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Sound System Improvement Stage One

309K views 432 replies 96 participants last post by  Mic10is 
#1 ·
I have been asked on numerous occasions about stereo equipment for the X3 since I have installed them in two separate X3's (07 and 08) and helped dozens of others including some dealerships.

Stereo installations can be done in stages just like performance or handling enhancements can be done in most vehicles until the desired impact is achieved. This helps to not only spread out the cost, but keep it to a minimum.

At the end of this whole series I will post some pics and "DIY" instructions.

For those that are new to the forum my recommendation come from over 35 years in the music industry as well as 20 years as a radio broadcast engineer with such big radio station names as DC 101 where Howard Stern started, and doing sound for a number of popular bands or groups.

Please bear in mind with my experience and even more --- these are only suggestions since the human ear is the most perfectly diverse piece of audio test equipment available and what sounds good to me might sound like (expletive) to you :).

This will be done in five stages:

Since there are so many different variations I will make suggestions in what I consider to be each stage of improving your X3's basic business sound system. IF you have the higher grade sound system, you are probably content and don't need my meddling.

First (Stage One): Speakers

speakers like tires can be an easy change but make a world of difference. I will not go into the full details of what specs are what, but only recommend ones I know will fit and have the proper electrical acceptability to the OEM sound system. Prices are approximate and taken from Crutchfield as it is an easy link and has good descriptions.

Alpine SPS-400 $70 all around good sound most popular http://www.crutchfield.com/p_500SPS400/Alpine-SPS-400.html?tp=102&tab=features_and_specs

Infinity Reference Series $130 favors the brighter side of music if your hearing is dulling these will certainly let you hear the sound of Santana as well as the violins of Tchaikovsky. Will also take more power if and amp is later added. http://signature.crutchfield.com/s_108429I/Infinity-Kappa-42-9i.html?tp=102

Focals 100 VRS $600 not cheap. This is really pushing it. I won't spend this kind of money, but if you have it and are serious about sound these are the best that will fit in your X3. Please be advised that they will never sound great with out additional power, like an external amp. http://signature.crutchfield.com/s_091100VRS/Focal-Polyglass-100-VRS.html?tp=102

Stage Two will be HU and external components that allow you to keep your HU but add other equipment. As there are a number of new things out (that even I have my eye on) I want to do more research before I post this. Plus too much will bore you to death.

Hope this helps,

EE:thumbup: Please PM questions (for greater detail) with regard to each stage as posted
 
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#133 · (Edited)
Sonicelectronix.com is another good place for them.

X3 Oiler, that is exactly where I have my two amps installed. I built a 1/2 ply platform.

Bolted them to the board and dropped it right in. I have pics floating around somewhere on this board.

Can always post again if you want to see the finished job.

May take the 10" sub out of the box and mount it like Rastas set. Very nicely done :)
 
#136 ·
You wont gain any volume with new speakers as they are rated at 4 ohms and system is 2 ohms. You will gain clarity.

If you want more power you need a new amp. You combine the two and you will be much happier.
 
#137 ·
One note in install. I had a buzzing under high volume in the drivers side rear - right in the ear hole so to speak. I thought oh no a brummy speaker - well that is the polite version.
Took the door apart and the door trim on that door had some poorly formed plastic rivets around the speaker mounting area - where the door trim protrudes into the speaker area a bit. I suspect that the cone was hitting this. I used the foam that came with the speakers and spaced the speakers just a tad of the normal surface, reassembled the door (getting good at that btw) and all is sweet. It may not have been this - not entirely sure but worth looking out for.
 
#138 · (Edited)
Hi all,

I thought I would just update everyone on where I am at with my 2009 X3 E83 LCI Sound System Upgrade project.

First of all ..... my car had the very basic factory Sound System. The Source is a BMW Business CD. I have no CD Exchanger box but I do have a Aux Input plug wired in the rear of the Central Arm Rest section next to Cigarette Lighter. I also have a BMW Bluetooth phone kit in the boot of the car on the rear left side. I don't think that there is any Amp fitted anywhere but certainly there are no Amp in the Rear Left side of the boot, near the Bluetooth Kit and also certainly there are no Speakers cables wired through there. I have looked extensively online for exact info on my setup, checked the TIS, etc. but have been unable to get exact info on my setup. So I have assumed what I just said up here.

