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2Addicts | BMW 2-Series forum Technical Topics Navigation, iDrive, Audio, Video, Bluetooth, Phone, Cameras, Electronics tweeter pods

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      01-15-2019, 11:38 AM   #1
sethwas
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tweeter pods

I know it's popular to take the HK pods and replace with a tweeter of your choice, but if you don't already have the HK pods it's just as expensive (or more expensive) to get the BMW ones than using custom pods that mount on the A pillar.

Has anyone done this?

The sail panel is sort of a compromised position, and for imaging it would make sense to just put the tweeter closer to the windshield. Was wondering if anyone had any experience doing this in the 2 specifically.

For example:
https://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum...eter-pods.html

Acoustically - is this too far from the mid in the door and it messes up imaging? Really don't want to put the mid up on the pillar to fix like this jeep (but looks nice):
https://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum...illars-62.html
although replacement pillar trim is less than half the cost of the two HK sail panels.

May make more sense to avoid the A pillar or sail panel and just get high end coaxials instead and leave in doors.

Seth

Last edited by sethwas; 01-15-2019 at 11:48 AM..
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      01-15-2019, 06:17 PM   #2
MarcoZandrini
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You can buy HK sail panels on eBay.
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      01-16-2019, 07:49 AM   #3
sethwas
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true - but they are about $130-150 for the pair.

Getting a custom metal pod to mount in a superior location to the sail panels is less than that.

Also to buy a spare A pillar trim and cut out a hole for the tweeter is like $80 (also for the pair).

So was wondering if anyone has any experience with putting the tweeter in a location other than the sail panel.

Thanks!
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      01-16-2019, 07:00 PM   #4
knyghtryda
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I got my HK sails for under $100 with the old tweeters. If I were to resell the tweeters I could probably get $30-40 back. The only place I'd really want to put a pod would be near the non-moving air vent. The problem with that is wiring. Doing anything but mounting to the doors means running wiring through the door harness, and that looks to be a major PITA endeavor for very little gain.
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      01-16-2019, 08:51 PM   #5
sethwas
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Hmm, I haven't been able to find panels for under $70 a side. And I don't know who is buying new HK tweeters (been watching ebay) but if that's true there's certainly a credit back.



Still I went to the car to see - the wires come from the trunk to behind the dash before going into the door so you don't even have to take the door panel off to do this. So whether or not you are using the existing wiring, or running new wire from a new amp you would pre-wire the pods and leave a 3' section of wire hanging down.
Drill the hole and fish the wires down then mount the pod (ideally to the base of the pillar and not the dash itself - don't want to mess with that). Under the dash locate your new wires and the old ones. Simply splice and with a hair dryer/heat gun use pre-solder lined heat shrink to solder the old and new cables together. Then tie up and hide.

Based on the tennis ball method, where the tennis ball is approximately the size of a 3" mid (that can either be a coaxial or component), you can place a speaker pod in front of the mirror defroster vent and it will obstruct zero of the windshield. It's not wider than the pillar already is and doesn't come out any further than the sail panel already.
I'm thinking a 4" may be too large to put in the pillar but haven't tested.

If I were to leave the 4" mid in the door and put only the tweeter next to the sail panel in a pod but not in the panel the external passive crossover prevents me from having to run any cables in the door so nothing fancy. Simply cut into the cable from the amp under the dash, add the crossover, and run the woofer-lead back to the existing cable that was cut that goes in the door, and the new cable from the pod to the tweet portion of the crossover.

If I knew someone with a 3d printer I could make a mock up to see if cosmetically I like how discrete it is and how it would or would not hurt the window defroster. A flush mount on the pillar is more slick than a pod I feel.

Seth
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      01-17-2019, 04:20 PM   #6
sethwas
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Went to a local fabricator to ask about this. They said financially it's cheaper to just plug in pods to the pillars looking like boost gauges than fabricating rings in the pillars, even if they are supplied the pillars for free.

They also said that it doesn't pay unless you are starting with good amps and about the highest end speakers you can get, otherwise they said spend the money you would have spent on the pillars and mounts and just get better speakers/amp/dsp as that would have more impact than just moving the tweets/mids to the pillar. Of course if you already have the electronics then putting on the pillar vs. the sail panel is a no brainer.

Seth
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