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Thread: Help with stereo/ speaker mods . 51/4 or what the heck is this?

  1. #1
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    Help with stereo/ speaker mods . 51/4 or what the heck is this?

    Now that my mechanical work seems to be getting under control, I’m looking forward to sticking a stereo back in this car.

    The old system was pulled by previous owner. I basically got the tape head, cd changer. And amp in the trunk it was an old business system. While I like the idea of simply upgrading the old, I don’t fancy the cost of the original looking upgrades. Also I don’t even know if the old stuff works as it was all in a box .. so I think I’m just gong to go with a regular aftermarket stereo until I hit the lottery. Good news is, the amp lines and speaker lines are all run and left in place as well as wiring harness antenna and steering wheel connectors ...

    . Bad news is all the speakers are gone. So I’ve at least got to add that and the car was modified for what was obviously some serious bass,

    I think of just doing a small amp and decent 5 1/4 back in all the original locations....I don’t need a crazy system to sound good for any one outside the car,,,,but I would like a small improvement over the factory system that seems poorly reviewed...

    So my basic q is can any one identify what these cut outs may have been for? They look like some kind of tear drop shaped speaker . Seems odd as that would be under the back shelf....seems like you’d be limiting your sound quality . I’m guessing the car had a separate sub box based on all the sound dampening, and all the 5 1/4 locations have been beefed up with some kind of mdf...
    If you sound guys were looking at this and the cutting out had already been done, would you go back to using the 51/4 or fill these holes? Must have been some kind of mids?

    Last edited by bjornk; 01-13-2019 at 08:00 PM.

  2. #2
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    Help with stereo/ speaker mods . 51/4 or what the heck is this?

    This isn’t the DSp sub locations is it? I see people talk about it but didn’t see images,,,,or where the m5 would put 10” subs?


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    Last edited by bjornk; 01-13-2019 at 07:31 PM.

  3. #3
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    Help with stereo/ speaker mods . 51/4 or what the heck is this?

    Guess what I’m thinking is, if the cut is already there and i am missing the Nokia box, why not just stick a some 6 1/4 two ways there and skip the 5 1/4 s that are in the rear shelf


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    Last edited by bjornk; 01-13-2019 at 08:43 PM.

  4. #4
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    Tear drop shape is usually where the 10” M audio subs are mounted on the rear deck. There’s 4” round punch outs for the DSP subs. Looks like someone enlarged them and followed the contours of the deck which produces that shape. Looks like someone also cut out the rear ski through pass for separate sub access.

    Im non-DSP and have two 10” subs hanging from the rear deck in that location plus refreshed 5.25” rear coaxials for the rear fill. I got rid of the front and rear mids and run two-way separates in front. All powered with a Pioneer PDX v9 and the stock mid stereo. I think it sounds pretty good and was able to make use of some gear I already had.

  5. #5
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    Yeah thanks. I was wondering about the shape as I have never seen a tear drop speaker.....so that makes sense. I found some pics and videos didn't realize I was missing so many parts. The rear deck is kind of a mess....new plan is to just put high quality 2 way 5 1/4s in that can handle a future power upgrade.

  6. #6
    geargrinder's Avatar
    geargrinder is offline Having No Trouble Here BMW CCA Member
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    Agreed that just looks like a total mess. When you say MDF do you mean in the doors? That might be good actually and might mean the speaker size was adapted too from the limitations of what fits in the stock plastic box. Check the measurements there. They easily could have gone bigger up there.

    Quote Originally Posted by Twistytee View Post
    Im non-DSP and have two 10” subs hanging from the rear deck in that location plus refreshed 5.25” rear coaxials for the rear fill. I got rid of the front and rear mids and run two-way separates in front. All powered with a Pioneer PDX v9 and the stock mid stereo. I think it sounds pretty good and was able to make use of some gear I already had.
    Not wildly different from my setup. At least on core prnciples. 3-ways are for marketing flash not sound quality so go good quality 2-way in front. Spend the time/money there. Rears are for fill mainly, so some coax things there are fine. Rear mid-tweets are horrible location from the factory so you want those dumped anyway.
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  7. #7
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    Grrr you were right I ordered based on dimensions and they had in fact enlarged the rear. So now I’m gonna have to wait on a return and upgrade but will be nice to run 6 1/4 over 5 1/4.

