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Best place to install tweeters in 1997 Fairmont Falcon EL 

 

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 Post subject: Best place to install tweeters in 1997 Fairmont Falcon EL
Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 5:04 pm 
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hey guys Recently I purchased some new speakers for my car. I picked up a set of polk Db6501 Split componant speakers.

I've mounted them sucessfully and have had them running off a PA 330 amp for about two weeks now and I'm quite happy with how they sound but I'm not certain they are as good as they could be.

I realized today that the soundstaging was really off. I've never done staging before but when i'm sitting in the driving seat I can't hear the passenger side speaker at all so I tried playing with the ballance and found that when set to L02 it seems to even it out a little more but I don't think the tweeters are right.

I mounted the tweeters on the little plastic parts in the front of the door (the triangle shaped plastic bits i'm not sure what they're called) but the passenger side tweeter is unobstructed by anything and seems to point down. The drivers side door points mostly straight but half of it points into the side of the dash.

I was wondering would changing the positions of these make the staging noticably better?

If it would where is the best place to put the tweeters? Has anyone else put splits in their 1997 falcon and could share some advice please?

Attachment:
File comment: Drivers Side Tweeter notice how it's pointing into the dash.
Right Side.JPG
Right Side.JPG [ 294.67 KiB | Viewed 358 times ]

Attachment:
File comment: Left side. Notice how the tweeter is pointing down.
Left Side.JPG
Left Side.JPG [ 318.98 KiB | Viewed 285 times ]



Aussierox

Last edited by Aussierox on Mon Jan 30, 2012 5:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Re: Best place to install tweeters in 1997 Fairmont Falcon EL
Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 5:46 pm 
Tyre Shredder
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Hey Mate.

Iv got Clarion splits on my EL ghia and I mounted the tweeters on the windscreen pillar as apposed to the plastic triangle behind the side mirrors, which is what I assume you are referring to.
Image

They seem to produce rich, clear sound in that position and I am very happy with them.

As for your speakers. I don't see any reason why they wouldn't sound good in that position. The un-even sound distribution could be due to poor wiring and or connections. Did you use factory wiring or completely new wires?
You also said that your speakers are running off an amp. Check if the gain on each channel is tuned correctly as it could make one speaker louder than another.

Hopefully this comes of some help to you.

Cheers

 

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 Post subject: Re: Best place to install tweeters in 1997 Fairmont Falcon EL
Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 5:59 pm 
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TheELghia wrote:
Hey Mate.

Iv got Clarion splits on my EL ghia and I mounted the tweeters on the windscreen pillar as apposed to the plastic triangle behind the side mirrors, which is what I assume you are referring to.
Image

They seem to produce rich, clear sound in that position and I am very happy with them.

As for your speakers. I don't see any reason why they wouldn't sound good in that position. The un-even sound distribution could be due to poor wiring and or connections. Did you use factory wiring or completely new wires?
You also said that your speakers are running off an amp. Check if the gain on each channel is tuned correctly as it could make one speaker louder than another.

Hopefully this comes of some help to you.

Cheers



Thanks for the quick reply. I've uploaded pictures of how my tweeters are mounted. I used factory wiring for the speakers and the included wiring for the tweeters although the crossover is wired up to the amp using speaker wire/factory wire. The speakers sound great but not very even and of couse the problem is if I tune the ballance to suit me, the passenger then has his speaker really really loud and the right one really quiet :/
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 Post subject: Re: Best place to install tweeters in 1997 Fairmont Falcon EL
Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 6:09 pm 
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Aussierox wrote:
Thanks for the quick reply. I've uploaded pictures of how my tweeters are mounted. I used factory wiring for the speakers and the included wiring for the tweeters although the crossover is wired up to the amp using speaker wire/factory wire. The speakers sound great but not very even and of couse the problem is if I tune the ballance to suit me, the passenger then has his speaker really really loud and the right one really quiet :/


Ah ok, yea they should be fine in that position.
Well, if the speakers sound clean and crisp, then Id go and see if the amp is tuned correctly. As I said, one speaker could have the gain set lower than the other one.

 

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 Post subject: Re: Best place to install tweeters in 1997 Fairmont Falcon EL
Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 7:06 pm 
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TheELghia wrote:
Aussierox wrote:
Thanks for the quick reply. I've uploaded pictures of how my tweeters are mounted. I used factory wiring for the speakers and the included wiring for the tweeters although the crossover is wired up to the amp using speaker wire/factory wire. The speakers sound great but not very even and of couse the problem is if I tune the ballance to suit me, the passenger then has his speaker really really loud and the right one really quiet :/


Ah ok, yea they should be fine in that position.
Well, if the speakers sound clean and crisp, then Id go and see if the amp is tuned correctly. As I said, one speaker could have the gain set lower than the other one.


