HiFi Factory Aftermarket HU Pioneer 80prs with Focal F3 Flax

[melbs]

First off, would like to thank blacksapphineZ and strokeZ from zpost for their help.

First order the following parts:
1. scosche z4 radio bezel kit link: http://www.scosche.com/car-audio/product/484


2. scosche bmw harness link: http://www.scosche.com/car-audio/product/691


3. antenna adapter link: http://www.scosche.com/car-audio/product/212


4. your desired single DIN aftermarket head unit, i chose the Pioneer 80prs for its 16 band tuning capabilities and time alignment

5. Buy a prying tool to remove the aircon center vents: this way its only a 5 min removal process and would protect your dash trim from scratches


5. A. put prying tool on top, in between left vent housing and dash trim.
5. B. insert a flat screw then pull down tab, while doing so pry out vent.
5. C. do the same on the right vent
5. D. pull a/c vent out

6. Remove headunit by removing two philips screws.

7. disconnect wire harness and antenna plug from back of headunit

8. connect aftermarket headunit harness to scosche harness and to the car's harness. all color coded so just simple match everything.


9. install scosche antenna adapter to aftermarket headunit and car's antenna plug

10. screw scosche radio mount to aftermarket headunit. install scosche bezel with the two screws you took out from orig head unit


11. put back your aircon vent (in my case, i put a new black vent to match the color of the scosche kit)


12. remove plastic cover below the aircon switch, drill a hole just so your usb cable would fit. put a grommet to make it look decent.

 

[melbs]

a lot of people say the scosche bezel kit does not fit properly, well, without a headunit, it actually fits perfectly.

but when you fit the headunit already, its apparent that the front bezel needs to be modified. i cut small plastic bits just so it mounts flush to the pegs in between the two mounting screws for the head unit. too bad wasnt able to take pictures, but once i cut it, i mounted the bezel with headunit perfectly.

a warning though, not all headunits are the same, mine looks flushed and fits perfectly but some units do not, so test fit first before buying your head unit.

 

[RJS-Z4]

Nice install that. You need to remove the grey trim from around the heater controls and spray black now though!

 

[melbs]

And so my car audio bug didn't stop at the aftermarket head unit.

I just upgraded the front stock speakers to Focal Flax three way to make the zeddy sound more SQ-ish.

Unfortunately didn't have the time to take pictures of the install. Only the finished product (which will be posted later today). But here's a step by step procedure on how to change your speakers:

1. look for a suitable aftermarket speaker, i chose Focal for its high sensitivity rated speakers. Though i'm accustomed to the signature sound of morels in my other cars, the morel is a no go since they're power hungry speakers. I had to go with Focals even if they're on the brighter sounding signature sound which is opposite of morels.

2. make sure the speakers fit in your stock locations. this was a must for me, as i do not want to mod the zeddy too much.

3. start with the hardest, the mid range speakers; our stock speaker is a 4 ohm 4 inch philips speaker mounted in the door panel via 3 sockets. since the focal is a 3 inch speaker with 4 mounting holes, i had to make a spacer. car audio shops can do these mdf spacers in less than an hour, so that's what i did. i sandwiched the focal mid range in between the door panel and the spacer i had custom made and re bolted the stock sockets screws. had no choice but to cut the stock speaker connector, and directly screw in the wires in the focal mid range. for door panel removal instructions, just youtube bavsound's video on how to remove the door panel. its the easiest instructions to follow.

4. while you're at the door, just simply remove the tweeter sails by pulling it. video can also be found at bavsound's youtube channel. i had to remove the plastic tabs that hold the stock tweeter in place. our stock tweeters are also 4 ohms and just held by plastic tabs and lots of glue. so i just siliconed and butyl taped the tweeter in place. soldered a 2.2 KHz capacitor on the positive wire and reconnected using factory speaker tab.

5. for the mid bass woofer, remove door sill plastic trim by pulling it off, remove a philips screw at the base of the speaker trim underneath the door sill trim. remove driver's and passenger's under dash cover (3 philips screws for driver side and 2 for passenger side)

6. now you can remove speaker cover by pulling slowly but hard. remove the 2 ohm 4 holed stock speaker made by philips. cut factory speaker plugs and solder in your new woofer terminals. mount new woofer in factory location by just adding big washers to hold the speakers in place and re screw all four sockets.

