20i Speaker Upgrade

[JSmithyP]

Hey all!,

It seems that the Z4 I purchased only has the two door speakers, which I didn't think I would mind that much but it's actually been really bugging me.

I have the plastic covers in place where the tweeters and speakers behind the seats would sit but no sound is coming from that, which makes me imagine there isn't anything there.

Is it easy enough to fit some speakers in them?

Thanks

Jason

 

[Kugaman1]

http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=101989

 

[JSmithyP]

http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=101989

Rip I saw that topic title before I posted this as well.

Do you know about the rear speakers?

 

[Kugaman1]

No sorry mate.
Ive got the high end speakers in mine so Ive never bothered pursuing it.

I did have the basic stereo in my previous e89......its pretty poor I have to say.

 

[SteveSmith]

The basic system has 6 speakers. 6.5” “woofers” in the footwells, 4” speakers in the doors and 4” speakers on the shoulder of the front seats.

The covers behind the seats unclips very easily, you should have speakers there. The signal that goes to them is small. They’re not needed.

I’m looking for help / advice but don’t want to start another thread :rofl:

I’ve fitted speakers in the doors from a mini (same bmw fitment but the magnets are 3 times the size!), tweeters in the pods behind the door mirrors and I’ve fitted MB Quart co-axial Speakers in the rear.

I have the bias 75% to the front.

I’m still not happy with it.

So I’m looking at speaker Upgrades with an amp. My issue is the 2 quotes I have are for high end dsp time correcting systems... £1500 and £1360. My issue is that is literally upgrading the speakers and fitting an amp... seems like silly money.

This along with a few other bits are pushing me in to a new car :rofl:

 

[Peterboroughdave]

Don't sell it, put the 326 wheels back on and sell the current wheels towards cost of upgraded sound system.

Have you fitted the thicker pads on the rear suspension and what is current progress on the front spoiler lip.

 

[benv6]

In order to have a sound that you can live with ie: average, is to add some tweeters and swap the foot-well speakers with some decent ones (Audison it was for me).
If you want a well above average sound you will need to add a DSP Amp and rewire the whole thing (I have added MEDs behind the seats too as the MED enclosure in the doors is too small). I have used the kit AUDISON APK 165 - I would highly recommend it £150 only from ebay.
And finally if you want an amazing sound then you will need to change the HU + All of the above + A sub (Something I haven't done because I want to keep the HU)

 

[JSmithyP]

In order to have a sound that you can live with ie: average, is to add some tweeters and swap the foot-well speakers with some decent ones (Audison it was for me).
If you want a well above average sound you will need to add a DSP Amp and rewire the whole thing (I have added MEDs behind the seats too as the MED enclosure in the doors is too small). I have used the kit AUDISON APK 165 - I would highly recommend it £150 only from ebay.
And finally if you want an amazing sound then you will need to change the HU + All of the above + A sub (Something I haven't done because I want to keep the HU)

Thanks for your reply mate.

I'll check that out on ebay to be fair. I mean the speakers are pretty poor currently but at least they work.

With the HU swap, I wouldn't mind doing that but would I lose the functions that the BMW HU has? As in the Telecoms system?
Don't know how many people actually appreciate having it but I find it super useful!

 

[benv6]

In order to have a sound that you can live with ie: average, is to add some tweeters and swap the foot-well speakers with some decent ones (Audison it was for me).
If you want a well above average sound you will need to add a DSP Amp and rewire the whole thing (I have added MEDs behind the seats too as the MED enclosure in the doors is too small). I have used the kit AUDISON APK 165 - I would highly recommend it £150 only from ebay.
And finally if you want an amazing sound then you will need to change the HU + All of the above + A sub (Something I haven't done because I want to keep the HU)

Thanks for your reply mate.

I'll check that out on ebay to be fair. I mean the speakers are pretty poor currently but at least they work.

With the HU swap, I wouldn't mind doing that but would I lose the functions that the BMW HU has? As in the Telecoms system?
Don't know how many people actually appreciate having it but I find it super useful!

The exact reason why I didn't change my HU :wink:

 

[SteveSmith]

Don't sell it, put the 326 wheels back on and sell the current wheels towards cost of upgraded sound system.

