After doing some searching I don't know the best way to go about this. I'm installing a set of focal 165V3E's in the front of my cherokee. It consists of a 6.5" midbass, 4" midrange, and tweeter. My original idea was to install the 6.5" in the door(which would fit easily with very minor modification) and the 4" and tweeter in a 'glassed kickpod on the floor. I did some reading and found mixed answers on the best way to do this. I read an old thread where stephen kephart suggest it would be better to do the opposite--4" and tweet in the door and 6.5" in the kick. The door will be heavily deadened. What is the best way to do this?
After going into the fiberglassing and interior forum I seen alot on custom door panels. I think I could do something like that too. Would the all three in the door sound good? No reactions from each other? I think that might be the route to go. Any ideas?
Yeah, I have, but I went over it again and he doesn't get into kickpods much at all. Says they may or may not be good? I guess what I concluded from reading that again is that it's not going to really be a huge difference. Seeing how I have long legs (6'4") and there's not that much room in the leg area, I am most likely just going to put all three in the door by doing some sort of custom door panel. Good thing I have a cousin into auto-body and fabrication that can give me some pointers. Is there any interference issues with the speakers here? As in they should be sealed off from each other? I don't think it's an issue but just checking. Also since it will be pretty much whatever I want now is there any placement that would be ideal, that is for example the midbass on the bottom, midrange above and the tweet above that or is just a matter of taste? I appreciate the info.
I am working on a much more complete write-up that should clear up any confusion. When designing a system, it is important to know what changes are important to make to obtain the best final sound possible. Even installation can be a practice of compromises. Kickpannels are popular because they even out the pathlength differences. However it does have some disadvantages. You are putting them deep into a hole with more reflective surfaces to contend with. IMO a good frequency response is a much more important thing to achieve than a more balanced timing differences. Especially since it is nearly impossible to obtain the proper locations in a vehicle to get enough of a result to make it worthwhile.
Now out of all the speakers, the midbass driver is probably the best one to put in the kick pannel as it is the lower frequencies (600 Hz and down) that timing cues dominate the imaging we hear. And if possible, I recommend mounting the tweeter under the mid as this will raise your soundstage a bit. Try using some double sided tape on the tweeter to experiment a bit with the location to find what sounds best to you.