aftermarket speakers with stock wiring?

[we350z]

Is it possible to tap into the stock speaker wiring and use it with an aftermarket amp and speakers? I am worried about the 2 ohm setup vs. 4 ohm, however I would rather not run new wiring if possible. What guage is the stock wiring? My fronts are 100W RMS/ 400W Peak, rears 75W RMS / 225W Peak.

I guess i will have to ohm out the stock wiring with a battery and multimeter, but I am guessing that the stock wiring is split somewhere to achieve 2 ohms for stock setup (i.e. are they seperate "home runs" from the stock amp in the rear or does it get split at the door speakers?). I am planning on abandoning the dash speakers, and mid range speakers in the rear.

My component speakers (Infinity Perfect 6.5 Front) have a xover that supply power to the woofer and tweeters.

I'll be using Infinity Kappa 63.5i for the rears

Anyone done this so I can save some time?

[we350z]

so i take it no one has ever attempted this? am I a pioneer lol?

[alpac]

In my opinion you can keep the stock speaker harness as is. It is very good. Most of all full audio upgrades I have seen in BMWs reused the stock speakers wiring.

[we350z]

OK great, that's what I had hoped to do. But how many sets of wires are running to each door? I noticed the stock speaker harness has four leads on it ... where is it being spliced to achieve the 2 ohm resistance? Is this happening in the harness itself and looping from the door speaker/tweeter to the dash speaker? I want to keep things as-is if possible in case I ever want to return the system to stock for some reason.

What about the rears? Same deal just with the mid range?

thx!

[alpac]

Which amp connector do you have? if it is the 42 pins connector (which is actually 2 connectors side by side, a grey one and a black one) then front mid, front tweeter and front bass are already separated signals from the amp and not split later in the harness.

Here under is the wiring for the 42 pins connector:

Grey ½ of connector:
Pin # 13 / Tweeter Rear Right door + * Yellow Pin # 21 / Tweeter Rear Right door - *Blue / yellow
Pin # 12 / Tweeter Front Right - Blue / Brown Pin #20 / no connection
Pin # 11 / Tweeter Front Right + Blue / black Pin #19 / no connection
Pin # 10 / Switched +12v remote turn on White Pin #18 / no connection
Pin # 9 / Head unit output Front Right + Blue / red Pin #17 / Head unit output Front Right - Brown / orange
Pin # 8 / Head unit output Rear Right + Blue / black Pin #16 / Head unit output Rear Right - Brown / orange
Pin # 7 / no connection Pin #15 / no connection
Pin # 6 / no connection Pin #14 / no connection
Pin # 5 / +12v factory amp +12v supply *Red / green
Pin # 4 / Woofer Front Left +Blue / white
Pin # 3 / Woofer Front Left -Blue / brown
Pin # 2 / Woofer Rear Left +Yellow
Pin # 1 / Woofer Rear Left -Brown

Black ½ of connector:
Pin # 34 / Tweeter Front Left - Yellow / brown Pin # 42 / Mid Front Right door + *Green
Pin # 33 / Tweeter Front Left + Yellow / red Pin #41 / Mid Front Right door - *Blue / green
Pin # 32 / Tweeter Rear left door - * Yellow / brown Pin #40 / Mid Front left door + *White
Pin # 31 / Tweeter Rear Left door + * Yellow / black Pin #39 / Mid Front left door - *Blue / white
Pin # 30 / Head output Front left - Brown / orange Pin #38 / Head output Front Left + Yellow / red
Pin # 29 / Head output Rear Left - Brown / orange Pin #37 / Head output Rear Left + Yellow / black
Pin # 28 / no connection Pin #36 / no connection
Pin # 27 / no connection Pin #35 / no connection
Pin # 26 / DC ground factory ampBrown
Pin # 25 / Woofer Rear Right +Blue
Pin # 24 / Woofer Rear Right -Brown
Pin # 23 / Woofer Front Right +Blue / Red
Pin # 22 / Woofer Front Right -Blue / Brown

[lo_jack]

Unless you are going to push some serious power on a multiple amp rig I would expect that the factory wiring would be sufficient. I do like to lay 14ga when I can, but you could easily multimeter a speaker connection and see how much juice was actually making it to the drivers.

Because you are using inifinity and they scavenge really well and are quite efficient, I would worry about this less than many other brands. As long as you have a clean signal to send them they should be fine, but if it makes you feel better run some 14ga speaker and 10ga or better sub wire.

[we350z]

you guys kick ass!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[superior]

Do the Perfect 6.5s fit pretty well into the stock housings? I am searching for a good pair of 6.5s to do the job in my new X5 but realize that most 6.5 sets are a little too large.

[we350z]

They fit perfectly (lol) in the front stock housings.