Which speakers get full range audio?

I

igeak691

Member
I have a 2003 z4 with the carver dsp amplifier in the trunk. Seems the two subwoofers in the rear have stopped getting any power to them and the bottom of the amp has been corroded with quite a bit of battery acid. Cleaned it all up, and looked into getting another amp, but these things run easily ~$1000. I'm going to try and open up the amp in a bit to look for visible damage but figured this would be a good time to use a dedicated amp to run those woofers so I get more control over the bass. I have to tap into the speaker wires and use a speaker to line level converter, and was wondering which speakers I'd want to tap into to get the full range of audio. I know that some speakers only get high frequencies and some only get mid range, so is my best bet the speakers on the footwell? From a preliminary listening, sounds like those speakers get the lowest frequencies.

If these are the speakers to tap into, what speaker wire color am I looking for in the trunk? Is there a wiring diagram around for the particular connector? And one more question, which is the radio sensing wire that I can tap into to get the signal to turn on the dedicated amp?

P.S. I plan on putting the two 10ohm rear speakers in parallel to get 5ohm, which should be okay to run with a 4ohm amp.

Thanks!
 
AFAIK the amp does not put out a full range signal anywhere.

You need to use the input to the amp from the head unit for your signal. The head unit will be sending a stereo signal to the amp. Use this for your line level inputs.

Check out the wiring diagrams for more info: http://www.bmw-planet.com/diagrams/release/en/
 
Use the Left and Right signal input to the amp from the head unit.

Left + - GE/RT
Left - - BR/OR
Right + BL/RT
Right - BR/OR

Pins 38, 30, 9 and 17 respectively on connector X10266
 
Is this for the hifi system or Top hifi? I read that the DSP system only gets a digital signal, not analog left and right line level inputs.

edit:
http://www.gbmini.net/downloads/HKconnections.pdf

So the DSP Carver amp gets analog level inputs from the radio? :o
 
After an entire night of research, I've come to the conclusion that the z4's DSP system doesn't run on a digital signal afterall.

Some things I learned tonight to help others in the future. Wiring diagram is incorrect on bmw-planet.com

http://www.bmw-planet.com/diagrams/release/en/e85/index.htm

Says this for pin 38:
38 E Signal, terminal 50 via vehicle immoblizer Radio

Every other source says:
38 E Front left speaker + Radio

I'll go out on a limb and say I'll be taking from the pins you suggest sniffer. No speaker to line level converter needed. Splice into Pins 38, 30, 9, and 17 in order to run this into the line level inputs of the amplifier. Pin 15 will be used to turn on the separate amp. Anything I'm missing?
 
IIRC the early DSP system (pre 2005/2006) is somewhat hybrid, it DOES use a digital input from the CD changer to the DSP amp.

My 2007 car which has pro nav and DSP does not have this.
 
I would much rather not pay hundreds of bucks to repair the amplifier when I can use a dedicated one to control the bass level and fine tune it.

There seems to be conflicting information around. I'll have to see which ends up being the correct one for my car, and will report back.
 
This is what I have been able to determine on my car.. its a little different than the link I posted earlier, not sure why.

On x10266 connector:

These were tested at 10ohm
Pin 1 Goes to Rear Left Subwoofer -
Pin 2 Goes to Rear Left Subwoofer +

Pin 3 and 4 are for the front left woofers (Tested 4ohms)
Pin 22 and 23 are for front right woofers (Tested 4ohms)

These were tested at 10ohm
24 A Signal, rear right Subwoofer -
25 A Signal, rear right Subwoofer +

Pin 5 is + (Gets same voltage as battery +)
Pin 26 is - (Ground, continuity tested with negative battery terminal)

This takes care of all the larger pins on the connector. Still can't find which wire is the radio turning on signal wire (says its pin 15 in the link i posted above, but checked it and it gets 0 volts whether or not the radio is on), as well as which wires are the line level inputs to the amplifier (likely sniffer got it correct with pins 9, 17, 30, and 38).
 
Hi,

I am using BMW WDS for E85, have a look there:

http://www.bmw-planet.com/diagrams/release/en/e85/index.htm

BMW WDS

HiFi / Top HiFi amplifier

The HiFi/Top HiFi amplifier is designed as an amplifier with active frequency gates. With such a system, better acoustic results can be achieved than with passive frequency crossover networks.

The active crossover networks transfer the frequencies which are reproduced by the relevant connected speaker system to an amplifier module (output stage) to which a corresponding speaker (tweeter, mid-range, woofer) is connected.

On the E83, the subwoofer speakers are also connected to the amplifier module (final stage).

Operating characteristics

Switching on

The amplifier is connected directly to continuous positive and ground as the power supply. It is switched on and off by the radio via the control input. If the amplifier detects a voltage greater than 9 volts at the control input and a voltage which is greater than the voltage at the control input at the continuous positive input, it is activated after approx. 2 seconds.

Switching off

The amplifier is connected directly to continuous positive and ground as the power supply. The amplifier is switched off if the voltage at the control input drops below the lower operating voltage limit of 9 Volt for a short time (approx. 25 ms).
Click to expand...
 
Yes, I saw that.. I'd like to tap into the same place the amplifier is detecting the radio. Where is this "control input" that they're saying, its gotta be one of those pins, but my multimeter and probing each of the 42 pins didn't help me find it.

I'm usually the type of guy to rush into jobs, and pick up scraps wherever they're left. With this particular project though I'd really like to make sure I fully understand what I'm doing before I spend an afternoon hooking up the dedicated amp to run the rear subwoofers. Last piece now is the signal wire.. if I can't figure it out I may have to use a dedicated switch which will probably be labeled something like "need more bass?" :rofl:
 
Okay so did some ripping apart, testing, etc. I tapped into pins 9,17, 30, and 38, but was NOT able to use them as line level inputs into the amplifier (I did test functionality of amplifier with the 2 subwoofers ran in parallel and they work a treat). I just ordered a high to line level converter and will be tapping into the woofers for a signal. For some reason, when I turned on the car, the carver amp would not work if I had the RCA plugged into line in of the aftermarket amplifier. If I unplugged the RCA cable, the audio would be fine, and then I would plug the RCA into the amplifier, but still no results. Still didn't find a remote wire though, so for now will see if anyone else figures this out, while the parts get here.
 
Got everything worked out except for the signal wire. Is there anywhere else I can tap for a 12v feed? Perhaps the antenna wire? Does it get 12v?
 
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