You people suck. 12 years later, I finally replace speakers.

[semcoinc]

What a coinkydink, I just finished my E46 front door speaker upgrades as well. Inspired by my phenomenal sounding E53 speaker upgrade from this thread.

My mids were in the same sorry shape as Props. I used the TR650-CSI combo. Not exactly a factory fit in the E46 (as it looks like the factory HK system in a 6" driver in the front doors). I made it work but it's not pretty The tweeter went right into the foam insert just like the E53 front window tweeters mounted.

Here is my mod for the mid to fit in the factory holder





The factory HK mid is 21watt/3 ohms and so is the driver. Seems to take a bit more on the volume slider of my Eonon GM5150 to push them.

All in, the pillows now seem removed from the front speakers and a noticeable improvement in clarity and and crispness of the sound is achieved. Not as good as the C2 units in the E53, so go with those for a really great improvement.

Tomorrow I will tackle the rear door tweeters and rear deck drivers.

Mike

[PropellerHead]

Originally Posted by semcoinc

What a coinkydink, I just finished my E46 front door speaker upgrades as well. Inspired by my phenomenal sounding E53 speaker upgrade from this thread.

Ok, Ok.. Help me out here then...

Warning- E46 content. The rear door mids I screwed with today fit the 2.75" Amazon cheapo drivers very well. Just a Dremel here and there with the OE brackets with some clamps and silicon and I am cooking with grease.

But I took a look at the front mids. Those damn things look like ab 4" rather than under 3". This car was ordered with HK speakers and Nav, so I dunno if that means a different size from front to rear or not. The front mid speaker grills are noticeably bigger than the rears. Can you confirm that the ~3" ones you bought will fit as well in front or rear applications?

Adding to this confusion is the BSW site that shows they send the same mids for front and rear doors. And they're close to the ~3". Of course, all it really takes is to remove the front panels and have a look. But the car is not here today and my curiosity is at cat killing intensity.

[semcoinc]

Originally Posted by PropellerHead

Ok, Ok.. Help me out here then...

Warning- E46 content. The rear door mids I screwed with today fit the 2.75" Amazon cheapo drivers very well. Just a Dremel here and there with the OE brackets with some clamps and silicon and I am cooking with grease.

But I took a look at the front mids. Those damn things look like ab 4" rather than under 3". This car was ordered with HK speakers and Nav, so I dunno if that means a different size from front to rear or not. The front mid speaker grills are noticeably bigger than the rears. Can you confirm that the ~3" ones you bought will fit as well in front or rear applications?

Adding to this confusion is the BSW site that shows they send the same mids for front and rear doors. And they're close to the ~3". Of course, all it really takes is to remove the front panels and have a look. But the car is not here today and my curiosity is at cat killing intensity.

I didn't work with the rear door speakers yet but yes they look a good bit smaller than the front mid range housings. My plan has always been to put tweeters in that position and then put the 6.5" drivers in the rear deck. I doubt that Fountek mids could fit in there but I will know tomorrow.

The GM5150 has 65watts/channel so should have enough juice to drive the higher impedence speakers. My factory HK units are coming up on 15 years old and looked pretty tired and sounded worse. The new ones should breathe new life into this ride.

Mike

[PropellerHead]

Originally Posted by semcoinc

I didn't work with the rear door speakers yet but yes they look a good bit smaller than the front mid range housings. My plan has always been to put tweeters in that position and then put the 6.5" drivers in the rear deck. I doubt that Fountek mids could fit in there but I will know tomorrow.

Wanna know whuts fun? Without running through this whole dang thread, I think I know this: The Founteks are the same size (~2.75") as the Memphis and the el Cheapo Amazon's. Those are what I prepped for the back doors today. I mean, they *fit* in the dash of the E53, soooo... rt? I mean.. rt? Forgive me. We had wine with dinner. And I had beers with the grill. And maybe a bourbon. Or two.

Before dinner. (I'm kidding. A little)

So maybe it's the after dinner bourbon-flavored melted ice, but I am trying like hell to process what I expect to find under the fronts this weekend. Like.. WTF would they make two different speaker grills for speakers that are the damn same speaker?

Bah! I can see myself tearing off a panel tomorrow at the shop just to see. Oooooo.. What if I call them and ask THEM to take it off so I can just come LOOK at it!? YES! Easy! Easy is the thing that starts to move up in an old man's spectrum of priority. OK. More on this from either of us as we dig together.

[Ricky Bobby]

Hey Mike - looks great - however going up in impedance on that driver from 3 to 8 ohm might take a little more input to drive them - the Vifa 4ohm drivers that Jay is putting in his rear mids would be a great selection to replace the 3ohm HK drivers -

However I am glad you are happy with the fitment- I will also be putting the Fountek on my rear door mids.

