Audio upgrade, mystery door wiring?

R

Rossi1001

Member
Not really a problem as such but a question (mods please move this thread if I've posted it in the wrong place).

I had the passenger door off last weekend to fix a broken window regulator. In doing this I spotted a mystery plug that wasn't connected to anything and it seemed to be connected / part of the audio wiring than runs further up to do the tweeter speaker.

My car is the crappy 6 speaker standard stereo system, but the plug looks like one of the ones that would plug into the mid range door speakers if the car had them, except it doesn't look like an aftermarket / someone's fiddled with it plug (plus the blanking speaker plates are still in place). What is this mystery plug, any ideas? It's a March 2003 production car (2.5 auto) so a relatively early car). Picture below for reference.
 

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Rossi1001 said:
the plug looks like one of the ones that would plug into the mid range door speakers if the car had them
Click to expand...
Exactly that, I think. Early cars where all fitted with the same loom regardless with what options were fitted, hence things like cruise control are a plug and play retrofit. However the audio loom for Stereo (6-speaker), HiFi (10-speaker) and Top Hi-Fi (10-speaker DSP) all have different part numbers, so I may be wrong, although this difference may just be to do with the wiring for the extra amp in the boot for the 10-speaker systems and the 30v feed to the bass drivers for the DSP system.
 
So I wonder if simply plugging a speaker in would work then?
Or would it need an amp to feed that one?
Got to be worth a quick check surely?

If it works let us know as 'll be adding a couple to wifey's car as well.
 
Found a bargain price full top end hifi speaker set on eBay and that's sitting in my garage now. I will swap out the mid range ones behind the seats and then give the doors a try too. I'll report back either way! I know you can get the mid range door speakers working off the standard head unit, so fingers crossed!
 
If you have the top hi-fi speakers, remember the bass drivers that go in the cubbies behind the seats will ONLY work with the OEM Carver DSP amp.
 
Zedebee said:
If you have the top hi-fi speakers, remember the bass drivers that go in the cubbies behind the seats will ONLY work with the OEM Carver DSP amp.
Click to expand...
Thanks for confirming this, I do vaguely recall seeing this previously though wasn't completely sure. For the moment I was just planning to swap out the behind the headrest mid range speakers and add the second set of mid range speakers into the blanks within the doors.

I'd like to go all in at some point, you can find the amps on ebay at times but the wiring harness is hard to find and I think getting that all around the car is beyond my ability so I'd have to pay someone to do it. Definitely a job for the future!

One question on the tweeters though. The top hifi tweeter speakers don't seem to have the high pass filter fixed into the wiring like the basic 6 speaker ones. If I am swapping out the standard 6 speaker tweeter for the top spec hifi unit, but running it from the standard head unit (and not an amp for now), do I need to wire in that high pass filter?
 
That’s too hi-fi for me I’m afraid, hopefully one of the audiophiles will be able to help. [ref]bigwinn[/ref] has recently stripped a car with top hi-fi, he may have a loom available.
 
Just realised I have another question, the top hifi footwell speakers have a 2 ohm impedance and the standard basic setup ones have a 4 ohm impedance. Now I have tried to get my head around this but I'm struggling! I think using a 2 ohm speaker could make the head unit run hot / be generally a bad idea, though I'd welcome views on this.

Also I stupidly thought you could replace the behind the headrest ones just taking the grills off, but you've got to take the whole rear end of the car out, it's absolutely horrendous! Worried I might have bitten off more than I can chew here!
 
Rossi1001 said:
One question on the tweeters though. The top hifi tweeter speakers don't seem to have the high pass filter fixed into the wiring like the basic 6 speaker ones. If I am swapping out the standard 6 speaker tweeter for the top spec hifi unit, but running it from the standard head unit (and not an amp for now), do I need to wire in that high pass filter?
Click to expand...

The Top Carver DSP system doesn't have any in-line crossovers because the signal processing was done by the amp. The radio sends two channels of audio to the amp where it is summed and distributed to each speaker, including the 10ohm Carver subwoofers. This is different than the basic 6 or standard 10 speaker systems where the radio puts out 4 channels of audio and each set of speakers has a built-in crossover.
If you're just trying to swap speakers, I don't know that you'll get any benefit from using the DSP components.
I've recently had to fight with a car that had aftermarket audio installed in place of a gutted Carver DSP system and I learned that the "Top HiFi" is essentially a custom-fit system that cannot be modified and cannot be easily swapped into a non-DSP car. :headbang:
 
OneFastMac said:
Rossi1001 said:
One question on the tweeters though. The top hifi tweeter speakers don't seem to have the high pass filter fixed into the wiring like the basic 6 speaker ones. If I am swapping out the standard 6 speaker tweeter for the top spec hifi unit, but running it from the standard head unit (and not an amp for now), do I need to wire in that high pass filter?
Click to expand...

