speaker size in 2004 X5
 

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!

the lower speaker on E53 (part # 65138380581) does NOT crossreference to any other speakers in BMW line-up... it only means, that E39 and E53 speakers are not the same parts... could be same size - i have no idea... besides, the e39 was a whole assembly for the speaker, like a box or whatnot...

what i was going for when referencing the e39, is that the lower speaker accepts up to a 6.5" speaker, but it was too big for that application. so if that was the case for the X5 as well, i'd rather go with the 5.25"

did you ever beef up your electrical system? i was going to put a fatter wire on the ground terminal of the battery. i'd also like to get bigger wires for the alternator, but i'm not sure how big of a job that would be.

i just don't know if i'll need a capacitor for a system pushing about 1000w RMS

also, i was talking to a guy who has been working with car stereo for 20+ years, and he says that using the stock wires is fine because BMW uses twisted speaker wires (which block out interference).

is that true, or should i spend the time/money completely re-wiring everything?

the biggest alternator that i have seen for the X was at 150A, and the biggest single fuse for the battery is rated at 200A (there are other fuses, like 80A and 50A).

12 V * 150A = 1800 W... so, the car's electrical system is about 1800- 2400 Watts... if you add another 1000W...

regardless of the wires that you will put to the battery and/or alternator, you need to keep in mind the capacity of the battery and the alternator - they can't produce consistently more than what they are rated for... have you considered a separate battery?

the twisted wire will filter out minor interference - the BMW engineers can use the twisted wires as they carefully calculate the path of every wire, factory and authorised retrofits... when you introduce your own wiring, you face a chance of picking up alternator whine - that whine can't be compensated by the low number of twists in the speaker wires, you need to further isolate the wires from picking up external noise... to do so, you need shielded wiring, with grounded shield - the power to amps needs to be cleaned up, as some amps can't clean it up internally to satisfactory level... as a matter of fact, you can't go wrong with shielded wires, as in coax wires in video applications...

use 1-pair (2-conductor) shielded cable for the power supply...

good stuff here, terminator... thank you

i didn't think about a second battery simply because i'm not sure where i'd put it.... would like to have ONLY the subwoofer enclosure out in the cargo area, with everything else hidden.

1) how can i find out how many amps my alternator puts out?

2) would upgrading my main battery do the trick?

maybe i could fit a little monster like this right next to my main battery in the spare tire compartment....

https://www.woofersetc.com/p-4575-hc...ower-cell.aspx

then if i had that plus an upgraded main battery, would i need to do anything else to reduce strain on the electrical system?

800 Amps of current??? at 12V nominal??? it is about 10 kW of power!!! that is some serious power in a very small package... :wow:

if i were doing your audio setup with these kind of power requirements, i would definetely look into this particular battery as a second onboard battery. You will also need to consider the charging requirements for this battery, as the onboard alternator from V8 might not be able to put out enough juice to charge both batteries - even the watercooled alternator did not put out enough amperage... Also, I would keep the two power sources independent from each other - you might be looking into a separate charging facility for the little guy...

Ripster, this whole setup is getting on a different level of the engineering design - before going anywhere further, lets see what other members have to say about your setup...

it could be that somebody has done what you are doing long time ago with much less considerations and complications - in my line of work, we do outfit some of our vehicles with a second battery as some of our onboard equipment can pull a lot of juice, and a lot of our work must be redundant, to avoid malfunctions in critical situations - but our critical situations involve matters of life and death... in your case, this is just an Amp... that is why i think that my suggestions might be an overkill in your situation...

Let's see what other folks have to say - i am sure many people are just reading the thread without saying anything...

as a matter of fact, the manufacturer recommends the KHC1400 model battery for your type of install (Kinetik High Current Power Cells)... they also sell the chargers for their own batteries... the 600 model outputs about 600 Watts and the 1400 model supports 1400 Watts of power - i think their claim of 800 Amps is "burst", not "sustained"... at 1400 Watts, you are still looking at over 100 Amps, so, the battery is really powerful...

it might be worth it looking into this setup, in addition to the car's standard battery, that you should NOT be replacing.

