Kicker door speakers Kick A$$

[AV8R4AA]

Hey Gents,
Looking to upgrade the speakers only on the X5.
I know I could do so much more with a modern unit.
Just speakers here.
I have basic, no DSP, NO NAV.
What is a decent improvement that sounds better and
doesn’t require a cutting torch to install.

Thank you.

Just installed 4 kicker door 6.5 speakers. I used the original factory speaker
mounts. The old speakers are glued in. Nothing a good pair of pliers can’t remove. It was slow and tedious. I had to snip off the mounting lugs on the Kicker speakers to drop in. I ran a healthy bead of Right stuff silicone .
Then wiggled in speaker to seat on the bead of goo. All I can say is
holy crap, these Kicker speakers on a stock deck sound great. Huge Improvement over f@ctory speakers. Amazon has them.

[X5chemist]

Have you pulled a woofer out yet? I pulled a non working RR on mine. Surprisingly it's a 2 ohm woofer! I bought 4 ohm woofers as replacements. They won't work with the X5 amp. Mine is also non DSP. Non nav and Business CD. The dash unit is basically a display unit. The speaker amp is located in the LR corner.

[Factory6speed]

I talked to a local car audio guy who has done these and he says the stock sound system is really suck. You have to put a subwoofer in somewhere and waste cargo space. I talked to bavsound and they don't make any e53 kits anymore sadly. I ran into a couple threads on here with a small subwoofer box in the cargo area. I don't love that idea. I haven't got back to researching it.

Hopefully someone has a proper sound system and can chime in.

The prior owner did a half decent job on an Android head unit but it still sounds like complete ass. Early 2000 BMW you would think had good sound systems, but no, terrible quality sound. My E36 is even worse, complete joke. Its so bad I thought it wasn't wired correctly, but it is.

I'm an idiot and I had the headliner down and I didn't put a tube up there to run some wires. That would have been really smart.

[gjvah]

I replaced my spare tire with an 8 inch sub and added an android headunit. Didn't touch the speakers or amp. Made a huge difference.

[crystalworks]

Originally Posted by AV8R4AA

Hey Gents,
Looking to upgrade the speakers only on the X5.
I know I could do so much more with a modern unit.
Just speakers here.
I have basic, no DSP, NO NAV.
What is a decent improvement that sounds better and
doesn’t require a cutting torch to install.

Thank you.

Achtung! This can snowball quickly...

https://www.caraudiojunkies.com/show...-CAJ-Standards

But what are you looking to accomplish exactly?

[X5chemist]

Dang!

I think he wants speaker upgrades just like me. I'm slowly making it back around to replacing mine. First, I need to get the RR working.

[AV8R4AA]

I h just paid to have the MID new pixels.
I need the same colors in the cockpit.
I don’t like a different lights and hues.
I need it to all look the same. (Vision problems)

[crystalworks]

Originally Posted by AV8R4AA

I h just paid to have the MID new pixels.
I need the same colors in the cockpit.
I don’t like a different lights and hues.
I need it to all look the same. (Vision problems)

I'd keep the MID then and add one of those Bluetooth modules I've seen discussed on here.

Which audio setup do you have? Premium, or Premium Hi-Fi (DSP)? I forget if there was a base level system offered in the US that did not use a factory amplifier in the left rear hatch cubby.

[PropellerHead]

My 1st shot at this mind numbing spiral of sanity:

https://xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/...-speakers.html

Since then, I went nutz. NOw.. in fairness.. nowhere close to what some of the folks here have done for EQ stuff in an X5, but it's enough- for me. The worst of it is that I find myself with the windows open more often than not and listening to a resonator and cat free V8 instead of the stereo.

But it like most things that we don't really need: it's nice to have when I wanna open those windows and blow out the Interstate after a tough moment.


Also, it's not in there, but the very best thing I did to upgrade my speakers was sound insulation. A popular brand is Dynamat, but there are all kinds. And while most are thinking of the doors and the areas surrounding the speakers, the most incredible thing I did to quiet the cabin was to insulate the tailgate. remove the plastic and stick that stuff to anything without a plug or screw. It's unbelievable how much noise gets in through that tailgate. Took me like 15mins. Hard to belove how much air escaped from the sub before insulation.

Also: I have a BSW sub-box and the very same speakers from the thread above. I have been planning to upgrade the wifey's E53 with them. That hasn't really panned out for the last few years.

When I wanna hear the motor, I wanna roll the windows down. When I wanna hear the music, I wanna hear the music.

[crystalworks]

Originally Posted by PropellerHead

Also, it's not in there, but the very best thing I did to upgrade my speakers was sound insulation. A popular brand is Dynamat, but there are all kinds. And while most are thinking of the doors and the areas surrounding the speakers, the most incredible thing I did to quiet the cabin was to insulate the tailgate. remove the plastic and stick that stuff to anything without a plug or screw. It's unbelievable how much noise gets in through that tailgate. Took me like 15mins. Hard to belove how much air escaped from the sub before insulation.

100% true. Sound insulation should be a part of any audio upgrade. Made a huge difference in my X5, though I still have to do the roof and the tailgate area.