Stealth high end audio install in E70 - with a lot of photos

[digiteye]

Hi folks,

I think some of you may make use of the description of my audio in my X5. I add photos to illustrate the process.

I wanted to have audiophile sound in the car but without anything visible. So one of the priorities were that the new drivers should fit in the holes for the OEM speakers.

I have found Morel Elate 6 (3 way kit) to suit this priority. Morel produces some of the finest drivers not only for car audio but for home systems as well.

Link to Morel Elate:
http://www.morelhifi.com/products/mob_3way_elate.html

After weeks of searching suitable amps I ended up with two options: DLS Ultimate Dual Mono and Genesis Dual Mono. Finally I have found a very good deal on Genesis while DLS was pretty difficult to buy online. So Genesis it is! This amp has been produced for a decade and won countless amount of competitions.

http://www.genesiscaraudio.net/awards/dmrev.PDF

Finally to eliminate the effects of BMW factory audio "engineering" (unnatural sound settings, serving the low quality speakers that BMW uses) , I invested in a Fosgate Rockford DSP module, called 3Sixty.2

http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/produ...n_US&p_status=

And the photos:

[Hans_ACS]

Very good stuff! Any pics of the install itself ?

[digiteye]

Looking at the OEM speakers was a horrifying experience. I am afraid these are used in all models, regardless the hifi version built in. My system was the basic audio, as I planned aftermarket audio from the beginning when learned that in some forums even the sound of the better hifi versions were not rated too good.

Look at the woofer that came out from under the seat. It has a tiny magnet plus they used paper for producing the sound... It has been built facing down but was installed with wrong phasing! The placement under the seat seemed to be bad choice for producing good bass, luckily a huge space has been left behind, leaving some hope.

[digiteye]

My installer guy had to produce some frames to make sure the new drivers fit in perfectly. He has all the CNC equipment to create any kind of shape in no time!

Here are the Morel woofers and their place under the seat.

Later tonight I will add more pictures of the installation, but now I have to run some errands.

[digiteye]

With a little modification (and another CNC custom part production) the mids of the Morel Elate 6 found their place.

The original grill of the door speakers have been reinstalled - nothing can be seen of the mod.

[digiteye]

To my surprise, there were no tweeters in my original OEM driver setup, evn though I remember I have seen in some manual there suppose to be even in the basic config.

Fortunately there was space in the door behind the black grills that you can see when looking towards the outside mirrors.

[digiteye]

The following photos illustrate some difficulties with the wiring in the door and other places.

[digiteye]

The amp, the DSP, the Morel frequency switchers and an extra battery fit nicely in a box, hidden in the area where the spare tyre should be (if there was any..)

[drod]

nice work!!

it's a little more than i would like to involve but i'm sure it's a huge improvement over the stock setup..

i'm contemplating just swapping out the stock speakers and tweeters with Polk audio or MB Quart..

i think the stock 205 7channel amp should be enough.... (wish i had ordered the 600watt amp but that's water under the bridge..)

let us know how it turns out...

[digiteye]

Ok, it is called the "do everything DSP". And for me it seems it really does - although I am not an audio expert.

You can see here a curve "flattened" by the 360.

I post user interface photos so you can get the idea what this beast is capable of. Not only a superb EQ but even time delay settings (related to the distances of the speakers from the listener).

Full review of 3Sixty.2 here:

http://www.caraudiomag.com/testrepor...sor/index.html