[sinister mob]

I agree that active is the ideal way to go. But you can also go the passive route with excellent results if desired. For me, putting in the passive set-up with decent components really sounds awesome. I have a good clean signal from the HU, good clean power with the amps, decent speakers all around and really good sound proofing.

I think someday I may think about processing and T/A, but I think it is more of a personal preference. For me as a sound novice, the way my current set-up sounds is amazing. I am sure if I spent 5 minutes in 4thmeals car, I would be ordering up more goodies! But the components up front really sound great using a passive crossover set-up. I installed the tweeters in the panel as that is where they sounded the best. The restraint is probably that with the passive set-up, I would not be able to seperate the tweeters from the mids any more than I did. That is where active is better becasue you can correct for that greater distance between speakers.

I will also agree that having tweeters inside the stock speaker locations is just not good. The plastic holes combined with the terrible angle just throws muffled sounds into your legs. Not ideal at all.

Sound proofing can work wonders. Once I did my "roll-up" on all 4 speakers, the sound no longer bounces between the speaker and panel:

 

[sinister mob]

The roll-up method made a HUGE difference too. Especially in the rears as I am using 5x7 speakers. More of an oval wrap job for those. The panel fits super tight up against it and the sound has nowhere to go but out.

Agreed on the panel vs. pillar cost difference. If I did it over again, I would use the a-pillar location. I know a replacement set of panels would be $$$$$$ compared to $ for pillars. But realistically if I do ever sell the vehicle, I will simply leave the tweeters in there. Mine are not worth enough to pull them out. That would give me a reason to get better ones too. P