2 ohm woofers?
 

A friend gave me speakers as a birthday gift. The right rear woofer is toast. I think. No sound from the tweeter too. I pulled out the speaker. How does it come out? The entire assembly can't be one piece.

2 ohms? Yea, the replacement two way speakers will not work. Especially being 4 ohm. Could the radio have bad outputs to the entire door? I feel like trying a used woofer before deciding to upgrade or begin replacing the radio too. :dunno:

That's weird yours are 2 ohm when I did mine they where 4 ohm , all I did was cut out all the original speaker to be left with the outer shell then fitted these speakers to the shell soldering the connectors to the original pins to retain the factory plug.

Interesting. Mine are 8 ohms.


E53 RiPPeR
XOuTPoST jUNkiE
ReVELaTiON 22:21

There is no problem with going higher in ohms, the volume might be different but you just adjust the fader. Do you have the DSP or Business system ?? If the tweeters are in the door as well then it's entirely possible that the crossover is right at the tweeter so the same wiring would feed both.

Mine has a business system. No DSP. I'll have to plug it into another door to check its operation. I do need to reinstall a fixed OEM LF regulator. The Chinese one has worked well but it's too slow. I can check that speaker's resistance on that door woofer. I too thought they were 4 ohm. It's why I accepted the speakers. I did try the 4 ohm speaker. At full fade rear and right, it barely cracks a sound. It's why I suspect bad wiring or radio output. The entire panel was not taken off. I couldn't figure out how to get the shade screen off. It seems to be under the small window pillar.

Thanks dazzasgotav8. I can cut the cone leaving the metal ring attached. The ring gives a mounting point.

What is the actually speaker size? The new ones are 5-1/4" 2-way speakers. The brackets provided do fit OEM mounting holes. However, the panel does not fit properly. Fitting a new speaker into the OEM mount is better.

2 Ω power resistor in series will ohm match 2 Ω to 4 Ω. Find the crossover if there's a tweeter in the same door almost always the source of random loss of sound one driver. Especially if there tweeter still outputs but no woofer.

I`m guessing speaker original size must be around 6 inch as the ones I fitted are 6 1/2 inch , if you have a BM54 factory amplifier I know they suffer from losing channels its fitted down next to the battery in the boot.

Did none DSP and non big woofer X5s have an amps installed? I'll have to pull the cargo cover and take a look. I don't remember seeing one. I'll be installing the OEM towing harness and module soon. I'll check.

I think the amp/radio box(s) is in the trunk and the MID in the dash that looks like the radio is actually only a display.
There is probably some really good info and wiring diagrams in the TIS or Bentley manuals.

Amp for the Business/non-dsp sound system is in the left cubby, in the trunk. Note that if you need to start chasing wires from the amp to the speakers (at least on mine) they change colors somewhere in route to the doors.

Just for (global) clarification - not in all markets - some have no amps in the trunk/boot (left cubby or under the spare) and all the speaker wires run up to the dash. Mine is like this.

But it seems all USA-market cars DO have some form of amp in the trunk - usually the BM54 receiver/amp under the spare and another amp in the left cubby (and/or the DSP amp).

Or so I hear/read/am told. ;)

Does a BM54 complicate upgrading? The dash din unit does have a power up option, like 0-5 setting. I have it on 4. The RR speaker tested 0 ohms. What DVM setting do I use to test wire output? Is the signal only up and down? I'll take a peak in the left cubby. I don't remember seeing a box there. It's mostly a big open space. The BM54 box looks big. The spare tire area doesn't have one that big.

I tore it out and replaced it all, so I’m not sure how the old amp plays with upgraded speakers.

Open the left trunk cubby and look down into the bowls of that opening. The non-dsp amp I had was a small unit (with an “Alpine” stamp on it) mounted to a metal bracket that seemed needlessly complicated, but I think was designed to mount additional options we didn’t buy the car with.
Pic from when I was mocking up my amp upgrade project but hadn’t removed the oe amp yet:
https://i.postimg.cc/2St5NZGG/PXL-20...3-Original.jpg

Blue arrow points to the bracket and I circled the top of the amp.


It’s a tiny box, maybe 5” x 5”, which likely accounted for the crappy power it put out.

Cut the mounting tabs off the replacement 6.5" drivers and they will drop right into the factory speaker door pods. To remove the factory 2ohm speakers you can use an exacto knife to cut the silicon adhesive that goes around the perimeter. I used 3M VHT to temporarily adhere my new drivers and then ran a bead of silicon around the perimeter as factory. Looks almost OEM. Like below:

https://www.caraudiojunkies.com/atta...3&d=1632763635

https://www.caraudiojunkies.com/atta...4&d=1632763635

https://www.caraudiojunkies.com/atta...5&d=1632763652

As others have mentioned, business audio (NA model) has an amp in the left hatch cubby. And 4ohm speakers will work fine in place of the 2ohm, but will be "underdriven." My wiring diagrams will do you no good as they are for DSP equipped X5's, but I could probably pull the business audio ones from TIS if you need them.

