21 replies to this topic

[Calypso-E34]

My nice new Infinity 5030cs door speakers arrived yesterday, and very nice they are too - they feel like a quality product. I'll be fitting them either some evening this week or failing that, at the weekend, and for once, I reckon I'll be able to fit them myself without any dramas, but I need a bit of help with a couple of things.

Firstly, the tweeters. They are compact wee things, although are quite weighty. They came with a cool looking mounting system, but none of that will fit in the original BMW tweeter housing - so what's the best way to get them mounted? There are no mounting points on the tweeters thamselves,

Secondly, these speakers came with crossovers, which will need to be mounted inside the door. They have a rubberised backing. How should these be mounted, and where is the best place for them? I thought about using the No More Nails double sided stuff, but I don't think it will stick to the rubber.

On another note, the original BMW tweeter is (as far as I know) plugged in somewhere - do I just forget about that setup and wire it all up per the Infinity instructions? Does anyone know what colour the +ve and -ve wires are in the BMW?

[bolide]

There's not much room in the door for the crossover - you might have to put it in one of the pockets. You might be able to take the case off the x/over and throw it away to save space

The BMW tweeter plugs into a little PCB on top of the mid speaker housing. The crossover is just one cap. You can trace polarity with a meter. Mounting replacement tweeters where the BMW ones live looks like hard work - I have given up for the time being!

I'd remove the PCB, block the hole up with a piece of MDF and drill a hole for a speaker cable from the crossover

Loading the speaker pod with soundproofing on the outside makes a big difference to how the speakers sound

Nick Froome

[Calypso-E34]

All this needs to be easily reversible, as when the time comes to sell the car, I'll be re-fitting the OEM stereo - and that being the case, the OEM speakers will also need to go back in, as I understand it.

I'm thinking of bypassing the BMW plugs and just wiring up the speakers as you would in any other car. The main thing is finding space for the crossover. I don't think putting them in one of the pockets would do anything for the car's looks though!! I wouldn't fit the woofers without doing the tweeters, no matter how much extra fiddling that meant - what would be the point?

I'll take the door card off and have a look at it to see what the possibilities are I think.

[dan101smith]

Given the price of the speakers (not that much in the scheme of things) I'd leave them in when you sell the car. Just a faff otherwise, and it's a handy selling point.

[jamesno1]

Wherever you decide to fit the crossovers, remember to very gingerly operate the window up n down to see if anything catches before you refit the door card....

[Calypso-E34]

Haha! Been there before James - had the broken glass for a long time afterwards!!

[Calypso-E34]

Do I absolutely NEED the crossovers?

[jamesno1]

Yep otherwise you'll be sticking the full range of frequency to both speaker and tweeter, tweeter will last 5 mins and will sound shit whilst quickly dying

[Calypso-E34]

Would the existing inline capacitor from the OEM setup not prevent that though?

[jamesno1]

That I don't know, though given how shit the original setup is I'd advise not to, can you imagine how pissed off you would be if you screwed the new speakers??

[Calypso-E34]

Does anyone know where the inline capacitor is located ? Is it part of the door, or stuck on the tweeter itself?

[RichardP]

You only have the in-line 'crossover' (I use the term in it's loosest possible sense!) if you have the basic audio system. If you have an amp in the boot then it's multi channel and each channel supplies the correct frequencies.

If you have the basic audio system then the components are in the wire itself, they are so small that you can easily miss them as they are part of the loom wrapped in black fabric tape.

[Calypso-E34]

Thanks Richard. I was going to simply nip the wires close to the existing tweeter and replace with the Infinity ones, while replacing the woofer directly. Would that wreck my new tweeters?

Space for these fag packet sized crossovers is the issue - there just isn't any in the E39 door.

[RichardP]

Is your audio the base spec, i.e. no amp at all in the boot on the left?

You 'could' simply replace the drive units with the Infinity components (whatever audio system you have), but you'll be loosing a lot of the benefit. The OEM crossover is very poor and will probably not match the crossover frequency required by the Infinity.

[Calypso-E34]

Mine is the basic 6 speaker jobbie, and I think, from what I can find out, that the amp was in the head unit - which was a 1 piece radio cassette unit.

[RichardP]

OK, so the speaker wire will be a single output per channel (fron/back, Left/Right) which will split, I believe, just inside the door.

I think you really have only two options (appart from a significant build) :

1) Simply remove the existing drive units as close to the connect as possible and attach the replacements.
2) Locate the Infinit crossovers behind the dash and run new speaker wires into the doors.

Option 1 is by far the easiest, but will not sound as good and there is a small chance that you will damage the Infinity tweeter.

There may be another option, it depends on the exact size of the infinity crossover. I don't think the woofer has any sort of crossover on it, it recieves the full range signal and just can't reproduce the high frequencies (you need to check this). If so, will the Infinity crossover fit INSIDE the door pod? If it does then you could connect the crossover to the wire inside the pod and make a small hole for the tweeter wire, seal the hole with silicone to keep the pod air tight.

[Calypso-E34]

OK, so the speaker wire will be a single output per channel (fron/back, Left/Right) which will split, I believe, just inside the door.

I think you really have only two options (appart from a significant build) :

1) Simply remove the existing drive units as close to the connect as possible and attach the replacements.
2) Locate the Infinit crossovers behind the dash and run new speaker wires into the doors.

Option 1 is by far the easiest, but will not sound as good and there is a small chance that you will damage the Infinity tweeter.

I don't think the woofer has any sort of crossover on it, it recieves the full range signal and just can't reproduce the high frequencies

You've read that right Richard, and a lot of what you are saying there tallies with what Dennis said. I think I'll just take the door cards off and see what I have to play with in terms of space, and go from there. Fitting the tweeters per option 1 you gave is tempting, but not the best option. I'm not sure exactly the difference between the stock tweeter and the Infinity one, but I should imagine it will be significant.

Is Tiger Seal a good mounting adhesive for the crossovers, or is there something better? The backs of them have a rubberised feel to them, so not sure what will stick!

[RichardP]

It depends on how well mated the surfaces are. No more nails double sided foam tape is pretty good.

[Neil A]

The woofer gets a full range feed so extend that to the input on the x-over. The crossovers should fit on the back of the door card, lower front. Don't put the x-over towards the back of the door; think about the forces acting on the electrical components when you slam the door shut. The tweeter will probably sit being the stock tweeter grill, I made some small metal strip mounts and used the original OE tweeter screw. I undertook all this work recently with some JL VRs...

http://forum.bmw5.co...dio#entry642271

Take time with it though, the front speakers are the most important part of the install I reckon.

[Calypso-E34]

Thanks lads!

[Calypso-E34]

AAAAAAAAAGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHEN is it going to stop raining in Inverness!! I spent the day clearing out my shed (dumped a Metro interior and some E34 stuff that never sold), and getting ready all the crap we built up in the house and garden that didn't fit in bins over the last 6 months ready for the refuse collection company coming on Monday afternoon.

BUT

I should have been fitting speakers!!

[shinobi]

I know its a bit late but here is mine http://img690.images.../sdc11318u.jpg/

cheers paul .