[matysiak]

I have the standard radio, so it comes with 6.5 inch subs under the seats. I know the Earthquake 6.5 inch sub is almost a direct fit and has a very shallow mounting depth of under 2 inches. However they aren't easily available in South Africa, but kicker 6.5 inches are, but they have a mounting depth just short of three inches. Will they fit?

[FastLane]

Not sure if those will fit or not, but have you looked into putting a 8" or 10" sub in the pass-thru compartment from your trunk to the back seat? Just a thought if you didnt want to take out your seats etc, save you some work and plus you can prolly remove it and keep that part of your warranty. (Though I have heard people that swap their under-seat subs with better ones sound great!)

I think theres a thread on this forum of some people who installed a sub in their trunk to backseat via pass-thru as well as one where people swap their under seat subs.

Either way, good luck and post pics when your done!

[nmulax]

What about the MTX TX6001 separates
6.5" and 2.1875" mounting depth

[VP Electricity]

The earthquake fit and anything else requires some mod. For instance, I plan on using Morel ADMW6, and some mod might be required.

But fitting and having low end are two different things. Once you do that, I don't think they like the enclosure much. You still need a sub.

[matysiak]

Thanks guys, i ended up buying the 6.5 inch Earthquake subs. I have read on the forum they drop straight in?

[Technic]

Originally Posted by matysiak

Thanks guys, i ended up buying the 6.5 inch Earthquake subs. I have read on the forum they drop straight in?

The 8" also drops right in, too...

[DrPowers]

If I was to get the Earthquake SWS-8's would I need to get an AMP as well to improve the sound?

I am willing to upgrade the under the seat subs but I'd rather not install an amp and have wires running through my car.

I'm looking for a deeper bass sound than what the current standard professional audio system offers.

Also, Isnt there a sub under the rear bench seat as well? Or is it just the two subs under the front driver and passanger seats that will fit the SWS-8s

[Technic]

Originally Posted by DrPowers

1) If I was to get the Earthquake SWS-8's would I need to get an AMP as well to improve the sound?

I am willing to upgrade the under the seat subs but I'd rather not install an amp and have wires running through my car.

I'm looking for a deeper bass sound than what the current standard professional audio system offers.

2) Also, Isnt there a sub under the rear bench seat as well? Or is it just the two subs under the front driver and passanger seats that will fit the SWS-8s

1) You should... the OEM maximum of 70W per channel would not be enough for these shallow subs to feel the difference.

You could also take a look at one of these types of custom sub boxes (the most effective solution, with a much deeper subbass than the SWS-8's are capable of producing in the OEM enlosure):


http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66141

If regardless of the solution you would need to get an amp and that bothers you, then I would go for the most effective solution. At least you will get a much better result for the "inconvenience".

2) Two subs under the front seats only.

[DrPowers]

Is there a good place to put an AMP for the new subs that wont be obtrusive?

Perhaps swap out the existing BMW AMP?

I can use those custom enclosures. They would take up too much space and wont allow me to fit golf clubs in my trunk.

[Technic]

Originally Posted by DrPowers

Is there a good place to put an AMP for the new subs that wont be obtrusive?

Perhaps swap out the existing BMW AMP?

I can use those custom enclosures. They would take up too much space and wont allow me to fit golf clubs in my trunk.

Is your OEM sound system the standard or the Logic7? Logic7 amp cannot be removed from the system; standard system amp could be removed, but then you will need to get active/passive crossovers to interface the new aftermarket amp with the OEM speakers. This could be an option if you are planning to completely re-do your whole system, but for adding just an amp for subs is overkill.

Thus for ease of integration, getting a pair of SWS-8 with a low profile amp like the Alpine PDX2.150 could be your ticket. I think that you can fit that amp under the trunk floor (in one of those storage compartments). That amp can be bought at eBay brand new for considerably less than the Crutchfied price.

You would need a 2-channel LOC to integrate this PDX amp to the OEM amp sub outputs/subs inputs, though.

[DrPowers]

Originally Posted by Technic

Is your OEM sound system the standard or the Logic7? Logic7 amp cannot be removed from the system; standard system amp could be removed, but then you will need to get active/passive crossovers to interface the new aftermarket amp with the OEM speakers. This could be an option if you are planning to completely re-do your whole system, but for adding just an amp for subs is overkill.

Thus for ease of integration, getting a pair of SWS-8 with a low profile amp like the Alpine PDX2.150 could be your ticket. I think that you can fit that amp under the trunk floor (in one of those storage compartments). That amp can be bought at eBay brand new for considerably less than the Crutchfied price.

You would need a 2-channel LOC to integrate this PDX amp to the OEM amp sub outputs/subs inputs, though.

Wouldnt that still require some extensive wiring from the trunk AMP to the front seats?

[Technic]

Originally Posted by DrPowers

Wouldnt that still require some extensive wiring from the trunk AMP to the front seats?

2 pair of wires from the trunk to the front seats... because your battery and the OEM amp are in the trunk, and the LOC in the link includes a 12V remote signal, your amp wiring will be mostly contained within the trunk.

Cutting the OEM sub output wiring at the amp and using it as your aftermarket sub output wiring is possible, thus you will not have to run any wires to the front seats, but something like that will be a chop job, IMO. Anyways, you will need to remove the seats to install the SWS-8, so you can run the wires at the same time...

