Speaker and Subwoofer Options for ZHP

[UdubBadger]

I know we've probably had some talk before I was a member but wanted to get some opinions on the stereo side of the ZHP.

I am by no means an audiophile, however being a musician, a very big music lover and just an all around picky ass guy, I want a good sounding stereo that makes my music sound good.

I'm not anyone who's gonna go ripping out everything and doing some $3000 custom install job with $700 a set component speakers and all of that. I just want some all around good sounding stuff in my car because I'm in it a lot.

So here are some Q's

I know BSW is good and makes a nice replacement kit for the speakers, but are there other options people have used? I have some MBQuart components coming out of my car right now that SHOULD fit the ZHP (1" tweeter, 4" drivers and a pair of extra 5.5" drivers that I tried to use but didn't fit in my 1er). I liked how they sounded so wouldn't mind using them again (plus free is always good). I could easily grab a 2nd set of the 1" tweeters for the rear.

What is the exact speaker set up on this car... trying to find info on all stuff included (sizes) and can't seem to find exact locations either.

In regards to Subs, anyone have a custom molded one in the corner of their trunk?


NOTE: I see GO HORNS! was the buyer for that one on e46fanatics

Better to do the sub thing or just really work on the interior speakers?
I am just worried there isn't much bass and while I don't do the night at the roxbury type of stuff... I like full rich bass as much as the next fella.


I dunno what else but... lets discuss.

[Hermes]

IIRC they are either 6 1/2 or 3/4, shallow fit. Not sure about the mid and highs

[zj96sc]

I used to be pretty into car audio.

I've never gotten up the gumption to mess with the ZHP. BMW stereos are pretty locked up and kind of a pain in the ass to modify because of the speaker count and factory amp.

You either have to tear everything out and start from scratch, but doing this you usually wind up losing some speakers, or do line level inputs to the factory amp which tends to be less than ideal. It is also a tall order to do it cleanly and professionally without it looking all F&Fed out.

For sub addition, you either have to run a new headunit for sub pre-outs or do line level taps from the factory amp input to your sub amp, or tap off the amplified output to a line level converter to your sub amp input. But- if you swap a new head unit for the sub pre-outs you're then feeding amplified signal to the stock amp and your sound quality goes to shit.

Like I said, never clean or easy on a BMW.

I'd probably just find speaker sizes that match whats in the car from the factory and just step up the speaker quality. The head unit and amp themselves are still pretty quality pieces.

I've built a custom fiberglass trunk sub box, did it for my 2nd E36 M. They're a ton of work but end up looking great and taking up minimal space. The trunk in that E36 was so well insulated I had to fold the seat down when I really wanted "bass." For that car I ran an alpine head unit feeding the stock amp for highs and a sub pre-out fed to the sub amp.

My F-250 I'm running a rarer old high end sony (scratch and dent from crutchfield, of all places, to replace a nice alpine that got stolen. i was in college and dead broke at the time but found this gem....has 24bit burr brown DACs, 3x 4V pre-outs, pretty unusual deck.) feeding an old autotek 900.4. Front channels feed ~110 watts to a set of 6.5 CDT components in the front doors with tweeters mounted in custom built sail panels, rear channels are bridged and wired down to 2ohm to feed ~400watts to an elemental designs 11o.v2. Rear door speakers are factory and fed with the rear channels of the headunit's amp.

Anyway, I've been through this several times on several cars so I may be able to offer some help. Just ask away.

[Hermes]

Why not just upgrade the 6 lows to better quality speakers and get rid of the paper cone HK's

EDIT: locations are lows in bottom part of front door and rear deck, mid and high together near handle in front, not sure about location in rear of 4dr but my coupe has it built into the rear card, 2 more lows in the "sub box"

[zj96sc]

This is from Paul W @ BSW in a post on E46F:

6.25" Midbass
HK : 3 ohms
Standard : 2 ohms

2.5" Midrange
HK: 4 ohms
Standard : 8 ohms

.75" Tweeter
Hk : 3 ohm
Standard : 8 ohm

And the "subs" are apparently 6x9s.

[UdubBadger]

hmmmm

[UdubBadger]

This is from Paul W @ BSW in a post on E46F:



And the "subs" are apparently 6x9s.

ok so basically what I have wont work anyway.

Maybe I will see if I can snag a BSW kit on the cheap in that case.

[Hermes]

Ahhh... Forgot about that. Forgot to take a pic before I added the polyester but here is the inside of the sub box



Here are the ones in the rear deck


This was from when I eliminated my rattle, will upgrade speakers sometime later

[zj96sc]

There is surprisingly little definitive tech out there on this stereo system.

What I've gathered:

ok, based on wiring diagrams...

Front 3 are driven by the amp separately.

Rear woofer and mid/tweeter are driven by the amp separately.

Subs are driven by their own independent amplifier.

[UdubBadger]

interesting.

Also I forgot to ask, how does adding something like a Dynavin effect everything sound quality wise?