I've been bugging folks via PM but with some recent success thought I'd make an official post of it.
The car - '99 540iTA with DSP and an early DICE iPod unit.
The problem - I'm on my third DSP amp. Think it was water coming in from the roof antenna so that's all sealed up now (thanks, BMW for not having a drip loop in your harness)
The solution - ongoing, but in short, like many of your other DSP ex-pats- remove the DSP amp, get the stock head unit (unless someone wants to gift me a Dynavin) to output 5V signal, wire in an aftermarket amp, use all the stock speakers.
The progress to date
- With lots of board help I found the correct pinout for all three connectors to my DSP amp. Evidently the 540 wagon (at least '99) is different than a later 528 wagon but via cross reference and trial and error I found all the correct wires.
- Soldered an RCA pair to the 5V outputs from the stock head unit, attached leads to all 24 pins for speakers
- Resurrected an old MPA500us Blaupunkt amp for testing (Class A/B, 250W RMSx2, 2-ohm stable) and wired it into +12, Gnd and the factory trigger
- Tested all 12 speakers
- Connected all three fronts on each side to one channel each and wired the two factory Nokia box subs (8-ohm each, i checked) in series and them bridged (as 16-ohms) across both channels.
I'm running like that for now until I decide on crossovers and an amp. I was very close to buying the GAS-recommended 1800W Planet Audio Anarchy unit until I found that it was the size of a small country. I like the price and the class A/B clean sound but I'm not sure where I would put the thing. It won't fit in the stock location and with a slide-out parcel shelf I'm not certain I have room to put it under the boot floor. Won't it overheat like mad there anyway?
I'm looking now at a couple of Class D units (Let's see if links work):
Pioneer GM-D9605 2,000W 5-channel with bass remote
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B014XQ6BLI/...I10NLE0ZGIIIUA
or
JVC KS-AX3205D DRVN 1,000W 5-channel
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BPEID4A/...K062VNU8&psc=1
I really like that I can take simple stereo into the Pioneer unit and use the internal gain controls for front, rear and sub output. I've never once touch the fader control in my head unit so i don't care anything about F/R adjustments while driving.
On the other hand I like the price of the JVC.
Once that's settled I'll be on to crossovers. Doesn't look like GAS has the unit for E39 anymore so I'll have to figure that out. Anyone know what the crossover points for stock drivers are? My current plan is:
Front Tweet - 3.5kHz High pass (and may need some attenuation, overpowering when wired parallel)
Front Mid - 1.0-3.5kHz Band pass
Front Woof - 1.0kHz Low Pass
Rear Mid/Tweet - 3.4kHz High Pass
Rear Woof - 3.4kHz Low Pass
Subwoof - Adjustable amp Low Pass (40-500Hz)
This is where I need help. Everything is 8-ohm in the car so normal car audio components don't work. Will either have to find the right home stereo units or build my own.
If I built them - maybe 3-ways for the front and 2-ways for the rear and could house them in a factory DSP box using factory harness plugs would there be a few forum members that would want such a box?
Hi,
Why not just change to quality aftermarket speakers? then you'll have none of this fiddling around !
A simple setup would be a quality head unit with RCA ouputs direct to your choice of amplifier(s),2 way 5.25 inch components in the front in solid baffles to replace the oem plastic ones. The rear speaker location in a Touring is absolutely lousy and there's no quality speakers that would fit in there anyway, so i'd say leave the rear disconnected or build pods for the D Pillar like I have in my Touring to 'fire' the speakers into the cabin. A hideaway subwoofer built into one of the rear cubby's and you'd have a setup that'll sound significantly better.
Here's a link to my install - scroll about halfway down the page. http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/sh...mate-Audio-BMW
I did do door builds, so if you don't want to go to that level, then the baffles from 12V electronics and some great 5.25inch components in the front will and do sound excellent! 6.5's fit, however you'll need to choose your speakers very carefully and most likely have to do extensive work behind the door panel to ensure they fit well and the speaker cone and surround don't touch the rear of the door card.
I see you mentioned the 'stock' head unit, if you have the monitor/GPS setup, then you need to retain all the oem modules for it all to work. If you are fed up of replacing the DSP amp, you can't just remove that and have the rest of the system work - it won't. As you've mentioned the Dynavin, you could get that, but ONLY from Jeff at J&T in Fresno, else a higher quality branded unit would be better. I now use the Parrot Asteroid Smart and I'm very happy with it. Going this route means you can sell off the oem modules to reoup some money, and there's no need for all the hassle of trying to keep those old oem DSP speakers...
Cheers, Dennis!
Dennis, the factory DSP speakers aren't the problem - they sound very good, just need to be crossed over and driven correctly. I have a Business CD factory head unit so it gives a nice clean stereo out signal to plug X18772 in the trunk. I'm keenly aware of every wire in the trunk cubby - just looking for crossover points right now and have zero interest in pulling door panels. And, as for "quality head unit[s] with RCA outputs" I'm unaware of any that fit the dash except the Dynavin. I don't believe in hack jobs or "adapter plate" BS.
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