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The actual rule- as opposed to the rules of thumb above- is that the center of the tweeter should not be more than one wavelength at the crossover frequency away from the center of the woofer/midrange. If the crossover says the woofer/tweeter crossover is at 3khz for example, there should not be more than 6" between the center of the two. This assumes the speakers are aligned vertically or close to that. If more than one wavelength separates the two you'll have peaks and valleys in the phase/frequency response at the crossover frequency and the sound will seem to cover from a large area instead of an instrument or a voice. This is especially important for vocals which fall right in the crossover area. Keep them as close as possible- kicks, doors whatever. If you do separate them, keep the separation vertical towards the listeners to avoid the spread of the sound.
If you are using an in car computer, you might consider using an active crossover (they are relatively inexpensive) of the 4th order LW (see the crossover specs). Make sure the crossover offers adjustable frequencies and gain. You'll need dual amps but you can then use something like DRC (google it) to provide lots and lots of compensation options. Without a computer in the car I wouldn't recommend this but since you've got the CPU, may as well use it.
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