[motox56]

personally i replaced the door speakers to a hertz 4" and tweeter and then amped the factory subs. i have about 100 watts to the subs they handle it perfect and sound alot better. i have the subs crossed over as a mid bass to give me a three way effect in the front. i then force loaded 2 12" woofers through the ski port which is the best way to go in these cars. the enclosure technic posted was a good idea but not optimal for getting bass into your cab.

[nhhiep]

Originally Posted by DrPowers

Is there a good place to put an AMP for the new subs that wont be obtrusive?

Perhaps swap out the existing BMW AMP?

I can use those custom enclosures. They would take up too much space and wont allow me to fit golf clubs in my trunk.

I mounted a big, long Infinity 1500w mono amp under the rear shelf, next to the light in the trunk. fit perfectly and almost invisible and not use up any usable space at all. even after all the wires from the oem amp and battery, it looks very clean and invisible and this is BIG amp.

[matysiak]

Ok, so i now have the Infinity 42.7 Kappa's installed, the 6.5 Earthquakes ready yo be installed this weekend and now the AMP.

I am keen to buy one of the Plug & Play Blaupunkts. The THA 475 looks good and it the right price but only has four channels, How would i wire up my 4 speakers and two subs to this?

[Technic]

Originally Posted by matysiak

Ok, so i now have the Infinity 42.7 Kappa's installed, the 6.5 Earthquakes ready yo be installed this weekend and now the AMP.

I am keen to buy one of the Plug & Play Blaupunkts. The THA 475 looks good and it the right price but only has four channels, How would i wire up my 4 speakers and two subs to this?

Get the 5-channel version of that amp, Blaupunk THA 555 PnP... it was done successfully before: http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=98831

[matysiak]

Technic, Thanks for all the advice... I am learning all the time. I PM'd Rambino who did the 5 channel install and he had to run new cables to the Sub's from the fifth channel. I would prefer not to do that.

If i ran the four channel amp and the subs are connected to the front full range (As you mentioned in another note) What would be the issues?

Once again thanks for your help.

[Technic]

Originally Posted by matysiak

Technic, Thanks for all the advice... I am learning all the time. I PM'd Rambino who did the 5 channel install and he had to run new cables to the Sub's from the fifth channel. I would prefer not to do that.

If i ran the four channel amp and the subs are connected to the front full range (As you mentioned in another note) What would be the issues?

Once again thanks for your help.

The full range speaker OEM frequency response/cutoff point (whatever that is) will determine the leftover signal response for this bass driver, as they share a full range signal. I guess that they would sound like mid-bass -not subs- as they will not be receiving a dedicated sub signal.

Again, if you are installing those SWS-6 then you will need not only to remove the seats and install these subs but also to re-do the wiring in the OEM enlosures to connect them. That's 80% of the work right there... running a dedicated channel for those subs will allow you to tune them separately from the other 4 speakers to get the best sound out of them.

If you were going to just add an amp to your OEM system without replacing the OEM speakers then this was going to be a good idea. But if you are adding new, better subs with that amp then treating them as OEM speakers is defeating their purpose, IMO.

[matysiak]

Technic,

You convinced me, i bought the five channel.

In the manual for this amp, it says that you need to wire a neutral and live wire with a 40 amp fuse. However when talking to Rambino, he said he just use the wiring on the plug and play wiring and has had no problems.

Has rambino been lucky? Surely the power to the amp would be controlled by the maximum rating of the radio fuse? Do you know what the standard fuse rating is?

[Technic]

Originally Posted by matysiak

Technic,

You convinced me, i bought the five channel.

In the manual for this amp, it says that you need to wire a neutral and live wire with a 40 amp fuse. However when talking to Rambino, he said he just use the wiring on the plug and play wiring and has had no problems.

Has rambino been lucky? Surely the power to the amp would be controlled by the maximum rating of the radio fuse? Do you know what the standard fuse rating is?

That's correct... you should get a separate power and ground line for this particular amp.

I would guess that if you do not really crank this amp up in gains and in volume you could get away by using the same power line as the OEM HU. But this is not the correct/safe way or even the more efficient (logical) way, as you would be buying a high powered amp to be used as a low powered amp then.

Do as the manual says.

[gIzzE]

A quick question.

With the THA amp what happens to the optical most bus cable?? Is this in the adpater? Or can you take the optical cables out of the existing cable and put it into the PnP harness?

I know Rambino only has the business head unit which does not have most bus, I have emailed Blaupunkt but never got a reply.


I put some DLS R4 speakers in today and have an Audison SRx3 amp to go in, 65w to the fronts and then 300 wpc into some earthquakes, also sat there ready to go in.
But I am now thinking that a maybe a THA 2 channel would be enough, just to give the fronts a little more umph.

[Technic]

Originally Posted by gIzzE

A quick question.

With the THA amp what happens to the optical most bus cable?? Is this in the adpater? Or can you take the optical cables out of the existing cable and put it into the PnP harness?

I know Rambino only has the business head unit which does not have most bus, I have emailed Blaupunkt but never got a reply.


I put some DLS R4 speakers in today and have an Audison SRx3 amp to go in, 65w to the fronts and then 300 wpc into some earthquakes, also sat there ready to go in.
But I am now thinking that a maybe a THA 2 channel would be enough, just to give the fronts a little more umph.

AFAIK, these THA amps harnesses are only for the non-HiFi BMW sound systems...