[Ishj]

First off, a bit on me. I live in Mauritius and I am a student and quite an audiophile, and thus on a very strict budget. I listen to many genres of music, ranging from metal to rap to EDM to Jazz. The E90 currently has the base audio system, which I will be replacing with a Joying android head unit, made for the E90 generation.

Here is what I already have:
A 480W 4ch pioneer amp,
A 1000W 4ch pioneer amp,
The head unit.

Here is what I want to do:
A corner subwoofer in the trunk with a Fiberglass enclosure I will build myself(Budget).
Midbass woofers under the seats
MiniDSP 6x8 that I will tune myself using REW and my calibrated mic(unless there is a cheaper DSP)
The 480W amp bridged sending the two underseats 120W RMS each
The 1000W sending 60 RMS to the 2 front and rear speakers
Keep the rear OEM woofers and reduce the power to them for the time being(If possible)

What I need to buy:
A subwoofer
An amp
two underseats

I was looking at either the Image Dymanics ID12/ID10, and a Rockford Fosgate 250W amp, and Audison AP8 woofers.
I am not sure these are the best and cheapest options for me.
Here are my questions:
1. Can I keep the OEM 6.5" midbass till I save up for the 8"?
2. What is the volume of a typical corner enclosure, can I put the ID12 there instead of the ID10?
3. Will the sound get through to the cabin enough without a ski-pass?

My total budget, excluding the DSP that I will be getting later, is $550, and that is including shipping to Mauritius.

[cdgatti]

just two recommendations.
1. read up on other base stereo installs. the hifi system is more straight forward to upgrade, but the base can be done, there is just some extra wiring mods required as the underseat woofers are connected to the door mids.
2. you will want to install tweeters in the door sail panels

[Ishj]

I forgot to mention that I have already installed Focal IFBMW-C components. Wiring should not be a problem either - at least I hope so...

[Ali-E90]

I know you're on a budget and want to leverage your existing equipment, but 3 amps is a lot. Since you have to buy an amp anyway, maybe look into a 5 or 6 channel amp so you can power everything in one neat package.

Currently use a JL 700/5. 300 RMS to my JL 10w3 in the boot, 100x4 for my midbass, mids & tweeters.

[Ishj]

Unfortunately, that's way out of my budget. I might get a 5ch amp later and move the 3 amps to other projects, but for now, that's unfortunately not an option.
But is the bad getting to your cabin well?

[Ali-E90]

Originally Posted by Ishj

Unfortunately, that's way out of my budget. I might get a 5ch amp later and move the 3 amps to other projects, but for now, that's unfortunately not an option.
But is the bad getting to your cabin well?

Fair enough... I started down a similar path... 2 2-ch plus 1-4ch... but much happier now that I've consolidated into a single amp.

Unlike most, but like you, I also didn't have a ski pass or fold down seats. Bass got into the cabin, but definitely required the sub to work harder to do so. I ended up cutting my own ski pass through the back of the rear armrest, and that's much better now. May use that for an IB setup in the future too.

You should definitely look into the IB posts to get ideas on how to make your own ski pass, and possibly determine if an IB woofer setup is better than a corner enclosure.

My current enclosure is in the storage compartment under the trunk floor, so my full trunk remains usable.

[Ishj]

I did look into IB, but the appropriate subwoofers are expensive.
I also have the choice of a pioneer 1400W(400RMS) and a pioneer amp that I am getting locally for the same price as the ID12 + amp: ~$280 including shipping My concern with that is that there is a drop off starting from ~60Hz down to 20db at 20Hz - Thus, its not really a sub.

So far, I still have these questions:
1. Can I keep the OEM 6.5" midbass till I save up for the 8"?
2. What is the volume of a typical corner enclosure?
3. which would be best: the corner enclosure or the storage area one if space taken bu the corner enclosure would not be an issue?
4. What are the cheapest 8" midbass I can get?