Have you fitted the thicker pads on the rear suspension and what is current progress on the front spoiler lip.

TTS or an M240i are calling!

I love the new Wheels so won’t be doing that!

I still need to fit the rear spring pads :roll:

Front splitter is now with the company who are actually making it. We’ll have a batch of 5 ready by the end of January.

I noticed another chip today which is lifting paint :headbang:

I’m going to get all the paint bits sorted, get the front lip fitted, fit the spring pads, and I might chuck an amp and some new speakers in it and possibly get the Centre silencer removed and keep it until the summer. The re-evaluate.

 

[del_tl1000r]

I understand your frustrations about the basic speaker set up. I have fitted Focal component speakers, a Pioneer amp and a Kicker sub with remote gain adjuster. I'm out at the moment but if you want I can give you more info once I get home. I kept the head unit which is the Profesional one and I'm really pleased how it sounds. Did it myself for around £400. Hope this helps.

 

[SteveSmith]

I understand your frustrations about the basic speaker set up. I have fitted Focal component speakers, a Pioneer amp and a Kicker sub with remote gain adjuster. I'm out at the moment but if you want I can give you more info once I get home. I kept the head unit which is the Profesional one and I'm really pleased how it sounds. Did it myself for around £400. Hope this helps.

Please share as much info as you have! Thank you!

 

[Lazza]

I understand your frustrations about the basic speaker set up. I have fitted Focal component speakers, a Pioneer amp and a Kicker sub with remote gain adjuster. I'm out at the moment but if you want I can give you more info once I get home. I kept the head unit which is the Profesional one and I'm really pleased how it sounds. Did it myself for around £400. Hope this helps.

Please share as much info as you have! Thank you!

Me too!

 

[del_tl1000r]

I fitted a Pioneer GM-D8604 amp, Focal 165 AS3 component speakers, a Kicker 44CWCS84 8" sub, a VIBE Audio CLBC-V7 gain adjuster and a Connects2 CTLOCA45H 4 Channel Speaker to RCA Phono Adaptor, Stinger SI4417 RCA lead and 80A Amp Car Auto Audio Marine Boat Audio Circuit Breaker DC 12V/24V/42V MA1072. All this came to approx. $400. Excuse the dollar symbol. My sterling key doesn't seem to work. I also bought 2 2nd hand mid door speakers off ebay and cut them up to use as adaptors as the mids on the Focals are slightly smaller. I used Araldite to fix them to these. The first thin I did was fit the amp and crossovers on the panel in the boot. See photo. I chose the amp as it seemed to match the speakers and would physically fit behind the panel. I then fitted the speakers. The only real issue with the speakers was that I couldn't run the speaker wire into the door as it has a multi connector connecting everything in the door so I tapped into the original speaker wire for the mid and I fitted the tweeter behind the seats. There is a blank in the speaker panel there which I had to cut a hole in to fit the tweeters. Since the output from the head unit to the mids in the rear is rubbish I used the front speaker outputs only. These pins 2, 3, 6 and 7. 2 is right front pos and 6 is right front neg. 3 is left front pos. and 7 is left front neg. I connected these to the high to low voltage connector. I also connected the permanent 12v to the head unit to the CTLOC and the ground from the head unit to it. I used Pin 13 from the back of the head unit as the remote 12v supply to switch the amp on. I ran all these cables to the rear of the car. I fitted the 80Amp breaker as close to the positive battery terminal as possible. The power side of things is easy as it's all there in the boot. I used it like this for a while and decided to try a new head unit. I bought a Sony one but used it for a week and put the BMW one back in. I didn't think it sounded any better so losing all the steering wheel functions and parking sensor beeps etc. wasn't worth it. Everything still works this way. Just the rear parking sensors aren't as loud as the all other beeps or tones due to the rear channel not going through the amp but it's not an issue. I have since fitted the sub into the centre panel where a ski hatch would have been. I'm still working on this as I'm getting some vibration at high volumes but I'm confident I can fix this. I have cut a hole in the panel which covers all the components in the boot so all you can see is the magnet from the sub. Looks ok. I'll need to go and take photo's though as I haven't taken any as yet. Hope this helps.

 

[del_tl1000r]

Here are a couple more pics.