Tweeter mounting...

vx220 · October 7, 2015, 14:29

Hi, first a "thank you" to everyone who has helped with my research for my new system!

Great forum

Secondly, I've had a quick look at Tweeter mounting, and although I bought Pioneer soft-domes with just about identical sizing to the originals (so I could reuse the standard mounts) I missed the fact they don't have any screw holes in the back!

So, should I leave the metal mounting plates out and seal the new tweeters to the tube part of the tweeter grill? Or Velcro/double-sided tape them to the mounting plate?

My other issue is, should we be firing speakers down a tube like that anyway!? Surely not good for reflections?

So my last question is, should I dremel away as much of this tube as possible and secure the tweeter to the standard mounts as discussed above? Leaving them less reflective surface to pass? Maybe sealing with CCF to avoid sound getting "lost" behind the door card?

Any thoughts and advice appreciated

Cheers

stargazer30 · October 7, 2015, 14:34

I think you are over thinking this one.

Unscrew the stock tweets, reuse the metal bracket and use some number plate mounting tape to secure the tweets to the bracket. Leave the door cards and tweeter covers alone. I've always gone this route and never had any problems.

vx220 · October 7, 2015, 15:07

Quote from: "stargazer30"I think you are over thinking this one.

Unscrew the stock tweets, reuse the metal bracket and use some number plate mounting tape to secure the tweets to the bracket. Leave the door cards and tweeter covers alone. I've always gone this route and never had any problems.

My middle name is "over-thinking"! (I have cruel parents...)

Will give that a try...

...or I have just been wondering about kick-panel mounted tweeters?

In my old car stereo days ('89 XR2!) We used to put our mids and tweeters as far away as possible, to equalise the path lengths as best we could. Thinking our kick-panels have a flat surface facing up the could be perfect for the tweeters? I would need grills...

JoeCool · October 7, 2015, 20:29

Firstly, the rears of tweeters are completely sealed. The resonant chamber is sealed within the back of the tweeter itself, because it's tiny. So you don't have to worry about anything behind them.

Re aiming etc? Well, you know, you could go all out... but this is a soft top roadster with no noise insulation and a 1.8 spinning away directly behind your ears. Sat on your drive on a quiet night you might notice, but add a 75Db noise floor and concentrate on driving the car, and you're absolutely not going to notice. So just bang em in where they fit. INcidentally, same advice goes for your amp. Just tuck it away somewhere where it's not going to get in the way of storage space. If it's shallow enough, under the seat is a good bet.

My personal choice for 'doing it properly' would be either the sail panels behind the wing mirrors or else the base of the A-Pillars.

vx220 · October 7, 2015, 21:28

Quote from: "JoeCool"Firstly, the rears of tweeters are completely sealed. The resonant chamber is sealed within the back of the tweeter itself, because it's tiny. So you don't have to worry about anything behind them.

The tubes are in front of the tweeter, part of the standard tweeter grill, I wonder how much they contribute to the hard "shouty" nature of the standard system?

Will probably not worry, and just tape them in. Will be on it again tomorrow (providing work/weather don't get in the way!)

Cheers

JoeCool · October 7, 2015, 21:36

Quote from: "vx220"
Quote from: "JoeCool"Firstly, the rears of tweeters are completely sealed. The resonant chamber is sealed within the back of the tweeter itself, because it's tiny. So you don't have to worry about anything behind them.

The tubes are in front of the tweeter, part of the standard tweeter grill, I wonder how much they contribute to the hard "shouty" nature of the standard system?

Will probably not worry, and just tape them in. Will be on it again tomorrow (providing work/weather don't get in the way!)

Cheers

Oh right, sorry. You'll have to forgive me, I've been more concerned with actually making my car move under it's own power than sounding good. I wouldnt want them down a proper tube, but with bog standard tweeters it probably makes very little difference.

vx220 · October 7, 2015, 22:14

Quote from: "JoeCool"
Quote from: "vx220"
Quote from: "JoeCool"Firstly, the rears of tweeters are completely sealed. The resonant chamber is sealed within the back of the tweeter itself, because it's tiny. So you don't have to worry about anything behind them.

The tubes are in front of the tweeter, part of the standard tweeter grill, I wonder how much they contribute to the hard "shouty" nature of the standard system?

Will probably not worry, and just tape them in. Will be on it again tomorrow (providing work/weather don't get in the way!)

