speaker size in 2004 X5

[admranger]

Originally Posted by Lowblock

no pain no gain.

It's more of a question of 'how much pain' for me. What's involved in installing 6.5's? Just how much 'pain' are we talking about.

I've cut holes in the doors and rear deck of my E46M3. The doors were a lot easier than the rear deck. I wouldn't want to do the rear deck again for two HAT Legatia 8" speakers. That was miserable work.

[TheRipster]

Originally Posted by admranger

It's more of a question of 'how much pain' for me. What's involved in installing 6.5's? Just how much 'pain' are we talking about.

I've cut holes in the doors and rear deck of my E46M3. The doors were a lot easier than the rear deck. I wouldn't want to do the rear deck again for two HAT Legatia 8" speakers. That was miserable work.

ya i had trouble with the rear deck in my e39 540... real pain in the ass with the window right there.

i am going to try the hertz hi-energies 6.5" in my front doors, then a lower grade speaker in the rear doors.

right now i'm looking around for amps...

[Lowblock]

Originally Posted by admranger

It's more of a question of 'how much pain' for me. What's involved in installing 6.5's? Just how much 'pain' are we talking about.

I've cut holes in the doors and rear deck of my E46M3. The doors were a lot easier than the rear deck. I wouldn't want to do the rear deck again for two HAT Legatia 8" speakers. That was miserable work.

Well, I guess that all depends on your skill level. I work in and around these cars with this audio gear every day so its not painful for me at all. I didn't have a problem cutting the rear deck in my E39 or putting a set of 9" PG Titanium elites in the front door of my e36 so I don't think that 6.5's in the door of my e53 will be difficult, im most worried about getting the 3's in the dash mid location.....

[admranger]

Originally Posted by TheRipster

ya i had trouble with the rear deck in my e39 540... real pain in the ass with the window right there.

i am going to try the hertz hi-energies 6.5" in my front doors, then a lower grade speaker in the rear doors.

right now i'm looking around for amps...

Ripster, why bother putting anything in the rear? Front soundstage is where it's at. Sub to fill in the lows (that are non-directional). Rears are a PITA unless you have some sort of DSP you're going to use to time align everything.

[admranger]

Originally Posted by Lowblock

Well, I guess that all depends on your skill level. I work in and around these cars with this audio gear every day so its not painful for me at all. I didn't have a problem cutting the rear deck in my E39 or putting a set of 9" PG Titanium elites in the front door of my e36 so I don't think that 6.5's in the door of my e53 will be difficult, im most worried about getting the 3's in the dash mid location.....

Take pics and do a quick write up for the rest of us who don't do it everyday!

Thanks!

[admranger]

Alright, Lowblock, I got a set of Hybrid Audio Technologies Imagine 6.5's to put in. Time for some fun installing them next week! Going to amp them and the sub w/a JL XD 700/5. Alpine PXA-H100 will do the processing and (hopefully) make things sound good. I'll do the sub later and then retune. Audessy processing will be put to the test!

[Lowblock]

Originally Posted by admranger

Alright, Lowblock, I got a set of Hybrid Audio Technologies Imagine 6.5's to put in. Time for some fun installing them next week! Going to amp them and the sub w/a JL XD 700/5. Alpine PXA-H100 will do the processing and (hopefully) make things sound good. I'll do the sub later and then retune. Audessy processing will be put to the test!

I think you will be impressed with the XD Amp, we use them all the time and I love the fact that they are small in size and they pack a punch. I have never been impressed with the alpine Eq's, sorry, but I hope it works out for you. I feel that if you tune the system properly you don't need to add an Eq, that being said I have seen instances where they have worked, and worked quite well. I have no intention on any processing in my X with the exception of the Audio Control pieces that I have. If I must I will probably go with the Bit-one. Please take pics of your install and post back, I look forward to seeing what you do. Work and life has been so busy for me lately that all I have been able to do is install Ipod and Sirius, everything else will have to wait.

Good Luck!

