[MendotaMike]

I've been reading and posting for the last month or so since picking up my new e93 335i, gathering info and tips to upgrade the weak factory audio. Finally got all the gear, and got it installed a couple days ago. I went with an Alpine PDX-5 amplifier, Earthquake SWS 8x midbass/subwoofers, and the BSW front speaker kit (the kit for the e93 only comes with the front mids and tweets, no rear speakers. I've included some pics below, since there aren't many that are specific to the e93.

Here's a shot of the OEM amplifier, located in the left corner of the trunk under the trim panels. The trim panels are a real pain in the a$$ to remove in the e93, what with all of the convertible top hardware, but it is doable.


The first thing I did (after LOADS of research on this board - thanks everyone for all the information, especially VP Electricity and Technic) was cut the OEM amp connector off the factory harness. Do this carefully - you have to cut the 12v and remote wire separately from everthing else to prevent a short circuit. The 12v wire is always hot, and the remote wire could be hot, depending on when you last touched a door handle, etc. I suppose the safest route would have been to disconnect the battery, but Lord only knows what kind of hell that would raise. I just decided to proceed very carefully and methodically. YMMV.


Next I installed Molex .093 connectors on the original harness. I shamelessly copied this idea from e90post member FDIPRETE. I used a 12-pin connector for the speaker wires, 2 4-pin connectors for the balanced outputs from the head unit, a 2-pin connector for 12v and ground, and a 1-pin connector for the remote turn on wire. For this side of the harness, I used all female connectors, except for the HU outputs, where I used female for the fronts and male for the rears - that way the harness can only be hooked up one way.


After installing complementary Molex connectors on the factory amp (to ensure I can return everything to stock), I reinstalled the factory amp just to make sure all the connections work properly. Everything worked great.


Next, I worked on getting power to the new amp. Even though I installed a 2-pin Molex connector on the original amp harness' 12v and ground wires, I'm not using them. I put the connectors on just so it would all be reversible. Here's the battery in an e93 - right corner of the trunk under the trim panels. You can see that it looks like there are two double power connector slots open, but the one all the way to the right is dead.


Here is the OEM battery connector hardware - you need to order a plastic housing and a metal connector. The metal connector is BMW part number 61-13-6-920-092. The plastic housings come in single and double varieties, part numbers 61-13-6-925-176 and 61-13-6-925-166. My picture shows a single, but I ended up using a double. The metal part is the same - it just slides (and clicks) into the plastic housing.


To make the connection, I buried the crimpable end of the OEM connector into 4ga. cable and tightly wrapped a small gauge wire around the 4ga. wire to hold everything nice and snug. Then I heated the connector and the bare wire up with a very small but very hot butane kitchen torch and loaded up the connection with solder. Nice and solid.


Here's the completed assembly (showing one of the "single" housings):


Here's the completed battery hookup:


Then it was time to power everything up and hook up the new amp to make sure my new amp side harness worked -SUCCESS!


Now, on to the subwoofers. Installation o SWS 8x subs has been pretty well documented, but I thought I'd through in a few pictures as well since this is an e93. Everything should be the same as an e92, but who knows? Nice to have everything in one post. Here's the OEM underseat sub:


Grill removed:


OEM subwoofer housing removed:


Here's the OEM subwoofer assembly:


Here's the OEM subwoofer assembly with the driver removed and some new weather stripping installed for the new sub:


Next I added one of e90post member JTSHERRI's custom SWS 8x spacers. I made a notch (at about the 1:00 positionin the picture) to allow the new speaker cable to run out of the housing.


Here's the new SWS 8x sub with the speaker wires soldered on, ready to install in the OEM housing. Note that I added 2-pin Molex connectors to these as well as the original harness in the car to facilitate easy install/removal.


Here's the completed assembly, ready to install:


Here's the OEM subwoofer grill next to the other spacer that comes in JTSHERRI's kit:



And finally, here's the new amplifer installed in the original amp location. I cut a small piece of 15/32" plywood and drilled holes in the corners to screw it down to the original amp frame bosses (on the connector side of the new amp) and used plumbers pipe strap to support the other side, again, screwed into the original amp frame bosses. The plywood is covered in trunk upholstery. I stuck a couple pieces of velcro (the hard plasticy side) to the bottom of the amp. Between the velcro and the tight fit, the amp is nice and secure, yet easy to remove for adjustment of the gain/crossover controls.


For the door speakers, I used the e93 kit from BSW, which are drop in replacements. I didn't take any pictures of the install process, since it is so very well documented here:


The results of this upgrade are absolutely fabulous. The BSW speakers sound fantastic, and I'm really shocked at how clean and hard the SWS 8x's hit, provided you're using nice clean source material. I still have some fine tuning to do with the crossover points, and I may consider adding an old Audiocontrol EQL that I have laying around if I can't dial out some of the imperfections that I'm hearing.

Hope someone finds this helpful.

[Technic]

This is the way to do an upgrade.

