Thoughts on tweeter placement? (sr6500s)

Greg Peters

I am planning on putting a pair of sr6500s in factory door locations, in a 98 Jeep XJ 2 door. I went to my local Polk dealer and trial fitted the sr6500 angle mount tweeter cups in various locations, with disappointing results.

The cups are too big for mirror panels (by 3/4" or so), and the a-pillers have the wrong contour to gracefully mount them there while maintaining proper angles- firing towards opposite headrests.

I would have to 'glass up some pods to mount them on mirror panels with similar angles, which would be awkward looking due to size of the sr tweeters... some pretty bulbous pods.

Without extreme mods of plastic panels on a-pillers, tweeters would have to be flush mounted approx. 5" above dash firing straight across from each other (along windshield) in this location due to obstruction of instrument panel, as well as the required 2" cut out.


Both of these spots are greater than optimum distance from factory mid locations. Kick panels (along the lines of Q Forms) are not great for line-of-sight firing towards driver's seat in this vehicle either- passenger's side yes, driver's side... good luck, due to position of clutch pedal. Mounting the tweets off-axis on dash firing straight at each front seat at an upward 45ish degree angle (like in the Jeep Liberty's factory locations) would not be great for SQ either- I've auditioned the Liberty audio setup.

I would prefer not to cut 2" holes in factory door panels for tweeters, for when it's time to sell the vehicle they cost around $450 (used price) to replace, and the 2dr panels are trickier to find. I wouldn't want to let sr's go with the car or take the financial hit from chopped up door panels (the plastic a-piller panels are cheaper to replace).

An aimable tweeter cup for the sr's would be nice (hint hint) but do not yet exist. I would hate to just mount these speakers in compaxial mode in factory locations, so any thoughts as to best SQ compromise install for this vehicle?

brettw22

The 6500 does come with 2 types of tweeter mounts if you're considering installing the speakers in a coax configuration. While the options are either straight out, or slightly angled, they will give you the ability to aim them slightly upward, allowing you not to have to cut holes in the doors if the car is a temp ownership thing.

That's basically what I'm doing with my 01 Accord, and while it's probably not ideal in a SQ setup, I think you'll still have incredible sound from them.....

MacLeod

Mounting them along with the mids may be your only choice. Your speakers are far enough down that it may work pretty well with the only downside being the stage height.

I too **** a lot about not having a surface mount option with the SR's but unfortunately Im nobody so nobody listens.

I have mine mounted in the A pillars but also had a problem with them not being at the proper angle. Ive been able to swivel the tweets some inside their mounting cup and have come up with some good results but still not perfect. These tweets are very sensitive to off axis response so it it best to get them as on axis as possible.

One option may be to mount them in the dash firing back towards the driver/passenger. These tweets are smooth enough that a little reflection off of glass wont hurt them too much.

Greg Peters

Thanks guys- it's great to hear from people that own these speakers. I've decided on these based on the reviews from lucky owners and the press, and the local dealer I have here is hesitant to put a pair in the sound board (as he'd rather stuff them in his personal Forerunner at the moment than have an extra $899 Canadian tied up in the board), so...I haven't heard them, on- or off-axis.

I have been running coax in stock locations, and the passenger's side is good for placement, but the driver's side has to try to play through my left knee while I'm driving, hence the wish to improve upon factory locations. I have the dbs in there now, and the tweeters protrude about as far from the woofers as I can get away with before cutting factory grills. I won't know if I can do so with the sr6500s until I can mock them up as a coax, and measure the difference of tweeter to edge of woofer basket and compare to the db series. The db tweeters currently do cause the factory door grills to deflect a bit where they touch.


I've done installs in various locations in previous cars (dash, doors, kick panels etc.) with other equipment, and have a good idea what that can do, but threw it out there for expert opinions (as those are easily found here). This vehicle responds well to quality gear and that's what I'm striving for. The upper dash panel is also pretty cheap to replace should they sound good there. I'm never going to compete with the system, but I really enjoy one that sounds as good as it can. I'll probably do the double sided tape thing when I get them to play around with locations before final decision.

I hope to keep the XJ for another 2-4 years, and have always been a fan of stealth installs ( my city is the property crime capital of the country). I figured it would be worth having the tweeters placed for optimum even if it would up the workload of my pager-alarm (and the big stick that comes with it). I used to cover my gear with Sparkomatic or Radio Shack grills, but thieves nowadays are too young to understand the stigma attached.


I'm lucky enough to be nobody too, but I know Polk staffers read the posts here sometimes, and figured a hint couldn't hurt.

MacLeod

Putting the tweets in the stock locations wouldnt be all the bad. You could angle them up so they wouldnt be firing into your leg that much. It doesnt really matter if your midrange is into your leg but I think the tweeter would be ok there.

Other than that, your dash looks like the best option unless you want to do some 'glassing.

PoweredByDodge

try putting them in the dashboard... your jeep SHOULD have 3.5" holes cut into the dash for the factory infinity premium 6 speaker system... if you pry the dash up you should see 3.5" mounting holes (empty of course) on driver and passenger side... there you can simply take some thin ABS plastic, make an adpator plate to mount the tweets in the 3.5" holes... and call it a day --- bounce it off hte glass, sounds fine... might have to adjust to correct phase, but play with it.

MacLeod

Thats where I stuck mine in my Ram when I first got them and they worked well. Didnt image as well as they do now with them in the A pillars but then I got even distrobution of the highs as opposed to now with more highs coming from the passenger tweet than the drivers tweet due to it being more off axis.

cam5860

I think in your situation i would just go with the mmc6500 set. That way you could swivel the tweeter anyway you like for better imaging.

Greg Peters

Actually, my Jeep is the Cherokee. The Grand Cherokee had tweeter locations in dash, and the Cherokee LTD with Infinity system (99-01) had 3/4" tweeters in the mirror panels, but my plain jane version just came with regular Chrysler AM/FM/Cass and four 5 1/4 oversize paper cone specials (but that's where the aftermarket comes to the rescue). The factory stuff was mediocre on a good day.

I considered the db6500 components as well as the mmc6500 set. When the sr6500s were announced and feedback started coming in on them, I felt it best to spend the extra $$ and plan for the best. I've had Infinity, Alpine, Pioneer in previous systems and spent some quality time with Blaupunkt, Kenwood, Pioneer, MB Quart, and Hafler (post RF, circa '90) components as well.

I don't mind putting in some work to accomodate the sr set, especially if they're as good as I believe them to be from the enthusiasm they have generated here. I appreciate all of the suggestions and will stock up on more spare Jeep parts to replace the cut up originals as necessary...

MacLeod

Stick with the SR's. Yeah it would be a lot easier if they had a surface mount cup but their SQ is too good to pass up.

Sticking them in the dash would be a good option. Youd have to cut about 2" holes in their to accomodate them.

Your idea of the double sided tape and experimenting with listening postitions is the best way to do it. Figure out where they sound best and go from there.