I'm planning to do the Alpine Type-S upgrade for door and rear deck speakers discussed in another thread:

http://www.acura-tsx.com/forums/show...threadid=5946.

But I want to upgrade the tweeters too, and retain the factory flush installation. Has anyone successfully upgraded the TSX tweeters? What tweeters can I buy that will fit and work well? Would the Infinity Reference 1001T be a good choice?

http://www.infinitysystems.com/carau...er=REF&Cat=COM

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-BCIwxUZ...=0&cc=01&avf=N

Thanks for any advice!

 

if the type s tweeters are designed anything like the type r's, i think you might have a hard time getting the stock flush look. cause the alpines will not fit into the stock grille. ive put in type r tweets and i personally like the look of them like bubbling out ... http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/464907/8 heres some pics of the sound upgrades im doing, sorry they are pretty low quality, but you get the idea

 

Thanks acuratsx03. Based on others' posts in the Alpine Type S Speaker Upgrade thread, I'm pretty sure the Type S 6.5's will fit in the doors, and the Type S 6x9 will fit in the rear deck, all behind the factory trim.

What I'm looking for now is separate tweeters I can use to replace the factory tweeters in the top of the dash near the windshield. And I'd like to install them flush-mounted, under the factory trim.

I think this is important because the crossovers in the factory amp send most of the highs to the tweeters in the dash. And from what I hear, there's a big improvement to be had by replacing the factory tweeters with something better. But I'm not experienced with car audio gear, so I don't know what tweeters to get.

 

yeah, i dont have much experience at all with aftermarket stereo either. alpines were my first upgrade ever, and they really cleaned up the highs. and the type s 6x9s really brought out the bass. but now im doing some rewiring and adding a sub so that theyll get the low frequency the 6x9s got and the 6x9s will the be rewired as full range speakers. but good luck finding tweeters to fit

 

Anybody who has the Type s alpine tweeters in their TSX. Please let me know how you did the install. I wanted to find out if it is as difficult as the type r tweeter with all the filing and spacing. All I have found is type r component upgrade and not the type s component upgrade. If anybody has done the alpine 171A upgrade. Show me please.

 

I have the Type R popping out of my dash. I think it looks pretty cool



my speaker install gallery

 

Articcl9, how much depth was there below those grilles? I have the Alpine Type X tweets, and they are the deepest I've ever seen for a car. I'm a bit worried...

 

I wouldnt put such expensive tweeters, the alpine type x, in stock location, unless you got some kind of EQ. =D

 

1) Noted that you wouldn't do it. Check : ) I would never use that location with a bright tweeter or a tweeter that has poor lower-frequency response. Quarts, JBLs, Infinitys - not on your life. But a tweeter that plays upper midrange (even in the stop-band) smoothly and convincingly can create a great front stage in this sort of location, especially with guitars and female vocals. Besides, I got these seperates new in the box in trade for a $150 LCD computer monitor (a buddy works at an Alpine dealer and they got a special purchase on the X-series 5/tweet center-channel kit, so I got two!)

2) The xovers that come with the Alpine 5-1/4-tweet X-series kit actually are configurable for varying mid-tweet distances. My assumption (noted that it's an asumption) is that with the 160 different configurations on these very nice passive xovers, I can minimize image float on the handoff from the mids to the tweets.

3) Since an EQ can be thought of as a device to force speakers to play sound that they don't want to play all by themselves, it's always better to spend the money you might have spent on an EQ on getting the best speaks possible, so they sound good without coaxing. In a no-holds-barred system, eqs can be great - but on a budget, they should never be a substitute for the best drivers you can get. I would use a good time-alignment processor on tweets in this location, but that's not the situation I'm in, either, sad to say.

 

I wouldnt place any tweeters in stock location because the sound coming out would smash into the wind shield before it is heard by you. An eq if used properly doesnt change the sound of any speakers. In a car enviroment there are peaks and valleys in the response of the speakers, therefore you would use an eq to flatten out your frequencies. That is what an EQ is for. I feel you have a misunderstanding of what an EQ is suppose to do. Some ppl dont like the sound of flat frequences, which is what you have when you go into a recording studio, so they deviate alittle from it, but not much. As for drivers, it is really preferences. If a person knows how to tune and use an EQ properly, a set of good 100 dollars speakers will sound better than a pair of top of the line Focal speakers that are not setup properly.