[Ali-E90]

Originally Posted by Ishj

So far, I still have these questions:
1. Can I keep the OEM 6.5" midbass till I save up for the 8"?
2. What is the volume of a typical corner enclosure?
3. which would be best: the corner enclosure or the storage area one if space taken bu the corner enclosure would not be an issue?
4. What are the cheapest 8" midbass I can get?

Ok, definitely let some other experts chime in, they would know much more than me... but here are my initial thoughts:

1. Yes, as long as you understand that they won't sound nearly as good, you'll definitely lack some mid bass, and you'll have to watch how much power you feed them before replacing them.

2. don't know, but it seems there are some that have done it themselves (vs. pre-fab), so perhaps search or even youtube?

3. I think corner enclosure has shown to provide more output

4. cheapest, maybe find a good condition used set of Hi Fi stock woofers, or Logic7 woofers. MB Quart and Morel are other good options, not too sure about pricing.

[Go Horns!]

If you are on a budget, you should consider ditching all of the rear speakers.

you can use the 6.5" for now. For the 8" buy used hifi or logic7 from ebay. Going off memory, so you should verify the following: HiFi are 2-ohm, and Logic 7 are 4-ohm, so buy the ones that will work with your amp.

For the subwoofer, a 10 or 12 will work in the corner (both have been succesfully used), just depends on how big you make the enclosure becaus you are doing it yourself. I have a 10 getting 600 rms, and I love it. You will be fine without a ski pass, but I would make sure the sub is getting at least 350 rms.

[Ishj]

The amp supports 2 to 4 ohms, and on top of that, I'm getting a pair of Audison AP8 woofers for cheap.
As for the subwoofer, I really wanna go for the Id 12 from Image Dynamics because of the frequency response that goes really, really low. The sub has an fs of 20hz.

My issue with it is that the manual states a recommended RMS of 250W and a max RMS of 450. I wanna power it with 400w rms but I'm not sure whether that is a typo and the 450w figure is The peak, not RMS.

[Go Horns!]

The Id12 v3 specs are here: https://www.sonicelectronix.com/item...12-D2-V.3.html

It can probably handle 400w RMS.

[BMW3DK]

Hi!

Great to meet an audiophile here.

8 channels seems like a full active system which is fine, but as you note also more comprehensive than partly active solutions.

Do you run the Focal's active?

Normally I would suggest following:

4 channel (small).
Front & rear speakers mid & high freq (with passive xover at speakers)

4 channel (big)
2 channels on woofers under seat
2 channels bridged on subwoofer


anyway, to your questions:
1. Can I keep the OEM 6.5" midbass till I save up for the 8"?
--> sure, the only risk is a temperary solution grow permanent..

2. What is the volume of a typical corner enclosure?
--> are you building yourself? then it is up to the TS parameters of the desired woofer to decide! You build accordingly...

3. which would be best: the corner enclosure or the storage area one if space taken bu the corner enclosure would not be an issue?
--> Same thing. But if you have a centre armrest that can be folded down I would go for this solution.

4. What are the cheapest 8" midbass I can get?
--> i'm sure alibaba.com can answer this. But do you really want to throw money on a cheap interrim solution instead of saving some months for a set of focal woofers?


///Chris

Originally Posted by Ishj

I did look into IB, but the appropriate subwoofers are expensive.
I also have the choice of a pioneer 1400W(400RMS) and a pioneer amp that I am getting locally for the same price as the ID12 + amp: ~$280 including shipping My concern with that is that there is a drop off starting from ~60Hz down to 20db at 20Hz - Thus, its not really a sub.

So far, I still have these questions:
1. Can I keep the OEM 6.5" midbass till I save up for the 8"?
2. What is the volume of a typical corner enclosure?
3. which would be best: the corner enclosure or the storage area one if space taken bu the corner enclosure would not be an issue?
4. What are the cheapest 8" midbass I can get?

[Ishj]

Originally Posted by BMW3DK

Hi!

Great to meet an audiophile here.

8 channels seems like a full active system which is fine, but as you note also more comprehensive than partly active solutions.

Do you run the Focal's active?