7. make sure not to throw your old speakers and their factory connectors in case you want to change back to stock when its time to sell, its easily re connected by just soldering the wires.

pretty easy install about 4 hours.

the initial difference in sound is BIG. though the woofers on the Focal only play until 50 Hz, the bass is faster, more accurate, and louder than the stock. i had to cut 80 to 100 Hz in the EQ just not to make the car sound boomy. the highs are definitely much much more detailed than stock. but i needed to boost the highs a bit. Overall these focal sounded not as bright as the other Focal polyglass and kevlars I auditioned where your ears would get fatigued just 30 mins in your drive. They are much similar to the warm sounding morels that i like and i have in my other cars.

overall, if you want the biggest jump in performance of your audio system. just change to an audiophile headunit or at least a tunable headunit and change to a three way speaker of your liking. definitely an aftermarket amp is not needed to make the sound quality even better (plus too much trim removal and rewiring). the stock locations of the speakers are pretty great already. if you want louder, bass shaking sound though definitely you need aftermarket amp, maybe get morel elates as those can play up to 30 Hz so you won't need subwoofer.

time to with the top down and listening to tunes

 

[melbs]

And so my car audio bug didn't stop at the aftermarket head unit.

I just upgraded the front stock speakers to Focal Flax three way to make the zeddy sound more SQ-ish.

Unfortunately didn't have the time to take pictures of the install. Only the finished product (which will be posted later today). But here's a step by step procedure on how to change your speakers:

1. look for a suitable aftermarket speaker, i chose Focal for its high sensitivity rated speakers. Though i'm accustomed to the signature sound of morels in my other cars, the morel is a no go since they're power hungry speakers. I had to go with Focals even if they're on the brighter sounding signature sound which is opposite of morels.

2. make sure the speakers fit in your stock locations. this was a must for me, as i do not want to mod the zeddy too much.

3. start with the hardest, the mid range speakers; our stock speaker is a 4 ohm 4 inch philips speaker mounted in the door panel via 3 sockets. since the focal is a 3 inch speaker with 4 mounting holes, i had to make a spacer. car audio shops can do these mdf spacers in less than an hour, so that's what i did. i sandwiched the focal mid range in between the door panel and the spacer i had custom made and re bolted the stock sockets screws. had no choice but to cut the stock speaker connector, and directly screw in the wires in the focal mid range. for door panel removal instructions, just youtube bavsound's video on how to remove the door panel. its the easiest instructions to follow.


4. while you're at the door, just simply remove the tweeter sails by pulling it. video can also be found at bavsound's youtube channel. i had to remove the plastic tabs that hold the stock tweeter in place. our stock tweeters are also 4 ohms and just held by plastic tabs and lots of glue. so i just siliconed and butyl taped the tweeter in place. soldered a 2.2 KHz capacitor on the positive wire and reconnected using factory speaker tab.


5. for the mid bass woofer, remove door sill plastic trim by pulling it off, remove a philips screw at the base of the speaker trim underneath the door sill trim. remove driver's and passenger's under dash cover (3 philips screws for driver side and 2 for passenger side)

6. now you can remove speaker cover by pulling slowly but hard. remove the 2 ohm 4 holed stock speaker made by philips. cut factory speaker plugs and solder in your new woofer terminals. mount new woofer in factory location by just adding big washers to hold the speakers in place and re screw all four sockets.
without speaker trim


with speaker trim


7. make sure not to throw your old speakers and their factory connectors in case you want to change back to stock when its time to sell, its easily re connected by just soldering the wires.

pretty easy install about 4 hours.

the initial difference in sound is BIG. though the woofers on the Focal only play until 50 Hz, the bass is faster, more accurate, and louder than the stock. i had to cut 80 to 100 Hz in the EQ just not to make the car sound boomy. the highs are definitely much much more detailed than stock. but i needed to boost the highs a bit. Overall these focal sounded not as bright as the other Focal polyglass and kevlars I auditioned where your ears would get fatigued just 30 mins in your drive. They are much similar to the warm sounding morels that i like and i have in my other cars.

overall, if you want the biggest jump in performance of your audio system. just change to an audiophile headunit or at least a tunable headunit and change to a three way speaker of your liking. definitely an aftermarket amp is not needed to make the sound quality even better (plus too much trim removal and rewiring). the stock locations of the speakers are pretty great already. if you want louder, bass shaking sound though definitely you need aftermarket amp, maybe get morel elates as those can play up to 30 Hz so you won't need subwoofer.

time to with the top down and listening to tunes

 

[melbs]

After a month of self tuning and use, I could say that the difference is night and day between the stock philips speakers and the focal flax F3 three way separates. Together with the 80prs' tuning features such as time alignment and 16 band eq, HPF, etc. you can really tune your system to a very good SQ car audio system.

The only problem I encountered is pushing the system too much that comes with the clarity on the tweets and mid range, the factory amp could not supply the proper power to the mid bass and it starts to distort.

The Z4's cabin in insulated very well for replacing with aftermarket speakers, you could hardly hear and resonance in the doors, or kick panel trims.

If only a subwoofer isn't too impractical in our zeddy, then i'd certainly put one :wink:

I could just imagine the rear top tray rattling so much if you put a sub there. and putting the top down would make the sub useless