Project ..... Firstly, I would like to keep my car looking original but I also would like to be able to easily remove everything and bring it back to original fitout. In order to achieve the following I have set a plan and I have decided to proceed in 2 Stages.

STAGE 1 (now completed) ..... After lengthy searches, I have decided to buy 2 pairs of MTX TX4001 Component Speakers to fit in the doors. I bought them from Sonix for what I feel is a bargain, beside the shipping to Australia :cry: and I proceeded with the installation yesterday, straight after I got them. In each box, beside the standard Cross Overs there also were 2 additional capacitors. I decided not to use them. The standard Crossovers have two settings for the Tweeters, I used the normal setting rather than the -3db on all 4 doors. During the fitting I had to do a bit of mucking around with the Tweeters. By the way, my car only had one speaker in each door, no tweeter anywhere!!! Once I removed the Tweeter caps in the door panels, the MTX Tweeter did not fit. They have a small plastic lip. I had to file down the lip all the way around and with lots of pressure they went in. They do not snap in but they are nonetheless well fitted inside the standard housing. The Mid/Woofers instead fitted perfectly, I just had to use a larger washer on one of the 3 screws to hold them nicely in, as they have the standard 4 screw setup vs the 3 one of BMW. Very easy. In my photos you will also see the position I have chosen for the Crossovers. Once all finished the Door Panels went in just fine. Te be perfectly honest there is probably a 1-2 mm pressure in the Speakers corner and once finished, if you know about it, you can see a very small gap, but nothing anyone would notice unless you would point it out. Also I did not remove or modified anything, both in the panel or the door. All in all a fairly straight forward and easy job. Just make sure you read well X3 post up here and his instructions on removing the wood insert. They can be fairly painful until one "discovers" his mentioned technique! Now to the sound ....... JUST AMAZING !!!! The difference just with the speaker replacement has been simply amazing. So much more definition and bass. It sounds already like a totally different system. Great sound right through the spectrum of frequencies and this is without even adding an Amp!!! Of course though, while this might satisfy most people, it is not enough for me! :) So I am now planning STAGE 2 .

STAGE 2 ..... Here are my intended steps.
Remove Radio cut 8 speakers cables and wire through a Male Female 8 way connector
Run 2 sets of 8 wires (16) from radio to boot. At the Radio end they will be also wired through a Male Female 8 way connector
Run them through the center console after having removed it
Fit 2 new Subs EARTHQUAKE SWS-8XI
Also unbolt front seats and on the way add 4 additional wires (2 pairs) from the new Subs and mask and isolate old ones
Once the cables have reached underneath the rear seat, repack everything at the front (Radio, Dash, Center Console, Front Seats)
Bring cables all the way into the Rear Left area near the Bluetooth Box.
Install 1 set of 8 wires (the ones coming from the Radio) in a Female 12 way connector, making 4 extra loops from the front L-R wires
Install 1 set of 8 wires (the ones going to the Speakers in a Female 12 way connector, using the 4 extra new wires for the Subs Making sure the polarities and sides are matched correctly
Have a beer and test everything, it should work again as in STAGE 1 but with the replaced new Subs, but with the difference that I now have all the connections in the rear left side of the boot!!!! (Thanks BMW for not doing this in the first place on the basic system!!!)
Build Sub Box for Rear Left and Paint Black. Based on its final Size, decide what Sub to get, as big as possible.
Get an AudioControl LCQ-1
Get 2 additional Amps or re utilize existing ones (I have a few lying around :) ). Need one 4 Channel to do Front and Rear doors and one 3 Channel to do front Subs and also Rear Single Sub
Decide Final locations for Amps after Sub Box is in place and organize Power and Remote to Subs.
Use another Male 12 way connector. This will be used to go from Radio to Speaker Level Inputs of the LCQ-1
Use the other Female 12 way connector. This will be used to go from Speakers to Amplifiers Speakers Outputs
Have Beer and Enjoy tuning the System via the LCQ-1 !!!

More pictures coming in additional message ......

This is all for now,
Adri
 

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#141 ·
Pretty cool so far. Here is your placement for amps and I used the existing speaker wire as I could not measure an appreciable difference in resistance to run all new speaker wire. However, I should have never cut them the way I did and instead made a molex male connector with breakout wiring.