I have used the Kinetik batterys in several installs, including the installs in my M3 and my 540. They are good batterys, and I can tell you they actually make the systems sound better. That being said, I dont think that I would add a second battery, just replace the current battery with the correct Kinetic one.

As far as wiring goes, I have built many systems in all models of BMW's and on only extreme occasions have I not used the actual BMW speaker wire. I dont ever think I have seen (or heard) where it actually makes that big of a difference.

Do you have a system planned? I have never upgraded an alt in any of my cars with the exception of my VW GTI when I was going for an dB machine. I am currently in the process of assembling product for my X's upgrade, the Kinetik battery will be included, however I will not be doing anything with the alternator.

good stuff guys.... good stuff.

taking all into consideration and molding my master plan. BWUHAHAHAHAaa

so i still have not been able to get an answer from anyone anywhere....

what size speakers go in the doors of a 2004 X5?

i know that 5.25" will fit, but what about 6.5"??? i'd much rather put the bigger ones in to get a better mid-range

please let me know!

Im under the impression that 6.5's will work, Im planning on doing the same in mine. If its anything like in my e39 slight modifications will need to be made to the baffles but should work just fine. I would just take the panel off and start fitting everything. I have a set of Hertz hi-energys that will go in without a doubt.

exactly! i have an e39 that i put 6.5" woofers in the front door, and although it fit with some slight modification, the woofer's excursion was a tad too much and the rubber cone would vibrate against the door grill on certain frequencies and it drove me CRAZY.

Hertz hi-energy, huh? i'll have to look into those... i was thinking about CDT Eurosports, but i think the mounting depth might be a little too much. so i might just go with my original choice, which was JL C5s...

On my E39 I took some 1/2 thick weather stripping and put it around the flange of the speaker. On reasembly its pushing out slightly on the panel, you dont even notice and it keeps the panel away from the moving speaker. I have a feeling the same will be needed in the E53.

I went with the Hi-Energy HSK 163, its a 3 way system similar to what the X has stock. I was going to use them in my e39 but the Two way system does well. I had both the C5's and Focal Utopia's in my E39 and removed both to put in the Hi-Energys. For the X5 I didnt even bother, just decided to use the Hertz stuff.

Good luck!

I also have a 2004. I haven't upgraded yet, but from everything I've ready, a 6.5 should fit. That being said, not all 6.5s are created equal. Some might be deeper or slightly bigger than others. I'd say buy them from a place you can return them if they don't fit. Also, I wouldn't expect an exact plug an play unless you're going with something like the BSW system...

i came across these...

https://www.woofersetc.com/p-8446-es...onent-set.aspx

however, since i haven't taken apart the X5 yet, i'm not sure if it has a shallow mounting depth or not

lowblock - good idea about the weatherstrip around the speaker... did you run into any problems in terms of the woofer's mounting depth?

taking notes here for my installation.... can't wait to start

On my E39? No, I havent attempted on the E53 yet so I dont know what Im going to be up against. I think the hardest part will be getting the 3" mid in the dash I'm using...

guys who are planning on doing an install in your X5... i hope this helps:

FRONT WOOFERS: Mounting depth: 2.585", Height: 1.113", Magnet diameter: 3.878"

REAR WOOFERS: Mounting depth: 2.707", Height: 0.65", Magnet diameter: 5.1"

and supposedly when you use 5.25" woofers, you have to use a mounting bracket to hold them in place. so it appears 6.5" is the way to go!

i am going to give myself another day to sit and stew upon this matter before i pull the trigger and order something.

i will post some pics of the newly installed gizmos when everything is complete... i'm hoping the setup will make me grin ear-to-ear when i first hear it :D

PS - if anyone needs to buy a stock BMW radio or cd player... here's links to my auctions on e-bay!

BMW x5 E53 Radio in Perfect Condition Audio Display Control 65806914606 | eBay

BMW x5 E53 Business CD Player in Perfect Condition Radio Display Stereo | eBay

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ i have no idea on the specific model of the radio... from what i understand, there's like 4 different versions made by OEM.

