Another rear deck speaker upgrade.

[E30Alpina]

Finished up most of mine today, got the speakers in there after getting the holes bigger with a soup can.
Question, can't seem to see polarity on the monsoons, I know green black is positive but can't tell on the monsoons, can someone help?
Also is there a advantage to taking that foam out?i have the box out still so is it a good advantage?
I'm finishing up changing all the headliner and pillars to black which is a pita with the old sticky foam but it's a 2001 imola so gotta treat her right

[thrawn5499]

There you go


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[E30Alpina]

Thank you!!!

[ConvGeorge]

An update on my project: I got the speakers in and mounted the box in the car. Fired it up, and I wasn't too impressed. I started looking over stuff, and discovered that the two speakers on the right side weren't working. I pretty much come to the conclusion that my DSP amp is not working on those two channels. Plus while doing the testing I discovered one of the left speakers had no continuity, so it probably wasn't working, either. I replaced that speaker with a spare I had, and noticed a difference in output. It actually doesn't sound horrible right now, so I'm hopeful that it will produce enough bass when all 4 speakers are working to satisfy me.

[thrawn5499]

Hope you get the others working. It would suck to go through the process and not have a good working system. Good luck, keep us posted on your progress


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[ConvGeorge]

Well, I went to the junkyard today, scored 2 amps (a Phillips and a ULLOEWE.) Plus I got a good subwoofer cover, which is fortunate since I wasn't really happy with the job I did on mine (the 3M glue didn't stick well, and the faux suede didn't stretch very well around the corners or into the grille cavity. Getting ready to see it either amp will work.

A quick update, 1 hour later. The ULLOEWE amp didn't work, just got some popping out of a couple of speakers. The Phillips amp, however worked as soon as I hooked it up. Sound was a little strange, but a quick look at the DSP settings and they were all jacked up, as was the EQ. I reset everything and it sounds good now. Much improved bass, too. Not quite like it was with 2 10's in the trunk, but adequate, and I get my trunk back.

[thrawn5499]

That's good to hear. What did the amp set you back?


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[ConvGeorge]

$25 bucks. Well, I got the 2 amps, the video module and the sub box cover for $90, plus I can take back the amp that didn't work and get a refund. The pick-n-pull type places are great for BMW parts, since they price everything the same.

[thrawn5499]

Cool. I got to check my area, most are closed on Saturday here, or only open until noon...


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[dville]

e38.weebly.com

[dubdaze68]

I spy, with my little eye, a wide five VW Transporter.

[Raghza]

I'm sure this has been said in this topic already, but which wire on the car side is + and - ?

I hope to finish my upgrade at the end of this week and then I'll post some pics.
Since my car is from Germany and now in Estonia, I was happy to find the original DSP speakers in absolutely perfect condition.
I touched and poked them and there was no sign of them breaking, so I guess that the only reason why so many speakers disintegrate, is heat, a lot of heat.
Now I hope that the Monsoon upgrade will still be worth it - luckily I had my rear springs replaced, so that was the reason I took the rear seats and the DSP out.

[thrawn5499]

I'm sure this has been said in this topic already, but which wire on the car side is + and - ?

I hope to finish my upgrade at the end of this week and then I'll post some pics.
Since my car is from Germany and now in Estonia, I was happy to find the original DSP speakers in absolutely perfect condition.
I touched and poked them and there was no sign of them breaking, so I guess that the only reason why so many speakers disintegrate, is heat, a lot of heat.
Now I hope that the Monsoon upgrade will still be worth it - luckily I had my rear springs replaced, so that was the reason I took the rear seats and the DSP out.

From what I have read they will still sound better than the stock ones. I hope that is the case for you. I looks forward to seeing some pictures.
Green/black is (+) green is (-). Hope that helps


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[Raghza]

Finished my upgrade this weekend.
As you can see, my original speakers were still perfect:


Reshaping the holes. I also needed to do the center ones only:


Didn't use the original connectors like dville does, but soldered new connectors directly to the speakers and the DSP wires:


And the first test fitment:


Mounted with 4 original screws and sealed with silicone.
Managed to break one Monsoon when doing a stress-test like I always do after installing any new speakers. Guess it was on it's way already then. I just disconnected it at the moment and the bass is still really good with just 3 Monsoons connected. Will do some more stress-testing and see if I can break some more Monsoons. And then replace the broken ones later - I hope I'm able to do this inside the car by just removing the speaker grilles. What I'm worried the most is properly sealing it, so I think I'll try to find a suitable foam seal or sth, so it would be easier to replace the speakers without tearing everything apart.

