I was thinking about getting a dash mat solely for purpose of absorbing / diffusing reflections and improving the sound stage. Before I buy one I'm curious to know if anybody is using one and if it helped at all?

 

So I decided to just lay a couple dish towels across my dash just to see if it made any difference and to my ears it definitely did. After playing a few go-to test tracks like Sultans of swing, dolphins cry etc I could immediately tell that the high freq were less harsh, almost subdued but clearer. It was very noticeable at higher volume.

 

Many have used them for years in the competition scene. They will help with reflections off the dash, cleaning up the mid/high frequencies in the car. I would recommend them anytime you have speakers up high in a vehicle.

 

Aesthetically I'm not a big fan of dash covers, although some of them don't look to bad on our cars, the improvement in sound quality is worth it to me. I'm thinking this might be my short term solution until I find a way to get my tweeters mounted on axis.

 

Are your tweeters in the dash?

 

This is my next step. Honestly I should have done it years ago but especially now that I have a great processor and a good stage with the tweeters on the dash on axis I definitely need one.

I've noticed now that I'm getting it pretty dialed in, rolling my window down shifts the stage to the right. Opening the sunroof cover but with the sunroof closed seems to diffuse the stage a bit.

I think I'm at the point where I'm going to really notice acoustic treatments like the dash cover. I've been studying the Magic Bus and it's treatments but most of them do not seem to be applicable in a car due to their size.

 

Yep. they're sitting in the stock oem location.


It definitely sounded better when I laid some towels across the dash. So good that I wanted to leave them there lol. Hard to describe but the mids/highs were more subdued but clearer and more planted to the front of the car if you will. I've been looking at some dash covers that other members have over on this thread and they don't look too bad. https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...light=dash+mat
Another thing it wanted to experiment with was using some Ensolite I have to line underneath both sides of the dash with. This may have a negative effect but I think it's worth trying.

 

Just facing the tweeters on axis with me instead of at the windshield made the stage more focused. I suggest trying to aim them toward you at least temporarily along with the dash mat.

 

Yeah my goal is to find a way to get them mounted on axis and still look good. I've been reading up on fiber glassing and it doesn't look all that difficult. Just takes time. When it warms up I might try making some pods that sit in the oem tweeter locations or in the a pillars.
In the meantime I could do this lol. These are the same tweets I have.

 

Yes - to the dash Pads results are excellent. An interesting tale of event.
Switching to the ZR lab Products is the greatest step I've ever made.

 

A suggestion from experience.

Put them in the kicks. If you locate them toward the rear of the car in the kick and get the angle right they clear the dash overhang enough that you don't lose much height. This way you can get the path lengths more equal and you don't have to deal with the crazy reflections off the windshield and dash. This should also help with side bias.

 

Try some armour all on the dash I found it had a significant effect for absorbing sound. Only thing is you would have to apply it fairly regularly to maintain the absorbtion. Dash covers would definitely be a more permanent solution.

My own excellent mind has looked at the tweeter positions and determined that if you can block the direct line of sight between the tweeter and the listening area you can sort of work around reflections by embracing them. This is easy if you are rather short because the tweeters sit in the dash. For someone like myself who is constantly hitting his head on the roof I have to lower the tweeters a bit more and add foam around the resulting orifice in order to counteract resulting spikes. It seems to have worked beautifully however.

 

Nothing wrong with the TL windshield or reflection,
It's a positive affect in an ACTIVE system.

 

Armour all ???

I'm sure a fresh steaming pile of shit would absorb sound but its not done.

 

I ordered my dash cover today. Sounds like you're happy with your new components.


When it warms up a bit I'm going experiment with different placements. I'll try the kicks as you suggested. Who knows maybe I'll end up liking them best in the oem location with a dash cover.


Do you honestly expect me to believe that armour all, which is basically a silicone oil, is going to make any significant difference in the sound quality. c'mon

You constantly hitting your head on the roof might explain a few things. How tall are you?

 

Are you kidding me? Is this some sort of joke????

 

Ummm....

 

Eh...I've found it quite a bit more beneficial to avoid hard reflective surfaces whenever possible.

Not to say you can't have constructive reflections, just you usually have to throw a ton of processing at it to control them.

 

When I was experimenting with my huge 110 tweeters I liked the kicks the best. Only problem is it's pretty much impossible to have both the mids and tweeters down there without surgery. If I had the room my tweeters would be down there.

Oh, and he's serious about the Armour All. He has a couple older posts about it.