Originally Posted by
geolemon
I once had a '95 Pathfinder around '99 or '00 (back when they were more mini-truck than minivan substitute) that I did a bit of an experiment with a line array - an intentionally near-field line array. I used the neutral center spot between the headrests rather than my listening headrest specifically because I'm also anal about symmetry - but I literally tied a pencil to a string and drew curved lines down the new doorpanels I was fabricating. I mounted two 5.25" midbass drivers down in the corners, and four 2" full range drivers (I swear they were TangBand from PartsExpress).
The net effect was actually awesome. Eventually I added a super-tweeter in my sail panels that picked up way at 10kHz, just the final octave where the little 2" with their phase plugs rolled off around 12kHz.
But what was most remarkable was both the height and width of the stage - neither of which I'd predicted. I was actually trying to create more direct-to-center primary pathlengths, to dominate the reflected pathlengths. And what I didn't realize that I also did was simulate the way a single version of that 2" speaker would project sound towards you if it were several feet to either side of that actual location. For a cheap system, it was one of the best imaging that I've ever had - especially once I filled in those final 'ting tings' that were a little under-represented initially, with the supertweeters.