E53 Speaker Passive Crossover?

[crystalworks]

Okay, here's what he said. His situation is different and doesn't help you much. He retained his HiFi amp so it is driving all of his speakers (aftermarket). He had to disconnect his component tweeter in the front from the crossovers and run them off BMW's stock tweeter input from the HiFi amp.

So, what I think is happening in your case is that the aftermarket head unit is trying to drive 8 pairs of speakers... which is not good, obviously. Unless they were 9ohm speakers for the fronts.

Can you take a picture of the OE amp harness in the left side compartment of the truck? And another of the radio harness plugged in under the spare tire. We need to figure out how all these speakers are wired.

[trhaverstock]

Thank you so much for these tips. I learned some interesting things and took good pictures.

As a BMW noob (2 years with my E53) I mistakenly thought 100% of the radio system was in the battery compartment. I found the amp connected and sitting loose by the left compartment. There is a silver box with the purple plug in Photo 2 just outside the left compartment - what is that/is it related to the audio system?

At this point, I am thinking it may not be practical to disconnect the amp without major surgery and that it has the crossover in it? Or there are other remnants I didn't understand I have?

There are tons of plugs plugged into nothing in the photos.




1) Inside of the Left Compartment


2) Just Outside of the Left Compartment


3) Amp Sitting Loose Inside Left Compartment


4) Amp


5) Battery Compartment High Level Shot


6) Head Unit Harness


7) The Blue Cable Was Added By The Previous Owner and Goes To The Head Unit With Speaker Wires, Power, Ground, Etc.


8) Manual Trans Cluster At Night (someone asked :-))


9) Put The Hammer Down!

[crystalworks]

Your factory amplifier is still in place. Hmmm. You should be getting highs to your tweeters then. You aren't using components up front are you?

[trhaverstock]

The tweeters on the door and the mids in the dash were replaced and sound just-ok and not as bright as I'd like. So I bought coax 6.5's for the front doors a test and their integrated tweets have no highs which is what started the journey that something was cutting the signal to things.

Does the amp have an integrated crossover or do I still have a DSP or other component controlling that (and don't realize it)?

(Just edited my above post; was having a problem with photos and it was cut off)

[crystalworks]

Interesting. They used speed wire, which is nice, to make the extension harness up to the front of the truck. Yes, the HiFi amp does not send a full range signal to the door mid driver. What tweeter are you running?

[trhaverstock]

In installed these tweeters in the doors:
Rockford Fosgate Punch P1T-S Tweeter Kit
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And the 6.5's I used these (trimmed the metal ears with tin snips and used clear silicone to the oem plastic housing; does not rattle at all)
Skar Audio TX65 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Admittedly I cheaped out a little here.

The tweeters are mounted in the oem position behind the OEM grille and I used the Rockford crossovers (mounted behind the door panel). Maybe the Rockford crossovers need to come out?

[crystalworks]

Originally Posted by trhaverstock

The tweeters are mounted in the oem position behind the OEM grille and I used the Rockford crossovers (mounted behind the door panel). Maybe the Rockford crossovers need to come out?

That's where I would start. The factory HiFi has is own high pass xover in the amp. My bud is running his infinity reference silk domes directly to the factory tweet wires.

[trhaverstock]

I will start there, but is it a safe assumption that removing/replacing the factory amp would be pretty impractical/resource intensive due to how deeply it is embedded in the factory wiring to the speakers?

[c-bass]

Originally Posted by trhaverstock

I will start there, but is it a safe assumption that removing/replacing the factory amp would be pretty impractical/resource intensive due to how deeply it is embedded in the factory wiring to the speakers?

I wouldn't say so at all. If you wanted to retain the factory head unit it then I think it would be a challenge.

BMW generally didn't mess with the wiring it was directly connected from point A to B. However the signal coming from their amps they've usually manipulated, but since you're bypassing them that shouldn't be an issue for you.

My general rule of thumb has always been to tear out all the factory BMW audio. Even the best option they offer brand new from the factory was pathetic so no reason to try to make the drive through speaker sound its best.

The factory amp setups had weird xovers and their speakers had non standard resistance...which isn't that big of a deal but still. Weirdness for no reason other than German

I like to keep things as simple as possible and it seems like you're more than capable to play with the wiring so here's a few things you can try

First off double check you have the correct wiring. Physically look at the wiring that's connected to the speaker in the door. Seeing someone's been in there before let's assume it's been tampered with.

When checking wiring I like to use a AA battery and make sure the driver actually moves. This way I know for sure I have the right wires. You can also check the phasing this way.

If you have a volt meter, check the ohms of the speaker. Usually it will read 3.4-4 ish ohms for a 4ohm speaker. Whatever that reading is shouldn't be much different when taking a measurement from the back where the speaker wire originates. It should be sliiiightly higher because of the resistance from the wiring, but nothing drastic. If you have a noticeable variance that could suggest some xover in line somewhere.

Most head units won't have outputs for tweeter, midrange, midbass. It will be front L and R and rear L and R so if you are connecting your speakers to the outputs from the head unit you WILL need a crossover between your tweeter and mid, so that's where the rockford xover should come into play.

Xtron speaker front output -> rockford xover -> interfacing with the factory speaker wiring in the back -> split signal from xover to tweeter and mid -> factory wiring to tweeter and mid respectively

I hope I'm making this simpler for you

[crystalworks]

Originally Posted by trhaverstock

I will start there, but is it a safe assumption that removing/replacing the factory amp would be pretty impractical/resource intensive due to how deeply it is embedded in the factory wiring to the speakers?

Given the number of speakers you are dealing with here... I'd avoid replacing the HiFi amp unless you were planning a full aftermarket (multiple amps) install. The HiFi gives you all the channels of output you need (8). While aftermarket 8 channel amps exist... they are big and expensive. Couple that with needing to splice into the factory amp's speaker harness and I think sticking with it is the best option.

Now, if you are a car audio enthusiast, that changes the equation. I am going full retard on mine. 2 JL Audio 500/5 slash v1 amps and 1 JL 1000/1 slash v1 amp. Just picked up a DSP processor for it as well (DM-810). Total waste of money and effort... except that it tickles me in all the right places to go crazy with it.