:wow: Sweet! I didn't think about cutting the speaker mounting ears. :bmw: Good to know a 6.5" will fit too.

While waiting for the A/C to cool down the inside, I took a peak at the rear cubby hole. I assume this module is a business AMP. If wiring colors do change from there to the speaker, it's going to get complicated. :( Continuity check to the speaker and power output.

I was hoping for a direct woofer swap. Now, I have to pinout the original connector and wire it back up.

If I understand correctly, this amp has to work correctly in order to replace the din module. Right?

Yep, that's the business audio amplifier with all the twisted pair speaker wires going into it. If you don't want to rewire everything to the new DIN unit, then yes, the amp has to be functional. I'll see if I can clip the business audio pinout diagram...

Dang those Kappa’s are mighty fine! :2thumbs:


E53 RiPPeR
XOuTPoST jUNkiE
ReVELaTiON 22:21

The speaker replacements are the hard part. As long as you are going that far, a new amp and head unit with RCA cables are just a bit farther to go! Use the OE speaker and trigger wires. OK... running the RCA cable is a bit of a pain too, but it will sound so much better than the OE amp.

A Dremel will work fine on the speaker ears, or a belt sander works great as well, which is what I used.

[QUOTE=Henn28;1240632]The speaker replacements are the hard part. As long as you are going that far, a new amp and head unit with RCA cables are just a bit farther to go! Use the OE speaker and trigger wires. OK... running the RCA cable is a bit of a pain too, but it will sound so much better than the OE amp.

This is what I have planned once I've upgraded my front speakers which are currently sat in a box waiting to be fitted , my question is do the speaker wires run from the doors to the rear and all the splitting and crossovers from factory are in the rear so I can just find the appropriate wires and connected direct to amps.

This is what I have planned once I've upgraded my front speakers which are currently sat in a box waiting to be fitted , my question is do the speaker wires run from the doors to the rear and all the splitting and crossovers from factory are in the rear so I can just find the appropriate wires and connected direct to amps.[/QUOTE]

I believe the crossover is done by the amp as I didn’t find any crossover boxes in my doors. You can definitely split the wires out of the connector, identify the various speaker wires, and hook the straight into a new amp. Identifying which wires go to which door/component can be confusing because the wires change colors somewhere in route to each location. Bentley gets you 90% of the way, and then I recommend using a AA battery at the amp end of the wires to check both the connection and polarity is correct at the speaker end. Label each one as you break them out of the plug.

https://i.postimg.cc/zX3LLC2n/PXL-20...8-Original.jpg

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pmU-Ky...F0dGVyeQ%3D%3D

Good tip on phase matching with the AA battery

It is, as long as it's a standard carbon or maybe an alkaline battery. An AA NiCad or NiMH battery could possibly generate a current high enough to damage a speaker coil (esp. a tweeter). The high internal resistance of standard carbon batteries will prevent this. ;)

I believe the crossover is done by the amp as I didn’t find any crossover boxes in my doors. You can definitely split the wires out of the connector, identify the various speaker wires, and hook the straight into a new amp. Identifying which wires go to which door/component can be confusing because the wires change colors somewhere in route to each location. Bentley gets you 90% of the way, and then I recommend using a AA battery at the amp end of the wires to check both the connection and polarity is correct at the speaker end. Label each one as you break them out of the plug.[/QUOTE]

^This is a good tip with the battery. An alternative way is to order a cheap tone generator off Amazon. I do enough car audio in my cars that it's worth the $25 as it can be hard to tell the polarity using the battery test in my experience. Especially with tweeters.

This is the one I use.

I could not bring myself to hack up the DSP harness, or de-pin it. So I made an adapter harness for my aftermarket setup. Running DSP and 10 channels full active 6 front and 4 rear + a sub on 3 amps. It's way overkill... but it's my dream system from when I graduated high school. So I built it.

https://xoutpost.com/attachments/x5-...-pinouts-1.jpg

And boy it sounds dreamy! LoL.. :drool:


E53 RiPPeR
XOuTPoST jUNkiE
ReVELaTiON 22:21

Thanks bro. I still have a small alternator whine, but ordered an Audiocontrol Matrix that I'm going to try and use to get a cleaner audio signal to the DSP. If that's not it... must be something with the wiring. I'll find it eventually. When I have time to work on it anyway. :D It's a minor whine that I don't notice most of the time.

Here you go OP. I removed my previous post that had DSP pinout. Sorry for the size, I wanted it easy to read and/or print. This is the correct pinout for the "HiFi Loudspeaker System" vehicle option 676. Also, I verified that the wire colors DO NOT change between the amp and the door. At least not according to the diagrams.

Attachment 84386

Wow crystalworks! When it comes to electrical work, I'd rather do a M54 starter swap!