[rick89]

hi i've got a e93 too and im looking to do the same upgrade but mine is a 2008 UK model. is the amplifier connections the same in both models? also if they are would you mind telling me which wires go to which speakers and which is the remote turn on wire...

cheers

[MendotaMike]

What system do you have in your car ("base", "hi-fi", or "logic 7")? That will determine what wiring you have, and whether it is the same as mine. Even if you have the same system, there's a decent chance that the colors of the wires have changed between your 2008 and my 2010, but you can still go by the pin numbers on the connector.

Lemme know what system you have, and I'll post a pin-out if appropriate.

[rick89]

im not to sure which system it is as i bought the car second hand. but the head unit is bmw proffesional one and i think it could be the hi-fi system

[MendotaMike]

Do you have tweeters in the little triangular area where the window meets the door panel at the front of the door? Do you have a center channel speaker? If yes to the first question, but no to the second, you likely have "hi-fi", the same as mine. If you answered yes to both questions, you likely have "Logic 7" (or whatever it's called in the UK), which would make my wiring irrelevant as the harnesses are completely different.

[rick89]

i have the hi-fi system

[MendotaMike]

Here's the pinout for the OEM amplifier connector for a 2010 e93 335i convertible with the "hi-fi" audio system.

[rick89]

cheers for that!! also is there any websites where i can find other wiring diagrams for the car?
cheers

[MendotaMike]

Here's a post from the DIY section with some good wiring diagrams, but be careful about going just by colors.
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52193
The HU output colors on my car don't match these diagrams, even though they are the same system. I believe the speaker wire colors all match mine.

[Sirrus]

Nice job! I'm adding this to my bookmarks for when I do my e92.

Did you do anything to seal around your speaker wire notch for the subs?

[jaguar36]

I thought the Hi-Fi was dropped as an option for 2010's? I thought you could only get the base system without the door pillar tweeters or the logic 7 system. Or was this just for the E92?

How much did all that cost you if you don't mind my asking?

[MendotaMike]

Originally Posted by Sirrus

Did you do anything to seal around your speaker wire notch for the subs?

I used a Dremel to cut the notch and made it so it was a really snug fit around the outer casing of the speaker wire. No additional sealing was necessary.

[Technic]

The E93 kept the HiFi.

[MendotaMike]

Originally Posted by jaguar36

I thought the Hi-Fi was dropped as an option for 2010's? I thought you could only get the base system without the door pillar tweeters or the logic 7 system. Or was this just for the E92?

The Hi-Fi system was apparently still standard for the 2010 e93 335i. Not sure if that is the case for the 2010 e93 328i as well, or for 2011 and forward models.

Originally Posted by jaguar36

How much did all that cost you if you don't mind my asking?

I've got about $1,000 into the project, as follows:

Alpine PDX-5 amplifier - $360
Earthquake SWS-8x subs - $200
Sub adapters from JTSherri - $40
BSW font mids and tweets - $250
StreetWires 4ga 12v wiring kit - $50
Everything else (Molex connectors, speaker wire, etc.) - around $100

Not bad, I suppose, since the Logic 7 option was around $900 IIRC, and I think this outperforms that by quite a stretch.

[jaguar36]

Damm, just another reason I wish I had gotten a E93 instead :-/

Seems like a nice upgrade MendotaMike, and a nice clean install.

[rick89]

MendotaMike when you removed the oem amp did any codes get thrown up?

[MendotaMike]

Originally Posted by rick89

MendotaMike when you removed the oem amp did any codes get thrown up?

Nothing I've noticed (i.e., not warnings on the dash or i-drive). Hasn't been to the dealer, though, so who knows?

[Technic]

Originally Posted by rick89

MendotaMike when you removed the oem amp did any codes get thrown up?

There are no CAN wires there, so no codes will be thrown up if the HiFi OEM amp is removed.

[nselimis]

Hi MendotaMike GREAT THREAD!! thanks for sharing

Can anyone tell me how much harder this would be for those of us with a e93 but got the logic 7 setup

I have a 09 and have been thinking of doing a similar upgrade. Also do you all know if the AMP for the logic 7 is in the same place?

Thanks Again !!

[kaigoss69]

Originally Posted by nselimis

Hi MendotaMike GREAT THREAD!! thanks for sharing

Can anyone tell me how much harder this would be for those of us with a e93 but got the logic 7 setup

I have a 09 and have been thinking of doing a similar upgrade. Also do you all know if the AMP for the logic 7 is in the same place?

Thanks Again !!

A bit harder...

start at the below link for some very good info, then come back to the forum and do some searchin'!

http://www.oeinterface.com/showthread.php?t=12

[ergoyo]

MendotaMike, great DIY.
Gotta tell you, I have looked at dozens of other installs for the SWS and the aftermarket amp and they all left me with unanswered questions. This is by far the most elaborate and better explained one I have seen.
Really quick questions, when you talk about the molex and OEM connectors when installing the underseat subs, it wasn't clear if you cut the original wiring or what? If not, what did you connect up to the OEM lead?
Also, you did not have to shave the "ribs" off of the bottom of the subs OEM enclosures before putting the SWS, right? I see hundreds of people saying they had to do this even with JT spacers, but I really do not want to do it and believe you didnt either.
Thx