My stock system upgrade

[Headmaster]

So I started to hijack another thread and I promptly stopped as a noob here. I have owned/own a number of bmw's over the years and the only fault I have found with the cars is their lackluster sound systems....I'm not talking about the boom boom, just good clean full range sound. Here's my build on my 04 zhp sedan.


I'll start off by noting that I wanted my car's appear end to be as stock as possible. My car had factory nav and the hk upgrade (if you can call it that). I was also concerned about weight gain as it's the biggest hp killer...

Here's my list of gear:

Hertz hsk energy 165. 3 way speaker system
Jl audio 10w7
Zapco dc reference 6.650
Zapco dc reference 1000.1
Knuconcept wires and distribution blocks

I purchased the hertz new for $400, the Jl used (actually traded an amp for it), the two zapco amps cost $650 total (they were taken from a demo vehicle) and $150 on wires, fuse blocks and alpha damp.

So let's start with the front speaker install..


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[TigerTater]

I'm intrested always been a fan of full range audio. My front door mids recently blew looking for options


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[Headmaster]

First, i removed the seats, to be able to run new wiring to the front of the car. The stock wiring is actually pretty good in that its twisted pair, but its 18-20 Ga. which will create too much resistance @ 4ohms and the 100w which I am feeding the midbass.
I ran the wire under the carpet in the middle of the car because the alternator feed runs up the side.
Here's how I ran the wires to the door.

Remove the 8 mm bolt on the wire boot. Lift the boot and pull from the car side, it should come off pretty easily. Disconnect the plug by pulling the end, it will pop right out.


Now take a flathead and remove the outer sheath on the connecter.

When you remove the sheath you will notice the plug is in two sections, one for the door controls, one for the speakers. Here i cut the speaker portion out for removal.

Now i pull the factory wires through the boot. And begin to snake the new wires. Make sure to put them through the sheath first (ask me how I know.. )


Pull about 3 feet of wire into the door. My system will be an active crossover setup so I'll need a pair of wires for the woofer, midrange, and tweeter respectively.

Here's a pic of everything reassembled.

Now you probable noticed i cut a hole in the metal of the door.. This is to mount the midbass and use the door as a baffle. I created a mount from mdf, bolted it to the door with lock nuts (no rattles). I alao used weatherstrip foam between the metal of the door and the wood. Here are the pics

I threw a quick coat of rustoleum to protect the wood.
I also coated the outer door skin wuth alpha damp,to reduce vibration and increase bass output.
Now for the speaker

I installed the tweeter in the factory location with some double sided trim tape to hold it in place. I then installed the midrange in the factory location (no cutting of the door skin).

Now i had to modify the midbass mount on the door by cutting the plastic flush to allow the new deeper speaker to fit.

Now the door skin gets replaced. Here's the finished look.

Next up is the headunit integration

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[ELCID86]

Nice. Where are you located? Please tell me VA!

[Headmaster]

So now we will tackle the bm53 integration. First off you will need to purchase the metro harness part #71-9003. This prevents the cutting of the factory harness.
Now remove the left (drivers side) luggage compartment carpet. It's the side with the door to the cd changer/nav unit. You'll need to remove the bm53 tuner, sorry I didn't take a pic. Now remove the harness by lifting up the handle. This is the harness:

Now pop out the plug with the blue center by pushing it through from the front. Now take the metes harness, pop out the same piece and replace it in the car.
the replaced part has the twisted wires. These wires are labeled correctly on the metes package however they are not speaker level, they are balanced 5v low noise line level. This is the best signal available, better than line output/ clean sweep/ ms-8 etc.. Now simply solder RCA connectors for regular aftermarket amps.
Here's a pic from Doug bakers install, mine is different because my zapco's use din cables

Now I selected zapco amplifiers because they are native to balanced inputs, the dc series uses class a/b amps with digital signal processing built in. They have a fully programmable network which is done by laptop with crossovers, eq, and digital line level matching. I'll get to the amps next



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[Headmaster]

I'm in boston. Thanks, cutting the doors was a little painstaking but I managed to get both sides done in one day. I would do it again in a heartbeat as the new setup is amazing... I'm running 50 w to the tweeter, 50w to the mid, and 100 to the mid bass. I removed the rears completely as they are not needed because of the quality front sound stage and the fill from the sub.


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[Headmaster]

Here's a pic of the sub, ill have more next week, my wife hijacked the camera for the weekend..


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[ELCID86]

Really impressive. So how much $s are you into it if you don't mind sharing.

[danewilson77]

Damn. That's a ton of work. Well done.

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[Johnmadd]

I need this now!