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Thread: double din with factory amp + components and underseats

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2018
    Location
    warner robins georgia
    Posts
    5
    My Cars
    2006 bmw 325i

    double din with factory amp + components and underseats

    ive been trying to gather as much research as possible the last 2 days. It has been hard to find a definative answer. I have a 2006 325i with the Hi-Fi system I believe (I have the front tweeters, the factory amp in the rear, I see a speaker grill under both front seats, no front center speaker, and rear deck speakers with no rear tweeters) and I want to add an aftermarket head unit with some nice components for the front and maybe replace the under seat mid bass speakers. Thats it. My questions are:

    - Will the factory amp sound/work good with an aftermarket head unit?
    - Ive read that the stock amp has an internal crossover for the components so how would I go about running new components and do I need to buy a certain ohm specific set?
    - Do I need anything special to run the aftermarket underseats? I've read they are not powered at all by the amp. Can I buy a small motorcycle style low frequency amp to drive them a little harder?

    I believe the rest of my concerns are self explanitory... like the wiring kits Im sure are available to keep the steering wheel controls and power the factory amp without cutting into things. Ive been trying to focus on the original 3 questions right now before I start ordering. Trying to stay at $1000 or less which should be doable.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2018
    Location
    warner robins georgia
    Posts
    5
    My Cars
    2006 bmw 325i
    well now im finding a completely different issue that i can find the answer to. nobody seems to make a harness thats plug and play for an aftermarket stereo to the factory amp with the hi-fi system...? i have no idea what to do now. any suggestions?

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    West London/Heathrow - UK
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    7,203
    My Cars
    03 530dT - Ex Police Car
    Hi,

    You need to research more and find out for sure exactly what setup you have in your car. Look at your car's VIN number and then lookup what it left the factory with. Check your car physically as previous owners might have changed/removed stuff. That will get you a 'starting point' level. You can then begin to look for aftermarket products which will fit/work properly depending on what you wish to achieve sound quality and functionality wise.

    Reading your points, there's no point having 'mid bass' in the locations under the front seats - this location is for 'sub bass' frequencies. There's various aftermarket speaker kits and separately available sub woofers for this location.
    You will 'most likely' have a tweeter on each side of the front cabin, along with a mid bass/midrange driver in each door.
    An aftermarket head unit won't 'directly' connect to the oem amplifier. I think there may well be a way of connecting it, but it's likely to be much more involved and thus more expensive to do properly.
    I don't think there's a plug n play harness for a aftermarket head unit to connect to the OEM amp ( i might be wrong though)

    Overall, I'd suggest getting a 3 way front speaker kit from the likes of Gladen, MTX, Rockford Fosgate, MB Quart etc. These have been designed to work with the factory amp where those who wish to keep that and the oem head unit want to upgrade - they bring out the 'best' of the OEM setup. As money allows, those owners can then add a good quality aftermarket amplifier where those same speakers will play and sound even better as they'll have more RMS power and an output that's higher quality i.e less distortion. In your case, you wish to go with an aftermarket head unit so assuming it'll be an Alpine/Kenwood/Pioneer/Sony. You could then install that (with a suitable E9x fascia/fitting kit) and then output to a high quality amplifier and then drive those dedicated 3 series speaker kits I mention above or, choose any high quality aftermarket speakers of your choice which also will fit in the locations in the car. IF you are wanting perhaps one of the chinese replacement type units, then do be aware those are generic/low quality and thus won't sound anywhere as good as a premium brand unit. If this is the route you wish to go, I'd say look at the better 'entry' level aftermarket brands as the more expensive and more capable speakers/brands won't play to what they're capable of. Ensure that you fit everything properly and strengthen where necessary and those entry level range products will play better/more to their capabilities.

    Also, in relation to the above, call around to reputable, knowledgeable and experienced car audio specialists and installers and discuss with them. Speak to ones out of state etc so that you get more of a picture of what works and also how it can all be fitted - you might need to increase your budget and/or perhaps look for used products to help keep the expenditure level down to what you'd ideally like.

    Cheers, Dennis!

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2016
    Location
    Orange County
    Posts
    50
    My Cars
    530i
    Quote Originally Posted by mattflipper View Post
    well now im finding a completely different issue that i can find the answer to. nobody seems to make a harness thats plug and play for an aftermarket stereo to the factory amp with the hi-fi system...? i have no idea what to do now. any suggestions?
    Google a model #GA7165. It’s a head unit that comes with plug and play harness for your car.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2018
    Location
    warner robins georgia
    Posts
    5
    My Cars
    2006 bmw 325i
    ok nice so this ***** (GA7165) will work with the HiFi system and keep the factory amp? thats basically all I want. She wants a screen and backup camera in the car for christmas so im just trying to find the simplest solution... if its that easy I may also go ahead and get the bav sound stage 1 upgrade also.

    EDIT: why did it block out the word E O N O N ?

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Dec 2018
    Location
    warner robins georgia
    Posts
    5
    My Cars
    2006 bmw 325i
    After searching some I cannot get a definate answer as to weather the GA7165 will work with Hi-Fi system. Most of the videos I see of install on YouTube ive noticed they dont have front upper door tweeters so they have the base stereo.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Location
    Netherlands
    Posts
    3
    My Cars
    E60 LCI 2007 523i
    Hello Matt,

    I have a e60 with navi pro, and ive replaced it for a android screen/radio. What i see in the picture is that the GA7165 also use the quadlock harness, that goes between the original harness. My radio have to use the AUX port for sound from the Android unit like a RADIO APP. But the RADIO and the CD use the normal source.

    The quadlock cable is goes between the original radio en the speakers, so it stays "original".

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    West London/Heathrow - UK
    Posts
    7,203
    My Cars
    03 530dT - Ex Police Car
    Hi Mattflipper,

    The reason the brand name is auto deleted is because when they sponsored this forum, many members who purchased experienced issues/problems and they weren't much help at all. As more people got problems and the requests for support being a forum supporting vendor were being ignored or had useless or poor responses, things got to the stage where the owners of the forum decided to kick them off/asked to leave. They happened to then turn up on a UK forum as sponsors some years back now and the same thing repeated, started off ok, then turned into a train wreck quite quickly - to the stage when support was asked for in terms of getting new firmware updates, the brand responded by offering everyone baseball caps! They weren't seen on the forum a short while later. Then, they appeared as sponsors on the other massive USA BMW forum (bimmerfest) and again, started off ok, then quickly went to Train Wreck mode and, they were kicked off/asked to leave as sponsors. Bit of a trend ?!

    They're currently on E46 fanatics and you can read some of the theads where members are asking for support....

    There are some members who report back to say their unit from the brand is working well and has been for 6/12/18+ months, so you 'might' get lucky and get a unit like that.

    Look in the E9x sections of various BMW forums and ask there for those who've upgraded with a chinese unit to see if it does or can be made to work with your OEM amp.

    Cheers, Dennis!

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