[Wongway]

Big thanks to 6spdcoupe for all the help, patience with my numerous questions and prompt replies!!

Now to figure out installation...


Edit:
In case anyone wonders, 2011 e90 sedan with black leather interior and they are a perfect match to the rest of the trim.

Included is a custom trim for the underseat enclosure with the remaining 4th 6.5" speaker already mounted.

One bit of detail really had me laughing here...
The 4" mids are mounted into a plate that looks fabulous. Perfectly machined out and the details kill me. They even polished the edges!! (You might be able to see that in the pic below). All that effort, for something noone will ever see!

Whole set = two tweeters, two 4" speakers and eight 6.5" s
Haven't opened the box yet that's labeled crossovers / wiring and other miscellaneous parts yet...



Edit:

Started in on finally sealing up the doors...

[ctuna]

I wonder why not an 8 inch for the underseats?
as in XE 200
I think you will need a hearing aid soon.

[Wongway]

Having torn apart the dash to route wires, I found a little speaker underneath. I initially thought it was for gongs and notices, but once wired up and installed, I'm sure it's not. (gongs come through the speakers and it's noticeably louder now) Anyone know what it's for?

Edit:
sos communications? I'll take that answer but seems useless if you're already using the car speakers for everything else including Bluetooth...

[cdgatti]

SOS communications with BMW assist I would venture to say.

[Wongway]

I want to take a moment here and say;

Don (6spdcoupe) is beyond words. So helpful! Before the sale with answering numerous questions. During the sale with prompt delivery. And even after, answering questions for the install, providing updated manuals, pinouts, etc.

You guys in New Jersey have a treasure in him!!
None of this begins to describe how helpful and patient he is! I wish I had more reasons to do business with him! I really can't say enough how great he is!

[Route 16]

That looks cool. I'd probably feel like having a punching bag getting hit on my kidneys.

[Wongway]

Nah... I'm too busy listening to all the detail I've been missing out on all this time!

[jflexp21]

How do they sound?

[Wongway]

I'm going to put up an in depth review here once I get my thoughts together.

But the short version is that they're simply amazing! High's are warm, no harshness. Very full sound all the way around.

It's just that in the short term, I'm a total doofus/noob and this 82DSP is a dangerous tool. The customization options are numerous, so many minute settings...
I didn't help things either by how I wired things, I think... but in the long run, I hope it's better for customization.

This isn't a setup for the bassheads that want big underseat bass, but it suits me just fine. Probably will even more as I dial in some different settings once I get these a bit more broken in as well. I've tried a lot of the music that many of the board members here have mentioned as testers for their audio system. Fantastic separation (when I don't screw something up), and some tracks make me pull my hair out trying to isolate my screw ups.

Jeffb335's Social Distortion track really has me working trying to tweak the levels between the handoff from the 4" mid and my passenger 6.5's without causing more problems than I fix. He's definitely right where if you mix things a bit off, you end up pulling the vocal a bit low.

I'm loving all the detail I've missed out on, and I can finally hear things at low volumes again when there's conversation in the car.


edit:
Just to give you an idea of the mental juggling and testing that can go into this...

Originally Posted by Route 16

That looks cool. I'd probably feel like having a punching bag getting hit on my kidneys.

I actually thought about this very situation.

So before it was installed, I planned on the forward 6.5s in the cabin wired together to 2ohm, and the rear 6.5 closest to my hip+underseat 6.5 wired together as 2ohm (that was a fun wire run...)

This way, I could try dialing out that feeling like the lower cycles hitting me in the waist. So, my initial crossover settings are dialed in at approx 30-300hz for the forward 4 6.5s, and the remaining 4 6.5s at my waist and below the seat couple in at 30-110hz.

Any of you installation pros out there might be laughing at me, because I'm probably dealing with something you all might be aware of, that I'm sorting through now. I accomplished the goal of not having the higher cycles hitting at me below the waist. It gives the impression of sound being a bit more forward. But something is still not quite right, and I'll be diving into the DSP again later tonight to see what else I can tweak...

edit 2:
Thought about getting the Dynavin maybe next year after I recover from all this nonsense
Might be interesting having to redo everything all over again next year!

edit 3:

Originally Posted by kaigoss69

Midbass impact:
[LIST][*]Take the power back - Rage against the machine (XX) - First 9 seconds only...the driest, tightest punch I have heard in a recording.

I recall one of my trial and error runs, all 8 6.5's hit the first kick drums in the car so hard and so loud! I literally felt like a wall of air just hit me in the face. The entire car shook from the kick drums.
Needless to say, I've since dialed things back a bit.

[cdgatti]

Wonder what is 6spd recommendation for how to run the crossovers with these doorboard units?

[6spdcoupe]

Originally Posted by cdgatti

Wonder what is 6spd recommendation for how to run the crossovers with these doorboard units?

All depends on the rest of the setup. For simplicity keep em passive. Otherwise active/semi-active are easily done as well.

[cdgatti]

I was thinking for the case with no trunk sub. How would you set the crossovers between the underseats and the 6.5" and then between the 6.5 and the 4" mids.

[Wongway]

Originally Posted by cdgatti

I was thinking for the case with no trunk sub. How would you set the crossovers between the underseats and the 6.5" and then between the 6.5 and the 4" mids.

