hey all,

ive got a pair of boston rally splits, with the tweeters mounted in the kicks, the splits r just in the doors w/out using pods.

my soundstage is really wide, too wide, i am having problems getting a strong centre image. (or a centre image at all really, there is virtually no centre, its almost impossible to "locate", i can hear it, but cant see it, if that makes sense), i thought that using pods, or improving the angling of my mids mite help me overcome this? but i dont want to do it if its not going to help.

im rather new to sq, so i dont have much knowledge compared to you guys, and i havent got time-alignment or anything. but any help/ideas/advice would b much appreciated.

thanks in advance,

Try raising the level of the tweeter. I really ain't keen on locating any tweeter lower than the window winder of a car. I used to have mine on the dash hitting off the windscreen. It reflected the image into the cabin direction, wasn't as ear-piercing as some closer to the ear, and it was still within a feet away from my midrange driver. Front imaging was neat! Otherwise... ease the gain off your amp a little... that might help.. not 100% though.

considered buying another set of tweeters? the rally crossovers can allow this.

the manual has a good diagram of how it works.

might be what you're looking for to raise the sound stage and improve the imagining.

Why not tell us some more info about your car and the installation so we can offer more tips?

Damon Dupriez

Are the tweeters angled?
It appears you are missing location cues.

it is my experience that almost all car stereos feature either no centre image or a very poor and diffuse one. it is a very difficult thing to do (get the centre image to appear like its coming coming from the middle of the dash).

in my experience, kick panel mounted pods only help so much, you get a discernable centre image but it usually pulls towards the listener. time alignment with the help of individual gain adjustment is a great solution, and can really get the centre image in the centre. and then of course, is the solution i use, a centre channel speaker running off a dedicated decoder platform, dolby prologic II in my case. when setup right, this really allows you to create a sound stage that is accurate and lively, with everything where it was supposed to be.

so in short, you're up against a very stiff challenge if you want to create a centre image - good luck

thanks for the advice and replies guys , much appreciated

Damon, ive got a r31, with the tweeters mounted in the kick panels, sort of facing towards the opposite headrest, but after some experimentation i made the drivers side one abit of a wider angle. ive got the drivers side tweeter tuned about -2db compared to the left.

yeh, ill probably try and pick up another set of tweeters at some stage soon, have a bit of a play, even if they dont help me get a better centre image, at least itll help raise the stage height.

T-Bro, using a centre speaker with prologic II would b a dream solution , but unfortunatly i dont have the funds at the moment, something to look towards saving up for thou, any idea on the sort of budget id need for a setup like that?
Or would i just be better off saving up some $$$ for a EQ with time-alignment and using that?

thanks again all , its very much appreicated, any more ideas or suggestions please go ahead

A professional prologic II install will be pretty expensive, you have to add another good quality speaker, custom installation/moulding for it in your dash, a decoder (only alpine and clarion make them, at least $1,000 for this) and of course amplification for the centre – and if you want to do it right, add an equaliser for the centre to voice it correctly. So yeah, it’s a complex solution, which is why there are only a handful in australia

Simplest solution would be a headunit with time alignment, and getting your tweeters and mids close together to create ‘point sources’ on either side (I think your speakers are already set out like this). Then simply adjust TA and speaker gains until the lady in the middle of the stage appears to be singing from your centre aircon vents – and your happy might also want to add ambient tweeters to raise stage height and open up the listening space.

A system that images well is a rare thing and a treat to listen to, so its worth the challenge