[bladesmith]

I did some experimenting with drivers when I first started my OB speaker build.

And I found that if my tweeter was recessed slightly, slightly behind the mid, it sounded a bit better, why is that ?

Anyone have any ideas why that is ?

Thanks,
V....

[hdspeakerman]

Alignment of the acoustic centers of the drivers

[RDavidson]

Well....it's not so much alignment of their acoustic centers, as their axes are still separate. What, I believe, you describe is a coaxial driver or a point source. I know what you're saying, however. Perhaps a more complete explanation, is that it's a matter of better time / phase alignment of the sounds (from the separate drivers) reaching your ears at the listening position. This is a large part of what makes designs like Vandersteens and Thiels what they are. The idea is that one can build a simpler crossover, if the drivers can be physically positioned in a time/phase coherent alignment.

[G Georgopoulos]

I did some experimenting with drivers when I first started my OB speaker build.

And I found that if my tweeter was recessed slightly, slightly behind the mid, it sounded a bit better, why is that ?

Anyone have any ideas why that is ?

Thanks,
V....

All i can say is tweeters put out more focused and intense directivity,than say mids and woofers.

[JLM]

Need more information to answer your question.  What do you mean by "sounds better"?  Recommend posting images of before/after mountings.  Some designers use "waveguides" (ranging from extremely shallow to obvious) to improve lower frequency response of the tweeter and to match it's dispersion characteristics to the mid/woofer at the crossover frequency.  At the extreme, some front load the tweeter with a horn.  And as RDavidson posted phase coherence can be achieved between woofer/tweeter if the drivers acoustic centers are vertically aligned.  Note that simpler (such as 1st order) crossovers require drivers that have extended frequency range as the crossover frequency range extends much farther.

Of course it's your build, so you're welcomed to do whatever floats your boat.