is it true that metal domes, compared to silk or other softer material, has a bad off-axis response? read something about it over at another forum...but don't know how credible that information is.

anyone want to enlighten me on the matter?

 

who wants metal domes? they might be a tad harsh for ya.

 

nah, it was just a general statement. you know me...i personally prefer silk or the kortec material BA uses...

 

I would like to hear a metal dome in a 5th gen a pillar...

 

I had Profi Van Metal Tweets in my pillars and they were a bit too harsh for my taste.

 

Found this on a tutorial on teamaudionutz:

A component set allows us to experiment with different mounting locations to find the best "blend" of tweeter and midrange response characteristics in our cars. For example, most hard-dome tweeters are very bright, and if not tuned properly, they are TOO bright, leaning toward sonic harshness. By simply turning these tweeters more off-axis (more in a cross-firing configuration), you direct their point of sonic intensity away from you, thus allowing a better and more natural blend with the midrange without destroying tonality or imaging characteristics (they still will have decent response and dispersion patterns off-axis). This is kind of getting into the "path-length/sound intensity trading" as mentioned earlier, which we will delve into later on.

 

Car audio products are designed with off axis strengths in mind.

Steve Head's tutorial offers great insight. But that can also be said about fabric dome tweeters, anytime you point a speaker on axis to the listener in such a small vaccinity as a vehicle...remember the point of aiming and speaker positioning in-car is to project a soundstage in front of you, that provides the listening cues to achieve that- perceived depth, stage height, stage width, focus etc...By aiming a speaker directly at the listener within such short pathlegths is rather counterproductive in the car, specially in the pillars where reflections off both glass and dash create added boosts in certain freqs.

Thats why using kicks, as far forward as possible is common practice in car for speaker placement, even so drivers arent to be directly aimed in most cases towards the listener-but rather aimed directly under the dash. A good reason why dome midranges work so well in car off axis down in the kicks- they radiate sound so well, that it almost feels as if the sound is sneaking up behind the dash- something that only a cone can do with the right positioning.

Want to have luck running tweets i a-pillars? Invest in some good processing and a dashmat.
Also try an angle on them, to have them firing stright acrooss to one another, not only can it introduce cancellation issues, but also affect stage width...

That being said, there isn't a hard dome in the world I would put in my car- there are plenty of soft domes that can get the job done, with fairly good high freq extension...minus exxagerated timbre..

 

In for the ride.

Intelligent conversation >>>>> sub threads.

So with that being said, where/what angle would offer the best axis for tweets?

Sail panels? A-pillars? Or flushmount in the door that we all love?

 

ah, this is some good read sure beats sub threads...

my tweets are in my sails. so it's best not to have them face directly at each other correct? what about the stock tweet grills. on the 6th gen...they look like they're restricting the sound from being projected properly.

 

Correct.

My understanding is to have them pointed so the sound waves crisscross at/above the dash just a bit.

 

ah gotcha, i'll keep that in mind.

 

Quite honestly, even though they sound good for jammin'...flushmount in the doors is the WORST as far as staging goes, they need to be further forward imo to gain better stage depth. Their position however makes for good sound. They are slightly on an angle (not perperndicular to the ground), so they kinda rainbow/lob across the cabin and provide adequate stage height and width...just not enough depth for competition purposes anyways...

I think the sails are the best compromise in the 5th gen- heightwise its same as a-pillar location, just a few inches away from it, but still many inches forward and higher than the door- the sails are also the widest point the car that area forward....so def an improvement depth wise over the doors and avoidis the pinball-machine-like reflection pool of being confined in the a-pillars...I can see how a strong a better ON axis performer, angled would fare in those corners, but a large dome will radiate the sound all aover those reflective surfaces.

so if anyone has some black door panels they'd like to swap, i got the holes for flush mount tweeters already..

 

I just meant we love em cause they look sweet as hell.

 

hell yeah they look sexy as hell on the dps

 

Thats interesting I was always under the assumption that the door pannel was the best place for staging and imaging in our cars.

 

My sail panel was not very welcoming to my new tweets . I ended up putting them in my doors. I may ask Don about the optional angled mounts. I am still happy with my current setup though .

 

how did they sound like in the sails compared to the doors?

 

how does the dome compare to the ring radiator (like the vifa xt25) ?

 

+1, subscribed hopefully for ring radiator enlightenment.

 

I did not really have a chance to listen to them for that long while they were in there. While in there they sounded ok, just did not fit right. The tweeter would not go all the way into the cup, and were pointing a little downward. Now that they are in the doors they are pointing a up a little.


I still would like to mess witht the x-over some, just have not had time .

 

oh, gotcha, so it was just their axial orientation that made you change your tweet's positioning.

 

Yes, Sir .

 

hopefully the arco tweets will sound good in the sails. can't put them in the a-pillars due to the curtain airbags.