I just priced out a new set of Focals 100 cai. And finally a PDX5 Alpine. I like my Alpines, but always looking/listening for the xtra n'th of sound without spending crazy money. For instance $600 a pair for 4 inch components is too much. The focals I am looking at are $130 a pair (US).
 

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#142 · (Edited)
Thanks for the positive feedback Evlengr. Yes that placement is under serious consideration, although I also like the idea to use the area where BMW normally fits them. It will all depend on how the 2 new subs will sound under the floor with one amp. If I am happy with that solution I might only use 1 x 6 Channels Amp and try placing it on the side. This way I will not have to add a third sub in the boot. I am a bit unsure about the performance of these EARTHQUAKE SWS-8XI, but the feedback I have read is quite promising and I am hopeful that considering how it sounds right now, with no Amp and the original Subs, just by adding the Amp and replacing the 2 Subs should probably bring me where I need to be with this car.

As you, I too agree that everything in life has to withstand a quality/price ratio! Price itself does not just do it for me. In your example, I doubt you would get more than 50% improvement out of a 600% price rise! :thumbup:

I will keep you posted once I get started with STAGE 2!;)
 
#144 ·
Hi Crenninger,

My Car is a Right Hand drive (UK/Australian version) and these are the colors I have found so far

Front Right: Yellow-Red + Yellow/Brown -
Front Left: Blue-Red + Blue/Brown -

Rear Right: Yellow-Black + Yellow/Brown -
Rear Left: Yellow-Purple + Yellow/Grey -

I have a feeling that in the Left Hand Drive(USA) versions the Left and Right side colors are inverted!

I yet do not know what colors I will find in the Subs under the chairs, even though they work with front fader. I also do not know if these would have been crossovered at all by cutting any high frequencies.

Hope this helps,
Adri
 
#146 ·
I yet do not know what colors I will find in the Subs under the chairs, even though they work with front fader. I also do not know if these would have been crossovered at all by cutting any high frequencies.
I too, have an Aussie spec X3 and am stumped by it's front stage!
There are 4 ohm mid ranges in the doors & 4 ohm under-seat mid-bass' that give a total impedance of 4 ohm!?
The has to be a crossover of some sort, somewhere but am stumpted as to where! :dunno:
There is an in-line capacitor for the mid's in the left/ rear compartment of the boot that can be simply unplugged (mine are) but the mid bass' sound like they play full range.
Let me know if you figure out anything!:confused:
 
#145 ·
Try this site:

http://wds.spaghetticoder.org/en/e8385/Complete_vehicle/

Select:

Complete vehicle
body
Audio, Video navigation
Sound output
Select your car and you will get a circuit diagram that can be zoomed and panned

The wiring polarities and colours are shown.
SW is black btw ;-)
GE is yellow

On my X3 (aussie spec circa 2006) the rear in door speakers have black and brown stripes on yellow cable and NOTE black is positive - ie not what you would think. The right rear has a colour change from the head unit so the right rear is not black/brown at the head unit.
 
#147 ·
The above link allows you to click the components and then you will get photos of where in the car the photos are.

The schematic shows in line capacitors to the front speakers (part I01140) and if you click this part you will see - yes they are where you found them :)

The sub woofers run full range it seems - there are no inline capacitors in the wiring and they run from the pre-filtered front signals. So the fronts and subs look like a 2ohm load to the amp at high frequency until the capacitor starts to work to isolate the door speakers and at low frequency will tend to 4ohm as the 4ohm subs only come into play.

The Rear door speakers do not have such in line filtering and so run full range.

Yes strange . . .
 
#148 ·
One observation: this will protect the standard head unit I think as at low frequency the head unit will see higher impedance. This means that "probably" the standard in floor subs could do with some separate amplification to bypass the power limitations in the standard head unit . . . and I am sure this has been discussed in the forums elsewhere.
 
#149 · (Edited)
I have had the front stage operating directly from an Alpine CDA-117E (only 4ohm stable) and now from my RE Audio 4 channel amp (also 4 ohm stable).
I have had crazy ohm readings on my multimeter with the in-line cap's disconnected (around 10 ohms!) and had no idea what the hell's going on.
I was certain that there were drunken leprecaun's in my car...
Can in-line capacitors really vary the total speaker's impedance?!
I may re-connect them & check their impedance again...
 
