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BMW 3-Series (E90 E92) Forum > E90 / E92 / E93 3-series Technical Forums > AUDIO/VIDEO + BLUETOOTH + Electronics/Alarm/Software > Ultimate Subwoofer Installation Guide (Instructions inside)



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      05-31-2007, 01:34 PM   #1
crimsone90
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Ultimate Subwoofer Installation Guide (Instructions inside)

So the Subwoofer DIY SUCKS. So after months of trying to find a good subwoofer DIY I finally found the proper way of doing it myself. You`ll need an Amp installation kit and a Hi/Lo converter. Here are the most important things you`ll need.

1. Remote: The remote will power on/off you amp. There is a very small black cable on the amplifier cables that is perfect to use as a remote. It powers on when the ignition kicks in and powers off 3 minutes after all the doors are closed. Just tap your remote cable there. Has been working perfectly for 6 months already.

2. Amp to Radio: You`ll need a Hi/Lo converter to connect the aftermarket amp to the radio. Please make sure you tap into the subwoofer channels and NOT the rear right/left speakers channels as advised in the DIY. Tapping into the rear speaker channels will not yield the low frequencies the subwoofer needs. The hi/lo converter has a right channels -/+ and a left channel -/+. Please make sure you tap into the subwoofer channels as described below. Here is the diagram (thanks to E90post member etik) :

HIFI System
Amplifier to Speakers

SUB LEFT
Red/White +
Brown/Yellow -

SUB RIGHT
Red/Blue +
Brown/White -

FRONT LEFT
Blue/White +
Blue/Brown -

FRONT RIGHT
Blue/Black +
Blue/Brown -

REAR LEFT
Yellow/Red +
Yellow/Brown -

REAR RIGHT
Blue/Green +
Blue/Brown -

LOGIC7 System
Amplifier to Speakers


SUB LEFT
Red/White +
Brown/Yellow -

SUB RIGHT
Red/Blue +
Brown/White -

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 -

3. Amplifier Power + Ground. This can be taken directly from the battery. Please make sure you add a fuse within 18" form the battery for safety reason.

4. Amp to Subwoofer: This step is very simple. Just use speaker cables to connect the positive and negative side to the subwoofer.

So there you go, you have the remote, the amp connected to the radio via the stock subwoofer channels, the amp connected to the battery and the amp connected to the subwoofer!

Let me know if you have any questions.
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      05-31-2007, 04:48 PM   #2
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Here is the hi.lo converter that you will need, only $15 shipped.
http://www.cardomain.com/item/STISLOCII

I used it for 3 months and so far, very happy with it. Installation was easy because everything you need are in the trunk.


By the way, anyone know any method to have more sound coming in? I have MTX 421D with 420w RMS connect to 2 10" Kicker CVC. It's very loud when the trunk is opened but when it closes, inside I can feel it, but don't hear much. I don't have the seat fold down option.

Another tip for sub DUYer, if you don't have a port sub box, make sure you add poly-fill. My subs hit a lot harder after 20 oz of poly fill at walmart for 2 bucks.
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      05-31-2007, 06:06 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nhhiep View Post
Here is the hi.lo converter that you will need, only $15 shipped.
http://www.cardomain.com/item/STISLOCII

I used it for 3 months and so far, very happy with it. Installation was easy because everything you need are in the trunk.


By the way, anyone know any method to have more sound coming in? I have MTX 421D with 420w RMS connect to 2 10" Kicker CVC. It's very loud when the trunk is opened but when it closes, inside I can feel it, but don't hear much. I don't have the seat fold down option.

