E36 front speakers not working

[dfoxengr]

edited: I replaced the amplifier and the left kick panel speaker and still didnt fix the problem
left door speakers are BSW and kick panel is a replacement stock one

my rears work fine as do the right side fronts but the 2 in the front left door and the left lower kick panel don't work at all. I took the door panel off Could anybody point me to some ideas?

thanks

[Jason@BavSound]

If the front kick panel speakers are working, at least we know the issue isn't in the pre-amp side of things (radio, amplifier inputs).

So, we need to look the door speakers themselves. I would remove both door panels and get all of the suspect speakers completely removed. From there, take a known working midrange and connect it to the midrange wires in the door, and a known working tweeter to the tweeter wires in the door. Repeat this on both sides.

It's rare to see an individual channel go bad on the factory amplifier, but if the speakers have been blown for an extended period of time, it's possible that the continued stress being placed on the amplifier has sent it to an early grave.

[dfoxengr]

sucks because the mids and tweets in the door are your company's

they worked fine one day, then were not on the next. I dont listen to the radio loudly and dont drive the car that much so I am confident I didn't blow them

[Jason@BavSound]

I would test the individual speakers to ensure that they aren't blown. We've only had a handful of suspect midranges over the past 5 years, and the tweeters should be even more difficult to damage.

Try my suggestions on the first post, and then test each speaker's impedance. The tweeters should be around 4 ohms if your car is an HK system, and 8 ohms if it's not. The mids should read around 3-4 ohms in an HK car, and 8 ohms if it's not.

If all reads well, the amp has likely kicked the bucket...

[dfoxengr]

will post up results shortly.

[dfoxengr]

added information to first post

[Jason@BavSound]

PM Sent.

[fhsu]

Reviving the thread since I have the exact same issues. The speakers on the door panels are also BSWs and they all stopped working while the ones in the kicker panel and the rear speakers are still working.

What was the cause of your speakers stopped working?

Thanks!

[hlmiii]

The speakers on the door panels are also BSWs and they all stopped working while the ones in the kicker panel and the rear speakers are still working.

I have had the same experience. The solution was to replace ALL the speakers, rather than just some of them.

The HK speakers have a matched impedance. Aftermarket speakers have a different impedance. The resulting volume difference is huge, due in large part to the amplifier's design.

You most likely need to replace the remaining HK speakers with BSW units. (Or replace the BSW speakers with the original HK units.) At that point everything with match electrically, with proper speaker levels.

You can verify this by disconnecting the BSW speakers. It is likely that you will find that the HK speakers are actually working, just at a much lower volume.

[fhsu]

@hlmii, thanks for the help. I actually do have BSW speakers all around already, and the setup was working for me for the past 5 years.

So the culprit is actually the amp! I swapped to a spare non-HK amp and the front speakers are working again. Something still seems a bit off compare to when the speakers where working with the HK amp though. Almost seems like the bass is weak. I guess I’ll pick up a HK amp off eBay when I get a chance.

Thanks!

[hlmiii]

You are welcome,
and agree that the amplifier is almost certainly the culprit (now I know of the speakers!).

Weak bass?
- Check phase? You're sure ALL + and - wiring is correctly connected?
- All speaker units working properly?
- Expectations? The system is never going to kick a$$. Ha.
- Finally .... the HK amplifier may have the various channels equalized and /or crossed over. Even though I have an E36 with the HK setup, I don't know the details of the amplifier. I DO know that each amplifier channel in the E46 amplifier is specifically tailored to the speaker it will be driving. If the E36 amplifier is like that then a Non-HK amplifier would sound different.

Good luck.

@hlmii, thanks for the help. I actually do have BSW speakers all around already, and the setup was working for me for the past 5 years.
...
Thanks!