#150 · (Edited)
Can in-line capacitors really vary the total speaker's impedance?!
Yes - well what the head unit will see.

The capacitors inline will block completely DC (as you would expect) and as the frequency increases will let more and more current through until at high frequency the capacitor acts like a direct connection.

This is why I made the comment that at low frequency the head until will see the 4 ohm from the sub only as the capacitor is running at high impedance but at the frequency increases, the capacitor starts to acts like a direct connection and the head until will see 4 ohm sub in parallel with 4 ohm door mids or 2ohm.

A question for the forum. What is a recommended 2 channel amp that will accept as input the current sub connections, will auto power on when signal detected, has low pass filtering built in (adjustable would be nice) and adjustable output level (gain). Probably 75Watt per channel would be sufficient. Focal solid 2?
I can run the current sub speaker connections pretty easily from the head unit to the trunk cavity (and the head unit switched 12volt if amp auto on is not possible).
 
#152 ·
Glad you like it. People don't really understand how poor the BMW system is until they change out part or all of it.

They thnk that when you suggest such a thng it is so you can have Boomcha Boomcha Boom.

Now I'm not saying its not fun to really crank it up once in a while, but clarity is the real reason for most of my changes. Plus, its fun.
 
#154 ·
Amps and an interface are actually easier than a H/U believe me. You may want to reconsider.

An in line processor basically intersects the speaker level output of your H/U. You then take its output to an amp and from the amp back to the speakers.

Never have to change the H/U so things look all the same and steering controls remain intact with no long cables.
 
#155 · (Edited)
Audio Tidbits

A small update.

Today after three days of rain I finally had some time to do some R & D, or retro-engineering would be more proper.

I have opened the door panels so many times that I can now do it in about 15 minutes per door.

First thing I wanted to confirm myself, The basic sound system (business) fron doors has a small tweeter and 4 in driver. It is 4 ohms. It says so on the speaker and I tested it using a Fluke 77 series III Multi-meter as well as an old fashion Simpson. The back doors are just a single driver in each door.

The mid-bass drivers are 2 ohms (the ones under the seats).

I put the original speakers back in the front doors and left the Alpine's in the back doors so I could do A-B comparsions.

I used two Shure beta 58 mics and a tascam multi channel recorder. I then used Adobe Audition professional audio editing software to check the frequency response.

The abridged results are this:

The stock speakers are technically inferior to the Alpines (and probably anything after market) as I suspected.

Stock speakers can not reproduce decent highs over 14kHZ and lows below 800Hz.

They also cannot reproduce real stereo imaging dead center above the arm rest console, which should be the sweet spot. Subjectively I can hear the left channel seperate from the right channel, which is great if you listen to everything in mono, but not if you like any music that was recorded in stereo after 1962, Lol.

I left them in today to run various types of music and speech through. Wow, can't wait to get them back out. Yikes they are bad.

If you want the details I am happy to share them with you.

Also, learned some good things to remember when removing the door panels besides the obvious. Always start to remove the wood arm facia from underneath and gently work the pry towards the middle at a slow straight line up the length of the arm, that is were the clips are.

A BIG CAVEAT HERE

X3oiler was nice enough to take the constructive criticism to pm's but I don't mind good input and admitting there can be problems. He stated that my suggested method could cause the veneer to crack. Actually, the first install I had was done by a "Pro" and he cracked and had to replace my wood veneer.

FIRST - NEVER USE METAL PRY TOOLS. Use GLASS Fiber or NYLON...SECOND....BE CAREFUL AND PATIENT.

I recommend doing the back doors first because hey if you do mess up not as many will see it.

I can also confirm that the brown striped wire is the common ground to each speaker.

Hope these little tid bits help folks.

Feel free to ask questions and add to the mix, and although I have technical data to back it up sound is subjective and if you are happy with your sound then I will do my best to keep my mouth shut unless you ask. :angel:
 
#157 · (Edited)
Evlengr,

Can you elaborate on what you did with the front tweeters when you replaced the 4 inch drivers with the Alpines? Thanks,

Robert
Yup, plain and simple. Didnt use them. Just disconnected the wire and taped it down. They are so bright they create an unnatural sibilance (that Ssss sound you hear when someone talks to close to a mic).
The tweeters in the Alpines are much more natural sounding and don't give me a headache after prolonged use.

