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BMW 3-Series (E90 E92) Forum > E90 / E92 / E93 3-series Technical Forums > AUDIO/VIDEO + BLUETOOTH + Electronics/Alarm/Software > Hifi upgrade question (sws-8i + xd600/6)



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      02-02-2017, 11:29 AM   #1
Shotputted
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Hifi upgrade question (sws-8i + xd600/6)

So I am almost done upgrading my hifi sound system. I installed an XD600/6 with the technic harness and replaced the door mids and tweeters with mid/tweet/crossovers from enhanced premium sound M3. I have sws-8i that I am going to install this weekend to finish things off for the most part. I have the 4 ohm (got them really cheap otherwise would have gone with 2 ohm) version which will only get 75W from my amp. I was wondering if anybody had opinions on trying either one of these setups instead of wiring everything up normally:

I have a center channel coaxial speaker from EPS that I am not using right now but I could buy another one and put them in my rear deck. Then I could wire the doors and the rear deck in parallel to reach 2 ohms to channels 1 and 2 and they would each get 50W. Then I would bridge 3-4 and 5-6 with the left and right sws-8i, respectively so they would each get 200W. I just want to confirm that the EPS tweeter and mid are not wired in parallel with each other to reach 2 ohm already?

I could also just forget the rear deck speakers so the mid/tweet would get 75W and the sws-8i would still get 200W each.

Any thoughts?
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      02-02-2017, 01:16 PM   #2
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A lot of the the pure stereo people here say that rears are a
waste of money, and don't add anything to the sound.
The under seats will blow your ears off at 100 watts.
At 200 watts you might blow them.
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      02-02-2017, 01:47 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ctuna View Post
A lot of the the pure stereo people here say that rears are a
waste of money, and don't add anything to the sound.
The under seats will blow your ears off at 100 watts.
At 200 watts you might blow them.
Thanks. I'll try them at 75W first and then go from there. Hopefully it'll be enough.
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      02-02-2017, 02:03 PM   #4
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When using the SWS I would not recommend over 75w if you want them to last. 85-90 w they start to smell funny, 100-150w you will need to replace one or both. On the other hand 125-150 is the sweet spot for the logic 7 woofers.
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      02-02-2017, 02:43 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by david in germany View Post
When using the SWS I would not recommend over 75w if you want them to last. 85-90 w they start to smell funny, 100-150w you will need to replace one or both. On the other hand 125-150 is the sweet spot for the logic 7 woofers.
Sounds good thanks. Would the gain to 11 o'clock on the xd600/6 still be good or should I set it a little higher because I have the 4 ohm version?
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      02-02-2017, 04:53 PM   #6
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I thought the i version was 2 ohms.
In which case start you probably don't want to go to high.
between 9 and 11 would be my guess.
sws- 8
Specifications

8" High-performance sub
Power handling: 150 WRMS (300 Watts MAX)
4-Ohm
High temperature voice with heat-sink attachment
NOMEX/ROMEX spider assembly
Aluminum Bobbin

sws-8xi


8" High-performance shallow sub
Power handling: 150 Watts RMS (300 Watts MAX)
2-Ohm
High temperature voice coil with heat-sink attachment
NOMEX/ROMEX spider assembly
Aluminum bobbin
Protected by 3 U.S. patents
Mounting depth: 2-1/16"

from the earthquake site.

Last edited by ctuna; 02-02-2017 at 05:08 PM..
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      02-02-2017, 05:15 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ctuna View Post
I thought the i version was 2 ohms.
In which case start you probably don't want to go to high.
IN which case I believe that bridging the channels would
give 150 watts.

sws- 8
Specifications

8" High-performance sub
Power handling: 150 WRMS (300 Watts MAX)
4-Ohm
High temperature voice with heat-sink attachment
NOMEX/ROMEX spider assembly
Aluminum Bobbin

sws-8xi


8" High-performance shallow sub
Power handling: 150 Watts RMS (300 Watts MAX)
2-Ohm
High temperature voice coil with heat-sink attachment
NOMEX/ROMEX spider assembly
Aluminum bobbin
Protected by 3 U.S. patents
Mounting depth: 2-1/16"

