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BMW 3-Series (E90 E92) Forum > E90 / E92 / E93 3-series Technical Forums > DIY Guides > DIY - Amplifier/Sub Install for E92 with I-Drive



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      10-01-2007, 11:26 PM   #1
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Lightbulb DIY - Amplifier/Sub Install for E92 with I-Drive

After researching on the forums, there hasn't been a complete DIY install for e92's with i-Drive so i vowed to make one after i figured out how to get my own amp and sub installed.

Credit to etik for the wiring guide on his DIY. I'll be referring to his wiring diagram for the inputs.

Things I used :

Low Voltage Trigger - LVT2 at cardomain.com
This simulates the 'Remote' wire for the amp to turn on and off the amp.

Aftermarket Amp Interface Adapter - Stinger SLOCII at cardomain.com
This will convert a signal from your stock amp to RCA for inputs on your amp. Basically a High-level to Low-level converter.

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T-Taps - You can find these at your local auto store or any electronics related store
They allow you to tap into a wire without splicing or cutting. You do not need these but i high advise it as it is way easier than cutting a wire and soldering/taping back together(there's not much room to play with harness when you have it out).

FYI - i did not have enough ground cable so i used another red power wire. Please do not follow my way as you should have seperate colors but because i'm experienced, i know im not going to mistaken my two red cables.

The Battery on our e92 i located on the back right side. Take off the cover by turning the black knob and the whole side unit comes out to reveal the battery.

I used the exisiting +positive connection for my 12v for the amp, circled in RED

I used the frame chasis for ground, circled in Yellow

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The stock amp for our e92 with i-Drive is located in the rear left of the car. It's under a plastic cover. Simple pull it off to reveal the amp below. Slide the black connector out sliding the locking sleve in teh direction of the arrow. It may be very hard to do so. I used a pair of needle nose pliers to pull it. When you slide it out, it will push the connector away from the amp and unhook.

The red arrow shows the direction that you should be sliding the locking sleeve.

THe yellow arrow shows which way the harness will start to slide out as you slide the locking sleeve.

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Once you have the harness out, pull the black foam back a bit to reveal more of the wires and you will see that the wires are actually twisted in pairs. The pairs are +/- for speaker outputs.

You will be tapping into these wires -

SUB LEFT
Red/White +
Brown/Yellow -

SUB RIGHT
Red/Blue +
Brown/White -

These wires will serve as the input for the Amp Interface adapter.

Tap into these wires using the T-Taps

Also, while you are tapping wires, you should tap one extra wire from any pair of positive speaker output for your Low Level Trigger (LVT).

FRONT LEFT
Blue/White +
Blue/Brown -

FRONT RIGHT
Blue/Black +
Blue/Brown -

REAR LEFT
Yellow/Red +
Yellow/Brown -

REAR RIGHT
Blue/Green +
Blue/Brown -

CENTER
Black/White +
Black/Brown -

REAR LEFT WOOFER
Yellow/Red +
Yellow/Brown -

REAR RIGHT WOOFER
Blue/Green +
Blue/Brown -


After you are done tapping the wires, follow the instructions on the Amp Interface Adapter. It's really easy as all you're doing is plugging Left +/- and Right +/- to their corresponding holes.

I double-sided taped my Amp Interface Adapter right next to the factor amp. Connect RCA cables to it and plug the hardness back into the factory amp and you're done with this area and ready to connect to your amp.

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You have +12v from battery which goes to +12v on your amp. Ground goes to Ground. Which brings us to remote so now we have to wire the LVT.

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THe LVT requires +12v,Ground-, and signal or trigger(which is the extra wire you tapped earlier from a speaker output). I decided since i have the amp right there, i can feed off the already supplied wire runs for positive and ground on my amp. I just daisy chainged off the amp as shown. The LVT will now have a blue wire, which is the remote to power on and off the amp. Connect the RCA's from the amp interface adapter to the amp and you're done with the amp.

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That should be it!

Note: you may notice that the amp is still on after locking the car, but it only stays on for a few minutes. i think the car still feeds power after you turn off your car but only for a few minutes..

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Connect your sub to your amp and begin tuning and enjoy the baSS baSss BASs!

I used a JL e1400 monoblock amp to power my JL 13w3.

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Only thing left to do is to go to local plastics store and get a custom acrylic cover for the amp and to hide the wires with either carpetting or wire loom.