    They ran a big fat wire through the front vapor barrier , in the front Doors and In spite of copious soundproofing “tar” everywhere they still somehow managed to break the crazy speaker box in the door so I wonder if it will rattle ..

    They also broke a ton of tabs...

    I thought if I preordered I could take it apart once and do a fast install... ( ordered before seeing mods) I should of done some better exploratory surgery first..personally I don’t think I would have wanted to butcher the car this way,,,,

    I read a lot of complaints about the original sound but I would like to hear it myself, seems bmw put a lot of thought into trying to create a nice sound.... 14 speakers. Alpine components ,,,400 watts ...was it really that bad.??




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  8. #8
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    Enlarged speakers holes were in deck not doors... looks like they had subs and then the 6 1/4 mods w mdf....


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  9. #9
    geargrinder's Avatar
    geargrinder is offline Having No Trouble Here BMW CCA Member
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    Factory stereo isn’t “bad”. But it’s neither great and I’ve been in tons of otherwise hateful 2000’s domestic cars that honestly had better stereos than these. I mean part of that is age we live in where a base Chrysler crappy stereo has a subwoofer and sounds better than a car audiophile system from 1980, but, is what it is. The gazillion speaker locations is a design flaw not a feature. More not better.
    2003 M3CicM6 TiAg
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    Former:

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  10. #10
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    Yeah I kind of winced at the thought of more plastic tabbed connectors when I saw them....will definitely be nice to replace with solder and shrink wrap


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  11. #11
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    Along the lines of GGs less is more comment, I don’t think it’s hard to get good sound out of a non DSP car. It mostly needs bass, better power to drive aftermarket speakers, and some creativity for the speaker pods if you want to go bigger than 5.25”. My biggest disappointment is the mediocre FM reception out of the stock HU. I do have tint over the rear window, but so do my other cars and the reception is nowhere near as poor as the E39. I’ve cleaned the antenna contacts and my grounds are good, so I chalk it up to a weak tuner in the HU and lack of a robust antenna. My CD and aux out feeds sound great after the speaker and amp upgrade. And I mostly listen to music off my phone so I’m leaving the stock HU in place.

  12. #12
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    I’m gonna go with the 5 1/4 in the doors but put in something that’s like rms 65 watts,

    I’m gonna just use the 6 1/2 locations in the rear, if that doesn’t do it, I may add a small sub or two,

    I’m waiting in amp to finish up..all the speakers are from the trunk, not doing anything crazy, prob just a 4 channel 240 watt rms...don’t need the music to go further than doors,,,.

    I’m still trying to figure out what a bunch of wires are, ...there’s a few crazy jacks and random wires, I have A stereo 1/8 inch jack ( looks like a head phone Jt it’s at a 90 elbow, I need to identify, I think what may be a remote, and then a few wires that lead to the mirror: a micro usb and another stereo jack. I don’t think I want to close it all up until I figure where all this stuff goes, I’m thinking maybe one can be to a mic....which would save me running a new mic to the new head,,,


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  13. #13
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    It’s amazing how far some POs will hack up the original wiring. I use a cheap Bluetooth Belkin aux-in puck for music and phone. So I don’t have a mic running to the HU. I have the original factory Bluetooth wiring for phone but never installed a ULF. I’ve thought about adding a Grom with USB and phone mic but am happy with the Belkin unit for now.

    You’ll probably be happy with the 6.5” rears. 5.25” in the front doors is plenty. I use a 5 channel alpine amp which allows for added subs should you want to expand in the future. I was able to wire in the amp with the factory wiring for source feeds and speakers. Having the rear battery location obviously helps for running power and ground.

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