Alright I'll take a look at the amp but I don't know much about tuning this stuff, The guy at autobarn tuned it for me and said I'd have to tune it again once I got my sub.

I'm not sure but I think my left and right speakers are wired up opposite because when I change the ballance it looks like this

L6 L5 L4 L3 L2 L1 00 R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6

When I put the setting all the way on L6 the left speaker stops working and the right one gets really loud, when I put the setting on R6 the right speaker turns off and the left one gets loud. I'm not sure if that's how it's mean to be or if the speakers are backwards.
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 Post subject: Re: Best place to install tweeters in 1997 Fairmont Falcon EL
Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 8:46 pm 
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Aussierox wrote:
TheELghia wrote:
Aussierox wrote:
Thanks for the quick reply. I've uploaded pictures of how my tweeters are mounted. I used factory wiring for the speakers and the included wiring for the tweeters although the crossover is wired up to the amp using speaker wire/factory wire. The speakers sound great but not very even and of couse the problem is if I tune the ballance to suit me, the passenger then has his speaker really really loud and the right one really quiet :/


Ah ok, yea they should be fine in that position.
Well, if the speakers sound clean and crisp, then Id go and see if the amp is tuned correctly. As I said, one speaker could have the gain set lower than the other one.


Alright I'll take a look at the amp but I don't know much about tuning this stuff, The guy at autobarn tuned it for me and said I'd have to tune it again once I got my sub.

I'm not sure but I think my left and right speakers are wired up opposite because when I change the ballance it looks like this

L6 L5 L4 L3 L2 L1 00 R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6

When I put the setting all the way on L6 the left speaker stops working and the right one gets really loud, when I put the setting on R6 the right speaker turns off and the left one gets loud. I'm not sure if that's how it's mean to be or if the speakers are backwards.


Ohhh! all makes sense now. Yep they are deffinately on the wrong way. Should have mentioned that earlier, sorry.
The reason why your right speaker is louder than your left is because the right is wired as the left speaker. The headunit makes the left louder than the right so that the sound appears more centralised to the driver.
So I guess all you have to do is find where its incorrectly wired, (RCA plugs at head unit/amp, amp output to speakers, etc.) swap em over and you're golden!
Don't have to worry about tuning your amp. haha

 

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 Post subject: Re: Best place to install tweeters in 1997 Fairmont Falcon EL
Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 9:00 pm 
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TheELghia wrote:
Aussierox wrote:
TheELghia wrote:
Aussierox wrote:
Thanks for the quick reply. I've uploaded pictures of how my tweeters are mounted. I used factory wiring for the speakers and the included wiring for the tweeters although the crossover is wired up to the amp using speaker wire/factory wire. The speakers sound great but not very even and of couse the problem is if I tune the ballance to suit me, the passenger then has his speaker really really loud and the right one really quiet :/


Ah ok, yea they should be fine in that position.
Well, if the speakers sound clean and crisp, then Id go and see if the amp is tuned correctly. As I said, one speaker could have the gain set lower than the other one.


Alright I'll take a look at the amp but I don't know much about tuning this stuff, The guy at autobarn tuned it for me and said I'd have to tune it again once I got my sub.

I'm not sure but I think my left and right speakers are wired up opposite because when I change the ballance it looks like this

L6 L5 L4 L3 L2 L1 00 R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6

When I put the setting all the way on L6 the left speaker stops working and the right one gets really loud, when I put the setting on R6 the right speaker turns off and the left one gets loud. I'm not sure if that's how it's mean to be or if the speakers are backwards.


Ohhh! all makes sense now. Yep they are deffinately on the wrong way. Should have mentioned that earlier, sorry.
The reason why your right speaker is louder than your left is because the right is wired as the left speaker. The headunit makes the left louder than the right so that the sound appears more centralised to the driver.
So I guess all you have to do is find where its incorrectly wired, (RCA plugs at head unit/amp, amp output to speakers, etc.) swap em over and you're golden!
Don't have to worry about tuning your amp. haha



Alright thanks well I would have no idea what I need to do to make sure they're wired up the right way :/ I wasn't the one who wired it all up.
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 Post subject: Re: Best place to install tweeters in 1997 Fairmont Falcon EL
Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 9:03 pm 
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Also I don't know how effective it is but I was told that aiming each tweeter to the headresr on the opposite side of the car really helps ( like LH tweeter to RH headrest , well it does in my car, but yeah all depends if you like it I supose

 

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 Post subject: Re: Best place to install tweeters in 1997 Fairmont Falcon EL
Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 9:43 pm 
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61xkwagon wrote:
Also I don't know how effective it is but I was told that aiming each tweeter to the headresr on the opposite side of the car really helps ( like LH tweeter to RH headrest , well it does in my car, but yeah all depends if you like it I supose


Does your audio sound even on both driver and passengers side? like is it centered or can you clearly hear it coming from one side or the other?

