Imaging Tweeters

Tech Tip – Imaging Tweeters

Often when installing high quality front speakers we are looking to get the best sound possible with imaging at eye level and a good transition between tweeters and midrange drivers. In many cases we make a compromise and put the tweeters up higher and the midrange speaker in the factory door location. This may increase the height of the sound, but now we have a disconnect between the tweeter (high) and midrange frequencies.

A better option is to mount the tweeters very close to the midrange drivers or use high quality coaxial speakers. This does make for great transition between the two speakers, but what if we still need to raise the height of the sound? It is not often practical to highly modify the A-Pillars or the dashboard to place both midranges and tweeters together up higher. An easier solution that is less invasive is to add a set of imaging tweeters. This gives the user the best of both worlds since the original tweeter and midrange are together in the lower doors for good transitioning between them and will have the extra set of tweeters to help raise the height of the imaging. Most high quality tweeters offer different options for mounting which will require minimal cutting or modifying of the vehicle to accept them. Here is how we suggest doing it:

• Install component set or coaxials in front doors

Install the components using the supplied passive crossovers and take care to mount the midranges and tweeters next to one another in the doors. Using a high quality set of coaxials such as our C5 speakers or our C3 convertible speakers is a great alternative also since the tweeter will be in the center of the midrange for a good point source of sound from each door without the need for cutting a hole in the plastic door panel near the midranges.

• Hooking up the additional pair of imaging tweeters

All JL Audio® tweeters are sold in separate pairs along with their own supplied passive inline filters which makes this step very easy. Take the extra pair of tweeters and wire them up in parallel with the component set or coaxials that are already installed. Use the supplied in-line filters to block low frequencies from the extra pair of tweeters. An easy way to parallel them is to hook them up to the input side of the passive crossovers for the main set of speakers. This will allow them to receive power from the same channels running the main components. Now use the supplied tweeter cups or surface mounts to place the extra tweeters in a higher location such as the A-Pillars or dashboard.