[admranger]

Originally Posted by Lowblock

I think you will be impressed with the XD Amp, we use them all the time and I love the fact that they are small in size and they pack a punch. I have never been impressed with the alpine Eq's, sorry, but I hope it works out for you. I feel that if you tune the system properly you don't need to add an Eq, that being said I have seen instances where they have worked, and worked quite well. I have no intention on any processing in my X with the exception of the Audio Control pieces that I have. If I must I will probably go with the Bit-one. Please take pics of your install and post back, I look forward to seeing what you do. Work and life has been so busy for me lately that all I have been able to do is install Ipod and Sirius, everything else will have to wait.

Good Luck!

Thanks Lowblock.

I have the XD 600/6 with Technic's harness adapter in the E90M3 with the most mundane (hi fi) system in it. The JL amp really woke the stock speakers up!

Looking forward to the 700/5 and the HAT imagine speakers in the X5. Unfortunately, all my vacation time next week has been overcome by work events so I'll have to wait for a while for the install (out of town for a graduation this weekend).

I'll do my best to document the install. I usually take really bad pictures of interesting things. Keep your expectations in check.

Now where'd the OP go with his install?

[admranger]

Originally Posted by TheRipster

i can't get a solid answer as to what the speaker size for the front/rear doors of my 2004 X5 are.... 5.25" or 6.5"????


i want to put 6.5s in, but i don't know if they will fit. i'd really appreciate it if someone who has tried can let me know before i order speakers, only to have to find out they won't fit then send them back!

Ok, so I just had my 2005 X5 doors apart for my install. The stock speakers have an outside mounting flange dimension of approximately 6 1/4 to 6 3/8 inches (likely some wacky metric number...).

Seeing as I was only going for a modest sound quality upgrade, I put in a set of Hybrid Audio Technologies Imagine coax speakers, 6.5 inches in diameter.

If I'd have had a lathe with a big enough throat to chuck up the magnets, I'd have turned the speaker flanges down so they fit exactly into the stock speaker pods. So instead I cut the stock mounting pods down so I could mount the Imagines (look at the realoem.com diagram of the stock speaker pod and it'll be more clear). This means I lost the seal from the speaker to the door card, but I didn't really care about that very much. I used some damplifier pro sound deadening material on the door card (except the airbag section) to make sure it didn't have resonant frequencies that would be a problem.

I did NOT separate the tweeter from the midrange, even though that is possible. HAT's own documentation recommends against doing it unless you really aren't getting a good soundstage. Having had a problem with the HAT Clarus tweeters being someone brittle sounding to my ears, I decided to leave the tweets where they were. I did wire them separately from the mids, since I am planning on using the Alpine PXA-H100 processor.

Unfortunately, I was stalled out mid-install as I could not find some of my old install parts so I had to order a new 4 gauge amp install kit from KnuKonceptz for my JL XD 700/5 amp. Seeing as I wanted to have the car available to drive, I put things back together and decided to try the stock amp with the new HAT Imagine 6.5's (along with all the other stock speakers). I'm happy to say that the HATs really sound good, even with the limitations of the stock amp crossovers (good thing I separately wired the tweets and mids). Having the tweets in the same location as the mids didn't have a negative affect on imaging at all. It *might* be a tad lower than it was before, but I haven't done a ton of critical listening yet. My only complaint so far is really doesn't get very loud with the factory amp. Neither did the stock speakers, so I guess I should have figured it would have been the same situation with the HATs. The highs are very clear without being 'bright' or 'brittle' (or harsh). The mids are nice, though the hole where the stock 2.5 speaker fills between the mids and the tweets is noticeable. Should be interesting to see what the HATs sound like with the JD amp. Or, maybe I should get some decent 2.5's and drop those in and just keep the stock amp, then add a sub. My hearing is already damaged a bit (tinnitus -- don't get old), so keep the volume down is a good thing.

I could use the JD in my wife's 2002 M3 to power the Clarus 5.25's and Legatia 8's instead of the Blaupunkt Velocity amps I have in there now. Hmmmm...

Sorry, no pics as it was 95 deg F + in the garage. I wasn't in the mood for taking the time to snap pics as I slowly dehydrated during the day.