Opinions on 2 General Statements

[cajunner]

8" mid bass probably don't need to be aimed at all, and if creating some angled baffle attempt means you are compromising the mounting location at all, you'd be best off just mounting the speaker flat to the door using a strong baffle that can bridge the inner door metal with some extra stiffening/strength. The stronger you can make the entire door structure surrounding the speaker (and away from it, since the flat plane of the door metal is subject to excitation away from the speaker as well as near it) the more bass you will hear and the more distinct the impact, since the door structure resonating after impulse, or ringing modes, is what leads to muddy sound in many instances.

I feel like a 6.5" midrange is a good compromise but I also would entertain 5.25" kick panel drivers since you have mid bass already going on, and a 5.25" cone is quite a bit easier to fit in a kick with aiming than a 6.5" will be, and the general stealthy can be easier to do if you only have to find room for the magnet backside, using the smaller frame for fitment. You can get plenty loud playing 300 hz and up on a 5.25" midrange, and the less obtrusive kicks can bring long-term satisfaction from a comfort standpoint.

[pocket5s]

Ugh.. I got involved with a very similar conversation on the other forum and the guy just couldn't get it. Aiming will have an affect regardless of if you are under the beaming frequency. Reflections are why.

Somewhat right.... but not more than 60^ offset- and it isn't necessarily linked to the beaming frequency. FR plots (frequency response) are generally shown at varying degree of offset from the driver. If you see the FR tail off in the upper frequency ranges as you get at greater angles- that's where you don't need to worry as much about aiming. It gets even easier with lower frequencies as they are not directional- my sub is in the trunk and midbass are under the front seats- works great.

I don't get what you are referring to with the 60* bit. Where the FR falls off at different angles is the beaming point, pretty simple.

As cajunner mentioned with the 8", it really applies to all midbass frequencies generally below 200-ish hz, as the size of the wavelength is bigger than the cabin, so aiming has no affect.

comb filtering: not only can it happen, it most certainly does happen, especially if you have dash mounted speakers of any kind. TA and phase usually aren't going to fix it either.

[cajunner]

I conjecture that beaming at crossover is less identifiable in a car, based on nearfield surface reflections.

also, harmonics add a little sumpin' some, as any note a speaker is likely to play natively or analog-ish, or naturally, faithfully, er... is going to be laden with harmonic content that extends into those pesky beaming zones, and if you're in the beam, so to speak, you're going to find crossover selection comes easier, but if you're 60 degrees out, or decidedly not optimal, then choosing where to cross is probably better approached with a less calculated, and more experiment/real-world driven design detail.

now that's a lot of verbage, and what I really meant to say is when you've popped your 4-way cherry the beaming issue should be back-burner at best, since you've already conscripted the driver complement to preclude any wide-band notions for a more deliberate, and distributed approach schematic.

alright, enough already. I can't say a thing without going off on beaming, combing, filtering, etc.

more details about where probable mounts are, for the 4" and 1" drivers would allow more verbage, and killin' it..

[beak81champ]

I have an "oh shit" handle right in the middle of the a pillar, so probable placement of the 4" will be against the dash on the pillar, and the tweets will most likely be up high on the pillars, unless you guys have reasons unbeknownst to me about why that should not happen.

[chithead]

How high on the pillar are you thinking for the tweeter?

[beak81champ]

How high on the pillar are you thinking for the tweeter?

I was thinking way up, almost as it would be playing either directly at eye level, or even above head level aiming down. I was going to delete the handle, but it would make it very difficult to get into my vehicle...
I could probably mount them near the 4"s down low, if you guys think its a better idea. It would just take some more thinking/planning...

[chithead]

I would think closer to the midrange would be better, but have been wrong before. Higher up on the pillar could raise part of the stage a bit, but would also throw a lot of other things into the mix.

[beak81champ]

I'm having a hard time figuring this stuff out. I was told not to use 6.5's and 8's down low bcuz that would pull the soundstage down, yet now I shouldn't raise the tweets too high bcuz it may pull the soundstage up too high? So, the optimal placement of everything except the subs would be on the dash, correct? And since that cannot happen, we put things where we can and TA and EQ it until it works the best we can? Am I getting it a little now?

[cajunner]

really not sure if you'll make a mental, audible on having the tweeter some 9" or more away from the midrange, it's mostly a personal preference sort of thing, no stage is ever really too high but having a disjointed, rainbowed, or otherwise imperfect stage based on differing nearfield reflections for the 4" compared to the tweeter, means it's probably a lesson in trial placement before conjecture-based art rules the day.

I'd wonder if the 4" barely snugs into the spot beneath the handle, and dash, if it's either possible to do a special handle custom fabbed, or a custom tweeter mount possibly coax'ed in front the midrange?

some might balk at the design of coax in a speaker where the midrange likely extends to above 3 Khz, based on intrinsic reflection paths from the bigger cone's harmonics content, but I find having a tweeter concentric, even if not quite point source, or time-aligned, is actually not that bad. I would look at either options as well as a tastefully done dash pod for the tweeters alongside the midrange, perhaps in one of those german=guy aluminum eyeballs that are quite the snazz?

[beak81champ]

I don't worry about being having my field of vision blocked speakers in the front corners of my dash, as I sit about 3 feet above everyone else in a car anyway, and the stock dash speakers are buried into the dash corners, so maybe I can build an enclosure that tucks into the dash/glass area above the stock speakers, and house both the 4's and the tweeters. Thanks for your other option suggestions as well cajunner.