door sail panels? What brand of tweeters did you go with? Thanks

 

[jewc75]

Could you post a few pics of the tweeters in the door sail panels? What brand of tweeters did you go with? Thanks

Everything is Focal.

 

[Jamsandolina]

Everything is Focal.

Focal auditor evo series or just the auditor series? That is one of the brands I'm looking at. I already have a kenwood kac-m1814 4 channel amp for everything.

 

[jewc75]

Focal ASE165.

 

[rallyshark]

I forgot about this thread! I did end up putting tweeters in the dash, albeit with modified grills. I also heavily modified the dash cutouts to fit some larger Dynaudio tweeters. I modified the doors to fit the Dynaudio 6.5's, which have a massive cast basket on them. The fact is, you'll never the same quality of sound with coaxials as you will with a proper component set. That's why I decided to go through the trouble of making the Dynaudio components fit. There are other component sets that will fit much easier, but I wanted to go for it in the SQ department, so...

The final setup turned out really well for my tastes. I'm running the Dynaudio components up front, with Polk 4" in the rear. For the sub, I'm using a Hertz MPS 250 S2 in a sound decisions enclosure. It is all controlled by an Audio Dynamics DSP feeding an Audison 5 channel amp. I also went into Forscan and set the Factory special EQ to Flat, which helps the low bass tremendously. The system sounds wonderful, without being fatiguing or harsh. I adjusted everything to have as warm a sound as possible without loosing too much detail. I drive A LOT, so harsh tweeters/highs would get annoying really fast.

Long story short, I'm glad I put in the effort to make some good tweeters fit in the dash. The other most important thing I did was using a DSP. You can get really great sound with a ton of different setups in these trucks, provided you're using a DSP of some sort.

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