Speakers and sizes, again.

[UKenGB]

Sorry to have to return to this oft covered topic, but I've not been able to find the definitive answers.

I have a UK 2005 X5 with what I think is Mk IV Business Navigation, BM53? Does that make sense? I do know what it it and what it does, just not sure of what BMW called it. It has the navigation screen, with cassette behind, DVD Sat Nav and CD changer in the Rear Left. And then there's the speakers, which is where it gets a little fuzzy.

As far as I can determine there's :-
- locations for mids on top of the dash, 2.5" (not known if speakers in there)
- mid woofers in all 4 doors, 6.5"
- tweeters inside door mirror mounts ?"
- definitely no DSP
- no sub
- at this stage not sure if there's any amp in the rear, or if everything is powered from the head unit.

So is this the basic 6 speaker option, with therefore no mids in the dash?
In which case, will there be wiring there for them?
Are above speaker sizes correct?
Am I going to be able to fit JL 6.5" speakers in the doors?
Any chance their 3.5" speaker could be squeezed into the top dash locations?
Do the front doors also have passive crossovers to split signal between mid woofers and tweeters, or are they each fed independently from the amp?

I'm replacing the head unit and installing a decent amp, speakers and sub. I know what needs to be connected, that's not the issue. Just how to interface with existing BMW wiring and other fittings. Obviously much can be determined once I start ripping stuff out, but I want to be fully armed before I start, to minimise down time of the car. So hoping for some answers here first.

[UKenGB]

Well I pulled the plug on some JL 6.5" for the doors. One way or another, they're going in.

Re-iterating my earlier question, do the doors have 2 pairs of wires to each, so wiring direct to each speaker from the rear amp location?

In which case I could place the crossovers in the rear. Or do they run just a single pair to each door and have crossovers in the door (not actually in my case as only 1 speaker in each rear door)?

[crystalworks]

Originally Posted by UKenGB

Well I pulled the plug on some JL 6.5" for the doors. One way or another, they're going in.

Re-iterating my earlier question, do the doors have 2 pairs of wires to each, so wiring direct to each speaker from the rear amp location?

In which case I could place the crossovers in the rear. Or do they run just a single pair to each door and have crossovers in the door (not actually in my case as only 1 speaker in each rear door)?

I haven't looked in an e53... so verify if you can. But all the BMW installs I have done (done a lot of them) run separate wires for the mids/tweets into the door.

Actually, you can check at the rear of the car at the amplifier. just check to see how many pairs of twisted wires you have.

[UKenGB]

Ha, what amplifier?

I have a sneaky suspicion that the basic audio system in the UK had an amp in the head unit, but I might be wrong. That's the problem with BMW electrics, huge variation for different markets and different option levels and it seems no definitive answers to most questions.

I'm rather hoping I can find the location of where the amplifier would be in the rear (or maybe is) and use the speaker wires heading off into the car and plug my amp in there. And if there are pairs to each of the door speakers (i.e. 2 pairs from the amp location to each door, then I can keep the crossovers at the back with the amp.

I've had a look at where the subwoofer would go if it had one (which it doesn't, yet). I hoped there would be a bunch of (twisted) wires ending in the plug that would connect to the sub, but although there are bundles of wires containing twisted pairs (i.e. speakers?) I've not been able to find any trailing bundle with a connector on the end. Do all cars have the sub wiring there and simply not use it if no sub was fitted?

Am I right that all speaker wires are twisted pairs and all twisted pairs in the harness must be speaker wires?

[crystalworks]

Not sure how it is across the pond... but here it should be pre-wired. You will have to look under the black plastics under the trunk liner to find the subwoofer plug. You won't see it anywhere in the right side compartment.

Your amp would be in the left side (driver's) compartment if you have one. Here is a pic from my avin writeup that might help.



The speaker wires are the twisted pairs running along the rear and to the side over by the wheel chocks. They also go down into the battery tray because I have navigation so yours will be different in that regard. If you have no amp then your head unit may be powered and all your twisted pairs will be behind the dash I'm guessing.

[UKenGB]

Mine has Nav and TV (not digital) and as fas as I can tell, 8 spkrs. Front dash mids, mid woofers in each door and tweeters inside of the door mirror mounts, no sub. It may use an amp in the back, I've never really got to the bottom of exactly how the UK cars were configured in this regard.

Why do the spkr wires need to go to the battery tray if there's Navigation?

[crystalworks]

Originally Posted by UKenGB

Mine has Nav and TV (not digital) and as fas as I can tell, 8 spkrs. Front dash mids, mid woofers in each door and tweeters inside of the door mirror mounts, no sub. It may use an amp in the back, I've never really got to the bottom of exactly how the UK cars were configured in this regard.

Why do the spkr wires need to go to the battery tray if there's Navigation?

Because the actual "radio" is in the battery tray. What you see in the dash is basically a navigation display with some other functions that communicates to the radio in the trunk area. You can see the radio there in the picture under the green arrow.

If yours has nav, then it probably is configured exactly like mine is. Both of my X5's with navigation (one with DSP and one without) used external amplifiers in the left compartment area of the trunk. Where the CD changer is.

[UKenGB]

Originally Posted by crystalworks

Because the actual "radio" is in the battery tray. What you see in the dash is basically a navigation display with some other functions that communicates to the radio in the trunk area. You can see the radio there in the picture under the green arrow.

So why would the radio need speaker connections? Normally there would be line level signal from various sources into a pre-amp that switches between them to feed the actual amp which outputs to the spkrs. But as far as I am aware, BWM tend to handle everything at spkr. level and simply boost it further with higher spec options. What would be the spkr. level connections between radio, amp, CD player, sub etc? Is there a clear diagram anywhere I could download?

If yours has nav, then it probably is configured exactly like mine is. Both of my X5's with navigation (one with DSP and one without) used external amplifiers in the left compartment area of the trunk. Where the CD changer is.

I have a box in the LHS at the bottom. It is mounted at an angle and I had thought it was the Bluetooth module (I think I read that somewhere). The CD player, Nav DVD and other items I've put in that 'rack' will all come out as everything will be handled by the new head unit. I'll need to add sufficient line level wiring from head unit back to the amp which will go in that rack instead. And then it's just figuring out where the spkr. wires go and that's what I'd like to establish before I start. So I appreciate your help on this.

[UKenGB]

Originally Posted by crystalworks

Not sure how it is across the pond... but here it should be pre-wired. You will have to look under the black plastics under the trunk liner to find the subwoofer plug. You won't see it anywhere in the right side compartment.

Is the sub woofer cabling (with connector on the end) likely to be tucked down behind the radio module, underneath whatever covers that? Would make sense so it could be simply routed instead to the RHS to be made use of if sub was installed.

What is the silver box to the right of what you say is the radio module (with the green arrow)?

[jopecasa]

Originally Posted by UKenGB

I'm replacing the head unit and installing a decent amp, speakers and sub. I know what needs to be connected, that's not the issue. Just how to interface with existing BMW wiring and other fittings. Obviously much can be determined once I start ripping stuff out, but I want to be fully armed before I start, to minimise down time of the car. So hoping for some answers here first.

Just remove all BMW Radio/NAV/Tuner/bluetooth modules.....please don't butcher the wires.

Then just purchase an Iso connector.....plug and play.....and it's reversible!

I've used a similar harness on my E39 without hacking the wires and can reinstall/put back OEM BMW modules .....just the way it came from factory!

ISO Connector


I'm sure....you know that already.