FYI Legacy acoustics, sq/soundstage info

well as everyone knows the legacy acoustics are nothing to brag about... being hard headed and thinking i can reinvent the wheel i tried in vain to make the stock oem tweeter location work.

 

i tried, aiming, playing with the polaritys,adding more power to one tweeter...

 

(grant it my radio doesnt have T/A and i cant EQ seperate channels but imo those are bandaids for not planning a well designed system)

no matter what i did it just wasnt going to happen. (soundstage)

 

(btw i needlessly hacked my tweeter spots, new bezels on the way )

 

sooooooo i decided to minimize my PLD and mount my tweeters in the kick panels, let me just say the results are amazing. i now have a very good L/R seperation with a good center image, (my rt midwoofer is reverse phased)

the center is coming right above the radio, wish it was slightly higher but im still not done tuning.

 

i loaded the front doors w/ some dynamat, raamaudio bxt plus ensolite and my doors are now like those from a lexus. very solid.

 

 

i just wanted to pass the info along for those pulling their hair out trying to figure a good compromise for some good sq sound in the LGT.

 

 

 

 

CLIFF NOTES

 

deaden doors (spent about 2-3 hrs on each door)

pick a good pair of seperates

mount tweeters in kick panels

reverse polarity on right midwoofer

 

play some good tunes be happy

 

ill try to post some pics, this was a very big project and i think a picture is worth a 1000 words....

Your method is sound. (pun intended)

 

This is an effective and simple way to improve your sound stage. Some people spend weeks on attempting exotic solutions and propably achieve far less. The tweeters in the kicks allow for maximum travel of the sound wave. High frequencies are directional and expand with distance, where as low frequencies are omnidirectional while also benefiting from distance and reflection (to a degree).

 

Note: The reversal of phasing on the right midbass is predicated on an otherwise enhanced low end (ie subwoofer). Phase reversal will diminish the presence of that speaker without technically dimishing the output, hence shifting the stage to the right (from driver's perspective).

 

This could also be done nice and cheap with just a subwoofer and using factory components otherwise.

 

Again, nicely done.

thank you, yes moving the oem tweeter to that location would work wonders. the 1st owner took the oem tweeters out so i dont know what they look like but you can get some real good tweeters from madisound.com

 

play with aiming, use the correct size hole saw and mount

 

Sometimes, when speakers are not mounted close to each other ( mids on the doors and tweeters up in the dash)

 

reversing the polarity on tweeters or mids makes the system sound better because it makes up for PHASE differences due to distance. my advice? try different combinations and see what sounds better.

you can get some real good tweeters from madisound.com

 

:lol: I remeber ordering madisound components from the catalog before there was an internetz. Awesome dude! They've had great deals for years.

 

use the correct size hole saw

 

OH DEAR GOD!!!!

 

Hole saw!?!? That gives me the chills, I'd go with a nice trace, 1/2 drill bit, a dremel and needle files if needed (or smaller hole saw *cring* and a dremel).

trust me, i used a dremel thats why i had to buy new oem tweeter bezels. went a little nutz (freehand)

 

the hole saw allowed me to make a perfect hole in my kick panels, slide the tweeter along with its ring... actually if had to surface mount the tweeter dremel would have been enough but i used an angle surface aiming ring (see pic)

 

i mounted that monster in my doors---------->

Yo! That driver is nasty!!!! In the picture it looks like a 10" (love the Premiers).

 

OK, I follow you now on your "hole cutting" techinque. I'm assuming those are locked position angle mounts and your pitching is restricted to "rotation on a given angle"? If so, with a bit of dremel work on the mount, some "pitch a hair, listen, pitch a hair, listen" etc., and a dab of epoxy or two; you could add another dimension to your tweeter tune and raise that stage above the dash (OH YAA!).

 

(If that didn't make sense, ask and I'll draw up a dia)

trust me the thought crossed my mind, i may fab something up that could allow me to repostition them on a whim....id say 90% of the time i drive alone, so mainly i have them positioned for my pleasure...

ps i forgot to add MY RADIO is where the cubby is, not bad bringing that stage up

ps i forgot to add MY RADIO is where the cubby is, not bad bringing that stage up

 

That makes a big difference, Nice.

 

With the mount thing I meant, can the tweeter "roll around" in the mount or is it fixed to the angle of the mount. If it's fixed, you could get another dimension of "pitchability" by altering the mount. But it sounds like you've got it wrapped up pretty tight as is.

 

I've been meaning to do this myself (just lazy I guess). But you've inspired me to get off my ass and finally do it. (Pics forthcoming)

That makes a big difference, Nice.