Normally I would suggest following:

4 channel (small).
Front & rear speakers mid & high freq (with passive xover at speakers)

4 channel (big)
2 channels on woofers under seat
2 channels bridged on subwoofer


anyway, to your questions:
1. Can I keep the OEM 6.5" midbass till I save up for the 8"?
--> sure, the only risk is a temperary solution grow permanent..

2. What is the volume of a typical corner enclosure?
--> are you building yourself? then it is up to the TS parameters of the desired woofer to decide! You build accordingly...

3. which would be best: the corner enclosure or the storage area one if space taken bu the corner enclosure would not be an issue?
--> Same thing. But if you have a centre armrest that can be folded down I would go for this solution.

4. What are the cheapest 8" midbass I can get?
--> i'm sure alibaba.com can answer this. But do you really want to throw money on a cheap interrim solution instead of saving some months for a set of focal woofers?


///Chris

Here is what I ended up doing:
I got myself a cadence DSP, gladens as underseats - I got the pair for eur 180 shipped.
I also bought a PCM2704 USB to digital DAC.
I think I'll go with the corner enclosure since this has been tested well, and it supposedly pumps all the energy into the cabin instead of wasting it to the outside. An IB install is always a possibility if I am not satisfied.
What I have not yet bought is the sub and amp because Sonicelectronix isn't accepting international customer for the time being, and woofersetc's shipping price is wayyy too outrageous. Let me know if there is any other place I can get the subs from.

Using the big amp to power both the woofers and sub is out of the question tho, it only provides 60/90W RMS at 4/2 ohms.

Here is what I will do: big amp to power fronts and rears, small amp bridged for underseats.
Then a separate amp for the sub. I will tuck all amps and the processor in the storage area, with a PC fan to keep them cool.

What I haven't yet decided is whether I should get the ID12 or IDQ12, since on top of SQ, I want the sub to go down to 20Hz. The enclosure is ~30l, close to the optimum size for both subs.

[BMW3DK]

hi

good, so you learned that a Pioneer 1000W amplifier is not 1000W :-)

You will be hapy with the mosconi underseats, I just put them in my E93 and they were much better than expected.


Keep us posted and remember pictures!!


///Chris

Originally Posted by Ishj

Here is what I ended up doing:
I got myself a cadence DSP, gladens as underseats - I got the pair for eur 180 shipped.
I also bought a PCM2704 USB to digital DAC.
I think I'll go with the corner enclosure since this has been tested well, and it supposedly pumps all the energy into the cabin instead of wasting it to the outside. An IB install is always a possibility if I am not satisfied.
What I have not yet bought is the sub and amp because Sonicelectronix isn't accepting international customer for the time being, and woofersetc's shipping price is wayyy too outrageous. Let me know if there is any other place I can get the subs from.

Using the big amp to power both the woofers and sub is out of the question tho, it only provides 60/90W RMS at 4/2 ohms.

Here is what I will do: big amp to power fronts and rears, small amp bridged for underseats.
Then a separate amp for the sub. I will tuck all amps and the processor in the storage area, with a PC fan to keep them cool.

What I haven't yet decided is whether I should get the ID12 or IDQ12, since on top of SQ, I want the sub to go down to 20Hz. The enclosure is ~30l, close to the optimum size for both subs.

[Ishj]

I'm also kind of leaning towards an IB install using either an FI IB312 or IB318. I will have to wait for a shipping quote from them..

[Ishj]

Originally Posted by BMW3DK

hi

good, so you learned that a Pioneer 1000W amplifier is not 1000W :-)

You will be hapy with the mosconi underseats, I just put them in my E93 and they were much better than expected.


Keep us posted and remember pictures!!


///Chris

I knew, I just said 1000w for identification purposes.
Every pioneer product is like that, the freq response measures the -20db points, and if that is not enough, that is the IN CAR response. Even sensitivity is IN CAR. Unfortunately, that is what is available locally if I want to avoid the high shipping costs of heavy subs :'(

I will create another thread when I do the install, and I will link it here.