Another tip for sub DUYer, if you don't have a port sub box, make sure you add poly-fill. My subs hit a lot harder after 20 oz of poly fill at walmart for 2 bucks.
I have a JL Audio W7 running 450RMS and I can definetly feel it inside the cabin with the trunk closed. Are you tapped to the rear speaker channels or the subwoofer channels? It`ll make a very BIG difference.
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      05-31-2007, 06:07 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by E92!Dreier View Post
This is the type of information that makes e90post.com SUPERIOR to bimmerforums. Good job. However, for this to obtain official pimp status as a DIY, you need pictures of the soup to nuts work required to actually complete the task of adding a subwoofer to this vehicle. Any difference across the e9x spectrum?
Oh yeah pictures will definetly come then
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      05-31-2007, 06:51 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by crimsone90 View Post
I have a JL Audio W7 running 450RMS and I can definetly feel it inside the cabin with the trunk closed. Are you tapped to the rear speaker channels or the subwoofer channels? It`ll make a very BIG difference.
I tapped into the sub channels and yep. I can "feel" it, but because the trunk so so insulated, not much sound is coming through.
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      06-03-2007, 09:46 PM   #6
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I'm guessing the colors are the same for an 06 330I. I've been working on a box for 2 12's and 1600 watts. Haveing not much time, fiberglass and painting to color match the car it's been a slow process but nearing the end.
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      06-03-2007, 11:15 PM   #7
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If the e9x is anything like the E46, and a lot of the other BMW's their signals going to the stock amp are Differentially Balanced. Some amps ie: the JL slash series accepts differentially balanced signals as an input source. Use the stock subwoofer +'s and -'s as your input signal to a JL slash amplifier (not sure which other amps accept these signals, only have done it with these), and you can now run whatever subs you want as long as they are in spec obviously. I guess next step is finding out whether the E9x's have diff. balanced signals or not but if they do this is a GREAT option to keeping your stock HU, maintaining a hi fidelity signal, and not having to deal with a lot of the dirt a LOC or hi-lo converter produces. Worked great on several E46's we did...
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      06-04-2007, 04:09 AM   #8
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Perfect! that's exactly what i needed. thanks
I'm installing a 1000/1 and 10W7 in my 335i this week
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      06-04-2007, 07:04 AM   #9
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1000/1 on a 10w7 is a lot of power so be careful! Just a forewarning. It's always better to have some headroom and be over your RMS wattage than under, but remember to keep your gains under control because if i'm not mistaken 10w7's are rated at 500 rms.
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      06-05-2007, 05:55 PM   #10
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I know WHICH wire to "tap" but is there a technique for tapping wires? what would i need to tap a wire and how would i do it?
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      06-05-2007, 08:17 PM   #11
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Any need for grounding? I've seen installers take a cable and attach it to some metal part of the car
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      06-06-2007, 09:48 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 1bade92 View Post
1000/1 on a 10w7 is a lot of power so be careful! Just a forewarning. It's always better to have some headroom and be over your RMS wattage than under, but remember to keep your gains under control because if i'm not mistaken 10w7's are rated at 500 rms.
The easiest way is to use t taps, you clamp them onto the wire and they tap into it then you can plug the connector onto it after you crimp a wire into it.

Here is what they look like

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      06-06-2007, 10:00 AM   #13
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Excellent, thanks for the writeup. The trunk mounted battery makes this a cinch.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Saad View Post
Any need for grounding? I've seen installers take a cable and attach it to some metal part of the car
This method is suggesting that the amp be grounded to the battery directly. (Chasis grounds are used when that is not possible)
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      06-06-2007, 11:37 AM   #14
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Is there some way to tap it without damaging the wire... i.e. at the factory amp connector?

Last edited by chilenko; 06-11-2007 at 03:24 PM..
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      06-10-2007, 11:44 AM   #15
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I saw this in another thread and thought it might be helpful.

By another member:

I too have listened to both Logic 7 and non-Logic 7 systems, I too think they are both disappointing, and I think the center speaker is terrible. I've installed systems in that car with both great imaging and a wide soundstage with no center. It's a gimmick.



I did a system for a client who bought an E60 2004 with L7 (that system has larger underseat woofers). He hated it, and I listened to it for about an hour after work, and so did I. We did an upgrade in his 2007 E60 for $2K which blew away the L7 - it was identical to the system in my post yesterday in an E90. Zapco DC360, single 10", new F door components.


There have been three levels of audio system in the E90.

One has F and R analog balanced preamp signals from the HU to the BMW amp in the trunk, has no I-Drive, and has no R deck speakers.

One has fiber optic from the HU to the amp, and has rear deck speakers.

On has fiber optic from the HU to the amp and is Logic 7.

Why does this matter? Because the BMW amplifier takes the audio signal, divides it up with crossover filters, and equalizes the crap out of it. If the system uses the fiber optic signal (MOST), there is no analog audio gateway, and you have to use the BMW amplifier as a D-to-A converter, and use the analog outputs of the amplifier as the signal for your new amplifier.

If you can grab an analog signal from the HU, before the amplifier, do so - it's clean and flat and unprocessed, and needs no de-processing, no matter what any shop tells you.

The best way to use that signal? The balanced input of a Zapco amplifier, with an interface harness made for the car. (The BMW HU w/analog outputs used in the E90 and E83 has a current protection circuit - it's best to use 100 ohm series resistors when making such a harness.)

Then you don't NEED the DC amp - although I love the processing in the DC amp - and you don't NEED the LC either.

If you have either of the other two systems, there is no analog signal to use other than the speaker-level signals from the amplifier.

What that shop was talking about doing was taking the outputs of the amplifier and running them into the AudioControl LC, using that to attenuate the signals and merge them back together from low and high-pass signals into a full-range signal, then into the Zapco DC amplifier, and using the DC amplifier's internal processing to reverse the effects of the BMW amplifier's processing.

I do this all the time. I wouldn't use the LC - I don't find the BMW crossover points bad in that system, and the only benefit of the LC is to sum the high-pass and low-pass signals together into a full-range signal - but it works, I guess. I prefer a couple of Zapco BTLs and a signal-sense turn-on generator.

