JBL MS8 digital processor integration with E53 MY06 X5 with six-speaker sound

[aussiem3]

After reading many a reviews on the JBL MS8 Digital processor I decided to upgrade my wife's E53. The car is equipped with a very basic sound system, and since she loves her music I planned the upgrade.

I decided to keep everything stock and purchased the BSW speaker upgrade. The worst experience was that BSW simply wouldn't give out the xover figures for the speakers. They were unhelpful to say the least. Surely giving out the numbers for the speakers will not hurt their business.

Technics, a real audio tech on the m3post.com helped me out with the numbers to set up the system, and if not for technics this upgrade wouldn't have been possible at all.

It is a long weekend in Perth, Western Australia, and I am planning to take the plunge. I have put together a schematic to help me easily remember the connections.

The biggest hurdle is to set up the new connections for the tweeters on the doors. This means pulling out the carpet and sound-deadning stuff to integrate the new wires into the door harness under the dash.

For anyone planning to integrate the MS8 to their X5 can use the attached diagram.

Could someone help me out by letting me know what wire I need to tap into to get remote power on for my MS8 please?

Enjoy the diagram, and any suggestions and help would always be welcome.

Technics, if you're also in the forum, a big thank you to you for your help.

[Technic]

http://www.xoutpost.com/articles/x5/...formation.html

Pin 13 is your OEM remote turn on signal.

[aussiem3]

Thank you very much for added info, Technic.

[Foose]

Originally Posted by aussiem3

The biggest hurdle is to set up the new connections for the tweeters on the doors. This means pulling out the carpet and sound-deadning stuff to integrate the new wires into the door harness under the dash.

I'm thinking about buying the MS-8. Doesn't the factory amp location have all the high/low level speaker wire to tap into? Why did you have to run new speaker wires?

I have the base stereo in my '06 3.0i.

[aussiem3]

With the base stereo you don't get tweeter mounter on the door behind the wing mirrors hence the reason to run new wires to compliment the install.

It was easy to tap into the wires at the rear of the car were the MS8 is installed. I wanted to keep the install neat and factory look hence some of the hyard work undertaken and it all worked well.

[Foose]

I guess it's different for U.S spec x5's. We have tweeters up front.
It should be a relatively easy install for me since I can tap all the wires at one location.

Was there a dramatic difference in sound with the ms-8?

I'm going to keep the stock headunit and have the ms8 power aftermarket components.