For ALL those E53 owners who still want to upgrade and haven't found what they want and found that information is lacking - here is what I learned, examined and implemented.

BMW E53 cars have three levels:

Basic - six "speakers" in total. Each door has a mid-bass speaker in "the pod". There are mid-ranges in the dash corners. The factory head unit, regardless of version, feeds this - there is no separate amp. This version was NOT offered in North America.

Hifi - ten "speakers" in total. Each door has a mid-bass speaker in "the pod" and tweeters (mirror corners on front doors, in the door panel on rear doors). Mid-ranges in the dash corners. Head unit feeds an amp, amp feeds the "speakers".

DSP - this takes the 10 speaker system and adds two more. Plenty of writeup's on this - I won't add more.

The challenge to upgrade an E53 is that BMW used 6" (160 mm) speakers in the door pods which nearly don't exist - they are NOT 6 1/4 (165 mm). Look all you want, you can't easily find 160 mm component speakers (forget two way or three way). Forget what the other forums and such will tell you - a true drop in midbass needs to have a frame diameter of 160 mm (6") NOT 165 mm (6 1/4").

The good news - you can easily remove the factory Haes produced units from the pods, they pop out easily.
Unfortunately no commercial adapters exist to allow you to install more readily available 130 mm (5 1/4") midbass. 160 mm midbass are RARE.

For the door pods, Bav Sound sold Rainbow W130 SLX mid-bass (which would work with basic, hifi or DSP systems) with specific adapters. Their (old) YouTube video shows the basics. They stopped selling kits 3+ years ago (limited volumes) - trust me I kept asking to finally get this answer.

I measured my pods with a caliper and designed the adapter plates and 3D printed in ABS plastic. Installation was easy, install the adapter plates - glue in place (Superglue or Epoxy), drill the four holes to mount the speakers to the plates and solder wiring (mind speaker polarity) and install the pods. While you have the door panels off - replace the plastic window mounting clips that become brittle and break. Two of the longer black ones for front doors.

Pictures attached will show you the key elements. If you want a set of the spacers (will work in front or rear pods) - just let me know.

BTW - Rainbow has revised their product lines, the W 130 SLX has been renamed. It is part of the new "Rainbow Sound Line" and is the SL-W5 (pair of midbass). If you want to buy them along with the cross-over and dome tweeters for your mirror corners, buy SL-C5.2.

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2002 Euro X5 (E53) 3.0 diesel (M57)
5 speed manual with UUC short shifter.
Pre-xDrive NV125 transfer case (chain & gears).
Factory Xenon headlights, Spyder LED tail lights
Updated vortex crankcase breather.
Motorsport dead pedal, factory fire extinguisher, factory first aid kit, factory F&R mud flaps, factory PDC

Bilstein B6 shocks F&R
Redline oil has replaced "lifetime" fluids (F&R diff, manual transmission, transfer case and P/S).
Dimple magnetic drain plugs in all compartments.