Speaker Selection - 3 Way Components ?

E

embracetheataris

Member
 West Yorkshire
Hello Wise and Wonderful comrades!

I was wondering if anyone had any decent advice on what selection of 3 Way Component Speakers to fit in the Z4? I've seen a few posts on this site by searching the forums - but there doesnt seem anything concrete on this topic.

Has anyone actually fitted a certain model/make and have any feedback? Was looking at spending around £200-£300 etc...

(FYI - My setup will be an Aftermarket Head Unit Feeding 2 Amps - 1 Channel Amp running a 10" boxed Sub in boot and the other, a 4channel amp, running the front component 3way speakers and also the mids behind the head rests)

Thanks in advance! :thumbsup:
 
Rainbow SLC365 or Hertz ESK163L.3 will be a straight swap for the stock locations. The kick panel speakers are 6.5", mids in the doors are 4" and 1" tweeters in the mirror covers. I was going to go this route but ended up just going for some 2 way JL Audio components but put the tweeter in the door so the seperation was less.

Do you plan to upgrade the rear 4" mids? I was going to but havnt bothered and just fade 70% to front as the rears are very harsh and ruin the sound. I also wouldnt bother running the rear mids of an amp just power them from the headunit. I'll be running my comps of a 2 channel amp(currently powering my subs) and will be getting a mono block amp for my subs soon. Once its all amped up i'll be investing in the imprint processor.
 
Thanks un1each - theres some good advice in there!

What i'm planning to do is leave the kick panel speakers(6.5") empty, stickiing with the sub in the boot and the midwoofers down in the footwells...i'm hoping that this will be enough bass as I dont live overkill when it comes to bass!

Yes mate, I'm going to upgrade the mids in the rear - not greatly, but something better than the stock speakers - maybe these or something similar i reckon - what you think? http://caraudiosecurity.com/shop/product/products_id/8395.html

I'm kinda wondering how to utilize my amps the best in this setup to be honest.....would you power the sub or the components with the more powerful amp(when bridged)?? Like i say - huge bass isn't really my thing....just want it to be well delivered. I'm thinking that i'll power the components with the 2channel amp(which is the more poweful amp) and then with the other 4 channel amp I think i'll bridge one channel for the sub and then use the other channel(not bridged obviously) for the rear mids.....i know what you said about running the rear mids from the head unit and if i was struggling for power/channels from my amps i would...but i think i've got enough to power them from the amp easily....so i may as well!

Whats the crack with the imprint processor - is it actually worth having?? Needless to say i dont know much about these bits of kit!?! :(
 
The 6.5"s in the footwell aren't too bad once you cut the frequencies that they are having to play. I kept mine and added Morel elate mids and tweeters to the doors (couldn't afford to replace the 6.5"s at the time as well as buying the Morels). A 3 way passive morel crossover cuts the top out of the frequencies for the 6.5"s, then I use the crossover on my amp to cut off the lows below 70Hz. Doing this lets them play loud and clear without sounding over driven and bolsters the lower frequencies well. I'm using a Genesis stereo 100 to power the fronts. Just having the bass coming from the boot won't sound right with only 4" mids to bring the sound stage forwards.
I still use the rear speakers, powered by my head unit, but have cut the frequencies on them so that they're only working as mids as they help to give a more balanced sound when the roof is down.
Unfortunately I need most of my boot space all of the time, so an 8" amplified bazooka tube does a reasonable job of the lows and is easy to remove when necessary. As it is I have it turned down quite low as the rear shelf rattles a lot. When I have some time I might look at putting some subs in the rear storage areas.
 
Ive heard really good things about the imprint, you need of course an alpine headunit though. I was going to get it earlier but have decided to wait till ive got both my amps installed and setup.

What 2 amps do you plan on using?
 
Well my amps are from the past to be honest.....about 8yrs old now, but at the time they were good enough for me when i had my last setup way back when! I'm trying to keep the cost down as much as possible - so i figured i'd keep the two amps and my sub and just buy the speakers and head unit!!

The amps are : an Infinity ra7502( http://www.dealtime.co.uk/xPF-Infinity-Infinity-RA7502-2-Channel-Amplifier) and a kenwood kac-746 (http://manuals.kenwood.novenaweb.info/languages/EN/support/manuals/KAC-746.pdf)...not sure that upgrading these would be worth my while really as i'm not looking for the best system in the world....but if i can utilize these amps with a few hundred quids worth of speakers then it should sound much better than anything you'll get standard from bmw!
 
With those amps i'd use the 4 channel Kenwood to run the speakers as its only 35wrms at 4ohm per channel and the infinity amp to run a subwoofer as it gives more power bridged, around 150wrms.
 
Right then - maybe thats the way to go then mate - do you think the kenwood amp will be a suitable match power wise to run the Hertz ESK163L.3's and the coax mids in the rear or do you think i should buy a new more powerful 4channel amp? Im figuring the other amp will be more than capable of powering a 10" sub!

ps - thanks for your help un1eash! :thumbsup:
 
The 4 channel amp isnt the most powerfull in the world but it will be better then running of the headunits internal amp. I guess really you want around 75-125wrms per channel for the componenets and abit less for the mids. I'd see how you get on with the kenwood once setup it'll be easy to swap it out for something different. I'm just using Vibe slick amps for now, ive got a slick A2 (2channel) running my components and a slick A7(mono) on its way to run my subs.

Theres so many to choose from and everyone will tell you something different its a hard choice to make when picking speakers and amps.
 
I'm thinking of upgrading the 4channel amp to something a little more beefy then.... maybe a Hertz EP4(4x60RMS at 4ohms)... so for me thats everything sorted now except the head unit,which i want a DAB digital and Ipod ready unit....and also the rear subs behind the seats....these seem to be the trickiest choice, as there not much on the market in way of 6.5" subs that will fit into the rear kick panels in the Z4!?! :|

again - thxs un1eash... :thumbsup:
 
Holy thread resurrection batman !!

I'm thinking of upgrading the kick panels and tweeters with a view to amping them later. I've already got a becker head unit.

Do 6.5's drop straight in? I don't want to order them and have to return them...

http://caraudiosecurity.com/shop/product_list/c_path/60_61_109/spd/17cm---6-5-components.html

Surely even some of these lower end ones will sound better than the stock setup? I can't really justify the rainbows as i'm getting married next year.
 
6.5" work, screw holes will most likely not line up though, you will have to get self tapping screws into the metal...

I used Alpine type S components powered of an alpine pdx-f4, it also powers my JL6w3v3 subs i dropped into the factory locations. i replaced the 4 3" speakers with 4" alpines that fit nicely and those are running off an alpine deck
 
I've fitted Focal polyglass component speakers in the footwells,doors and tweeters, amped up sounds great.I also use the boot a lot so a sub would be a pain to keep removing, also I'm not sure that fitting subs behind the seats works that well as there is no space to get them working properly.
 
Thanks for the replies, i think i've decided upon these:

http://caraudiosecurity.com/shop/product/products_id/12107.html

They won't break the bank so if i do decide to go to focal/rainbow 3 ways components in the future i won't have "lost" much.

This should keep me busy over xmas week, i will try and post some pics up.
 
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