vinyldude
01-25-2015, 11:32 PM
These DIY instructions describe how to retrofit DSP audio (Top HIFI) components into a E39 sedan that has the normal HIFI audio option and no navigation. In other words, the vehicle does not have a navigation monitor, the multi-information display does not have the DSP button, and in the trunk there is an amplifier that looks like this.
https://www.google.com/search?site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1254&bih=631&q=65128374535
If you can obtain a full DSP harness and you are willing to have an effort to replace the whole existing harness in your car with a new one, most of this description does not apply to you. That would be an alternate way to accomplish the same and you would not need to worry about any connectivity issues. But, exchanging the whole harness is pain, unless you already have the interior of the car removed due to some other reason.
The method here is to keep using the existing harness, but to build an adaptor between the existing connectors in the trunk and a DSP amplifier that will be added. The benefit is that you don't need to touch the existing wiring. If you build this using connectors, it will be easy to restore it back to how it originally was if needed. Your dear 2003 540i/6 will remain unmolested, it will keep the OEM look and feel and you can enjoy better audio quality. Best of all worlds, right? The downside is that you need to be inclined to build your own adaptor harness using some of the connectors from the DSP harness.
These are the new items that you need.
AMPLIFIER HIFI DSP 65126940977
SUBWOOFERBOX TOP-HIFI SYSTEM 65136908549
Expanding nut x4 63171367868
Fillister head self-tapping screw x4 07147137416
(This new subwoofer box will go under the parcel shelf in the trunk.)
MULTI INFORMATION DISPLAY with DSP button
(There are some reports that this would not be absolutely needed, but you only would be able to use the default DSP audio settings and not able to change them.)
TRUNK SUBWOOFER TRIM PANEL 51478211952
Expanding rivet x? 51498166702
(Optional items for those of you who care about the looks. I so far haven't bothered to cover the subwoofer box myself. Having this trim panel installed will take up some additional trunk space on top of what the subwoofer box itself already does.)
REAR LEFT LOUDSPEAKER 65138369067
REAR RIGHT LOUDSPEAKER 65138369068
LEFT FRONT DOOR LOUDSPEAKER BOX 65138369065
RIGHT FRONT DOOR LOUDSPEAKER BOX 65138369066
(If you care to have the very same DSP sound quality as a car that was built with this option from the factory, you need to replace the woofer-type speaker elements both in the rear parcel shelf, and behind the front door panels with appropriate ones. The DSP audio speakers have orange stickers and are 8 ohm. The normal speakers have blue or green stickers and are 4 ohm. The mid-range and tweeter elements are the same with both DSP and DSP-less options. I would consider this speaker replacement optional and it is mostly a matter of personal taste whether it makes a difference.)
Pin contact with wire x4 61130005198
(You will need to add some new pins to the SES plugin. Getting the pins from the dealer with this part number is probably the easiest option.)
Subwoofer cable connector
+
DSP amplifier cable connectors (3)
(You need these from the DSP harness to build connections to the DSP amp and the subwoofer box. If you are lucky, the DSP amplifier and the subwoofer box you bought from eBay came with these connectors as someone just cut the wires.)
HIFI amplifier male connectors (2)
(The idea is to use these to connect to the cable connectors in the trunk. You can extract these from the from the existing HIFI amplifier. You will most likely throw the amplifier away anyway.)
Here are the connections you need to establish to the three connectors that plug into the DSP amplifier. The way this is organized is the following.
X18771
X605
X18772
<---------------->
X606
X18773
X10390
X18774
So on the other side of the adaptor harness you need to build are the three DSP amplifier connectors
X18771 (DSP amplifier, 15 pin)
X18772 (DSP amplifier, 18 pin)
X18773 (DSP amplifier, 26 pin).
The signals that connect to these come from four different connectors. The first three are already in your trunk, and you will be adding the fourth one (the subwoofer connector).