from the earthquake site.
Yeah I have the 4 ohm version because I got a really good deal. Hopefully it'll have enough power at 75W.
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      02-02-2017, 07:06 PM   #8
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Don't do the rears unless you have digital sound processor. Even then, you better know how to set them up in the processor.
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      02-03-2017, 02:17 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Shotputted View Post
Sounds good thanks. Would the gain to 11 o'clock on the xd600/6 still be good or should I set it a little higher because I have the 4 ohm version?
That is not how a gain works. you should set the gain to match the input voltage.
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      02-05-2017, 08:43 AM   #10
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I got the sws-8x installed along with EPS speakers in front door and coaxial EPS speakers from center dash in my rear deck. Sounds amazing! 75 watts to sws seems good enough for now at least from the xd600/6. Has anyone gone through and set the gain for 4 ohm speakers with the xd600/6? I have the fronts at just a tick above 0 and the sws at 11 o clock and the rears at 0 based on some other threads but I was curious if anyone went through the voltages. A little confused because we don't have volume level indicator. I have the sws and fronts at 150hz low and high with the rear at 200 hz.
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      02-05-2017, 01:28 PM   #11
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Those sound like typical settings for a xd 600/6 .
Bottom line does it sound good.
If you want to get real Nerdy about it get an O scope and run
a bunch of different frequency's at it , but I don't think its necessary.
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      02-05-2017, 02:58 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ctuna View Post
Those sound like typical settings for a xd 600/6 .
Bottom line does it sound good.
If you want to get real Nerdy about it get an O scope and run
a bunch of different frequency's at it , but I don't think its necessary.
Thanks yeah it sounds great. It sounded better when I bumped up the gain on the door speakers a bit so I was curious how much they can take without overdoing it. Maybe I'll try 9oclock and then call it a day if that sounds good.
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      02-07-2017, 12:44 AM   #13
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Do you have the input sensitivity switched to high or low? When switched to low, the sensitivity goes from 2 volts to 200mv. At high it is 8 volts to 800mv. So if you have it set at low and the input sensitivity all the way down, then the amplifier makes max power when it receives a 2-volt signal.

The HiFi system doesn't get north of 3 volts until very high volumes (http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=694705).

So if you use the low setting and turn the sensitivity all the way down, you should not clip the amplifier if you keep the volume below 2/3rd of max.

The other way you could do it is to use the high setting, put the sensitivity at around 1 o'clock. And then turn down the sensitivity from there to blend the speakers.

For what it is worth, my amplifier's sensitivity goes from 3.5 volts to 200 mv, and I have all my gains set at their lowest setting.
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      02-07-2017, 05:20 AM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Go Horns! View Post
Do you have the input sensitivity switched to high or low? When switched to low, the sensitivity goes from 2 volts to 200mv. At high it is 8 volts to 800mv. So if you have it set at low and the input sensitivity all the way down, then the amplifier makes max power when it receives a 2-volt signal.

The HiFi system doesn't get north of 3 volts until very high volumes (http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=694705).

So if you use the low setting and turn the sensitivity all the way down, you should not clip the amplifier if you keep the volume below 2/3rd of max.

The other way you could do it is to use the high setting, put the sensitivity at around 1 o'clock. And then turn down the sensitivity from there to blend the speakers.

For what it is worth, my amplifier's sensitivity goes from 3.5 volts to 200 mv, and I have all my gains set at their lowest setting.
Interesting thank you. I have the v1 of this amp that does not have high and low settings. Mine is 100 mV to 4 V. It looks like i can safely reach nearly full blast without exceeding 4 V but hopefully I'm not listening to it nearly that loud. I don't think there's any way of knowing the output voltage of the amp at a given gain without a voltmeter. I read that someone else did the measurement and arrived at 10oclock for a desired 4 ohm speaker voltage. But again I'm not sure what HU volume they used because there is no indicator.
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      02-07-2017, 09:07 AM   #15
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Don't go full blast on the stock head unit. I have not verified for myself, but I'm pretty sure it starts clipping the signal once the signal gets over 3 volts.

The iDrive HU not having a volume meter is a real PIA. that is why I'm using the output voltage from the HU as a guide for setting the gains.
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      02-07-2017, 09:32 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Go Horns! View Post
Don't go full blast on the stock head unit. I have not verified for myself, but I'm pretty sure it starts clipping the signal once the signal gets over 3 volts.

The iDrive HU not having a volume meter is a real PIA. that is why I'm using the output voltage from the HU as a guide for setting the gains.
Yeah I like my music loud but I don't feel like it's crazy hurt your ears loud. Im curious what level I'm actually at when I have it as loud as I like to take it. I found a post that says it begins at 29 when you turn the car on and then each click is one increment on the way up to 55max. Maybe I'll test that out to see where I end up. I swear the volume does not always begin at the same level though...
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