Stock Stereo Wiring/Subs/Speakers Upgrade *PICS ADDED

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NathanZ4C

Member
Recently purchased a Z4 Coupe 2006 and am looking to upgrade the audio system. Ive searched over the past few weeks and done some research on the subject.

I believe my car has the standard business audio system. No subs in the rear.

I have a JL Audio 6.5 sub left over from my last car and i really rated it so i thought it could use it in my install. Ill look to purchase another to go in the other side.

Ive made a start on removing useless rear cubby holes and sound proofing the inside of the metal box. I think ive worked out how to remove the rear carpets to get to the rear fire wall. Tomorrow I intend to make some wooden mounts to go in the place of stock metal sub mounts.

I have purchased a RE-Q http://www.reqsound.com/home.aspx unit to go with the install with the intention of retaining the stock head unit. Whilst the stock unit is basic and has limited functionality it kind of sits in the car flush and all the non standard ive seen kind of look out of place.

As i understand it the RE-Q should allow me to take a feed from the rear speaker cables and convert this into an audio signal the amp can understand.

My questions are....

I know there are some plugs near the firewall. Is there wiring already in the car for the amp that would be there had i got a BMW up-rated audio system?
If there is, is there a remote cable or switched feed i can use? Im not overly worried about this as the RE-Q should trigger and turn on the amp when it senses volume. However I would be happier using a switched feed if its there.
Can i get to the rear speaker cables around the rear fire wall? If so what are the colours of the cables.

Thanks in advance for your help
 
Lol at the above.

I'm sure I read the feed to the rears is not a full range signal!?


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I was trying to avoid taking a feed from the rear of the head unit. However by the sounds of it I might be best taking a feed from the front footwell speakers. Unless there is any other wiring in the rear i can tap into.

Having said this the RE-Q might even work off a minor signal from the rears. Just need confirmation on someone who's gone this route before.
 
No worries. I've found some threads regarding the rears not providing the full frequency range. Although I'm not sure if the RE-Q will compensate for that or not :?
 
So I've started to put some things together. Still unsure if it's wise to take a feed off the rear speakers or not :?

In the meantime I've removed the passenger pointless rear storage compartment, sound proofed the inside with flashing tape and made my own wooden mounting plate. It's then been covered with carpet and the subs been test fitted.

Hopefully next weekend I'll tackle the wiring. Then ill order another sub and do the other side :)

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daqysyny.jpg

If anyone needs a template let me know and I can pop on in the post to you. I couldn't find any on here.
 
NathanZ4C said:
No worries. I've found some threads regarding the rears not providing the full frequency range. Although I'm not sure if the RE-Q will compensate for that or not :?
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I honestly don't see how it can! if certain frequencies are filtered out nothing can put them back correctly - it's not like an MP3 where the lossy format removes information that 'should' be inaudible. If a filter blocks, say, anything below 100Hz and anything above 10kHz, there's no way to interpolate the missing frequencies and recreate a full-spectrum signal
 
The req will just boost what it's fed. Easy to lead to distortion and that results in cooked coils (smells great, your wallet will hate you though)

You might have better luck grabbing the signal from the woofers in the kick panel.

When I swapped mine out, the subs in the back and the kick panel woofers were identical, not sure on the frequency though as I'm running my system independent of the oem setup.
 
Thanks guys that's a great help. I'll go for the footwell speakers then.

You don't envisage any drain on the footwell speakers should I connect off them do you? That was my only other concern.
 
In theory there shouldn't be as you'd be lowering the resting impedance anyway..the factory amp will make more power at a lower impedance.
 
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I bought a ground zero 6" sub for my old e85 and did the same thing but could never get it to work right. The pic above is from when I first tried a pair of hertz 6x9s which I already had before I bought the sub the pic is just to give an idea of what i did. I gave up in the end thinking the cubby hole was just the wrong size/shape for the sub i bought. I ended up just putting a 12" sub in the boot. Now i have the M with the top sound system and starting to get the bass bug again. If i could find a way to use the ground zero sub i still have I'd like to (swap the drivers side sub for the gz) but what did i do wrong the first time? The sub cost 130 quid and is rated at 250w rms. I know it will never give the same bass as a 12" with the same or even less power due to the size of the cone but surely should have much more potential the the factory ones? I also have a genesis profile sub amp i could use.
 

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When you say you couldn't get it to work right, in what way do you mean?

I've used this JL sub in a small purpose built under dash enclosure on my old car, that also being a 2 Seater with a small cabin. Given the size of the sub it surprised me how good the output from it was and that was running it from a cheapish standard (not sub specific) amp. I can only imagine that 2 of these with a decent amp will give you as much pleasure, if not more, than a 12". You will also benefit from not losing the space in the already smaller boot of the M.

No one could believe that this sub was as small as it was. I have no idea how it compares to BMW's uprated system having said this.
 
NathanZ4C said:
When you say you couldn't get it to work right, in what way do you mean?

I've used this JL sub in a small purpose built under dash enclosure on my old car, that also being a 2 Seater with a small cabin. Given the size of the sub it surprised me how good the output from it was and that was running it from a cheapish standard (not sub specific) amp. I can only imagine thdidn't putthese with a decent amp will give you as much pleasure, if not more, than a 12". You will also benefit from not losing the space in the already smaller boot of the M.

No one could believe that this sub was as small as it was. I have no idea how it compares to BMW's uprated system having said this.
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It just barely gave any bass at all and seemed to distort really easily. This was with an alpine headunit too so had a dedicated output for the amp. I was sure the sub had potential if I built an enclosure to the subs spec I just thought it was something to do with the cubby hole. As you saw i sound deadened the cubby hole and used an 18mm mdf plate so should have worked well but it just didn't. Was a mystery to me at the time :lol: I'll post a pic of the sub tomorrow.
 
Did you ever work out the enclosed space in that area?

It was a slight concern but by eye it looked a similar size to the box I was using before. My only other worry was vibration from all that plastic in the surrounding areas.

Before I tuck all the wiring away ill test to see what it sounds like first and report back.

I'd be interested to see the specs of that sub you have.
 
NathanZ4C said:
Did you ever work out the enclosed space in that area?

It was a slight concern but by eye it looked a similar size to the box I was using before. My only other worry was vibration from all that plastic in the surrounding areas.

Before I tuck all the wiring away ill test to see what it sounds like first and report back.

I'd be interested to see the specs of that sub you have.
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Yeah I'll add a pic and the spec list for it tomorrow. I'd definitely be interested in the results you get. Especially given that you've ran your sub in a proper box so will be able to compare :)
 
Here is what I have http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/subwoofers/6-inch-subs-16cm/ground-zero-nuclear-gznw6-5
gone up a bit since I bought it :0 209 quid!
 
NathanZ4C said:
Theres not a lot in it to be fair. Just hope i get better results than you did :|
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Yeah I probably did something wrong although there shouldn't be a lot to go wrong. It was sound deadened and had a good thick mdf baffle. The amp set up was fine as it worked perfectly when I plugged my 12" sub in. Maybe a should have had a play with the lpf to filter some of the lowest frequencies. You've given me the bug again lol. Looking forward to seeing how yours goes and if you get good results I'll probably try again.
 
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