The How and Why - Terra Acoustics Makes the World's Best and Only Jeep Component Speakers
Below we'll explore the how and why of the design + material choices of the world's finest Jeep-specific component speakers.
TL;DR Using only the highest quality materials, our purpose built component speakers are engineered to deliver optimal sound quality in your Jeep.
Midrange Drivers:
In designing the world’s only Jeep-specific midrange drivers, we first looked at material selection. Sound quality was certainly at the top of the list, but nearly as important would be the durability and long-term performance of the speakers.
It became apparent that our focus would be to incorporate a medium that would give us a specific set of tonal characteristics we were looking for: tight, lively midbass response across the lower midrange frequencies and balanced, accurate transient response in the higher midrange frequencies.
Using 6061 aluminum, we molded the cones using a curvilinear design, which coupled with our inverted Santoprene surrounds give the speaker a design signature that maximizes dispersion of the midrange frequencies while keeping the cone stiff enough to play at high volumes for extended periods of time.
Neodymium motor structures allow us to control the heat generated by the voicecoil’s movement. They're lightweight and give us additional room for a more robust basket structure on the underside of the speaker.
A Jeep specific injection-molded composite basket using vinyl-injected ABS allows for an acoustically dead surface on which to attach the components of the speakers, further isolating resonance from the surrounding panels. In addition, a closed-cell foam ring seals the front of the speaker to the underside of our grilles so that no sound is lost in the sub dash region.
And lastly, as our intent is to optimize the overall acoustical performance in the Jeep, we've made our midrange drivers less efficient than the factory midrange drivers. Since the midrange drivers will no longer be distorting and trying to play frequencies that they simply cannot, we're able to turn the volume up more and the rest of the speakers in the car (specifically the midbass drivers in the floorboards and soundbar) can do a better job of filling in the lower frequencies and playing in a much more balanced way with your new speakers.
Tweeters + Reimagined Grilles
The tweeters we’ve incorporated into our Jeep systems are ones we’ve been working with for over 15 years. Typically used in much higher end mobile and home applications, we’ve taken a proven design and added some ruggedness to it given our Jeeps’ less-than-ideal environment.
Starting with a 20mm silk dome, we’ve coated the material with a UV protectant to protect the dome from the constant exposure to the elements given its location.
Silk domes are optimal for a smooth, detailed, neutral response throughout the higher frequencies. Given the location directly on top of the dash, firing almost directly into a giant glass reflector (your windshield), we want to have as much control of the response of the tweeter as possible without any harshness or tinniness introduced into the music.
The tweeters are housed in machined 6061 aluminum, and cooled using an old school tried-and-true ferrofluid bath at the base of the tweeter. This keeps the tweeters cool and performing optimally at higher volumes for extending listening periods.
Our grilles are a reimagination of the factory panels, with design cues taken from the polished rings around the gauge cluster, radio dials, and A/C vents. On an otherwise dull, fairly bland dashboard, our grilles introduce a subtle design element to the environment while adding a polished, refined look to your interior.