X605 (HIFI amplifier connector, 12 pin)
X606 (HIFI amplifier connector, 26 pin)
X10390 (SES connector, 26 pin)
X18774 (Subwoofer connector)
If you don't care about the telephone signals, you don't need to use the SES connector at all. But in this case you would still need to get the I-bus signal from someplace else. You could alternatively get it for instance from the CD changer 3 pin connector.
X18771 - DSP amplifier 15 pin connector
X18771
1
Subwoofer SP1 +
-> X18774-2
2
Subwoofer SP2 +
-> X18774-4
3
Left rear woofer +
-> X605-11
4
Radio ON
-> X605-2
5
Right rear woofer -
-> X605-6
6
Subwoofer SP4 -
-> X18774-11
7
Subwoofer SP3 -
-> X18774-9
8
V+
-> X605-1
9
Subwoofer SP1 -
-> X18774-3
10
Subwoofer SP2 -
-> X18774-5
11
Left rear woofer -
-> X605-12
12
Right rear woofer +
-> X605-5
13
Subwoofer SP4 +
-> X18774-10
14
Subwoofer SP3 +
-> X18774-8
15
GND
-> X605-3
X18772 - DSP amplifier 18 pin connector
X18772
1
2
TEL -
-> X10390-25
3
4
5
I-bus
-> X10390-21
6
7
8
Right radio -
-> X606-1
9
Left radio -
-> X606-4
10
11
TEL +
-> X10390-26
12
13
TEL MUTE
-> X10390-22
14
15
16
17
Right radio +
-> X606-2
18
Left radio +
-> X606-3
X18773 - DSP amplifier 26 pin connector
X18773
1
Left front woofer +
-> X605-7
2
Left front woofer -
-> X605-8
3
4
Right front mid -
-> X606-9
5
Left front mid +
-> X606-25
6
7
8
9
Right front mid +
-> X606-8
10
Left front mid -
-> X606-26
11
Right rear tweeter +
-> X606-12
12
Right front tweeter +
-> X606-23
13
Right front woofer +
-> X605-9
14
Left front tweeter +
-> X606-21
15
Left front tweeter -
-> X606-22
16
Left rear tweeter -
-> X606-11
17
18
19
Left rear tweeter +
-> X606-10
20
21
22
23
24
Right rear tweeter -
-> X606-13
25
Right front tweeter -
-> X606-24
26
Right front woofer -
-> X605-10
In addition, if you mess with the SES connector and care about the telephone wiring, you need to maintain the following connections inside the SES plug. Otherwise, the phone microphone will not be connected correctly.
X10390
8
MIC -
10
9
MIC +
11
Installing the subwoofer box happens inside the trunk, underneath the parcel shelf. As a prerequisite, you need to punch open two pre-cut holes in the metal trunk ceiling. You will notice there are two sizes for the pre-cut holes. Open the smaller ones that match the tubes in the subwoofer box. The bigger ones are for the M-audio subwoofer elements.
After this, put the expanding plastic nuts into the correct holes, and attach the subwoofer box with screws.
Replacing the multi-information display is easy, and there are plenty of instructions available elsewhere. First you pull out the adjustment knob, which reveals a small hole underneath the knob, on top of the shaft. Use a small screwdriver or hex key through the hole to release the fastening mechanism. After this one can simply pull the whole display out.
If you decide to go through the effort to replace the speaker elements with the correct ones, Bentley has good instructions on how to take out the front door panels and the parcel shelf top. Opening the door panels is easy, but get some new plastic clips that hold the door panels in place ready since it will be relatively easy to break some of those.
Removing the parcel shelf top liner is more involved, and requires one to take the whole rear passenger seat out first.
I consider this speaker replacement optional. The difference in sound is in my option noticable, but it is a matter of personal preference which one you will prefer. The DSP speaker elemements in doors and the parcel shelf produce less volume than the non-DSP ones (obviously since those are 8 ohm vs. 4 ohm), which will result in slightly different balance between different audio frequencies. The non-DSP elements provide louder, more mid-rangy, at your face sound. Not sure though if the DSP amplifier is designed to handle the difference in speaker load, though.
