Ok, help me pick: On Axis or Off Axis (fiberglass dash pods)

[ALPINE408]

I would of went with what Orion stang 3rd option with the center channel firing up..... But that's me it's not my car I can just tell you from my experience as an SQ judge I have only seen one car do something like that and it scored horrible.... The guy was new to SQ as well so he was not going to score that high anyways

[Colin - STAPUFT]

Well crap.

While I was out getting my first of the year saw and cut fix... I did cut all of the pieces for BOTH on and off axis. So I do have all the bits for On Axis as well.

I hear what both of you are saying as far as aiming the speakers. I think you are spot on. And ALPINE, center would probably be better firing up even if L&R were on axis. The Center is a processed channel (Harman Kardon analog 5.1 by Jim Fosgate) and is defeatable. With the flip of a switch I can turn it off and the L&R will not see any signal change- the way I am going to wire it.

Only issue with ^ is the drivers side then. As you see it, the passengers side is firing at my face, just like the driver's side. I'm pretty sure I can't get the angle I need to aim the driver's side at the passenger. The problem is how the dash comes up about 2.5" for the instrument cluster. Check out the pic again:

That rise makes it a chore to get the pod high enough to angle at the passenger and not totally obstruct my vision.

Steve Anderson had mids firing up at his windshield in his Lexus... but that is full custom- with a full custom symmetrical dash and bla bla bla. So he had to deal with reflections-

http://www.soundsolutionsaudio.com/forum/topic/39334-sq-champ-lexus-es300/

But I am no Steve Anderson- Obviously. lol

For the on axis L&R I will work some more on the driver's side to see what is possible. And I'm thinking I can cut a few inches off of the passenger's side and just go straight back to the windshield.

[White Lightning]

If you plan to use full on axis with time alignment, get rid of the center channel. You will not need it.

Looks like the left (driver) side drivers will be lower than the right (passenger) side. Am I seeing this correctly ??

To me, it would seem to perform better and look cleaner with a single mid and tweet on each side. And quite possibly have more air space to work with ...

[OrionStang]

If you plan to use full on axis with time alignment, get rid of the center channel. You will not need it.

Looks like the left (driver) side drivers will be lower than the right (passenger) side. Am I seeing this correctly ??

To me, it would seem to perform better and look cleaner with a single mid and tweet on each side. And quite possibly have more air space to work with ...

I thought that about the center channel, but I'mm no pro.

[hoit]

please keep us updated for this...tuned!

[Colin - STAPUFT]

If you plan to use full on axis with time alignment, get rid of the center channel. You will not need it.

Looks like the left (driver) side drivers will be lower than the right (passenger) side. Am I seeing this correctly ??

To me, it would seem to perform better and look cleaner with a single mid and tweet on each side. And quite possibly have more air space to work with ...

I thought that about the center channel, but I'mm no pro.

Curse you Randall. I knew you would say both of those. haha.

I know it doesn't need the center channel. It is Stereo & not Tereo... But I have a speaker and an amp and a processor! I HAVE to do it. lol. But like I said, it is defeatable- I can turn it off with the quick flip of a switch. From what I've heard with my Nissan Frontier and other on axis dash mounted setups- I know you are right. I don't need it.

On to point number 2: only having one mid per side-

I would give more air space per speaker, but it wouldn't give me any more room to work with baffle and angle wise. I already have the outer mids as far out as possible. The further out I get them, the wider the stage. I do get I would have 2 sets of speakers to worry with- which causes more problems. ...but what do I do with the other 2? Put them back as rear fill again?

EDIT

and the speakers are on the same level- horizontally speaking that is, across the dash. I had the camera at a bit of an angle. The Passenger's side baffle goes up higher. However I do it, that is very important: to have both speakers at the same height.

[White Lightning]

Gotcha brother, thinking its maybe the driver dash in ert thats throwing me off.

It does look like with the larger baffle on the passenger side ... the passenger side will have more airspace to work with. That cant happen. Restrict it to mimic the driverside, no matter what angle you set up with.

As far as what angle to go with, and given you have thw means to moc up borh ways ... I say test and tune to see what works best.

That van is a complete different application than what most people work with.

Theres more, but got to get back to work ...

[Jessica]

are you opposed to just ripping the whole dash out and building a new one? I know thats a huge amount of work, but maybe it will get you where you need to go. I had one of those astro vans and i understand the space you are working in. Good luck

[Colin - STAPUFT]

^ yeah, that's too far. lol

I would love to do something like that, but that's too much work and I have a sentimental attachment to this van that keeps her from getting cut up.

Funny thing is, today while messing around with settings with just the mids and tweets in the kicks and the 8"s in the doors, I managed to get the image sounding better than it has ever been... L&R and center wise. ....but there is just something not right, something about the sound I don't like compared to the on axis setup in my Frontier. Presence maybe? I dunno.

Thanks for the help guys. Randall, I will keep them Identical in air space. Good advice too... That shouldn't be too hard to do- once glassed in, just pour water in them and see how much comes out- then take up the volume of the greater one with some sort of fill material.

I have the off axis center (the one I will be going with) and the on axis L&R bits glued together and fit properly with some bracing on the back side. When I get time I will think about doing the same with the off axis bits.... but I will probablly go with the on axis. (I did manage to get the passenger's side cut down a good bit).

As it stands right now though- my time is up and the work week for me starts on Sunday night... so maybe some more progress come the end of next week.

[Jessica]

im going to be watching this thread cause in my honda its so narrow that real hard to get good left right, and it always favors sound in the 1k region no matter what i do. Maybe i will learn something from what you do here.