Enjoy!
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Last edited by Dr.phuOnger?; 09-02-2011 at 12:51 AM..
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      10-01-2007, 11:28 PM   #2
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great DIY!
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      10-01-2007, 11:31 PM   #3
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good job. i'll be dropping by tomrorow to check that out and hear it
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      10-02-2007, 12:01 AM   #4
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Nice DIY ...

How long did it take you? if you dont mind me asking. With that box, does it hit hard? Thanks!
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      10-02-2007, 12:27 AM   #5
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The install took me only 2 hours to do.. Probably the hardest part of the install was just figuring out how to unhook the stupid harness adapter from the stock amp.

It does hit really hard with that box... the trunk itself is insulated really well.

Items you should have handy are:

Needle Nose Pliers
Regular Pliers
Vise Grip
Razor Blade
Allen Wrenches for amp
Socket Wrench Set
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      10-02-2007, 01:57 AM   #6
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nice DIY......sounds awesome.....get some foam for your license plate frame!
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      10-02-2007, 02:08 AM   #7
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gimme some foammm doood...
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Last edited by Dr.phuOnger?; 10-03-2007 at 05:03 AM..
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      10-03-2007, 05:05 AM   #8
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Request for Sticky or add to compilation of e90/e92 mods
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      10-04-2007, 11:40 PM   #9
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dude phuonger i've been thinking about audio for a while now i gotta check this out at the next meet

no speaker upgradeS?
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      10-05-2007, 12:13 AM   #10
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Great DYI!! Would love to hear this system
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      10-05-2007, 01:36 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ironic View Post
dude phuonger i've been thinking about audio for a while now i gotta check this out at the next meet

no speaker upgradeS?
yo ironic!

No need for speaker upgrades with the stock L7 and it's EQ... It sounds pretty crisp already. I love my audio but i'm not a total audio fanatic... the sounds suits my ears and it makes me happy.

You'll hear it on the 20th =D

Ask andrew(evo119), he sat in my car last night and afterwards he said | okay i want a sub now |

Quote:
Originally Posted by ohsnap View Post
Great DYI!! Would love to hear this system
Come down from Seattle for our 20th meet =D lol

LoL
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      02-21-2008, 04:45 PM   #12
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one question. do we need to put the LVT or is it optional? can we hook up just the amp and the sub the same way but with out the LVT?
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      02-21-2008, 04:51 PM   #13
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damn all your trunk space is gone. must sound nice though.
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      02-21-2008, 04:51 PM   #14
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actually. are you rattling at all? all the bass is towards the trunk...
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      02-26-2008, 04:11 PM   #15
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Has anyone found a wire that can be used instead of using a LVT?
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      02-26-2008, 04:52 PM   #16
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Nice writeup! I have no intentions of putting a sub/amp in this car since I feel that its a pig already when it comes to weight, but thanks for taking the time to post up the DIY.
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      05-06-2008, 11:01 PM   #17
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Would these instructions apply for those without iDrive?
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      05-07-2008, 07:45 PM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nasdakboy View Post
Would these instructions apply for those without iDrive?
ya.. i just did mine yesterday and it is exactly the same without idrive.
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      05-08-2008, 12:28 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sillygoat View Post
ya.. i just did mine yesterday and it is exactly the same without idrive.
wonderful =D glad you got yours up and running
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      05-12-2008, 04:36 AM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr.phuOnger? View Post
wonderful =D glad you got yours up and running
ya, thanks a lot! i pretty much bought everything that you posted to get the sub system set up. It was fun doing this install... especially since i didn't know anything about car audio at all!

the hardest part was working in the small space where the stock amp is.

but this DIY was perfect.. had everything you needed to know to get a sub + amp up and running.
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      05-18-2008, 09:06 AM   #21
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i just ordered the earthquake sws-8 to replace the oem and alpine mpr m550, do i need LVT2 and STINGER SLOCII? seems like cardomain.com doesnt carry those items anymore, anyone knows where to get them if my set up needs it, ty
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      05-18-2008, 10:17 AM   #22
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on my e46 with harmon kardon we used a small 10" in port tuned with a smaller punch pro amp (old skool 25x2 bridged mono = 196 watts rms cheater amp). the box didnt' take up much space at all and it pounded.

What i find odd is this logic 7 says it has subs up front but i don't feel any bass.

really weak. the e46 harmon kardon dsp on with a 10" in the back seemed to sound cleaner and definitely hit harder without being boomy. I just ran off the rear line inputs to the amp with a converter and ran a line level siginal detector for remote and a fused power to battery in the trunk. You could probably fit all of this in the spare tire area but you want the sub to aim towards the back of the trunk.
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