The Top Carver DSP system doesn't have any in-line crossovers because the signal processing was done by the amp. The radio sends two channels of audio to the amp where it is summed and distributed to each speaker, including the 10ohm Carver subwoofers. This is different than the basic 6 or standard 10 speaker systems where the radio puts out 4 channels of audio and each set of speakers has a built-in crossover.
If you're just trying to swap speakers, I don't know that you'll get any benefit from using the DSP components.
I've recently had to fight with a car that had aftermarket audio installed in place of a gutted Carver DSP system and I learned that the "Top HiFi" is essentially a custom-fit system that cannot be modified and cannot be easily swapped into a non-DSP car. :headbang:
Click to expand...
Thanks for such a detailed response and secondly, bugger!

Do you think my best best is to forget the DSP kit (and sell it) and go down the aftermarket route for some new door, front footwell and tweeter speakers, leaving the behind the seat ones alone as its a nightmare to change them?
 
Rossi1001 said:
Do you think my best best is to forget the DSP kit (and sell it) and go down the aftermarket route for some new door, front footwell and tweeter speakers, leaving the behind the seat ones alone as its a nightmare to change them?
Click to expand...

It might be worth your time to search to see what other owners of the 6 speaker system have done to improve their audio systems.
When you say "DSP Kit" what components do you actually have?
 
OneFastMac said:
Rossi1001 said:
Do you think my best best is to forget the DSP kit (and sell it) and go down the aftermarket route for some new door, front footwell and tweeter speakers, leaving the behind the seat ones alone as its a nightmare to change them?
Click to expand...

It might be worth your time to search to see what other owners of the 6 speaker system have done to improve their audio systems.
When you say "DSP Kit" what components do you actually have?
Click to expand...
I have all the speakers, 2x door and 2x behind your headrest mid range, 2x footwell speakers, 2x tweeters and 2x behind the seat subs but no amp or loom. I got a good price for the lot on ebay so bought it on a whim.
 
I have a 'Top Hifi" 10 speaker DSP loom in the loft if you are after one. I bought it as a combined satnav/audio loom and carefully stripped out the satnav wiring part when I did a satnav retrofit. It has all plugs, grommits etc. Couple of cut wires I think, where there was some wiring crossover with sat nav part of loom, but I know I made a note of what was what and went where.
 
Mojito said:
I have a 'Top Hifi" 10 speaker DSP loom in the loft if you are after one. I bought it as a combined satnav/audio loom and carefully stripped out the satnav wiring part when I did a satnav retrofit. It has all plugs, grommits etc. Couple of cut wires I think, where there was some wiring crossover with sat nav part of loom, but I know I made a note of what was what and went where.
Click to expand...
Apologies for such a slow reply, been manic at work recently! I am still undecided on this and whether to go ahead with installing it all, I would definitely need outside help, it's beyond my abilities, though I saw another forum post this weekend of someone who was happy to help with this sort of thing, which is what makes this forum such a wonderful place! I'll PM you though just to see how much you'd want for it :).

Oh and I finally managed to test the mystery wire this weekend. It fitted perfectly into a mid range speaker, however no sound came out of it at all, so perhaps as mentioned above, as it is an early car, the loom for the hifi loom is partially there, albeit at least in the car doors? Though there is nothing in the boot loom wise that is visible.
 
Rossi1001 said:
Mojito said:
I have a 'Top Hifi" 10 speaker DSP loom in the loft if you are after one. I bought it as a combined satnav/audio loom and carefully stripped out the satnav wiring part when I did a satnav retrofit. It has all plugs, grommits etc. Couple of cut wires I think, where there was some wiring crossover with sat nav part of loom, but I know I made a note of what was what and went where.
Click to expand...
Apologies for such a slow reply, been manic at work recently! I am still undecided on this and whether to go ahead with installing it all, I would definitely need outside help, it's beyond my abilities, though I saw another forum post this weekend of someone who was happy to help with this sort of thing, which is what makes this forum such a wonderful place! I'll PM you though just to see how much you'd want for it :).

Oh and I finally managed to test the mystery wire this weekend. It fitted perfectly into a mid range speaker, however no sound came out of it at all, so perhaps as mentioned above, as it is an early car, the loom for the hifi loom is partially there, albeit at least in the car doors? Though there is nothing in the boot loom wise that is visible.
Click to expand...

The door midrange speakers for the non 6 speakers set up are fed separately straight from the amplifier, that's why your not hearing any sound. Be careful with matching ohms as it'll play havoc with the Headunit due to resistance or so I was told by an electrical engineer a while back.

Ive done a couple DSP retrofits and happy to help as I have a dsp amplifier and a loom from my 2007 Z4M Roadster that I parted outt last year :thumbsup:
 
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