 

"An eq if used properly doesnt change the sound of any speakers. "

I suspect that you don't mean this literally... (?)

An equalizer changes the audio signal sent to a speaker. The only reason to do that is to change the sound generated by the speaker.

"Peaks and valleys". Exactly. If the car has a "dead spot" in the listening location at some frequency due to destructive interference created by the shape of the car, you can play with your eq till the cows come home and you ain't fixing the problem. Same for a point of reinforcement for a particular frequency. More power ain't the answer, changing locations and relative polarities (or "phase", to be incorrect - the (+) and (-) wires).

Using an EQ has nothing to do with more power, you may say. Well, in order for an EQ to make a particular frequency 3dB louder in your car, the amplifier has to double its generated power at that frequency. Most EQs go to 12dB +/-. So if you go from flat to +9 on your EQ at the note that is in the dead spot, you better be able to generate EIGHT times as much power at that frequency. At that point, amps can run outta watts, and tweeters can melt their voice coils.

As far as your comment that $100 speakers and an EQ will sound better than really good speakers not set up properly, your statement is literally true, but misleading. With EXACTLY the same source unit and an amp powerful enough to drive either kind of speaker (Focals are your example and they are notoriously inefficient), I will make the Focals with no eq blow the doors off your $100 speakers with an EQ (through installation techniques including crossover selection, wiring, and configuration, but also using just good old gain tweaking and crossover tweaking). Not even close, not even funny. Now, if I decided to connect a Focal out of polarity or in someother incorrect manner, sure, your situation would be correct - but that's a meaningless scenario.

But perhaps you simply menat to point out that high-end, inefficient speakers connected to an amp that is not powerful enough or not worthy from a sound quality perspective, will give disappointing results. That is certainly true. Expensive speakers with poor supporting equipment will disappoint.

EQ's are literally the last thing I advise people to buy for their system, and I've been saying that since Bush I. Once you have enough power and the right speakers and the install just the way you want it - THEN put in an EQ. In the meantime, trying to make $100 speakers sound like Focals just by using an EQ is a foolish thing to try. In short, while I respect your right to have your opinion, I really think you're wrong.

Would enclosed kick-panel enclosures, with the mid and tweet at the same point and on the same plane, be better? Sure! Not doing it, though. And I value a strong front stage, especially a high front stage (I'm tall) more than I do some other trade-offs in sound quality.

 

HAHA I dont know what to say. Amp running out of watts? It's because of power that coils melt. And if it ran out of power would it melt? Kinda silly dont you think? Ideally, if you boost a signal 3db then you would need to double the power. BUT during music programing it doesnt matter that much. music arent sine waves.

Also Ill take some nice Seas Standard 100 dollar speakers with a nice parameteric EQ that are installed in the DOORS properly over a pair of focal that is also properly setup in the DOORS. To make those Focal sound noticeable better you would have to have an extremely proper install, having them in the kicks. Speakers in the doors playing at your ankles just blows. I dont care what kind of speakers you throw in there. Heck, Ill take those Seas speakers xovers correctly over the Focal if they were installed in the doors.

 

From my install..there are plenty of depth for the tweeter location. You can see for youself..the stock tweeters pop right off (just use a very small flathead screwdriver to pry it out). The hole for the stock tweeter was too small to mount the Type R tweeter, so I had to dremel out the hole to fit them in.

 

Thanks, a9... maybe I can get lucky and figure out how to backload them. These Type X tweets seem to be 28mm drivers, so they are probably too big. I'll pop the covers off tomorrow and take a peek.

Tuan, not sure what you're on about but don't think it's on topic. I believe you have misunderstood (or more correctly miscontstrued) one line. If an amplifier tries to increase its output by a factor of 8, if it succeeds or comes close, coils melt, and it probably clips well before then anyway. Funny, more speakers seem to blow due to clipping than to power...

If you want to have a debate about your assertions, start a thread, and I'll come visit.

 

Techncial mumbo jumbo aside, are there any seperate tweeters that will fit without butchering the dash?

 

Yes, just can't remember which. I'm sure it's in here somewhere...

 

my dash is not butchered. looks completely stock.

 

The type S look the same as the Type R pictured above