by Jonathan » Fri Jan 20, 2006 7:20 pm
"sometimes just playing with tweeter placement will get you there too..."
Especially with a TN51. That thing is a biotch to get imaging and sounding right. Odd characteristics of an inverted dome.
Kick panels can work very well with 2 way sets in the imaging department, the main thing is midbass performance. Many people cut a hole in the kick and tighten it to the carpet really well. Tends to bleed off resonant peaks that would otherwise occur with the small kickpanel space. That tweeter tends to do best on axis, off axis response isn't good on those tweets due to the dome configuration.
That's why 3 ways with dome mids are so nice, don't have to worry about this stuff, just play with the angle since it has its own enclosure :) Really, though, you should be able to get good imaging from your doors with some processing. Are you running any kind of processor/equalizer (a dedicated eq that allows you to adjust each channel, or each driver)? Note I'm not referring to the 8455, while it's a loaded HU, it still can't do what a processor can.
If you're not using processing I'd guess you suffer the same thing as nearly all door installs, mid on the drivers side is further off axis and rolls off in the 2khz region or slightly below, while the right side is closer on axis and has stronger upper midrange performance. Pulls the stage to the right in upper midrange and lower treble region, and if you try to lower the level, you end up cutting the right channel so your lower midrange is more left side biased. Just a guess, though, hard to say as all cars are different.
I'd recommend the processor first, as even equalization of both channels has a huge effect on side to side imaging. And you'll need that regardless of the install you do.
"sometimes just playing with tweeter placement will get you there too..."
Especially with a TN51. That thing is a biotch to get imaging and sounding right. Odd characteristics of an inverted dome.
Kick panels can work very well with 2 way sets in the imaging department, the main thing is midbass performance. Many people cut a hole in the kick and tighten it to the carpet really well. Tends to bleed off resonant peaks that would otherwise occur with the small kickpanel space. That tweeter tends to do best on axis, off axis response isn't good on those tweets due to the dome configuration.
That's why 3 ways with dome mids are so nice, don't have to worry about this stuff, just play with the angle since it has its own enclosure :) Really, though, you should be able to get good imaging from your doors with some processing. Are you running any kind of processor/equalizer (a dedicated eq that allows you to adjust each channel, or each driver)? Note I'm not referring to the 8455, while it's a loaded HU, it still can't do what a processor can.
If you're not using processing I'd guess you suffer the same thing as nearly all door installs, mid on the drivers side is further off axis and rolls off in the 2khz region or slightly below, while the right side is closer on axis and has stronger upper midrange performance. Pulls the stage to the right in upper midrange and lower treble region, and if you try to lower the level, you end up cutting the right channel so your lower midrange is more left side biased. Just a guess, though, hard to say as all cars are different.
I'd recommend the processor first, as even equalization of both channels has a huge effect on side to side imaging. And you'll need that regardless of the install you do.