Custom Subwoofer Enclosure and Amp Installed

[m5james]

Originally Posted by malcris

Actually James,
I've already got all of my gear. I've got a jl 500/1 to power a jl 10w6v2D4. Xtant A4004 (Bridged) to power my front's DLS iridium 6.3's, PPI (old School A404.2) Bridged to power the rear's. I'm keeping the factory head and using the Rockford 3sixty.2 as my LOC. I've also removed the CD changer in favor of a spec.dock 2point5 (ipod in the ashtray). I've got to get this damn sub done first.......Cool thing is I've found that I can use the factory mounting brackets so the glass box won't rattle. Unfortunately, I'm looking for a heated garage I can use for a couple of days to do the glass work. none of my friends want me stinking up their spaces. As I said I will post pics when we get started. BTW do you know if removing the stock amp all together will screw up the AM/FM tuner and antenna? Non DSP/non NAV

To be honest, since I removed my amp and deck completely, I'm not sure how it will work out for you. You using that Rockford LOC thing is a cool idea, but completely new to me...guess you'll be our beta tester

[m5james]

Originally Posted by malcris

James, don't use the foam!!!!!!! I tried an experiment last week and what a disaster.... The foam needs to be in contact with the air to harden. Therefore, the outside of the foam hardened and the part against the car did not harden after 3 days...... I used plastic bags and duct tape and it was still a major mess. BTW make sure u use gloves with that stuff....it doesn't come off once it dries.

I figured it would be a complete mess to be honest. I think Weasel suggested it, and while I've used it before, I figured it would cause quit the headache since it's going to basically go into places I didn't even want it to. I've got emails to like 3 people in regards to their old factory sub enclosures, and while I don't think it's the most solid enclosure being thin plastic, I'm too lazy to finish what I started w/ my enclosure. If I never end up getting my hands on a factory enclosure, I'll finish my MDF enclosure once it's not 30* in my garage anymore <---mother nature.

[m5james]

Originally Posted by KidSquid

I was going to build a wood box, but thought I could never maximize the airspace that the factory plastic box has.

I measured the volume and I believe it was around .53~.55 cu ft so it was a perfect fit for an 8" woofer.

Cut the face of the box off, fit a piece of MDF to it, fiberglass'd it on, and bolted in the subwoofer.

Just did a quick and dirty job cause no one will ever see it.

I was so tempted to stuff a 10" woofer in there.. but it would have been choked.

Sounds great... hits harder than I ever thought an 8" would.

I highly recommend it!

So I got a (free, minus $20 shipping) stock enclosure in the mail today, figured out how BMW wired the DVC subs by battery testing the signals, and hooked it up into the X using my current amp....WHAT A JOKE!!! My current dinky little generic 8 that was given to me sounds better than this thing! I'll give BMW credit for using DVC subs, but dual 6.5's...c'mon. So anyways, I felt around the box, and I can't believe how much wasted space there is around the enclosure. The back of the box got cracked in a corner during shipping, along w/ me needing to fiberglass the MDF face on anyways, but I'm thinking that I'm also gonna fiberglass these indentations and make them bigger as well. It's already got foam type stuffing in there...should I remove it and use real polyfill?

The L5 8" wants like .33-.75 airspace, and even though you said it measures out to like .5, but bigger the better, right? For those who don't have this enclosure, the 1st pic is where the airvent is for closing the hatch/door so you're ears dont pop. There is still plenty of room behind it if I unrecessed that and made it flush w/ the rest of the enclosure. The 2nd pic is for the fuel door locking mechanism, which I removed long ago when I was still fabricating a box from MDF and trying to find as much space as possible. The 3rd pic, I have no idea what that's for and it's not touching anything. The 4th pic is so you don't have to remove the enclosure to get access to the taillight bulbs. I'd rather go for the greater good and get airspace that I can use daily over function that I use once every couple of years. I know it'll be more work, but I still wanted your .02 before I started fiberglassing this week.

[newdezign]

Very nice. I'm looking forward to seeing how your enclosure mod turns out. I am planning the same mod when it warms up.