 

With the mount thing I meant, can the tweeter "roll around" in the mount or is it fixed to the angle of the mount. If it's fixed, you could get another dimension of "pitchability" by altering the mount. But it sounds like you've got it wrapped up pretty tight as is.

 

I've been meaning to do this myself (just lazy I guess). But you've inspired me to get off my ass and finally do it. (Pics forthcoming)

 

at this moment i can swivel the tweeter just about any direction, i was going to play with aiming and see how it sounds 1st before i decide on a permanent spot... i also thought about just adding something to give it friction (rubber band or a strip of black tape) something that would have enough force to keep it in place yet allow me to turn it when the time comes.

 

honestly i played w/ positions for quite a while and im pretty dead on the "sweet" spot...

 

ill take some cell pics... bb soon...

1st im not a pro, im a diy so no laughing!

 

all these pics are at my 1st stages, there not 100% complete...

 

below youll see shot of me laying out the amp and wiring, and some shot of the tweeters in the kicks, on the right side kick youll notice 2 holes. (new kick on the way) i thought i liked that spot but it was giving me a left side bias so another hole later i found a better spot...

 

the "nos" bottle is actually a cap... that my ricer mod i got it for free so im not complaining!

 

EDIT : my cell takes 4ever to send pics! wtf!

sorry cant get the rt kick pic to load, when i take my doors apart yet again... ill take more pics of the inside of the doors.

Lookin' good. The fake NOS bottle/capacitor is hilarious.

nnnnaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwz

Nice pics. What's the part number on that driver you put in your doors?

Do the windows still roll all the way down?

Pioneer Premier TS-C720PRS. I had to use a 1" spacer, with the dynamat maybe 1.25" total. i took out some of the edges out behind the door panel to make sure it wouldnt hit the spkrs. (10 min of work)

 

imo these sound amazing, review after review you hear nothing but good things about them.

 

i looked at many spkrs and went with these, some people whore out certain spkrs on here and im not going to knock em but for $240 (ebay) these is the deal of a lifetime.

 

i may end up buying 2-3 pairs to have for back up, maybe even do a set of 5.25" in the kicks... but thats my future plans.

 

 

check out this review:

 

 

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pio/pe/images/portal/cit_3424/383243804TS-C720PRS_camag_eprint.pdf

 

 

not only that but on the diy audio forums member after member of very picky audio gurus love these.

Cool, thanks for the info.

how'd you make the spacer, or where did you get it. I could never find a 1"

I may have missed it in this thread, but did you add an amplifier or are you using the stock Subaru headunit and amp? Additional subwoofer?

how'd you make the spacer, or where did you get it. I could never find a 1"

 

i had a 1" round spacer laying around, i always have tons of audio stuff around in general.

 

i have 2 amps 1 for the subs 300x2 and a 4 ch for the fronts and rears 110x4.

I share your pain for the ideal tweeter placement. Did you get a chance to audition high end coaxials before mounting the tweeters in the kick?

 

I chose to add a second tweeter in the stock location in addition to my coax in the front door. With the upstage kit, the blending is real nice but very limited to the staging of the stock tweeter location. Instead of the kick panel, Im aiming for the A-pillars. I would love to hear these two scenarios back to back.

 

Nice install. How did you tap the OEM signal? LOC?

I share your pain for the ideal tweeter placement. Did you get a chance to audition high end coaxials before mounting the tweeters in the kick?

 

I chose to add a second tweeter in the stock location in addition to my coax in the front door. With the upstage kit, the blending is real nice but very limited to the staging of the stock tweeter location. Instead of the kick panel, Im aiming for the A-pillars. I would love to hear these two scenarios back to back.

 

Nice install. How did you tap the OEM signal? LOC?

 

coaxials sound better (solves the point source problem) than the oem locations but just dont image much imo. (i tried 2 sets)

 

the kicks solve alot of the PLD problems that come along with this car.

 

in all honesty this car is very hard to setup for SQ, once i get a deck that i can eq seperate channals and play w/ the TA some it should improve big time.

 

i have a pioneer cd player in the cubby section, i used the jdm din adapter.

here more recent pics

Looks great!

 

I was going to go the cubby mounted deck, but chose the 3sixty2 instead. With all the tuning options I was able to tweak the hell out of it. It sounds just about right now.

 

I'm going to try to move the stage forward with a-pillar tweets. I'm hoping it'll be worth the effort.

 

Do you still have convenient access to the spare tire?

spare?

 

bwahaha, fix a flat and triple a for this crazy nut