But if you examine the pics in my other post on the E90, you can see that the signal coming out of that amp is wildly processed. It looks like a mountain range. This is taken at the speaker wires. There is a huge boost centered at 1K and fairly wide, and there is a lot of peakiness to the bass.

Now, you may say, well, BMW has processed the sound for the interior of the car. And this is partially true. But my experience tells me that the processing is less for the interior of the car, and more an attempt to neutralize the poor electromechnical tendencies of the low-cost speakers which are used.

The value proposition that Harman Industries and Bose have for the OEMs is this: We will keep your per-car bill-of-materials cost as low as possible - we won't spend a bunch of money on speakers - and we will make them sound better than they really are by processing the snot out of them, which does not add anything to the per-unit cost.

Doesn't sound that good.

In order for a shop to do this interface right, they NEED a real-time 1/3 - octave analyzer with a line-level cable and a PC to run Zapco's software. Then you play a pink-noise test track through the OEM HU, and adjust the amp's output to flat, using the 10-band parametric. If you've never used a parametric, they are incredibly powerful tools.

We do it all the time. I've done Zapco interfaces reversing the OEM processing at the speaker level in the E60, the E90, the Audi C5 A6, the Toyota Prius, and more. I've done Zapco amp installs with no OEM de-processing, but using the OEM HU, on the E83 X3, X5, E46 M3, E46 330ci, E39 530i, Acura TSX, Infiniti G35, Mazda MX-5, Audi A3, S4 (B6), A4 (B7), allroad, and some others.

The thing that I like about Zapco amps is that first of all, they are the only amp maker for cars that I know of who will talk about intermodulation distortion (IM or TIM). Their designs don't abuse overall negative feedback and this reduces IM, which is far more harmful to audio signals than THD.

Secondly, they have trub balanced inputs (what they call Symbilink). I use these all the time, either with OEM balanced line signals, with OEM speaker level signals which work on the balanced input, with zapco's BTL resistor attenuator for higher-wattage OEM amplifier signals, or with their RCA-to-balanced transmitter.

Thirdly, the DSP "card" has a 10-band parametric EQ, digital crossover filtering, and digital time correction per channel. If the installer knows what he is doing and has time in the budget to adjust the system, this can really make a huge difference.
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      06-11-2007, 05:47 AM   #16
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Thanks for a great DIY article.

Does anybody have any experience with the cheapest hifi option called "Business CD' which is only available in Europe. I have this system on my E91 and it consists of 4" koaxial in the doors. No external amp, no sub, no tweeter etc.

I am planning to add a sub in the trunk and would like to know if this wire diagram somehow could help me connect a HI/LOW converter.

Thanks in advance!
//Magnus
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      06-12-2007, 12:28 AM   #17
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Which small black wire for the remote? I have two on the amp and both have a stripe. I bought a converter that also has a remote turn-on output when it see's a signal to turn the amp on. But it never shuts off and there tech guys says BMW has some sort of resistance in the amp or something that makes the coverter think the system is on. What a pain.
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      06-12-2007, 12:51 AM   #18
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"tech" guys... bah.

You're not in SW Washington, by any chance, are you?

These RTO-generating signal-sense widgets all have slightly different circuitry and trigger off of slightly different levels of voltage and DC offset. If the widget you tried is staying on all the time, it's probably a good idea to try a different one. I believe that the Peripheral TR-7 or something like that has an adjustable threshold.
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      06-12-2007, 02:56 AM   #19
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You are the shizzle. Thanks. Now I need to find a good quality hi/lo converter. Hope I can match the bass timing only with phaze and placement of the box.
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      06-13-2007, 09:20 PM   #20
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I have Logic7 and I have 2 black wires like you. From what I can tell, the remote on ours is actually the thicker red wire a pin below the brown (ground) wire. If you notice, all of the others are twisted in pairs of two, which is for + and - on a speaker channel.

Quote:
Originally Posted by 330i View Post
Which small black wire for the remote? I have two on the amp and both have a stripe. I bought a converter that also has a remote turn-on output when it see's a signal to turn the amp on. But it never shuts off and there tech guys says BMW has some sort of resistance in the amp or something that makes the coverter think the system is on. What a pain.
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      06-14-2007, 12:41 AM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chilenko View Post
I have Logic7 and I have 2 black wires like you. From what I can tell,
Does that mean you've tested it with a voltmeter?
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      06-14-2007, 01:54 PM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by avincar View Post
Does that mean you've tested it with a voltmeter?
Yes, it is the only wire that puts out 12 volts, all the others are only ~6 with the radio on. The power to it stops a couple minutes after you pull your key out and close the door.

But, I have not tapped into yet because I wanted to see if anyone else could confirm for sure from experience. I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work but I just wanted to be completely sure before I start cutting into wires.
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