Doing some more R & D this week and going to try to get an exact maximum depth measurement. Not that easy as the only way to do it is to put the door panels back on with no speaker. Then going to take a small straight wire and push it through the mesh opening until it touches the back of the inner door, subtract the difference of how thick the door panel is and voila. Easier said then done. Needs to be done so we can know what we can put in the doors
 
#158 ·
Following some advice from one of Australia's top Car Audio designers (FHRX Studios), I ended up sealing the under-seat enclosures & Dynamatting them.
The supposed ported enclosure the stock speakers are in, is a joke. It has 2 openings that could not possibly be tuned.:thumbdwn:
The supposed port does not go in to the B pillar, as there is sound insulating foam there.
Having a small, sealed enclosure should also assist in their power handling - when amplified.
Midbass sounds far more accurate (less boomy) in the sealed enclosures and I've fitted a pair of inductors which has removed the high-end superbly (thanks Jim!). :thumbup:
FYI - my X3 has 6.5" midbass - not 8"! The top looks 8" but the woofer itself is a 6.5"!
It's sounding pretty darn reasonable now, with the staging back up just above the centre of the dash (inductors worked wonders with this) - just need to sort out the loud mid's with some more EQ...






 

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#159 · (Edited)
Question to Evlengr re: L6i

Hi EE,

I saw your reference drawing recommending an L6i in-between the HU and the PDX5, do you think I can replace the L6i with an AudioControl EQX/EQL?

What I am seeking advise on is that EQL/EQX both have speaker(hi-level) inputs, or do I need the summing function of the L6i before feeding the EQ[LX] before PDX5.
Actually, come to think of it, since the PDX5 already has crossovers, maybe the EQX is superfluous.

Ideally, I'd like the least number of components, so I want to know if EQL can replace L6i or I need both at minimum to get the eq function.

In other words:

HU-->L6i-->PDX5

or which of the following:

HU-->L6i-->EQL-->PDX5
HU-->L6i-->EQX-->PDX5
HU-->EQX-->PDX5
HU-->EQL-->PDX5

Thanks for your advise and all your documentation that you have collected here :bow:

Alex
 
#160 ·
Hi EE,

I saw your reference drawing recommending an L6i in-between the HU and the PDX5, do you think I can replace the L6i with an AudioControl EQX/EQL?

What I am seeking advise on is that EQL/EQX both have speaker(hi-level) inputs, or do I need the summing function of the L6i before feeding the EQ[LX] before PDX5.
Actually, come to think of it, since the PDX5 already has crossovers, maybe the EQX is superfluous.

Ideally, I'd like the least number of components, so I want to know if EQL can replace L6i or I need both at minimum to get the eq function.

In other words:

HU-->L6i-->PDX5

or which of the following:

HU-->L6i-->EQL-->PDX5
HU-->L6i-->EQX-->PDX5
HU-->EQX-->PDX5
HU-->EQL-->PDX5

Thanks for your advise and all your documentation that you have collected here :bow:

Alex
Sorry I know the above is serious but have you tried to read it out loud, acronym city :)
Have not had such a good chuckle for some time.
 
#161 ·
Not at my desk atm. Will take a closer look tomorrow and get back to you. I believe they make a component that incorporates both a para-metric EQ and crossover for low mid and high

Sent from my DROIDX
 
#162 ·
I finally did some upgrades on my wife's 2005 X3 this last weekend and found a couple of resources on youtube quite worthwhile for how to open up the door panels for speaker installs:





These instructions were a bit short for my wife's 2005 model as there are also screws at the back of the door opener assembly but everything else was a workable tutorial on how to take the door apart. I will leave aside the attitude of the "I am so good at this I forgot some details" dude narrating the video but some reading this thread might find the visuals on pulling the panels useful. I certainly did.

Another one for opening up the area around the radio:



In my case I did use the Bavarian Soundwerks speakers and added an Alpine KTP-445 inline amp to our existing Alpine iDA-X300 HU and pretty much smothered the backsides of the door panels with dynamat while I had it open. I already had replaced the under seat subwiffers (sic) with SWS-8's powered by a 300W Focal mono amp and the end result is far more passable for something I can listen to on the road compared to where we started from. Good solid bass response from an honest subwoofer would really help but my wife refuses to give up even an inch of space in the back when it comes to her cargo space. :(
 
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