The Science of Speaker Placement
See how Q-Logic engineers designed Q-Forms kick panels to improve sound. Using the latest technology and a little common sense, you'll understand how they revolutionized the car audio experience.

The Science of Speaker Placement (21.6Mb MOV)

Q-Forms -vs- Factory Sound Patterns Run Demo

Q-Forms -vs- Factory Sound Patterns

Axis Response
The speaker axis is an imaginary straight line where a concentric mode of waves (ripples) spread outward from the center of the speaker cone. When you are "on-axis" with a speaker, you are directly in front of the speaker cone. When you are "off-axis", you are said to be off-center from the speaker cone. Maximum frequency response, phase and amplitude accuracy comes from being as close to on-axis with the speaker as possible. Because Q-Forms kick panels are positioned toward your ears, music will be accurately reproduced.

Path Lengths
The path length is the distance between left & right speaker paths to your ears. The best imaging comes from speaker placement where the path length differences are kept to a minimum. Typical factory OEM systems place one speaker very close to one ear and place the other speaker very far. Q-Forms kick panels separate the speakers so the distances to your ears are as close to equal as possible.

Dispersion Pattern
Sound dispersion is the spreading of sound as it leaves the speaker (like a pebble making waves when dropped into a pond.) Many factory OEM sound systems have narrow dispersion that does not allow the sound to spread very far. The listener must be directly in line with the axis of the speaker to obtain the best results. Using Q-Forms kick panels, a wide dispersion is generated that spreads the sound over a larger area so the effective listening range of the speaker is increased.

Reflections
Sound can either be direct or reflected. Reflected sound is comonly called an echo, like when you've ever been inside an empty house where you hear your footsteps and voice reverberate. When listening to music through most OEM speaker systems, you only hear a portion of the sound directly from the speaker. The other portions are reflections that can alter low frequency response and destroy your sound stage. Q-Forms kick panels help create "on-axis" sound that reduce reflections and enhance sound stage.