There is no need to perform any coding for the MID or the DSP amplifier. Everything seems to be plug-and-play.
https://www.google.com/search?site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1254&bih=631&q=65128374535
If you can obtain a full DSP harness and you are willing to have an effort to replace the whole existing harness in your car with a new one, most of this description does not apply to you. That would be an alternate way to accomplish the same and you would not need to worry about any connectivity issues. But, exchanging the whole harness is pain, unless you already have the interior of the car removed due to some other reason.
The method here is to keep using the existing harness, but to build an adaptor between the existing connectors in the trunk and a DSP amplifier that will be added. The benefit is that you don't need to touch the existing wiring. If you build this using connectors, it will be easy to restore it back to how it originally was if needed. Your dear 2003 540i/6 will remain unmolested, it will keep the OEM look and feel and you can enjoy better audio quality. Best of all worlds, right? The downside is that you need to be inclined to build your own adaptor harness using some of the connectors from the DSP harness.
These are the new items that you need.
AMPLIFIER HIFI DSP 65126940977
SUBWOOFERBOX TOP-HIFI SYSTEM 65136908549
Expanding nut x4 63171367868
Fillister head self-tapping screw x4 07147137416
(This new subwoofer box will go under the parcel shelf in the trunk.)
MULTI INFORMATION DISPLAY with DSP button
(There are some reports that this would not be absolutely needed, but you only would be able to use the default DSP audio settings and not able to change them.)
TRUNK SUBWOOFER TRIM PANEL 51478211952
Expanding rivet x? 51498166702
(Optional items for those of you who care about the looks. I so far haven't bothered to cover the subwoofer box myself. Having this trim panel installed will take up some additional trunk space on top of what the subwoofer box itself already does.)
REAR LEFT LOUDSPEAKER 65138369067
REAR RIGHT LOUDSPEAKER 65138369068
LEFT FRONT DOOR LOUDSPEAKER BOX 65138369065
RIGHT FRONT DOOR LOUDSPEAKER BOX 65138369066
(If you care to have the very same DSP sound quality as a car that was built with this option from the factory, you need to replace the woofer-type speaker elements both in the rear parcel shelf, and behind the front door panels with appropriate ones. The DSP audio speakers have orange stickers and are 8 ohm. The normal speakers have blue or green stickers and are 4 ohm. The mid-range and tweeter elements are the same with both DSP and DSP-less options. I would consider this speaker replacement optional and it is mostly a matter of personal taste whether it makes a difference.)
Pin contact with wire x4 61130005198
(You will need to add some new pins to the SES plugin. Getting the pins from the dealer with this part number is probably the easiest option.)
Subwoofer cable connector
+
DSP amplifier cable connectors (3)
(You need these from the DSP harness to build connections to the DSP amp and the subwoofer box. If you are lucky, the DSP amplifier and the subwoofer box you bought from eBay came with these connectors as someone just cut the wires.)
HIFI amplifier male connectors (2)
(The idea is to use these to connect to the cable connectors in the trunk. You can extract these from the from the existing HIFI amplifier. You will most likely throw the amplifier away anyway.)
Here are the connections you need to establish to the three connectors that plug into the DSP amplifier. The way this is organized is the following.
X18771
X605
X18772
<---------------->
X606
X18773
X10390
X18774
So on the other side of the adaptor harness you need to build are the three DSP amplifier connectors
X18771 (DSP amplifier, 15 pin)
X18772 (DSP amplifier, 18 pin)
X18773 (DSP amplifier, 26 pin).
The signals that connect to these come from four different connectors. The first three are already in your trunk, and you will be adding the fourth one (the subwoofer connector).
X605 (HIFI amplifier connector, 12 pin)
X606 (HIFI amplifier connector, 26 pin)
X10390 (SES connector, 26 pin)
X18774 (Subwoofer connector)
If you don't care about the telephone signals, you don't need to use the SES connector at all. But in this case you would still need to get the I-bus signal from someplace else. You could alternatively get it for instance from the CD changer 3 pin connector.
