GTO 962 - JBL Car Audio User Guide / Operation Manual. Page 5

Because of the GT Series speakers’ ver-
satile mounting options, there are many
placement options which 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 wide 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 
possible, angle the speakers to be point-
ed across the car to the listener on the 
opposite side. This will make each listener
slightly off-axis to the tweeter that is clos-
est to that listener, but on axis to the
most distant speaker, which helps com-
pensate for the fact that each listener is
always closer to one speaker than to the
other (see Figure 4). Choosing mounting 
locations which satisfy all of the above
criteria will provide the most satisfying
performance.

A more advanced system design can be
achieved by adding a GT, GTX, GTi, or
equivalent subwoofer to your GT series
speakers. In this case the GT series multi-
element speakers will be used as high
and midbass frequency drivers and
should have their extremely low frequen-
cies 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
frequency of between 80Hz and 120Hz is
recommended for the best imaging and
widest dynamic range.

• 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
clearance with the window in both closed
and open positions as well as for interfer-
ence 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 clear-
ance before considering this location! 

As a result of their high efficiency, all
JBL loudspeakers will produce reason-
able volume levels in the automotive
environment using very little amplifier
power. However, the use of a small
amplifier to attain very high volume lev-
els could lead to overdriving the amplifi-
er. This will generate high distortion lev-
els which can easily damage loudspeak-
ers, even if the rated power of the ampli-
fier is below the rated maximum power
handling of the loudspeaker!

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 it down!

Figure 4

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