Stereo Upgrade

[Phlugg]

Hi all,

I'm in the process of upgrading my stereo, and I have read the upgrade notes posted on the main page, however, they don't seem to cover all of the speakers, and I don't recognise the description of the wiring with an amp - my car, (93 540i), does not have a seperate amp - just a sony head unit supplying 20W per channel to the speakers and with a CD autocahnger in the boot.

Question is, how do I remove/change the speakers located above the dash in the top fascia panel in the far ends of the panel?

Have any of you done this before?

I used search with a couple of different parameters but found nothing.

Thanks,

Nick.

[bahnstormer]

U Mean The Speakers On Teh A Pillar? The Tweeters?

[jplacson]

Ok... I just recently did a complete rewire of my entire speaker setup... mainly because the previous wiring was too screwed up for my taste.

I do not have the A-pillar tweeters...so I can't give you the procedure for that one.

For the dash mounted speakers... just pull the grille up... it's that simple. Same goes for the rear deck speaker grilles. (You can use a flat screwdriver for this, wrap it in thin cloth just to prevent any damage)

The rear deck can use 5.25" or 6.5" speakers. You can run the speaker wire straight into the boot through the bucket that the speaker goes into (there's a small opening at the bottom)

For the dash mounted tweeters... this was a bit tougher... I poked a wire from the top and just kept feeding it in until I saw it fall under the bottom part of the dash. (You have to remove the panel under the steering column... and the glove box first)

From there, remove the kick panels (They each have large clips... just rotate 90 degrees til they come out) The driver's side kick panel has the hood release, which has to be removed first. Both kick panels come off easily once all the clips have been removed.

One problem I encountered installing new 5.25" component speakers in the front kicks is that the new speakers aren't meant to be mounted from the inside. So the rubber surrounds of the speakers hit the kick panel. I had 2 spacer rings made (about 1/4 inch thick) then mounted the speakers to the rings... then the rings to the kick panels. It will make putting the kick panels back a bit more difficult... but they fit just fine. You just need a little more patience.

The dash tweeters are easy. Just "surface mount" them inside the dash hole. Then cover with the grille.

May not be so ideal... but I placed both crossovers in the boot for easier adjustment or replacement in the future. So I had 4 sets of wires running down each side of the car..then under the rear seat... then through the trunk.

I'm so happy I did the rewiring myself... at least now, I know where all the wires come from and lead to!

Current setup...

Infinity Kappa Components for the front (5.25")
Boston Acoustic 6.5" coax for the rear
12" Rockford Fosgate Punch sub
Alpine 4 channel amp for main speakers (HP set at 80Hz)
Soundstream amp for sub

The only thing I need to change now (left over from the previous owner) is the sub box... which is, well... a box...cube. Dimensions for that particular sub are totally wrong, so the sub is being underutilized because of it. :P

[Phlugg]

Hi,

Thanks thats really helpful.

I'm a bit confused by a couple of the terms being used, in particular the A Pillar speakers. I know this is a basic question, but where is the A pillar? - and if I had speakers in it where would they be?

As near as I can tell I have a six speaker set up - Two on the back parcel shelf, one in each of the front kick panels and one in each corner of the top face of the dash fascia panel - so that they are aiming directly up towards the windscreen - not on the dash aiming in to the car.

I took your advice and lifted the back speaker grille - so that was easy - but removing the speaker looks a bit tougher, the location of the screws holding the speaker in look very difficult to get to. I had a look in the boot, and I can see three plastic clips poking down through the metal body around the hole that the speaker wires come down through - If I release these clips does the whole speaker assembly lift out easily from the top - or do I have to remove the back seat, parcel shelf etc t get to them properly?

Your system sounds sweet, I have replaced the stereo for a more powerful Sony unit and I'm obviuosly planning on using an amp to really liven things up a bit so I was wondering about rewiring for a rear mounted amp. The rear speaker wiring sounds simple enough - but how do you run the wires through the car for the front speakers? Did you remove the kick pannels all the way along and tidy them under those? Or under the carpets?

