Today was the day to FINISH the E46!! I *did* pull the driver's panel on it again to rearrange the 6" sub solder and OE connection. It was a good thing, too. The solder I'd thrown together late on Sunday night was a shambles. I used the revised method for the passenger front. I'd also forgotten the JL tweeter on the driver's side. Interesting note: OE tweeters are 4ohm in E46 HK. Who knew?

The passenger front speakers were WAY easier after having a template from the drivers side. I was able to use OE connections on all speakers. I even soldered the wires before wrapping them in heat shrink. I took the same time as I had on the others to cover it in GTMat.

I went for my first drive since I had done either front doors. This thing sounds like a new car! Rather.. it *doesn't* sound like a new car would... n't? I took my daughter around the block and even she was impressed. The knocks and rattles that used to run into the cabin from bumps, rail tracks, road noise, engine noise.. They're just muted.

The sound coming from the speakers... JL's all around.. and Memphis in the front and rear mids. It's just outstanding. Streaming music over bluetooth offers clean bass. With music on, the outside world is one to be observed with your eyes, not your ears. That's not to say it's a vault. You can still hear some noise, but the rattles and high-pitched, metallic dings are just gone.

I cannot WAIT to get this done in the E53. I walked immediately from the E46 to it today. It's a LOT more quiet just by itself than the E46 was stock. The difference in doing the doors is going to be awesome.

Finally, here's a funny observation: I have completely redone the sound system, speakers and head unit in 2 BMW's. Both are 2002's! And I did them 30 years apart!

Onward, men!

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