A chart like that makes it so simple. A single male/female connector with enough pins makes an upgrade easier. Especially to add a big woofer amp. I'll start looking for a connector.

Thanks for all the input! I'll have to put this project off for a bit. I have two HKA codes to deal with. Plus a hitch install to complete. I'll add to this post when I come back around to this project. I'll make notes to add to my X5 notebook.

No problem. I found the easiest way to find a suitable connector was to just buy a non-functional amp on Ebay. I have a whole thread about how I made my adapter. Have a read through if you're interested. Spoiler: it took some time. :D

https://xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/...g-pinouts.html

CX360.4 4 channel amplifier. Any opinions on the the CX360.4? I can upgrade the woofers to 4 ohm. What would happen to 2 ohm upper door speakers?
How many channels does an amp need to power all the speakers? 10 speakers in a business CD SAV, right?

That's a nice 4 channel amp. Always liked Kicker gear, especially the old Stillwater Designs days. But anywho, how were you planning on using that amp? Meaning what were you planning on hooking up to the 4 channels?

10 channels of amplification is only required if you are trying to go "full active." Basically that means a dedicated channel of amplification for each driver and the individual crossover settings that go with it. Totally not required for good audio. And really only recommended if you are going nuts with a full audiophile build. At which point I'd recommend a DSP amplifier or standalone.

BTW, if you go full active... lol you end up with something that looks like this unless you go with the new tiny Class D 4 channel amps. It sounds amazing... but it's not really practical for most ppl if you know what I mean. :D

Attachment 84414

I have no idea on how to connect 10 speakers to the amp! The RCA connections can go to a 10" woofer. Right? My brother recommended the amp. He upgrade his Bose equipped Chevy with one. It sounds great.

Alright. If you are trying to have all 10 speakers amplified, + a subwoofer... you're talking real work. And cost.

You would need a 5 channel amplifier at minimum. And you would need to replace ALL of the speakers. The fronts with a 3-way component setup that has a passive crossover. And the rears with a 2-way component setup that has a passive crossover.

If you go the above route, 1 channel of the amp will drive the left front speakers (all 3 of them), 1 channel the right front speakers (all 3 of them), 1 channel the left rear speakers (2 in the door I believe), 1 channel the right rear speakers (2 in the door), and the final channel will power your subwoofer.

It's... a lot of work. What are your ultimate goals with the setup? Sounds like a friend's nice gesture has turned into a real task here. Just noticed those front speakers they gave you are 2 way also. The reason you aren't getting volume out of them is that all the frequencies above (guessing here) ~200hrz are removed in the factory amplifier. Those frequencies are fed to the mid (dash) and even higher frequencies to the tweeters (on the door). The factory amps for the DSP and business 10 channel amps do a lot of crossover work internally before passing signals on to the speakers.

:drinking: One speaker not working is getting complicated. So, how about something else. Depin the door woofers and do an amp add on those? :dunno:
I just want all the speakers to work. I've been given the go head to replace the radio display if necessary. :thumbup:

Does the tweeter work on the door with the dead speaker? Does the dash mid work on the side that has the dead speaker?

If they do, and the only problem is 1 dead speaker. The easiest and most cost effective job would be to replace the door woofer (the big speaker on the door) with a replacement 2ohm OE unit.

I looked through my stash and have 3 2ohm door woofers left over from my stereo project. You are welcome to them if you want them. They will need to be reinstalled in the factory "buckets" and leads re-tinned. But they're here if you want them. Also have a pair of the 8ohm dash speakers, think they are 2.5 inch.

Did this on few of my builds.


E53 RiPPeR
XOuTPoST jUNkiE
ReVELaTiON 22:21

Today, after final confirmation the A/C clutch is toast, the stereo settings were tested. Neither RR door speakers work. I forgot to check the dash speaker. I'll try one more thing. I'll remove the bluetooth and microphone adapter. I want to be sure it's not interfering with speaker out put. All the speakers did work when I bought it.

Once the A/C is running, a run to San Antonio is less than an hour drive. Well, depends on which day and time. Construction on I35 and outer loop are notoriously bad.

That's an understatement. My SiL lives in Cibilo and I loathe using 35 both ways.

If all the speakers used to work, and now you have multiples out... I'd be leaning towards your amplifier failing. Sometimes you can reseat the connector and it will fix it. Otherwise... a leaky sunroof drain or tail light seal is the usual culprit for amplifier flakiness.

I believe I also have a spare amplifier kicking about. What model is yours?

The A/C is up and running. A new compressor did the job. The old compressor clutch was toast. I'll pull out the amp and get a part number. Today, I was using the bluetooth adapter for a phone call. I raised the volume to hear over the A/C blowing air. As soon as I hang up, the XM radio goes full volume. It was loud. Wow, I'm surprised how loud it can be with stock speakers. So far, only the RR door speakers don't work.