6x9 surgery

[stx133]

I have a 94 540 and am undergoing a major audio upgrade, speakers, head unit, amp and sub.
Has anyone put 6"x9" on the rear shelf, it looks like some major steel pannel beating and fabrication to put them in the 5.5" oem holes, it looks like it would be a lot easier just doing cutouts on the flat closer to the middle of the shelf.
at the end of this i will have a factory original "premium" system complete with all plugs and wiring diags for sale if anyone is interested, comprising tape head unit, "10" way amplifier and 6 disk stacker. along with most of the speakers if u want them. I am in Melbourne Australia for freight.

Thanks, will keep photo journel if anyone else wants to try this when i am done

[pundit]

I have a 94 540 and am undergoing a major audio upgrade, speakers, head unit, amp and sub.
Has anyone put 6"x9" on the rear shelf, it looks like some major steel pannel beating and fabrication to put them in the 5.5" oem holes, it looks like it would be a lot easier just doing cutouts on the flat closer to the middle of the shelf.
at the end of this i will have a factory original "premium" system complete with all plugs and wiring diags for sale if anyone is interested, comprising tape head unit, "10" way amplifier and 6 disk stacker. along with most of the speakers if u want them. I am in Melbourne Australia for freight.

Thanks, will keep photo journel if anyone else wants to try this when i am done
I'm wondering why do you think you need to butcher the metal work in your Bimmer in order to upgrade the sound?
If you are planning on fitting a sub then you don't need 6" x 9"s. The 5.5"s are fine (both in the front and back) if you use a sub and don't run them much below 100hz.

Is your E34 a genuine M540iLE?
This makes cutting it up even worse! Cutting up the metal work will just devalue your M540i and M540i's are rare enough here in Oz.
There's only about 75 in Australia. Think about it! ;)

If I was in the market for an M540iLE I would totally avoid buying one with a cut up rear shelf.

BTW - Are you on David Bushby's M540iLE owners list?

[BigKriss]

why bother with 6x9's when you can get dual 15"s. Pundit's right. You want the sound stage coming from the front of the car. Let a subwoofer take car of the bass duties. This is scary. I'd image cutting the shelf to be a pain.

http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/240/image000788rc.jpg
http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/1852/image000799gk.jpg

[Randell]

i agree, you can get perfect sound with just 5" 2-way speakers in the rear... make sure you get some really good 5" splits (or 6" if you wanna squeeze em in) at the front, a nice tight sub in the back and some good 5" in rear (i have clarion 2-ways which were cheap and give surprisingly good mid-range fill)

6x9s sound naff and look awful... i had some in my old car and i won't purchase them again!

[Rory535i]

good quality 6x9's that are amp'd can sound quite good.

[uscharalph]

I'm not a fan of cutting into the rear shelf.

[Jon K]

I'm not a fan of cutting into the rear shelf.


6x9's are not an ideal speaker size...

[TheGeak]

I'd say 5.5's or 6.5's would be fine if you're gonna run a sub. Replace all your speakers with upgraded ones of the factory size, put in a decent amp and sub and you should have PLENTY of sound!

[Incantation]

6X9 are like an suv.. kind of good at everything.. but not exception at anything.. if you just want more sound in the back go for it.

doing it "right" will cost you a lot more since if you want to change anything with the stereo you pretty much have to change everything..

also the factory amp crosses over the signal at source so unless you are planning to get a different head (which essentially renders everything else in the stock system useless, i wouldn't even bother changing anything. maybe add a sub or something otherwise the stock system is adequate

[stx133]

The 6x9's are Blaupunkt comp series, my brother works for bosh and picked them up for me at a great rate, got some good 6" splits for the front too. the 6x9s have individual wiring for the main speaker and a seperate tweeter mounted seperately, they have a passive cpossover supplied to be wired in seperately.
The sub is a leftover from a previous vehicle, may not use it on this install now i have the 6x9s

I may build a new shelf out of MDF and have angle mounted speaker boxes given the objection by the purists. I am a newcommer to the BMW sceene, my last 'performance' car was a mazda rotary.. i want to learn and appreciate, not vandalise and corrupt.

[stx133]

What is the LE standing for, the badging is genuine and tha car has original books and known ownership etc, lovely to drive.

[stx133]

I have Blaupunkt equipment for a complete replacement, if you read closely you will notice that i expect to have all the OEM stuff as spare at the end....

[pundit]

What is the LE standing for, the badging is genuine and tha car has original books and known ownership etc, lovely to drive.

Do you have a numbered plaque somewhere on the console? If you do and yours is a 6 speed manual then you have the equivelant to the U.S. M-Sport 540i which is known here as the M540iLE. Although it should have been fitted with M-System II (Throwing Star) wheels. The 'LE' stands for Limited Edition. These particular 540's were special because they used the last of all the leftover M5 performance parts. ie brakes, suspension etc. so they could almost be called a 'V8 M5'. Only 70 LE's made it to Australia. Even if yours is not a 'LE' it's still a great car.

I suggest you contact David Bushby (http://www.bmwclubnsw.asn.au/_forum/00000036.htm)

He's a nice guy and a M540 guru!
I purchased my Throwing Stars off him about a month ago.

[stx133]

Sorry, no numbered plaque, got the auto. thought i would never drive an auto again after my 'falcon' experience. it is amazing that they are both called the same thing when the experience is so much different. put the trans into 's' and the tranny works pretty well.

Thanks for the line to Dave, i will be in touch. you can never have enough friends with knowledge

[pundit]

Sorry, no numbered plaque, got the auto. thought i would never drive an auto again after my 'falcon' experience. it is amazing that they are both called the same thing when the experience is so much different. put the trans into 's' and the tranny works pretty well.

Thanks for the line to Dave, i will be in touch. you can never have enough friends with knowledge
Oh well even if it's not the 'LE' it's still worlds apart from a 'Dunnydoor' or a 'Fowlcan'. How long have you had it for?

[stx133]

Picked it up in February, found it online in sydney aty a HSV dealership, it was a trade in that he wanted to move. got it at a good price.

Worlds apart is right, its hard to believe they are designed to accomplish the same thing, oh well i suppose there is driving and there is Driving.

[stx133]

i had some good 6x9s in my old car and was extreemely impressed. the ones i have i got at bargain price through my brother at bosch. they are competition series and have a remote crossover and seperate wiring for the 6x9 and the tweeter.
Have good 6" splits for the front, do i try and use the mid range oem's as well, should they run off the high pass or low pass on the crossover?
Will be replacing the headunit with a nice Blaupunkt unit, MP3 cd.....