Am I forgetting anything for my stereo upgrade?

[AJLM34A]

Is the HK switch the one by the ASC button in front of the shift lever? What exactly is it supposed to do? does it turn the gain down on the low freq channels, or something like that?

Yes for the location. Changes sound. Something like that.

[Pyropete82]

Is the HK switch the one by the ASC button in front of the shift lever? What exactly is it supposed to do? does it turn the gain down on the low freq channels, or something like that?

Just curios here, are you trying to restore the car to stock? If so, have at it, but honestly BavSound has the upgrade already preconfigured to accept all stock connectors, and you'll never get the quality out of the stock HK than the BavSound option. Hey have an amp also...


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[tsmith25]

At this point, I am getting it back to functional for as little money, and as quickly as possible. I am driving it up to CT with the family in two weeks. I am not necessarily going for stock, but it is just what was cheap and available at the moment. I have only had this one for about 6-7 months, so I am still fixing "previous owner issues" and updating normal maintenance things. The Stereo falls into the "previous owner issue" category. When I had my 95, I was ok with just the front speakers after the rear surrounds turned to dust. Plus, the bavsound speaker upgrade and amplifier are about $1300 compared to a full stock speaker and amp setup that I found for $50. I'm sure it sounds better, but I am also sure it doesn't sound $1250 better. I would rather spend the money on mechanical upgrades instead of stereo upgrades.

[Pyropete82]

At this point, I am getting it back to functional for as little money, and as quickly as possible. I am driving it up to CT with the family in two weeks. I am not necessarily going for stock, but it is just what was cheap and available at the moment. I have only had this one for about 6-7 months, so I am still fixing "previous owner issues" and updating normal maintenance things. The Stereo falls into the "previous owner issue" category. When I had my 95, I was ok with just the front speakers after the rear surrounds turned to dust. Plus, the bavsound speaker upgrade and amplifier are about $1300 compared to a full stock speaker and amp setup that I found for $50. I'm sure it sounds better, but I am also sure it doesn't sound $1250 better. I would rather spend the money on mechanical upgrades instead of stereo upgrades.

I agree to certain terms here. Normally the amount you spend vs the DSQ is always backed by an ego and some sort of cognitive dissonance; however, I would say having anything aftermarket running on a cheap amp with some cheap speakers, you'd still get better than stock. You'd be amazed what level of detail in the music you can hear, especially your iTunes.


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[M3 Pete]

Pull all the stock wire out, run 14awg and run the head unit on RCAs straight to the amp.

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I was trying to do just this, but when I got to the door speakers, I found that a plug consumes the entire opening where I'd run the speaker wires into the door.

I have the HK setup, but I'm tossing all of it for a new head unit and amp. Should I just tap into the stock wires with the crossover? If so, where? At the HK amp? I was hoping to have the crossover up front, until I found that plug.

[AJLM34A]

The area in the red circle is the release for the connector, pull it and the ends will come apart. IF YOU HAVE DOOR AIRBAGS, DISCONNECT THE BATTERY!! The area in the green circle is the factory speaker wires(drivers side will be blue). You can disconnect them from the larger connector and run your new speaker wire thru. Glass cleaner is a good lube.

Door plug.jpg

[M3 Pete]

Thanks! Do I pull up or out on that red circled release?

[AJLM34A]

Thanks! Do I pull up or out on that red circled release?

Out, use a flat head screwdriver. It only pulls out about 1/2".

[RRSperry]

If you are going to use the factory wires, you need to have the xover after your amp. I don't see anyway to not have it in back by where the factory amp is supposed to go, since every speaker wire starts there. (in other words, every speaker has wires that start there.) Of course you could run new speaker wire from your amp to the from and place the xover there, it's just a lot more work.

(Alpine head bt148, AudioControls DQX, Alpine V12 4 channel bridges for the front speakers, Alpine V12 mono sub amp for the JL Audio Stealthboxes, and BavSound / Rainbow 3 way speaker set. in front)

[M3 Pete]

AJLM34A is the man! Thanks!

Sure enough, the plug comes apart. The first photo shows the latch closed, the second shows the latch pulled up, which allows the plug to come apart.

door plug a.jpgdoor plug b.jpg

There is an open space next to the existing speaker wires, that has plenty of room for new wires, no need to modify or remove the old wires. Popped the hose off the door by gently squeezing it at the door and pulling it out, and ran the wires through the hose and into the door. I used wire lubricant that I had left over from a house wiring project, probably did not need it after I popped the hose off the door, it's a pretty short run.

Inside the door, I wrapped the wires in braided cable wrap to keep together and protect them. Used Sil-Glyde on the rubber seals while I had them open, which made it easier to put the hose back on the door.

door plug 1.jpgdoor plug 2.jpgdoor plug 3.jpg

[tjm3]

Took a different upgrade route. My 1992 325i had a 10 speaker, non-HK amp. The wiring diagrams show all the necessary wiring for a changeover to a later model HK amp and a set of Bavsound Stage I speakers. I found an HK amp with plugs and pigtails and purchased the Bavsound speaker upgrade. A few things needed to be done. The wiring at the amp was slightly different and the front door speakers are not sized for the replacement Bavsounds. Rewiring the amp was just a matter of changing some positions of the terminals in the 12 pin connector and verifying the wire colors in the 26 pin were going to the right places. The old speaker system used a common ground for the fronts and rears and connected speakers in series, but all that with connections done in the trunk near the amp. Separate pairs of stock wiring were already in place to each speaker, which was a nice find. Wired and tested the amp and rear speakers and installed the footwell speakers. I had a set of later model door panels with the proper size holes for the mid and tweeter so I got a used pair of original mids (only needed the housings), modified the openings and I already had a pair of aluminum tweeter housings and rings that I had made, all were painted for color match. Tweeters were glued in, mids snap in like the stock speakers with a custom spacer ring and glued for vibration. Works perfectly, sounds excellent, especially with the 25 year old worn out speakers ( in pieces ) now gone. This '92 didn't have the same plug-n-play connectors as the Bavsounds so those were replaced with generic connectors and the rest of the connections in the trunk were all spliced, soldered and shrink-tubed. The grille on that tweeter has been installed. Bavsounds are a bit expensive, but I've had these before and they do sound good. HK amps on ebay for about $100. The HK has all separate wire pairs for each speaker, no sharing grounds.

HK_amp-wired.jpgMid-housings-modded.jpgBav-Mids.jpgTweets-custom-housings.jpgLDoor-nogrille.jpg