My initial response from Don was basically this:

I would say about 50-300, 300-3800, 4k with a 16k or higher cutoff. All at 18 or 24db. Then play with it accordingly after break in.

I've been running them at 30-300, 300-3800ish, 4kish to 20k.

At this point though, I'm going to start over and strictly go with what Don has said and adjust from there as my floor.

The nice part about this Match 82DSP. I can make an infinite number of trial and error setups, save and delete them at will!

edit:
To clarify, I believe what Don's saying and what I will do next, is simply run ALL 6.5's underseats and doors as one unit at 30-300 (well, 50-300 according to Don till it breaks in)

[6spdcoupe]

Originally Posted by cdgatti

I was thinking for the case with no trunk sub. How would you set the crossovers between the underseats and the 6.5" and then between the 6.5 and the 4" mids.

What he said below.

Originally Posted by Wongway

My initial response from Don was basically this:


I've been running them at 30-300, 300-3800ish, 4kish to 20k.

At this point though, I'm going to start over and strictly go with what Don has said and adjust from there as my floor.

The nice part about this Match 82DSP. I can make an infinite number of trial and error setups, save and delete them at will!

[Wongway]

So, sound defies any preconceived notions I've ever had. Consequently, I'm learning some interesting things...

The short version is this...
Because of how our ears behave, we have a difficult time perceiving distance with low frequencies that are in front of us.

I originally thought that having the 6.5s forward of me would make it annoying to hear lows right/left.
What I'm finding, and apparently there's a paper out there that seems to confirm this, (Philips OPSODIS paper?) is that even with the 6.5s forward of me in the doors, you really can't localize them as easily as I thought.

[6spdcoupe]

Originally Posted by Wongway

So, sound defies any preconceived notions I've ever had. Consequently, I'm learning some interesting things...

The short version is this...
Because of how our ears behave, we have a difficult time perceiving distance with low frequencies that are in front of us.

I originally thought that having the 6.5s forward of me would make it annoying to hear lows right/left.
What I'm finding, and apparently there's a paper out there that seems to confirm this, (Philips OPSODIS paper?) is that even with the 6.5s forward of me in the doors, you really can't localize them as easily as I thought.

You're getting there.

[kaigoss69]

Where is the Dynamat?

[Wongway]

Went without for now, just to see how solid our doors are built.

Surprisingly not as bad as I thought it would be. The only rattles that I inherently hear are from the two pins that got crushed.

Actually just went to the dealer to get a whole new set of pins for both doors, and will be doing the dynamat on that at the same time.

[kaigoss69]

Originally Posted by Wongway

Went without for now, just to see how solid our doors are built.

Surprisingly not as bad as I thought it would be. The only rattles that I inherently hear are from the two pins that got crushed.

Actually just went to the dealer to get a whole new set of pins for both doors, and will be doing the dynamat on that at the same time.

Cool, is there a particular part number for those - cause I need them, too!

Dynamat not only reduces/eliminates rattles, it also makes your drivers sound better as it adds mass to the baffle and absorbs vibrations, that would otherwise lead to cancellations. With all those drivers in there, I would cover the whole door board surface, two layers of Dynamat X-treme, or equivalent. It'll help you get louder, tighter, and more accurate bass and mid-bass response.

[Wongway]

Originally Posted by kaigoss69

Cool, is there a particular part number for those - cause I need them, too!

Door Fasteners
White (with the foam surround)
51 41 8 224 768 (x20 I believe... should do both doors)

Grey (with foam surround)
51 41 8 224 781 (x8 I believe... also should do both doors)


Looking at them, they really don't look much different. I "think" the white ones might be ever so slightly larger diameter? But it's really hard to tell.

Originally Posted by kaigoss69

Dynamat not only reduces/eliminates rattles, it also makes your drivers sound better as it adds mass to the baffle and absorbs vibrations, that would otherwise lead to cancellations. With all those drivers in there, I would cover the whole door board surface, two layers of Dynamat X-treme, or equivalent. It'll help you get louder, tighter, and more accurate bass and mid-bass response.

I'll agree.
Only thing is, by the time I realized to think about it, the planned install time was waaaaay over, by like a whole day. I was getting irritated that I still didn't have my car, and said, "screw it" and went without for now since I had places to go.

[kaigoss69]

Originally Posted by Wongway

Door Fasteners
White (with the foam surround)
51 41 8 224 768 (x20 I believe... should do both doors)

Grey (with foam surround)
51 41 8 224 781 (x8 I believe... also should do both doors)


Looking at them, they really don't look much different. I "think" the white ones might be ever so slightly larger diameter? But it's really hard to tell.




I'll agree.
Only thing is, by the time I realized to think about it, the planned install time was waaaaay over, by like a whole day. I was getting irritated that I still didn't have my car, and said, "screw it" and went without for now since I had places to go.

Don't worry, the panels come off MUCH easier the second time. I've had mine off so many times, it literally takes me a couple of minutes now to get them off completely, all cables and wires disconnected.

Oh, and thanks for the part numbers!

[Wongway]

No problem.

I might be remembering wrong, but they were something like 75 cents a piece for the white ones and 85 cents a piece for the grey ones?