I am extremely satisfied with the sound. Not as massive as with a big aftermarket subwoofer, but really well balanced and sounds nice at all the volume levels. Previously I couldn't hear much bass at lower volume and it was unable to play some lower frequencies. Now it plays absolutely everything and the bass is awesome! Juicy, deep, powerful! It's an absolute joy to listen to some bassy tracks now.
Also tested with some ridiculous bass boosted tracks. Previously it couldn't play them, the bass was either missing or sounded rubbish. Now it plays these tracks perfectly and so well that I have to turn down the bass levels

Thanks dville and everybody else who helped me - this is one of the best mods I've done to my car!

[Aitch]

The thing I'm most impressed by is this box's ability to play really clean low bass notes. Sure it's not like having a 12" or 15" sub box in the back, but both with my stock speakers and now the Monsoons, the system really puts out great low-end bass that you don't get with a lot of OEM systems. The box is really well tuned.

[dville]

Now that I have helped you guys put me out of business

I have 4 boxes waiting to be built for any new customer.

You can all attest to the hours of labor that goes into making these retrofits.
If you are not so handy and need a plug and play solution,
send me a PM.

[thrawn5499]

Now that I have helped you guys put me out of business ������

I have 4 boxes waiting to be built for any new customer.

You can all attest to the hours of labor that goes into making these retrofits.
If you are not so handy and need a plug and play solution,
send me a PM.

+1 worth the money if you have it to spend.


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[Raghza]

Absolutely worth it to let dville do it.
I mean, it's not a hard DIY, but all things considered, if I would live in the States, I definitely would have bought a built DSP box from him.
Removing the speakers from their plastic surroundings and then making sure everything is sealed at the end.. if not, taking it all out and starting again - it will be frustrating and you will be better off spending a little money and getting a build that is fully tested and working.

[Aitch]

Now that I have helped you guys put me out of business

I have 4 boxes waiting to be built for any new customer.

You can all attest to the hours of labor that goes into making these retrofits.
If you are not so handy and need a plug and play solution,
send me a PM.

Totally vote for dville if you're not too handy yourself or short on time. I will say that surprisingly cutting off the Monsoon shrouds was less easy than I expected.

[ConvGeorge]

My final review, 2 weeks later. I ripped it all out. I wasn't really satisfied with the sound, too much midbass was ruining the low bass. This was particularly noticeable on male voices. Plus, the amp just ran out of oomph right at the volume I like to listen to, so I was constantly having to adjust the volume to prevent clipping on songs with more bass. I'm going to put two of the monsoon speakers in my rear doors.

What ended up doing - I had a sub box that was designed to fit under the convertible top well in my former 325iC. It's a box for 2 10"s. I got some Rockford Fosgate 10's designed for a small box (.6 cubic feet per speaker) and they were $44 each, so not really expensive, that was the only expense I had. The angle of the box fits right up behind my rear seat, takes about 1/2 the room my old box did, so I kept most of my trunk. I realized that part of the problem I was having before with the bass dropping out when turned up high was the DSP amp wasn't putting out any signal on one channel of the subs. I have replaced the amp, and now getting signal on both sides. This made a big difference, it's not running out of steam anymore. Plus the crossover on the amp lets me cut out some of the midbass.

I took the speakers out of the factory sub box, and was thinking the bass could pass through the sub box since I removed the foam. Unfortunately, the ski pass through rattled too much, so I removed it, too. So I can put the rear armrest up and everything is hidden, or drop it down for maximum bass.

I think if you just listen to music quietly and are generally satisfied with your factory sound, but need to replace some broken speakers this is probably a good mod. I've had subs in my cars for decades now, so I'm kinda used to that sound, and the monsoon speakers just weren't cutting it for me. I wouldn't say this project was a total waste of time, I got a better factory sub box cover, and relocated my Mediabridge to the back, as well as relocated my SiriusXM antenna under the rear deck from on the hood, so it's totally hidden now.

[BillConn]

Anybody try this upgrade with the early style sealed (non-ported) DSP box? I'm curious if the sound may be a bit more balanced with 4 monsoons in the sealed enclosure?

[dville]

Yes.
Just cut a hole same size as the newer box.



e38.weebly.com

[BillConn]

Yes.
Just cut a hole same size as the newer box.

Thanks DVILLE... Have you ever tried running the box un-vented? I *heard* some people say the 4-monsoon upgrade in the vented enclosure resulted in a little too much bass relative to the door speakers. I thought maybe leaving it sealed might be a bit more balanced. I can easily "vent" it like you showed in the pics, but before I perform the non-reversible surgery on the box, I wanted to know how it performs sealed.

[dville]

It's more bass because the speakers are lower impedance drawing more power from the amp.

I turn the bass down in the TONE menu.


e38.weebly.com

[Chief Rocka]

Dude post some pics of the Bus!!!