buldozr

Stealth on-axis driverside Tweeter pod in OE location project I did on my07 this holiday weekend. Unfortunately I did not take how-to pics but it is fairly simple to do.

The motivation for this project was that I was running LPG 25NFA silk dome tweeters in factory location and was never really impressed by the sound staging, detail and they lacked open-ness so I was looking for something new. They were also way too laid back and could not do cymbals very well although female vocalists they really shined on. JL even uses these same tweeters in some of their component sets due to not being fatiguing or intrusive but just not for me. I listen to a lot of electronic music and so an audiophile friend recommended I try Seas 27TAFNC/D Aluminum tweeters. They were demo'd to me in another friends car and I remember I really liked them considering they were being compared to an unobtainium audiophile tweeter well over $700/pair (Hertz maybe?). These are considered laid back for an aluminum tweeter due to not being as harsh and a good compromise of good female vocalists versus cymbal reproduction. One catch, off axis performance of these Seas tweeters are very poor, THEY NEED TO BE ON AXIS TO GET THE STAGE EFFECT. Even the graph paints the same picture. Great, the passenger side OE tweeter location is perfect on axis to the driver yet the driverside is terrible and pointing directly at the passenger side tweeter LOL.



The Fix. I wanted to make a stealth tweeter pod in factory location that does not impede driver and could possibly pass off as OE that also makes the tweeter on-axis with the driver. First removing door panels, I removed OE tweeter plastic tweeter pod off the driver door panel by removing both screws and the two plastic washers. Then I used a dremel with a side cutter attachment, works best with an extra set of hands holding down the part or chalk it up in a soft jaw vise, and drilled out the center honey comb. I then removed just enough material for the tweeter to fit snug into the plastic surround of the now gutted tweeter pod, I did have to remove the front mounting post that retains the factory tweeter to the pod itself. I then used the factory metal retaining plate (the one with three holes drilled in it) and bent it in a manner that would keep the Seas tweeter pointed to the drivers head, used one factory retaining screw to hold the plate to the pod post then a screw(M5 maybe???) to screw the other side of the plate to the back of the Seas tweeter nut. Perfect. Only one of the two plastic screw posts remain now but will still hold the tweeter securely due to the tweeter is still 'pressed' into the plastic surround of the pod, I usually like to add a dab of hot glue but I didn't think it was needed on this install. Then began the fun part, I used a standard thin black speaker grill cloth to cover the tweeter and pod and used CL(thin quick setting modeling type glue) to adhere the cloth to the backside of the pod. Trimmed the excess grill cloth and pod fit in the door panel VERY snug, reattached the two OE mounting screws and washers and reinstalled door panel.

Out of direction from my friend, he also suggested that I make a short jumper harness from the door panel speaker wire to the tweeter... reasoning is that he had killed a Seas tweeter due to the prongs on the tweeter are very weak and trying to remove a snug terminal from the tweeter will result in the prong breaking or coming detached inside the tweeter, basically unrepairable and turning a $50 tweeter into trash. So now if I want to remove the door panel, I can simply detach the spade terminal off the jumper harness instead of trying to wiggle the terminals loose at the tweeter... brilliant. At times he has installed very high end tweeters, $500+ in fact, I have a funny feeling he adds a jumper harness on every install now, glad he learned his lesson on only a $50 tweeter LOL.

The review. The pod works as designed, I could have done a better job on the speaker grill but it is very hard to cut the cloth once glue touches it, basically turns into hard plastic. Fun project, took less than two hours for just the tweeter pod mod. My friend and I RTA'd the car afterwards, set levels, all was good and altogether painless install. The tweeters I am very happy with although they are still tight, needs ~20hrs break-in per my friend before they loosen up. I do hear some sibilance as expected, nature of the beast when using metal tweeters yet I am told it will decline with time. Staging is amazing, my favorite songs sound foreign now, frequencies that were not there before are now subtly in the background. Vocalists and instruments have separation, It sounds like I can literally grab the guitarist off my left a/c vent and touch the vocalist right below my rear view mirror, LOVE IT. I can hear when the drummer drops his stick in the studio when I couldn't before (??? why was that in the recording in the first place??? hahaha) So far very happy with the job and I am now looking forward to many summer night drives again

Setup

2007 S2000
HU Pioneer 80prs, active crossover on components and time aligned
AMP Phoenix Gold SD1300.5 Class D Full Range, 80W RMS x 4(4ohm) and 500W RMS(4ohm) sub channel
SUB JL 10W3V3-4
MID H-Audio PP6.5
HIGH SEAS 27TAFNC/D

CaseyGW

Looks nice. What do you have them crossed over at and at what slope?

buldozr

So far,
Mid LPF 3.15k @ 12db
High HPF 4k @ 18db

I honestly dont have alot of seat time, 2hrs tops, been out of town for work ever since the install but these settings are not concrete yet. So far the tweeters can do ~2.5k but we decided to cross higher. I cant remember specifics because it was 5am lol but i do remember my friend telling me their was a resonance we wanted to stay away from around the 3k area.

CaseyGW

yeah not a bad idea to stay a little higher. What do you think of the mids youre using? I havent seen many people using the H audio branded vs the Audible Physics. Every pair of 3" AP drivers I hear, I am impressed with.

buldozr

You know, I never understood why they sell for so cheap... Used can be had for around $100, New was under $300. Quoted off a MECA judge on diyma "One word impactful, ok it’s not a word! The PP6.5 is smooth and warm thru its midrange. Mid-bass is fast and control and yep impactful." I completely agree, smooth up top and tight mid bass. Not quite Hybrid Audio Legatia quality at $500/set but so close you could easily consider the price difference. I have been told they are worthy of competition which sounds truthful, they just sound underpriced for what they can deliver, I just don't understand why these did not take off. My amp is so bloody underrated it isn't even funny, I would guess the speaker is seeing ~120W RMS(rated at 80W), handles the power with ease and doesn't sound strained. One of these days I would like to dyno this little PG amp of doom haha. My entire SQ build is under $1k cash, I would not change a thing at this point.

CaseyGW

good to hear about the H audio. I dont really see used come up either lol

yeah seems like a nice build. A friend has the same amp as you mounted under a seat powering his whole system. I had some shit luck with PG Elites. I had a 4 and a 5 channel powering my setup and I had multiple elite 5's overheat for no reason.

Whats your name on DIYMA? Im Casey over there

buldozr

I am actually a lurker on diyma. I have my audio guru friend do all the buying and selling for me on the site, he goes by CompUGeek. I am bad with forums, I owned my s2000 over 2yrs now and I just started becoming active on s2ki here in the last few months LOL.

Elite 5's??? I think that one amp is worth more than my entire build, Nice!!

CaseyGW

lol i hear ya. I actually sold the PG Elites. That elite.5 kept fcking up and I got tired of it. I replaced them with 2 Mosconi a300.2 and 1 a200.4

buldozr

Mosconi's, way too rich for my blood LOL. Not sure I would be willing to drop that kind of cash on audio in a drop top car myself, a luxury car I would no prob. I am chasing enough rattles, mostly behind the seat plastics. My next daily will most likely be a Lincoln LS, I want to experiment with three way again, my first go at it went awful.