e39 free-air / infinite baffle vs enclosure box sub setup

[Benny Z]

i understand what you are saying, but with modern day drivers...and especially in an IB install...that is an "old way" of thinking.

imo

[zzvelik]

Finally some progress...

[Benny Z]

cool - got the sub installed?

[zzvelik]

A body shop did a clean job on cutting the ski pass and fitting the MDF board and sub. One audio shop refused to cut through the ski pass due to the thickness of the metal. I still need to get the amp installed and connected.

[Benny Z]

lookin good... did you seal up the underside of the rear deck?

[Denny347]

A body shop did a clean job on cutting the ski pass and fitting the MDF board and sub. One audio shop refused to cut through the ski pass due to the thickness of the metal. I still need to get the amp installed and connected.

Looks good. It is a shame that the audio shop would not do it. They must not get into much custom work. I used to work at a shop that specialized in custom work on high end cars (this will date myself but this was before fiberglass was popular) and I have told customers "If you want it, we can do it for the right money." I left the business 14 yrs ago and only do it as a hobby now.

[zzvelik]

lookin good... did you seal up the underside of the rear deck?

If you mean the bottom area, then no. I'm not sure what to seal there or how exactly to do it. I still plan on reopening the doors at some point to lessen the rattle with dynomat or an alternative product. I'm sure once I take some of the lows away from the front midbass speakers, that may take most of the rattle away. I hope to try it this coming weekend.

[zzvelik]

Finally (sans the tweaking part), it's done!





I encourage any bmw owner who has a ski pass in the back to go with the infinite baffle set up. It reminds me of my 2-channel audiophile system at home when feeding a well recorded CD. I still need to do a little tweaking for the bass when switching between the CD/radio and auxiliary device. It's way more bass than I was ever looking for!!!

[PScalfano]

Looks great. Good job!

[zzvelik]

Thanks PS. It sounds way better than it looks. Also, I must say there is absolutely no need for rear speakers if you have the fronts powered with a nice amp.

I still need to add a picture of the JL Cleansweep knob which was installed next to the fog light switch.

[zzvelik]

Here's a pic of the cleansweep knob that allows me to control the master volume and switch from the factory radio to the aux input:



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[Theo@BSW]

zzvelik:

I have used both types of subwoofer systems over the years in the e39 5er.

The ib application on the rear deck does save some useable trunk space, but keeping control of the woofer and unwanted resonance can make this a tricky proposition. Picking the right equipment and reinforcing the back deck lid becomes a necessity in my opinion.

On the other hand, knocking out the ski pass through seems like a more direct approach. This involves building a compression style bandpass enclosure that mounts permanently to the back seat firewall. The enclosure fires into the ski-pass and directly into the cabin of the car. There is no bass loss or panel resonance, and the subwoofer delivers great sound, but with the penalty of decreased trunk space.

Both of these options are great when executed correctly. In my opinion, either systems would require a professional installer, or at the very least someone who has done this type of work before. Expect at least a days worth of labor to do it well.

Alternatively, we have designed an amazingly easy-to-install solution that places the enclosure underneath the rear deck lid from inside of the trunk. The d110.e39 consists of a 10" custom built enclosure that mechanically couples to the underside of the rear deck lid (hardware is included), and comes complete with a 250 watt amplifier http://www.bavariansoundwerks.com/pr...9-5-Series-M5/. This direct connection to the rear panel provides decreased resonance overall as well as phenomenal bass response, all while taking up a minimal amount of trunk space.


Feel free to drop me a PM or shoot me an email at tgr@bavsound.com.

[Sozo]

I'm a new member and just getting to this thread. I had an e24. I cut a hole in the trunk wall (rear seats) and used a free-air speaker mounted to a "custom" board. Sounded great.

I'm doing a custom setup again in my M3. Since the rear seats fold, I HAD an IB 10" setup like yours. Now I'm tinkering with a trunk floor shaped MDF (carpeted) with a 12" IB mounted, firing up. I'm not sure sow that's going to work...the speaker will be placed where the spare once was. It's a hassle, all the cutting just to "test" but you gotta do what you gotta do! Too much time on my hands, i guess!

Oh yeah, nice, clean setup! Congrats.

[zzvelik]

Hi Sozo,

Sounds like a lot of work on your hands... good luck with it.

A brief update on my system:

1. After a lot of research, I bought a Cowon O2 portable media player which supports FLAC and many other audio/video formats. The FLAC files sound incredible on my system. I highly recommend it for those looking for the best sound quality. The Cowon O2 even played the higher resolution 24/96 kHz FLAC files. When I get a chance, I'm going to try some more from: http://www.2l.no/hires/index.html

2. For those who are upgrade their systems with good speakers/amps, I don't recommend rear speakers at all if you are into 2-channel audio. I think if I added rear speakers, it would not only be overkill, but would get very costly especially if I'd want to match speaker quality/brand.

3. I still haven't tuned the system professionally with a mic. I'm sure that would enhance the overall sound quality. For the time being, I crossed over the sub at 80 hz and did some manual tweaks with some of the input/output levels of the two amps.

[Benny Z]

do you have an iphone/ipod touch, by chance? there're a couple of interesting rta apps i've been playing with.

[zzvelik]

No apple products since the Apple II+, but I do have a HTC Touch Pro with Resco Radio to stream online stations from live365, shoutcast, and others.

[12v Electronics]

How well do these speakers seal to the door? It doen't look like they would allow the woofer to couple to the door well, especially with the armrest in place.

[zzvelik]

Other than MP3s from my Nokia N800, almost everything (FM, CDs, Cowon, HTC Touch Pro) I threw at the new system sounded good as long as I didn't turn up the volume to unbearable levels where you do notice slight rattles. The installer recommended dynamat or a similar product and due to time restrictions, I never got a chance for him to install any dampening material or fiddle with the manual tuning of the amps. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

[mikemxbike4]

I'm about to have infinite baffle setup in my car too( JL audio stealthboxes). A local car audio enthusiast said that he has seen a few bmw's which had rear speakers removed alltogether, so the remaining openings served as ports for your sub box in the trunk.

My old e34 had a ski pass so the bass from my 10" sealed boxes would reach the interior just fine. I just didn't want anything heavy in the m3 so I decided to go with stealthboxes instead.

[udoug]

Personally I'm just going to cut the ski pass, yank out the factory sub box, slap in my JL audio 10" in a shallow box w/ kicker 400w mono(already have them), and see where it takes me.

I'm surprised to hear that the infinite baffle woofers have been working out so well... they are usually regarded as having less tight response unless you power the heck out of them. The advantage was that they can hit lower then what most boxes allow.

For me, a box will likely continue to make more sense- I can pull it out if I need more room, still use the skipass, and not spend hours sealing and deadening the deck if I wanted to go that option.

I had thought about doing something with the spare tire well... until I flatted yesterday on a brand new set of conti's. Weird too- there's a 2-3 inch crack/slice right along where the outer lip of the rim meets the tire!

[Jasnite]

Here is my ride and audio setup. All I added is a 12" L5 and a Rockford Fosgate 360....Just a enough bass to make'em look.... And still plenty of trunk space......You Like.....

[zzvelik]

I know it's been a while since the install, but I plan on sealing the doors and trunk with dynamat today as well as moving the tweeters. Any tips on what I should ask the installer to do to make sure I get a proper seal? TIA