Your not getting rid of your Mid are you? You realize what becomes non-functional when you do that right?

when i replace the door speakers?

i was under the impression that base model X5s don't have the mid speakers in the dash... the ones with DSP have the 10-speaker hi-fi system, while the non-upgraded systems have 8 speakers.

am i wrong? please tell me what i will be losing...

You don't mention the stock diameter of the front speakers (woofers).

I have the DSP system but I'm going the intravee/alpine 420? (I forget the exact number as I've had this forever) and I'm going to add an ai-net breakoutbox from RichardP (check out his install on the e39 boards), Alpine pxa-h100 processor route with just a front soundstage (2 or 3 way, haven't decided) and a sub in the stock location -- maybe even the stock box. I'll amp it appropriately...

i thought he was talking about the MID - multi-informational display... maybe i misunderstood him... you lose some functions that are available on the OE headunit and not on the aftermarket ones...:popcorn:

This is what I was talking about...

OP have you looked into what you will lose?

I am confused on the purpose of this Intravee box, what will you be doing with this? It seems to me its just a way to get Ipod and a CD changer working at the same time?

Hi Guys,

Not sure if it helps, but I have a 2005 E53.

In the front doors, I installed Dynaudio Esotec System 342 3-way splits. The woofers are 6.5" inch I think, and would not fit in the standard plastic bracket. I had to make an MDF spacer to mount the woofer onto the door. I'm not using the std plastic bracket at all. This isn't ideal; there will be some audio artefacts with the woofer sound diffracting off the edge of the hole in the door, as the plastic tunnel isn't there to guide the sound nicely from the speaker out the hole in the door like the factory ones do..

Putting 6.5"s in the front doors was not easy, and not sure I'd bother again. At the time I didn't have a sub, so wanted as much bass as I could in the doors...

I bought a reprappro 3d printer (should arrive in a few weeks), and want to print a customised bracket for bigger speakers. Will post here when I eventually get the brackets sorted (will post the 3d file so you guys can print them too)..

I put extra noise dampening felt carpet stuff under my carpet in the car (took all seats and carpet out, and put in a whole extra layer (1/2") of noise absorbent carpet. The car's a diesel, and I'm a bit anal, so I wanted that extra quietness.

While putting in the felt carpet stuff, I ran really heavy gauge wiring from the rear wheel well, through the doors, into the door cavities. I have these wires going to the System 342's in the front, and some Focal splits in the back doors. I think the wires made a little difference in the quality of the bass, but not a great deal.

FYI: My amp is an Alpine PDX5, mounted in the back near the spare wheel. I also got an Alpine PXA-H800 and RUX-C800, which do a great job of cleaning up some of the low frequency standing waves and resonant peaks etc..

I hooked the output of the factory radio + CD player into the speaker level inputs of the PXA-H800 (via alpine adapter plugs), just so I have std audio and retained standard head unit..

I use optical input on the PXA-H800 for my main audio input, with the iPhone -> Optical adapter (Pure), and an optical cable from the Pure into the PXA-H800.
Big bummer is that the steering wheel volume controls won't change the volume on the PXA-H800. If anyone solves this, please let me know!


FYI: I have an Alpine PXA-H100 in the Missus car, and it is quite good. The PXA-H800 is much much better though, if you can scrape the $ together...

HTH.
Scott.

For the money you spend on the PXA, I think spending a couple hundred more on the Bit One is money better spent.

I dont think the OP is going with any sort of DSP tho.

As far as the front speakers......peice of cake....

What you can do with an intravee

Interesting, but it only works with the alpine products correct?
Im not impressed with the alpine DSP peices.

Yes, that appears to be correct.

However, it's a good mid-fi solution and you don't have to run an extra wire and lose steering wheel controls like with a bitone or a cleansweep.

If you have an RTA, it's unnecessary to do any of this and you can custom tune like randomy is going to do with his new zapco.

I'm just using the intravee in the X5 as an ipod adaptor, but it does a lot more like actual coolant temp, recording of previous few on/off so you can monitor how the dealer drives your car when it is in for service, etc. It's quite a capable device. Not the best for SQ, but a very functional piece.