IMO all the speakers in the e53 need to be replaced. Mine is an '05 with premium and dsp, I recently faded the audio to each corner of the vehicle with bass turned up, treble down, and found that 3 of 4 6-1/2"s are blown. So I just purchased 2 6-1/2" MB Quart component sets (MB Quart Premium PVI216, $119 each set on Amazon).

I took apart my right rear door panel (followed BSW online video instructions which were very helpful), removed both the 2-1/2" and 6-1/2" mid to take measurements...getting the new speakers in the stock locations will certainly not be easy; will require modifying the speaker mounting assy's. The 6-1/2"s especially will be difficult to work with, the factory cowling is basically part of the speaker, notice the speaker leads are built into the outer plastic tube. Looks like I will have to destroy the factory speakers just to get them out of the plastic cowling. The 2-1/2"s are going to be replaced with tweeters in the rear doors. I will have to look more closely when the new speakers arrive, but I suspect this install won't be too bad.

I included a pic of the two rear door speakers. They appear to be good quality drivers, but I imagine the upgrades will be night and day. Also included a pic of my Nakamichi amp standing by ready to install if the factory amp can't power the new speakers.

[DocMike]

Why not make a negative 2 piece mold of this , fill in the area you want to expand, then lay it up with fiberglass, 100% with a 1/4 baffle

Originally Posted by m5james

So I got a (free, minus $20 shipping) stock enclosure in the mail today, figured out how BMW wired the DVC subs by battery testing the signals, and hooked it up into the X using my current amp....WHAT A JOKE!!! My current dinky little generic 8 that was given to me sounds better than this thing! I'm surprised BMW used DVC subs, but dual 6's...c'mon. So anyways, I felt around the box, and I can't believe how much wasted space there is around the enclosure. The back of the box got cracked in a corner during shipping, along w/ me needing to fiberglass the MDF face on anyways, but I'm thinking that I'm also gonna fiberglass these indentations and make them bigger as well. It's already got foam type stuffing in there...should I remove it and use real polyfill?

The L5 8' wants like .33-.75 airspace, and even though you said it measures out to like .5, but bigger the better, right? For those who don't have this enclosure, the 1st pic is where the airvent is for closing the hatch/door so you're ears dont pop. There is still plenty of room behind it if I unrecessed that and made it flush w/ the rest of the enclosure. The 2nd pic is for the fuel door locking mechanism, which I removed long ago when I was still fabricating a box from MDF and trying to find as much space as possible. The 3rd pic, I have no idea what that's for and it's not touching anything. The 4th pic is so you don't have to remove the enclosure to get access to the taillight bulbs. I'd rather go for the greater good and get airspace that I can use daily over function that I use once every couple of years. I know it'll be more work, but I still wanted your .02 before I started fiberglassing this week.

[m5james]

Isn't that 2.5" speaker a mid, not a tweeter? In my 7, there are tweeters in the rear door, and seeing that I sit so far back (6'4"), those tweeters are like right in in my ear, completely ruining the front stage.

[newdezign]

2-1/2"s possibly a full range type, intended for all freq range between that of the 6-1/2"s and the tweeters mounted in the front A-pillars. However, BMW may have them crossed above bass frequency, with no ceiling, in which case they would be serving both mid and treble duties, with the tweeters in front contributing to the highs. Same speaker in the dash as the rear doors. Tweeters are soft dome type.

When I replace all speakers, I will not be using the dash 2-1/2"s, just mids and tweeters (A-pillars) in the front, same story for rear doors. Highs in rear adjusted to not interfere with staging.

[m5james]

Originally Posted by DocMike

Why not make a negative 2 piece mold of this , fill in the area you want to expand, then lay it up with fiberglass, 100% with a 1/4 baffle

I've never laid fiberglass, so I think it's going to enough work for me just to cutoff the face to mount the MDF piece, along w/ the areas I wanna expand...I'm just trying to make sure I make the cuts in the right places, then lay the fiberglass just right so that it lays over the new shapes the way I'd like it to.

[Kerr]

I place the jL stealth box in my 4.8 ans it pounds I love it but the cover rattles like crazy does anyone have any suggestions to mod this cover to avoid rattles?

[Marceltj4.6is]

The cover to the compartment access? I assume the sub is hitting the plastic on the back of that cover. I think in the BSW sub install instructions it indicates to trim some of the plastic of the back of it.