With the stereo console door flap closed they're not going to see you head unit anyway with out leaning into the car. Then you've got removable facias or blank fronts like the El Kameleon or my Sony.

 

As for putting the tweets in the stock speaker position... I think you are setting yourself up for disappointment.

Your knee resting on the driver side speaker muffles sound so effectively that I'm sure you will be disappointed.

I originally put 3 way speakers in the stock positions. Worked great until my knee rested there. Then I got uncomfortable holding my knee off. So I just installed tweeters and now all is well.

Dan

 

Flush mounting tweeters in A-Pillars:

Yes, it can be done, and the amount of work required will depend on how high up you mount them.

Given a Dremel tool, installation is relatively easy, if you have the patience. If you choose to mount them as close/low to the dash as possible, you'll have to cut a circle in the A-Pillar itself, plus do a more complex cutout in the A/C duct that is attached to the A-Pillar (it's removable, so you can cut it individually). If you don't want to mess with cutting the A/C duct, you could mount them another 1-2 inches higher up the A-Pillar. I chose not too, for two reasons: (a) I felt the tweeters would be too close to the ear, and (b) The width of the A-Pillar gets smaller as you go up. I already have a 2mm overhang with my tweeter baskets on each end. It still looks good, but I though it would look ugly (like it didn't "fit") if I had moved them up the A-Pillar.

I have a Focal 165V setup, and I chose to mount my tweeters in the A-Pillars for the same reasons everybody is stating on this thread. They sound great in that position.

I can't comment on the midrange driver, however. If it's the same dimensions as my Focals, you won't be able to use the stock basket -- even if you cut out the back. My drivers were about 1/4" too wide to use the basket, so I had to make some wooden mounts with my scroll saw. (Impossible to find plastic that was thick enough...)

Hope that helps!

 

See http://honda-acura.net/forum/Forum21/HTML/002812.html for a relevant discussion and see http://honda-acura.net/forum/Forum21/HTML/003200.html for my flush mounted a-pillar tweeter install.

 

Something to consider...mounting the tweets in the A-pillar and leaving the woofers in the door creates an imaging problem. Higher frequencies (above the w-t crossover point) will radiate from two points in front of you while the lower frequencies (below the w-t crossover point) will come from your sides. And yes, a 6.5" woofer will produce directional frequencies. Another consideration...If you use speaker-level inputs to an external amp you run the risk of having the amp decouple from the speakers when you crank the factory head unit. When you crank the head unit enough it will produce a clipped output signal that will trigger the DC protection circuits found in most amplifiers and cause the sound to cut out. This may be cured by increasing the front-end gain of the amp... maybe not.

That said, in an application like the S2k, where you have a very high noise floor, the most important consideration is creating enough sound to overcome the noise of a top down, 80MPH highway drive. IMO soundstaging and low-level detail are hopeless causes in a S2000. You'll get the most "bang for the buck" by combining a modest quality amp that has speaker level inputs with efficient coaxial speakers capable of high SPLs. To save money, use the factory head unit to drive the amp...just be aware of the aforementioned consideration.

koejing

 

Wow! Thanks for all the great information.
I love this list!

 

Hey RX, I just locked up the duplicate post.
No offense, just don't want to confuse anybody.

Now then, I'll agree with the folks who say mounting the tweeters up high is a bad idea.
You might be able to hear the high notes more, because the speakers are closer, but more does NOT equal better, in car stereo.
Although there's a line of people who I'm sure will and can disagree.

For ideal imaging, mount the tweeter as close to the midrange/woofer as possible. Boston's Axis-mount system is perfect. I'd do the same thing, had I an S2k. See in my Subaru, I have Boston Rally RC61s in kick panels. However, in an S2k, I'd want to leave the foot space open. I'd just be driving it too much!! So stock door locations and Axis mounts would be perfect.

If you don't do it that way, really the best imaging will come from kick panels. I have my tweeters mounted below the midranges, which I believe produces the best sound. In any stock door location, you've got decent sound, but the speakers aren't pointed at you, they're aiming at each other. So you'll get a little cancellation, and a lot of annoyance. I used to find myself leaning forward a bit so my ears would fall more into the path of sound.

I once had my old Kenwood KFC-P602 component set's tweeters aimed differently on my doors, when I still had my '94 Integra. It helped a bit, but not much. Just more pronounced treble, but not more precise, or more accurate. I know, this is very complicated!!!

It depends how involved you want to get. The Pro series is very, very good (though I almost prefer the Rallies... I much prefer soft-dome tweeters). So you're starting on an excellent foot. Ideally, kick panels.
If I were you though, I'd stick 'em in the stock spots, Axis-mounted, and power them with a good, solid amplifier with lots of juice.

 

Thanks everyone for all the input. Reading this has really helped me nail down my priorities for the stereo:

1) Reduce odds of damage caused by theft (I don't even really care as much if they steal it as long as they don't do any damage to the car).
2) Keep the spare tire. Don't want to mess with fix-a-flat 'cause it screws up the wheels and doesn't work if you have a blowout. It's hard to pull it onto a tow truck without damage if you don't have a spare.
3) Keep the weight down. How the car performs at the track is more important than how it sounds to me.
4) Don't loose any storage space. Again, more important than sound since there is so little of it to begin with.
6) Overall sound quality. Basically I mean keeping the distortion low as opposed to stereo imaging.
7) Volume. I like to hear it with the top down. Not as important as the quality. Note that my amp is underpowered, but there isn't really much room for a bigger one given priority 4.
8) Stereo imaging. This is a 'nice to have' thing for me.
9) Solid bass.
10) Don't cut any holes unless I really need to.

Obviously, each of us will have different priorities, which is why we have so many different installations. Based on this, I decided to keep my setup as originally posted. If it really does sound like crap, I will remount the tweeters in the A-pillars. My baby is now in someone else's hands (the Tweeter installer) for the first time since I picked it up. I'm also having him install some Hella horns while he's at it.

 

Hey you're doing it at Tweeter? Nice! That's where I had mine done. They're a superb store with very, very good installers.
Or at least the crew in Newington, NH is.

-S2-

 

i'm having my system installed by sound solutions in chantilly, va. they're going to put in component mb quarts and mount the tweeters on the kick panels. they agreed with what's been said here about imaging problems by putting tweeters up high.