Cheers
Oh right, sorry. You'll have to forgive me, I've been more concerned with actually making my car move under it's own power than sounding good. I wouldnt want them down a proper tube, but with bog standard tweeters it probably makes very little difference.

No probs, I have "Big Dave" to make my cars go (and stop and turn!) so I don't envy you. I'd be lost without him! Good luck

Dougster7 · October 9, 2015, 18:59

mid range and sub speakers are OK in kick panels but tweeters should be up to near ear height as possible or you'll lose the sound to the door speakers

vx220 · October 9, 2015, 19:54

Quote from: "Dougster7"mid range and sub speakers are OK in kick panels but tweeters should be up to near ear height as possible or you'll lose the sound to the door speakers

There's two ways of looking at it...

1, as you say, get them up high. Highs can get soaked up easily as they have a short wavelength (if a material is a quarter of a wavelength thick it can absorb that sound)

2, as tweeters are very directional, by placing them on axis they sound louder, so you're not worried about losing some to absorption.

In my old car audio days, we measured the path length difference of the tweeters mounted at the top of the doors in my XR2 at about 4:1 (iirc) and by moving them down and away to the footwell they got much closer to equal, 3:2 or thereabouts? With out changing amps/crossovers or gains/eq, the sound jumped up to the top of the dash, absolutely did not sound like speakers almost on the floor.

Nowadays, car stereo competitions are only judged from the drivers seat, so path length becomes irrelevant, as sophisticated dsp units can change time alignment and phase shift without physically moving a speaker

Dougster7 · October 9, 2015, 20:03

Sounds like you're in the know fella, was just my opinion and experience as joecool says the noise of the engine so close to you can swallow up the sound easily. I too used to have an XR2 s:)

s:) and was ICE maaad, they were far easier to make sound good than the roadster

vx220 · October 9, 2015, 20:31

Quote from: "Dougster7"Sounds like you're in the know fella, was just my opinion and experience as joecool says the noise of the engine so close to you can swallow up the sound easily. I too used to have an XR2 s:) s:) and was ICE maaad, they were far easier to make sound good than the roadster

Yeah, just about to find that out!

Cheers

vx220 · October 14, 2015, 14:20

RAIN! Got one door wired, tweeter mounted on standard bracket (but I did trim the tube that they fire down, that was bothering my selective OCD!)

Got power cable run through to the battery, never used a wire coathanger so often as on the MR2!!!

vx220 · November 7, 2015, 22:40

Sorry to bump this, but now my system is finished, I'm reconsidering the tweeter placement. It does sound good, but still hard and shouty on certain albums.

So I have been considering tweeter pods/spheres, has anyone seen tweeters mounted on the dash or A-pillars of an MR2 or MR-S Roadster?

From some searching, it appears that early reflections (such as from the grilles and tubes our tweeters fire down) cause various cuts and boosts which can create a harshness in the sound.

I have some ideas for cheap mounting options from the good old U.S of Stateside, but not seen any applied to the MR 2

Any ideas welcome. My work situation just changed, so plenty of daylight hours now to tweak!

JoeCool · November 7, 2015, 22:49

Base of A-pillars, aimed at the opposite seats head rest is a good starting point. Did your tweeters come with any mounting cups?

A nice solution is to sort your aiming out with tweaking in a mock up, then when you're happy, use a hole saw to recess the speaker backs/cups, use fleece and fibreglass resin to form a nice swoopy shape, then trim the whole A-pillar trim in alcantara or fabric for a professional finish. It's not at all hard and achieves a very OEM look.

vx220 · November 7, 2015, 23:07

Like this...

m https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=tweet ... QS39wCY%3D m

vx220 · November 7, 2015, 23:11

Quote from: "JoeCool"Did your tweeters come with any mounting cups?
.

Yes, will use that to mount tweeter into a tube, or better still a small sphere...

JoeCool · November 7, 2015, 23:19

more like this: m http://www.mysporttrac.com/MySportTrac/ ... illars.pdf m only lower down, almost at dash level.

This is a slightly less long winded approach, with fabric covering: m http://www.clubpolo.co.uk/forum/index.p ... pic=191982 m

no need to mount them into a sphere - I just think that particularly in a low car with a 'high' scuttle like the '2, you'll end up with a big blind spot. Technically it can cost you MOT's. I prefer them tucked away as much as possible.