I've got a MY00 so my tweeters are located down in the footwell. Would it make a huge difference in how good the stereo sounds if I were able to mount the tweeters up by where the MY02-04 cars have it?

Or, would I get better sound for my money if I just installed S-pods?

Thanks!

 

Really the only way to tell is to try different locations. Try hooking everything up and temporarily mounting the tweeter in different locations with tape or something.

Personally, I don't think the '02+ door location is very good. It depends on your specific equipment, but you can get some weird phase issues due to the fact that the driver's mid and tweeter have very different distances to your ear while the passenger's mid and tweeter are close to the same distance from your ear. Ideally, you want to mount the tweeter fairly close to the mid so they are always in phase, but the S2k is so cramped down in the footwell that this might not work out so well either.

Some other ideas are to mount them at dash level, or custom pods near the inside door handle. I think those are good ideas but I chose to keep the stock ('04) door location to keep everything looking stock. I wouldn't say it's ideal for sound though, and if I had to go thru trouble to put them somewhere, it wouldn't be there.

Peter

 

Thanks for your reply. That's too bad. I was hoping placing the tweeters higher (into the MY02-04 position) would lead to much better sound. The way it is right now the sound is directly being fired into my calf. There's a marked difference in sound from me just moving my legs away from the door.

 

I think you will find the sound is better if you move the tweeters up just because your leg blocks the driver side in you current configuration. What you want is to have the tweeter close to the mid for phase purposes, but also have an unobstructed view to the tweeter from your listening position. That is why mounting it in the door handle works well. I am pretty happy with the stock '04 location, but it definitely could be improved upon. The only problem with S pods is the highs will all be behind you, as there will be nothing in the front of the car to balance the sound.

 

Well, I'm not saying that it isn't better- on the S2k the high door position is probably better than near the mid for the reason you stated. But there are two issues with placing the tweeter firing sideways in the door ('02+ stock position). One is phasing, other is that the left is far more off axis than the right. The result of these two factors can shift the image to the right.

But it depends on the specific components you use. Things like crossover points, slopes, and off-axis tweeter response will change the results.

Peter

 

Thanks for your replies, they've been helpful.

Has anyone seen any installations that place the tweeters in/near the inside door handles? I'm considering this, but don't know how to quite get it done. Thanks.

Jason

 

Unfortunately the article is AWOL, but there are some pictures of a fairly simple mount near the end of this directory:

http://www.s2000.org/mods/speakers/

Peter

 

The link you posted is exactly where my tweeters are mounted and the imaging is excellent. (My car is MY2000.)



There are several advantages to this installation:

1) It's completely, 100% reversible--no cutting.
2) It's very cheap, or even free if you have stuff lying around.
2) This places the tweeters in a location that is otherwise unused space in the cockpit--you don't have to displace anything, and you wouldn't use that space for anything else.
3) Sound from the tweeters is not blocked by any normal body position
4) There is no difference in distance between the tweeter and midrange speaker--phasing issues are not an issue.

I used 3/4" galvanized pipe brackets that I had around from a pumbing project. I just straightened them out where they needed to be straight, bent them where they needed to be bent, and drilled them where they needed to be drilled. When they were properly shaped to fit behind the door lock cup I hot-glued them in place. I made them black with a sharpie, but I might paint them at some point.

You can adjust the tweeter angle simply by adjusting the bend-angle of the bracket.

My tweeters are positioned such that each "shines" directly at the head position of the opposite seat. That is, the driver's side tweeter points directly at the left ear of the passenger, and the passenger's side tweeter points directly at the right ear of the driver. With this strategy the nearest tweeter isn't pointing directly at you, but the farthest tweeter is, and it therefore solves the slight balance issue of sitting closer or further away from one tweeter than the other (something that cannot be avoided unless you're riding the center console!).

With tweeters mounted, positioned and angled like this the stereo separation and imaging is phenomenal.

 

how do u mount them like that..i couldnt see that

 

You can go to the link posted above to see additional photos, but the bracket looks like this: (That is the plastic cup that surrounds the door handle/door lock.)