Distraction of seeing drivers on the dash.

[Donanon]

I'm nearing the end of the install stage of the new 4-way in my Corolla and I am mounting the midranges and tweeters in pods on the top of the dash. Initially I used a fine mesh as a grill and the drivers were clearly visible and I drove around for a few days with that set up. The problem was that my eyes were always attracted by the drivers and it seemed to make sound staging less 'real' for want of a better term and I found it very distracting.

So today I attached grill cloth over the mesh and went for drive of 2 hours or so and through the magic of (I assume) psycho-acoustics the sound stage gelled very nicely and the 'speakers lost their distracting appeal. Has anyone else experienced this or did I succumb to some kind of obsessive-compulsive effect or did the new grills effect some type of expectation bias?

PS, I forgot to mention that I did a basic tune before listening and no frequencies were popping or accentuated overmuch.

[xsvtoyz]

its a thought I resisted taking the covers off my tweeters for that reason. I wanted a plain visual stage so the audio would be the star. Well I blew out the ones I was running on a 7 hour trip. cheap so no biggie and the new ones fit perfect w/o the grills I try not to "see" them because they detract from plain and don't like the visual for thieves either but it works.

[Justin Zazzi]

Isn't that a strange phenomenon!? I like listening with my eyes closed sometimes for this very reason, but it's hard to do while driving haha. I wonder how common this is.

[Jdunk54nl]

Isn't that a strange phenomenon!? I like listening with my eyes closed sometimes for this very reason, but it's hard to do while driving haha. I wonder how common this is.

Just get a tesla with autopilot


I know I do this even with my home theatre. If I see it...it has to be coming from there!

[erinh]

From my build log:
https://www.caraudiojunkies.com/show...ght=2019+civic

I’ve been around this hobby for a good while. I’ve had a very “extreme” build for a long time and I’ve had a system that sounds quite good and gets stupid loud, if I say so myself. I’ve also seen and heard many incredible vehicles running the gamut from extreme to rather stock installs. Some installs are easier to tune “out of the box” than others. Some offer things others can’t. But, for the most part, what I’ve experienced is that there has really never been a single defining characteristic to what makes one system sound fantastic other than a) a good install, b) an understanding of the equipment and limitations/implications of the gear/install and c) a good tune based on a & b.

When I think back to my favorite car audio systems as a whole package (sound + aesthetic), the cars that come to mind for me are: Kirk Proffitt’s Acura TL, Jason Bertholomey’s BRZ and Michael Myers' Scion. None have "extreme" builds. Myers has dash pods but it's nothing crazy. All have/had door mounted midbass and a (relatively) understated yet elegant install. There’s nothing that stands out, cosmetically, in a way that draws attention to itself. Yet, they all sound incredible. They just have great tonality and an incredibly enjoyable fun factor. It's like you get in and the speakers just get out of the way and you enjoy the system for what it is. I've done the waaaaay extreme thing: 10 inch midbass in the kicks with a 4 inch hole cut in the firewall, and 5 inch coaxials on the dash. And as great as it sounded, if I’m being completely honest with myself, I preferred what those cars had to offer as an overall package. Don’t get me wrong; I loved my old system. And it wasn’t terribly obtrusive, but for me, personally, there’s really something about having a system that sounds fantastic without seeing what you’re hearing. And while I’m at it, let me be clear that I’m not dissing others’ choices of what they do in their systems. I did things in my old civic that I’m sure others wouldn’t have cared for either. I’m just stating my personal likes/dislikes from my previous builds and drawing inspiration from those I have enjoyed that kept a more stock-like appearance up front.

And my home theater is the same. A false wall with the speakers hidden behind a layer of black grille cloth and an acoustically transparent screen.

[diy.phil]

I use in-wall speakers at home...
Old school style... speakers are meant to be heard, not seen....
... unless those speakers are sexy enough to start a scandal.

[Donanon]

Isn't that a strange phenomenon!? I like listening with my eyes closed sometimes for this very reason, but it's hard to do while driving haha. I wonder how common this is.

Yes, it is. I've searched online but there is not much info on this phenomenon. It is real though.

[dumdum]

I enjoy critical listening in the dark for the very reason you lose visual cues

[dTor]

I have yet to fully tune my system. I did time alignment by ear in a hurry, but the stage was in the center of the dash. My A-pillar mids do no have grills, but my tweeters do. When I'm looking at the speakers, I feel like the sound, especially vocals, is coming directly from the speakers, but when I focus on the sound and the road, then the vocals are center-dash again. So weird...

[JCsAudio]

I guess I should stick with the stock hidden locations then.