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

[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


Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[semcoinc]

Originally Posted by Clockwork

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


Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

OK, I'm convinced.

I bought the Amazon mids last night for my E46 rear doors and if I like them, I'll put them in the front doors as well. They are 4 ohms which will be a lot closer to the 3 ohm OE units and won't take as much power to drive.

Mike

[PropellerHead]

Originally Posted by semcoinc

OK, I'm convinced.

I bought the Amazon mids last night for my E46 rear doors and if I like them, I'll put them in the front doors as well. They are 4 ohms which will be a lot closer to the 3 ohm OE units and won't take as much power to drive.

Well, Dammit.

Now *I'm* convinced! I'm going to replace the rear JL tweeters I put in the rear doors with the extra pair of Memphis Audio mids delivered yesterday. You people suck.

[PropellerHead]

Originally Posted by PropellerHead

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

Well, it was fah-REEZING here today so I spent some time doing indoor projects that helped fund all the others. The short story is that I am ramping up a new notebook for the younger female unit and we're completely restructuring the 'service' we as parents provide. Cloud storage, device tracking, and device management. I am professionally linked to the way large companies with 100's of thousands of devices keep them secure. Step x step, we'll have the same management in place. BUT, there is a point with this stuff at which you're just watching water boil as data gets moved around. And that is just boring.

Enter my stop in to the BMW dealer's parts counter on Friday. I lost some of those door panel screws, you see. They're screws I figured. I'll get a 1/2 dozen and be ok with losing more, right? Yeah. No. These little bastards are $5.60 EACH! I lost a record # of THREE of them! Pardon the pun... but SCREW THAT!

So, I thought like we all would that this must be a stealer at work. $6 screws? Not since Mexico, my friends. But no.. I found that the price was pretty much the same across most online outlets... (I also cocked up the trim plugs, so.. like why not fix that as well? I'll tell ya why not:

So, $40 for some screws and some covers that no one will ever freakin see. No thanks.

So motivated was I that I took a trip to the pull a part yard. I was absolutely pleased with my haul! I'm not kidding: This haul was $23.

I know what you're thinking.. WTF are those mirrors? Well.. they're auto-dimming rear view mirrors from an E38 and an E46. They go for a couple $100 on flea bay. They drop off a parts car in like 30 seconds. Fully worth the trouble whether they work or not.

Entrance to the yard cost me $2. I found the E46 without too much trouble. That it was grey inside was lucky. In a matter on minutes, I had secured 1/2 dozen of these gold-plated screws. In a moment of WTF not, I also snagged an E46 front mid range speaker grill and secure ring. This I have already used to plan for the fronts on the E46.

I can now confirm that the E46 front mids and E53 rear mids are the exact same grill and securing ring behind the panels. The Memphis mids will fit, but of course the modification will be different from the smaller mids on the rear doors. Same speakers. Very, very strange.

Anyway, I am THRILLED to report that the rear doors on the E46 are now covered, glued, and screwed. Kinda like an order of Waffle House hash browns. I am sure many of us can relate to the fine feeling that comes with such progress. I'm looking forward to the same in the E53.

It's supposed to be too cold tomorrow morning to get a head start on the front E46 doors. I will probably at least modify the Memphis units to fit into the current mids.

[semcoinc]

Hi Prop,

Sounds like a great day of part scrounging progress. I love U-Pick-It yards

Yeah I buggered up my arm rest plugs so will have to figure that out one of these days. But, somehow a couple years ago I got a whole bag full of those door card "screws" for dirt cheap and was easily able to replace the few that got trashed when I pulled the front door cards off.

One more time on them and I'm calling it done with Peerless mids in there and the Amazon mids in the rear, both 4 ohm so volume matching should be much better to the OE 3 ohm set ups.

Waiting for all my mids to get here.............

Mike

[PropellerHead]

Originally Posted by PropellerHead

It's supposed to be too cold tomorrow morning to get a head start on the front E46 doors. I will probably at least modify the Memphis units to fit into the current mids.

And cold it was. Until you get into sunlight. So, I took advantage of a nice day to trim up the Memphis mids using the junkyard speaker assembly as a template. That went really easy. When I finally pulled the door panel, I realized that the speaker assemblies from the non-HK '99 323 and my wife's '00 HK were a bit different from one another- and my E53. Same size, of course but my wife's assembly secured the speakers with only two plastic tabs instead of 4 like the X5. It's a little thing, but it does make me wonder if different E53's have different tabs as well.

I prepped the Memphis mids using the junkyard assembly. A snip here and a trim there. It took less time to do the work than it did to get the tools ready.

Anyway, since the driver's panels was off, I wanted to be sure I applied GTMat to it. My hope was to walk away and never see it again like the rears. Of course, that is a pipe dream. The JL C2's are pretty deep. I spent some time being sure they'd mount with the OE brackets, but it's still very close. I will need to pull the panels again and make myself feel better ab it.

[PropellerHead]

Originally Posted by PropellerHead

I will need to pull the panels again and make myself feel better ab it.

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!

[semcoinc]

Way to go Prop!

Likewise, I finished my E46 today also with the install of the Amazon mids in the rear doors.

WOW, it is so much clearer and crisp back there now.

In the pics below you can understand why, given the condition of the 15 year old paper and foam mids. Here is my deconstruction sequence and to make the Amazon mids work, I shaved the existing mounting plate down to a flat surface and applied silicone glue. For good measure I curled the ears over onto the mounting plate.

These Amazon mids look amazingly similar to the Memphis Audio mids.

As for sound, the Vifa/Peerless are a good bit better sounding and punch way above their weight/size class as compared to the Amazon mids. The Vifa/Peerless are punching out a little more volume and clarity than the Amazon mids to my ears but maybe that's the HK system balance or efficiency differences between the Vifa and the Amazon (PowerBass S-275CF). Either way, I'm glad I'm in the front.

Overall, as I said, a great improvement in brightness and clarity in the rear from the old broken factory units



















Mike