Speaker Placement, System Design | JBL P-923, P-522, P-622, P-422

Speaker Placement

Because of the Power Series speakers’ versatile mounting options, there are many placement options that will achieve excellent sound quality in your vehicle. Please consider the following to help you get the most from your speakers.

1.The most spacious stereo image is achieved when the left and right speakers are placed as far apart as possible.

2.The best center image will be achieved when the distance from the left speaker and the right speaker are as equal as pos- sible from your listening position. This is most easily achieved by placing the speakers as far forward as possible.

3.Treble is directional in nature. This means that high frequencies are reduced as you move off the tweeter’s axis. If pos- sible, rotate the speakers so that the angle of the tweeter points across the car to the listener on the opposite side. This will make each listener slightly off-axis to the tweeter that is closest to that listener, but on axis to the most distant speaker, which helps compensate for the fact that each listener is always closer to one speaker than to the other (see Figures 4a and 4b). Choosing mounting locations that satisfy all of the above criteria will provide the most satisfying performance.

Figure 4a

Aim Triangle of Tweeter Diffuser

Toward Listener

Figure 4b

System Design

A more advanced system design can be achieved by adding a Decade,™ GT, Power, GTi, or equivalent subwoofer to your Power Series speakers. In this case the Power Series multi-element speakers will be used as high and midbass fre- quency drivers and should have their extremely low frequencies blocked by electrical means. Active or passive crossovers can be used in order to achieve the best system ﬁdelity and widest dynamic range. A crossover fre- quency of between 80Hz and 120Hz is recommended for the best imaging and widest dynamic range.

Installation Warnings and Tips

•Be careful not to cut or drill into fuel tanks, fuel lines, brake or hydraulic lines, vacuum lines or electrical wiring when working on your vehicle. Inspect behind panels before you cut or drill.

•Make sure that the speaker will physically ﬁt in the mounting location. If door mounting, check for adequate clear- ance with the window in both closed and open positions as well as for interference with the window crank and power window mechanism. If mounting else- where, check for clearance around rear deck torsion bars, glove box or other structural elements.

•Do not mount speakers where they will get wet.

•Make sure that it will be easy to run connecting wires to the speakers. Trace speaker wire paths before you undertake mounting.

•Always disconnect the ground wire from the battery before doing any work on the vehicle.

CAUTION: Fuel tanks are located directly beneath the rear deck in some cars. Check for adequate speaker basket clearance before considering this location!

A Note on Power Handling

As a result of their high efﬁciency, all JBL loudspeakers will produce reasonable volume levels in the automotive environ- ment using very little ampliﬁer power. However, the use of a small ampliﬁer to attain very high volume levels could lead to overdriving the ampliﬁer. This will generate high distortion levels which can easily damage loudspeakers, even if the rated power of the ampliﬁer is below the rated maximum power handling of the loudspeaker!

As a general rule, do not turn up the volume control past the point where you hear distortion in the form of either signal distortion from an overdriven ampliﬁer or mechanical noise from an overstressed speaker.

For the best performance and speaker reliability, you should select an ampliﬁer with an output rating slightly higher than the maximum power likely to be used to generate the desired volume levels. This margin of reserve power will ensure that the ampliﬁer will not attempt to deliver more power than its design allows.

WARNING: Playing loud music over 120dB can permanently damage your hearing. The maximum volume levels achievable with JBL speakers combined with high power ampliﬁcation may exceed safe levels for extended listening. When listening at high volume levels, always use hearing protection or turn the volume down!