I appreciate your help,

Regards

Nick.

[granit_silber]

Hi,

Thanks thats really helpful.

I'm a bit confused by a couple of the terms being used, in particular the A Pillar speakers. I know this is a basic question, but where is the A pillar? - and if I had speakers in it where would they be?


Regards

Nick.

Nick,
Sit in the driver's seat look to your left and right. Where ever the roof meets the door panels is a "pillar."
A-pillar- left and right border of the windsheild
B-Pillar- where the seat beat attaches to the car (above your shoulder)
C-Pillar- Left and right border of rear windshield

The A-pillar speakers are a small set of tweeters just inboard of the side mirrors. If you have those, then you have the BMW "premium" sound system.
The 10 speakers are:
2 in dash (mids?)
2 a-pillar (tweeters)
2 in front kick panels (woofers)
2 in rear deck (woofer)
2 inside rear deck (tweeters)
The rear tweeters are inside of the woofer, like a component speaker.
I'm pretty sure that the wiring harness for the speakers runs down through the kick-panels aling the bottom edge of the door, then follows the contour of the rear seat all the way to the trunk.

good luck,
ashley

[jplacson]

The little A-pillar tweeters are found on the opposite side of the window mirrors... in the little triangular section where the back of the side mirrors are. There would be a pyramid looking enclosure with a cloth grille. If the base of your side mirrors is just a plain black plastic triangle inside the car... then you have the same setup as me.

Removing the back panel speakers is a bit tough... you need to have a short screwdriver (or an angled one) to get to the two screws under the C-pillars (this is the panel with the room light... the carpetted panels beside the rear windsheild.

Once you unscrew the rear speakers... they just lift up and out (you may have to tilt them a bit to pull them up from the plastic bucket. Just disconnect the wire.

Running wires from the front to the rear was the toughest part... since this is the first time I've ever done any type of installing myself. :P I had to ask around how to remove the trim panels and all... all simple enough.

The kick-panels unscrew easily... the bottom of the kick panels run into the floor trim... just pull this straight up... it's hard to pull, but it just comes off. It's gonna feel like it's gonna break, but it doesn't... just pull up from the middle or one general side ... don't pull the edge only. Once the floor trim is removed from all 4 doors... you can easily hide the wires under the carpet. You can't hide them under the trim... not enough space... I tried! HAHAHA! To run the wires into the trunk... you have to remove the rear seat (I didn't bother removing the rear back rest since I have no idea how to do this...hahahaha)

To remove the back seat... just squat (don't sit) over the middle.. and pull up. Once the 2 front clips are out, you can pull the seat forward and remove it. This will allow you to run the wires under the seat, then through the provisions for wiring. There's a small rubber plug with a few holes for wiring... it's on the right side of the car... or you can run it through the center hole under the ski-bag hole. It's up to you.

The dash tweeters do face the windscreen... why? Because this raises the sound imaging source closer to ear level. Although this has some effect on the sound quality..some people argue that the accuracy of the sound image more than makes up for the coloration... blah blah blah. Since ideally, the tweeters should be at ear/eye level... even the A-pillar location isn't quite high enough. Bouncing the sound off the windscreen creates a virtual source that's pretty close.

[jplacson]

Just a little trivia... ever notice that speaker components are either called 'tweeters' or 'woofers' ... not 'highs' or 'lows'... but the mid-range is usually just called 'mids'?

the slang term for 'mids' (to match the tweeter, woofer terms) is a 'squawker'.

[jplacson]

Bump! Seems to be a lot of people asking about the stereo rewiring... so I thought I'd just bump this thread back to the top. :P

[shogun]

It is for E36, but quite informative
http://www.logun.org/upgrade%20audio%20.htm

[spoolinturbo]

well i have been un-successful in removing the rear deck speakers, definitly no room to get in there with a philips. think im just going to cut out and make room for 6x9s...