I've been reading up on this recently and have discoverd that the stock placement for tweeters in my car sucks since it's so far away from my mids which are down low on the door. The theory is to keep mids and tweeters close for proper staging but to do this I would have to surface mount my tweeters somewhere on my door, or go crazy with the hole saw and flush mount them.

Are there any other options for good SQ?

 

I would suggest you do testing in steps. Put the tweeter in one location one day (using tape to hold it) then try another and another. Until you get the right imaging you want.

Also what kind of tweeters are they?

Try A pilars first...very good success going that route.

 

I agree. Mount them in a few locations to see what YOU think sounds best. I prefer to keep my mids and tweets as close as possible. So when I mount my mids low, I also put my tweeter down low. If after this the sound stage is a little low or has a bit of a rainbow, I usually add another set of tweeters up higher in the car ("A" pillar is most common).

 

I used to agree. And while keeping the mid and tweeter close works fine, in this last build of my car I put 6s in the doors, 4s in the kickpanels, and tweeters in the Apillars and it stages fine. I don't notice much if any shifting as music goes from the mid to the tweet. Crossover point selection is key.

 

This is the truth. There are no localization queues along the vertical axis below 1-2kHz. Even then, you can account for this by using some clever EQ (involving HRTF inversion) and still achieve the stage height you're looking for with little to no separation.

 

I crossed my components at 3.5khz. I find it sounds better in stock locations if you cross it lower.

 

Well you have read this but have you heard this? The primary reason one improves the SQ of a system is due to a dissatisfaction with the current state of the sound system from listening (emotional dissatisfaction), in this case you have 'read' yourself into dissatisfaction (intellectual dissatisfaction). Therefore the solution for you is to do what makes you intellectually happy, OR you can learn what it is you want from your system from an emotional point of view.
Placing speakers close together in alignment (time wise) is a good idea generally, but it is often not the best solution for a lot of cars/ equipment setups. If it was coax drivers would rule the earth. I recommend you do what is generally recommended and that is to experiment with speaker placement using duct tape/ Velcro/ whatever.
both ways discussed so far in this thread can work exceptionally well. I recommend the easiest and cheapest (keep the mids and HF close together) until you feel ready to go to a full active solution with custom car modifications ($$$). You may also find the stock locations dont suck as bad as they do 'on paper'.

 

Wow, thanks everyone for the input. I was away for the weekend and couldn't respond until now.

To answer one question, the tweeters are Focals, I have this set.

I'll try the placement method and let you know.

PS, john vroom, I suppose what you're saying is responsible for 50% of all purchases, otherwise known as upgraditis. Right now I'm just trying to tweak my system and have been unhappy with the higher frequencies since I got the speakers. At times there is a ringing or over saturation of certain high frequencies, and I'm trying to get the tweets away from almost ear level and improve imaging at the same time.

 

try tape then try top of the door nere the apiller and on the apiller about 4"up