I have a question that I think some of the more experiences people on the forum might beable to help me with. I want to build a car for IASCA so I want the best possible. I've been told that kick panels are the only/best way to get good tonality and staging in a car. My first instinct was to mount the mids up higher (on the dash or "A" pillars). But I've been told this will not work well.

Why?

I was told it's in part do, to early reflections caused the windsheild. What exactly are early reflections, and how can I avoid them?
I was also (by a different person) told that comb filtering was the main reason? I know what comb filtering is, but is it the same as early reflections?

All the other considerations aside, why is it bad to mount mids on/near the dash?

 

Well one thing is reflections as you've noted. Putting mids into kicks kind of "takes care of that", altough you do get reflections off the panels a bit.

I think you will definitely appreciate this reading:
kickpanel speaker locations : pros, cons - Diy Mobile Audio
it's worth it.

 

-Reflections yes,
-very little makes a lot of sound, be prepared to slope hard and tone back a lot of sound to smooth it out.
-Because the speakers are right there including the drivers side its hard to find a center( I even have a center channel and it was very difficult to get it. ) with kicks center is easier but you get a rainbow effect also.
- If you use a pillars make sure there turned slightly so your sound stage isn’t "cut off" My passenger side has to be tilted slightly for larger people or it all together disappears.
- expense..! kick panels are the norm so many installers know how to do it well( a-pillars not so much and there’s more then meets the eye, lots of cost with trial and error. )

Pro's
Great sound stage all up in your face!
left right channel very well defined
You don't need a lot of power I'd recommend this for a 0-600 watt class!

 

there is no 0-600 class anymore just 0-1000 and 1001 and up Iasca just changed some rules.

 

I have to talk to moe more often.

 

What my humble opinion would be is to run a 3 way set, with mid bass in the door's mid range in the as far forward in the kicks and tweeters in the a pillars. just make sure you get a mid that plays up to 5-6000k that way you can blend the tweeter in nice and having the tweets in the pillars will help elimanate the rainbow effect, and give a nice high soundstage. What kind of speakers are you planning on running?

 

My concern is that I can't/wont put my midbass in the doors. They fit perfectly in the kick (very modified) and there is no more room for anything. Which leaves the dash for the mids. Pathlengths arent much of a concern right now, just tonality. Which is why I'm concerned about the reflections.

 

what car
does it have airbags?

 

Yes the car has air bags. But they are not close to the speaker locations in question.

 

I'm having tweeters and mids installed in the corners of my dash. Not sure why most people say that will result in lots of early reflections. I guess in many cases it might but I think it would depend on the type of dash and angle of the speakers. If the mid is a bit above the dash with the tweeter a bit above that, and the dash slopes down a bit away from the speakers, and the speakers are pointed into the open area of the car (between the driver and passenger) I don't understand how that will send lots of early reflections to your ears. Some off axis sound will bounce off the dash but at an angle such that most will not reach the ears as early reflections. However if you sit fairly close to the dash then you might want to point your tweeters across the dash at each other, which then would get you tons of early reflections.