X18771 - DSP amplifier 15 pin connector
X18771
1
Subwoofer SP1 +
-> X18774-2
2
Subwoofer SP2 +
-> X18774-4
3
Left rear woofer +
-> X605-11
4
Radio ON
-> X605-2
5
Right rear woofer -
-> X605-6
6
Subwoofer SP4 -
-> X18774-11
7
Subwoofer SP3 -
-> X18774-9
8
V+
-> X605-1
9
Subwoofer SP1 -
-> X18774-3
10
Subwoofer SP2 -
-> X18774-5
11
Left rear woofer -
-> X605-12
12
Right rear woofer +
-> X605-5
13
Subwoofer SP4 +
-> X18774-10
14
Subwoofer SP3 +
-> X18774-8
15
GND
-> X605-3
X18772 - DSP amplifier 18 pin connector
X18772
1
2
TEL -
-> X10390-25
3
4
5
I-bus
-> X10390-21
6
7
8
Right radio -
-> X606-1
9
Left radio -
-> X606-4
10
11
TEL +
-> X10390-26
12
13
TEL MUTE
-> X10390-22
14
15
16
17
Right radio +
-> X606-2
18
Left radio +
-> X606-3
X18773 - DSP amplifier 26 pin connector
X18773
1
Left front woofer +
-> X605-7
2
Left front woofer -
-> X605-8
3
4
Right front mid -
-> X606-9
5
Left front mid +
-> X606-25
6
7
8
9
Right front mid +
-> X606-8
10
Left front mid -
-> X606-26
11
Right rear tweeter +
-> X606-12
12
Right front tweeter +
-> X606-23
13
Right front woofer +
-> X605-9
14
Left front tweeter +
-> X606-21
15
Left front tweeter -
-> X606-22
16
Left rear tweeter -
-> X606-11
17
18
19
Left rear tweeter +
-> X606-10
20
21
22
23
24
Right rear tweeter -
-> X606-13
25
Right front tweeter -
-> X606-24
26
Right front woofer -
-> X605-10
In addition, if you mess with the SES connector and care about the telephone wiring, you need to maintain the following connections inside the SES plug. Otherwise, the phone microphone will not be connected correctly.
X10390
8
MIC -
10
9
MIC +
11
Installing the subwoofer box happens inside the trunk, underneath the parcel shelf. As a prerequisite, you need to punch open two pre-cut holes in the metal trunk ceiling. You will notice there are two sizes for the pre-cut holes. Open the smaller ones that match the tubes in the subwoofer box. The bigger ones are for the M-audio subwoofer elements.
After this, put the expanding plastic nuts into the correct holes, and attach the subwoofer box with screws.
Replacing the multi-information display is easy, and there are plenty of instructions available elsewhere. First you pull out the adjustment knob, which reveals a small hole underneath the knob, on top of the shaft. Use a small screwdriver or hex key through the hole to release the fastening mechanism. After this one can simply pull the whole display out.
If you decide to go through the effort to replace the speaker elements with the correct ones, Bentley has good instructions on how to take out the front door panels and the parcel shelf top. Opening the door panels is easy, but get some new plastic clips that hold the door panels in place ready since it will be relatively easy to break some of those.
Removing the parcel shelf top liner is more involved, and requires one to take the whole rear passenger seat out first.
I consider this speaker replacement optional. The difference in sound is in my option noticable, but it is a matter of personal preference which one you will prefer. The DSP speaker elemements in doors and the parcel shelf produce less volume than the non-DSP ones (obviously since those are 8 ohm vs. 4 ohm), which will result in slightly different balance between different audio frequencies. The non-DSP elements provide louder, more mid-rangy, at your face sound. Not sure though if the DSP amplifier is designed to handle the difference in speaker load, though.
There is no need to perform any coding for the MID or the DSP amplifier. Everything seems to be plug-and-play.