2005 X5 sub install in non-premium (non-DSP) system

btrvalik · #1 11-13-2005, 03:40 PM

All the previous post on installing a sub woofer talk about either a 14 pin or a 12 pin amp connection. My 2005 X5 does not have DSP or Nav. The connector at amp is a 48 pin harness BMW 8 364 862. It has 4 heavy gauge twisted pairs, 10 light gauge twisted pairs, a red, brown, and white single wire. The harness has 2 sub connectors one gray and one black. The gray connector is bmw part # 8 364 006 and the pins are numbered from 1 to 13. The black connector is BMW 8 364 882 and is numbered from 22 to 34. Can anyone help with the color code / pin out on this?

Thanks
Bruce

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alpac · #2 11-13-2005, 05:27 PM

On this connector Pin#1 (-) and #2 (+) are for left rear woofer and pin #24 (-) and #25 (+) are for right rear woofer. Therefore to feed a sub mono amp you can tap in one of these pairs. For example if you look at the pic below you can tap in #24 and #25 to feed your hight level inputs sub amp.

el_duderino · #3 11-13-2005, 06:34 PM

It should be added that cars change. You should ALWAYS test this sort of info with a voltmeter rather than just connecting off of a sheet.

btrvalik · #4 11-13-2005, 07:08 PM

Thanks guys.. Can I connect to the factory amp input instead of the output? Shouldn't the input be a cleaner signal? I bought an alpine MRP-M350 amp. They show connecting to both the left and right speakers. Do you guys this this is necessary? In the troubleshooting section the say the low output can result from only using one of the line-level inputs. I always verify power, switching, and ground before connecting and I can validate the amp output with an extra speaker. If I can use the amp input, any ideas on how to verify that? I use to have access to an oscilloscope but not anymore.

Thanks Again
Bruce

el_duderino · #5 11-13-2005, 07:16 PM

If you are adding an amp to an X5 that has only door speakers, I personally don't think that the benefit gained by using preamp outs from the HU instead of speaker level outs is that big a deal.

A lot of the potential improvement when doing this is in noise floor and other noise issues, which subs really don't manifest. Buit using those preamp wires AND retaining the OEM amp can lead to noise issues with the OEM amp, which you want to avoid dealing with...

I'd just tap the woofer wires for the front doors for a speaker-level if your system lacks OEM subs.

btrvalik · #6 11-13-2005, 08:25 PM

Thanks for the advise.. I'll go that route. Should I just feed both input channels off of the single output then?

langood · #7 11-14-2005, 04:01 AM

how can connect with the RCA Cables to the Amp? i mean what kind of connector to the Amp? thanks?

avonside · #8 11-14-2005, 12:07 PM

Can I ask, why you suggest tapping the front sub wires rather than the rear sub wires as described above.

Thanx

Quote:

Originally Posted by el_duderino

If you are adding an amp to an X5 that has only door speakers, I personally don't think that the benefit gained by using preamp outs from the HU instead of speaker level outs is that big a deal.

A lot of the potential improvement when doing this is in noise floor and other noise issues, which subs really don't manifest. Buit using those preamp wires AND retaining the OEM amp can lead to noise issues with the OEM amp, which you want to avoid dealing with...

I'd just tap the woofer wires for the front doors for a speaker-level if your system lacks OEM subs.

btrvalik · #9 11-17-2005, 09:04 AM

I got my sub amp installed over the week-end (Alpine MPR-M350) it fit really nicely under the load-floor next to the factory amp. The remote turn on in my case was pin 10 on the gray connector shown above. Last night I installed a factory sub I purchased from a member here (thanks Jon). The factory sub is basically 2 dual voice-coil drivers. I wired the voice-coils of each in series and then put the two drivers in parallel. This resulted in about a 6 ohm load. The other thing I found that was really handy was the power junction box at the front of the tire well. I found an empty tap, secured the connection with a 5MM nut and added an in-line fuse. I spent some time playing with the cross-over, boost and level. Now that its all hooked up the result is...

Not that bad.. This is a huge step forward over no sub at all. The bass that is there is nice and clean at the volume level I listen at..I'm not trying to win a SPL contest here.. it just does not go very low. This will definitely make the ride to work more enjoyable. I'm going live with this for a little while but will most likely replace the driver with a bigger, stronger JL Audio unit. Big question is a how long is a "little while".. 2 days, 2 weeks, or more... I'm a little pressed for time and winter is coming. I need to figure out the proper driver and how much room I have to work with when I reface the box. The factory sub box is much stiffer than I expected.. I would like to add a 3/4" facing to the front of it. This will take a little work since the front flat of the box has a hump in it.

I would like to thank alpac for the idea and all the help. An as alway, the advise from el_duderino has been extremely valuable.

btrvalik · #10 11-17-2005, 11:41 AM

So on the way to work this morning I listened to "The fall of us all" by Steve Tibbets. Not sure how many of you know this music.. hard to describe.. world-jazz-fusion-electronic? It is basically a lot of percussion.. drums, cymbals, some really deep electronic bass, etc. It sounded much better than I would have ever guessed given the bad reputation the factory sub has. Maybe it's the alpine amp that is making the difference.. those little subs are really moving a lot.. maybe they will not last for long... they are not distorting..yet. The drums sounded great.. the sub allows me to turn down the bass on the head unit to -1 and now the door speakers sound much better. There were a few passages that exceeded what the sub could do.. however that has been my experience using this disc with many subs.. car or otherwise. Bottom line.. I'm getting impressed with this cheap little setup. For what it is cost me to do it's a great bang for buck. Between the amp and the used factory sub, I've got about $350 into it. It is nothing like my home sub.. but at home I have a $5K REL driven from another $10K or so of tube electronics. This still would not cut it of you are totally into Rapp / Techno / earth shaking / child scaring bass. Time will tell but this might be good enough for the commuter car..

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