[Ricky Bobby]

Fountek's are a bit smaller - they are like 2.5" if you draw a circle around the center of their mounting holes as they are square - for example the Memphis are a touch oversized compared to the factory E53 dash drivers but they will still fit -

Are the HK ones you are talking about the pods that have the midrange speaker and the tweeter in the same setup? If so, the Vifa 65mm drivers Jay has, along with a tweeter from parts express will work in that location - there are a few things from Parts Express in this link -

Tweeter/Midrange replacement - E46Fanatics

[semcoinc]

Originally Posted by Ricky Bobby

Fountek's are a bit smaller - they are like 2.5" if you draw a circle around the center of their mounting holes as they are square - for example the Memphis are a touch oversized compared to the factory E53 dash drivers but they will still fit -

Are the HK ones you are talking about the pods that have the midrange speaker and the tweeter in the same setup? If so, the Vifa 65mm drivers Jay has, along with a tweeter from parts express will work in that location - there are a few things from Parts Express in this link -

Tweeter/Midrange replacement - E46Fanatics

No, in my HK equipped E46 I have a tweeter in the front doors at the window. A separate midrange in the front doors and a woofer/driver in the front doors.

Looks to me and sounds to me (as of today) that the rear doors have tweeters. Tomorrow's surgery will reveal the specifics and confirmed answer.

Mike

[PropellerHead]

Originally Posted by semcoinc

Looks to me and sounds to me (as of today) that the rear doors have tweeters. Tomorrow's surgery will reveal the specifics and confirmed answer.

WAY interested in what you learned here. Since I did the exact opposite order as you- I haven't removed the front panels yet- I can offer this:

The ElCheapo Amazon 2.75" fit inside the rear OE plastic mount with some dremel sanding. The rear OE plastic mount looks *completely* different from the pics you posted- which I believe are the same mounts as the E53 rear doors. Yeah. That's confusing. E46 front mids are the same as E53 rears? I dunno know yet cause I haven't done *mine*. But I can say that the front pics you showed are the same as the my E53 rear door mids.

I replaced the E46 left rear mid location with a component tweeter from the rear deck at first. I never liked the sound. In fact, the passenger sounded so much better with the HK unit that I left it.

Today was the day that I removed the JL tweeter from the rear driver's side and replaced it with the Amazons. In testing, the new one sounded WAY better than both the JL tweeter AND the OE HK from the other side. I was so motivated, that I pulled the other door and mounted the Amazon speaker there as well. I will admit: I was not motivated by the sound. I just wanted to be done, really. The result is a major improvement over ripped up OE HK's in the doors. It would have to be, I suppose.

This weekend, I will replace the front speakers with component JL mids and tweeters at the A pillars. I *expect* to replace the smaller front door mids with the Memphis audio units that were delivered today. As the silicon on all of that is curing, I intend to run sound deadening all over the E46 front doors.

My hope also is never to see the inside of these damn doors again.

And of course... to use the learnings from this experience to finish up the E53. I'll start by wrapping all the doors in GTMat. I am not 100% sure, but I do have an extra set of Memphis Audio mids. I *may* drop those in place of the JL tweets I put in there. The sound difference in those and the Amazon units from the E46 is enough to have me 2nd guessing my choices there.

It's the time of the year when we start the early Spring home projects. I already replaced a multizone speaker amp and room volume controls for whole home and outside audio. Today, I had the alarm company replace the controller so I could test and report on it over the older one. (ZWave/SmartHome controller) I also met today with the stone mason and a heavy lifter for landscaping.

I need to get to a stopping place on these damn vehicles so I can focus on Summer fun at home!

[semcoinc]

Hi Prop,

I didn't get to the E46 rear door mid/tweeter??? today, looks like tomorrow for the big reveal.

Yeah, I hear you on getting these car projects finished up. I'm planning a rear suspension makeover on the E53 maybe next month and a fuel pump.

Maybe change out the 120K E46 fuel pump this month and then I'm gonna call it good for a while and enjoy driving them.

Stay tuned.

PS: I can confirm that the E46 front mid housings are the same design as the E53 rears.

At this moment I'm giving some thought to going with a 4ohm mid in my E46 rear doors, just thinking about only touching that rear door card once.

Mike

[Clockwork]

Originally Posted by PropellerHead

Today was the day that I removed the JL tweeter from the rear driver's side and replaced it with the Amazons. In testing, the new one sounded WAY better than both the JL tweeter AND the OE HK from the other side.

I had a feeling that a mid range speaker would sound better/fuller in the rear door instead of a tweeter, especially since the crossover is tuned for a mid range and not tweeter


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