Also do you happen to have a picture of how you mounted them?
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 Post subject: Re: Best place to install tweeters in 1997 Fairmont Falcon EL
Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 11:02 pm 
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To me it sounds pretty even with both front windows either up or down, but if i have the drivers side down and the passengers side up i can slightly hear the passenger side tweeter more than the drivers side but you really have to pay attention to notice it.

and i will get a picture tomorrow for you

 

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 Post subject: Re: Best place to install tweeters in 1997 Fairmont Falcon EL
Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 11:03 pm 
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Aussierox wrote:



Attachment:
Right Side.JPG

Attachment:
Left Side.JPG



I just realised my tweeters are mounted the same as these but I can move the direction of them around

 

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 Post subject: Re: Best place to install tweeters in 1997 Fairmont Falcon EL
Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 11:47 pm 
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One of the best sounding cars in the country is an EF XR6, and he has his tweeters mounted in the factory location.

Under the dash cowl in the corners.

Do it.


/thread.

I'll be doing the same in my NL when the stereo goes in.

 

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 Post subject: Re: Best place to install tweeters in 1997 Fairmont Falcon EL
Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2012 9:23 am 
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data_mine wrote:
One of the best sounding cars in the country is an EF XR6, and he has his tweeters mounted in the factory location.

Under the dash cowl in the corners.

Do it.


/thread.

I'll be doing the same in my NL when the stereo goes in.

He moved them, then put them back, then moved them again. Not sure if they're still there now.

I have mine the factory location and they sound great, audio is just above dash height and vocals centred above the steering wheel. (I really need to get a head unit with TA to tune it up properly) The only hurdle in using the factory location is removing the crappy factory plastic grille that interferes with the sound. I've been driving around with that dash piece off my car for a bit over a year now because I can't decide what to do about it.

 

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 Post subject: Re: Best place to install tweeters in 1997 Fairmont Falcon EL
Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2012 9:35 am 
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MAD wrote:
data_mine wrote:
One of the best sounding cars in the country is an EF XR6, and he has his tweeters mounted in the factory location.

Under the dash cowl in the corners.

Do it.


/thread.

I'll be doing the same in my NL when the stereo goes in.

He moved them, then put them back, then moved them again. Not sure if they're still there now.

I have mine the factory location and they sound great, audio is just above dash height and vocals centred above the steering wheel. (I really need to get a head unit with TA to tune it up properly) The only hurdle in using the factory location is removing the crappy factory plastic grille that interferes with the sound. I've been driving around with that dash piece off my car for a bit over a year now because I can't decide what to do about it.


Get a spare dash piece and cut the hole out. Then get a black mesh (like stockings) and stretch it across...should do the trick :). Depending what kind of tweeters you have, the sound can be better in the stock location. I would think small tweeters won't go so well in the stock location so need to be mounted near A-pillar area.

To the OP. I have mine mounted on the triangle pieces too, however the base of my tweeters is actually angled so that it doesn't point down. I've set mine up so that the tweeters point towards the opposite head rest. Definitely not perfect since I did it in a rush (measured once, drilled hole...f**k up haha), but still better than stock.

 

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 Post subject: Re: Best place to install tweeters in 1997 Fairmont Falcon EL
Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2012 9:19 am 
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MAD wrote:
data_mine wrote:
One of the best sounding cars in the country is an EF XR6, and he has his tweeters mounted in the factory location.

Under the dash cowl in the corners.

Do it.


/thread.

I'll be doing the same in my NL when the stereo goes in.

He moved them, then put them back, then moved them again. Not sure if they're still there now.

I have mine the factory location and they sound great, audio is just above dash height and vocals centred above the steering wheel. (I really need to get a head unit with TA to tune it up properly) The only hurdle in using the factory location is removing the crappy factory plastic grille that interferes with the sound. I've been driving around with that dash piece off my car for a bit over a year now because I can't decide what to do about it.


This is where I have my tweeters now.

Attachment:
DSCF0176.JPG
DSCF0176.JPG [ 279.43 KiB | Viewed 362 times ]


Yes I have moved them a couple of times over the last few years and this is the best position I have found.
The system now images & stages the best it has ever done.
The next best position I have found (as data_mine mentioned) is in the factory location ... however you do need to scallop an opening where the grill slots are on the dash cowl to allow for proper sound dispersion.
Leaving the slots in the cowl as they are will certainly have a detrimental impact on the detail and sound stage

Car audio being what it is the above needs to be tempered by saying that not every speaker will sound as good in the same location.
A tweeter that may sound a bit harsh and "in your face" might be more suited to the factory location than it would perhaps on the A-Pillar.

 

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