SWC is not lost using the bit one nor the clean sweep. The whole point of both those products was to retain OEM parts and add too it.

One thing I dont know about the alpine product if it offers summing, as our vehicles, and many new vehicles have multi crossovers, and eq settings that the Bit1, CS, and the Audio control peices can overcome and get you a true full range output.

sheeeyittt.... so maybe i'll just go with some 5.25" woofers in the doors.... i have a subwoofer, so there will be bass.

i don't have the funds right now to do a 3-way. maybe later on down the road, but for now, i just need to get thumpin

can you take a picture of where you mounted your amp? you said near the spare wheel... so is it hidden under the carpet? or above?

i was thinking of just putting these in both the front and back doors

https://www.woofersetc.com/p-10296-e...-speakers.aspx

yes... i have an e39 that i put an aftermarket radio in. didn't miss the OEM radio at all.

other than a stopwatch and some other bs, there's nothing special about the OEM radio is there?

plus, i want a nice nav unit in my dash :thumbup:

You should look at these;

https://www.woofersetc.com/p-9614-hs...nt-system.aspx

Well, anything that you set using the Mid you will lose....the clock for one, but probably not a deal breaker. I also pulled everything out of my e39, but for my e53 im just going to install AC pieces and Hertz speakers and one, maybe 2 JL amps, oh and the SB.

As far as the 6's in the door...no pain no gain.....

i might actually get those... i was checking them out at the local stereo shop and was thoroughly impressed.

i'm going to just put in my head unit, radar detector, and subwoofer for now and run with the factory speakers until i can save up enough to get some bas ass speakers like the hertz.

do you just have a front stage? or are you running rear-speakers as well?

I have the 3 way setup for the front, and the 2 way comp set for the rear. I received my Audio control Lc's today and my Stealthbox should arrive next week. I haven't decided if I'm going to just run one amp or multiple.

Are you running an multi channel amp when you install your head unit, or just the head unit? You realize that's a lot of speakers for a HU to drive right?

I have done this so many times, I don't like to do it in stages, I know that without all the pieces, its not going to sound right, so I just use what I have till I can assemble everything then do it all at one time. That would drive me nuts when I was an installer, people coming back every week changing their shit around.......

i know what you mean when you say you'd rather just get it all done in one shot, but i can't right now... i don't want to settle for some BS components, so i will wait and save up to get the hertz hi-energy.

this week, i'm putting in the following:

-Pioneer Avic 150
-ZED Minotaur amp (for sub)
-12" IDmax

i'm going to have the RCAs ran now for the door speakers, so when i'm ready to change the speakers, i will already have the RCAs in place.


also, if anyone is interested, i have the CD player and MID for sale on e-bay:

BMW x5 E53 Business CD Player in Perfect Condition Radio Display Stereo | eBay

BMW x5 E53 Radio in Perfect Condition Audio Display Control Mid Stereo | eBay

No one wants to put Hybrid Audio Technology (HAT) Imagine or Clarus speakers in? They seem to get better reviews than the Hertz do (at least with my limited google search skills...).

I have the HAT Clarus in my wife's E46M3. Tweeters are a bit too shrill than I care for, but that could be due to my amp (Blaupunkt Velocity 2100 for the fronts) or my install... With the Alpine DSP I'll be able to notch that down a bit as I plan to separately amp all of the speakers (tweets, mids, and the one sub all on separate channels).

So is the concensus to not go with 6.5 inch speakers in the front doors and just stick with 5.25 inchers?

BTW Ripster: the BMW wiring is pretty good and most people just use it instead of running new wires. Even Musicarnw.com (el_duderino) uses the stock BMW speaker wiring and their systems are pretty hi-end.

For me it boils down to really side by side comparison. I work in the Car audio field and have actually installed, and listened to both sets of speakers and I can tell you, atleast for me that for the price I believe the Hertz sounds better. I have heard systems designed around the HAT stuff and there has been nice results but I have to say that we sell hertz 5 to 1 of the HAT stuff.

As far as the 6.5's im doing it....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. :dunno:

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...

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.....

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.

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

Thanks!

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!

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? :confused:

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.