Tech Forum : How about your stereo

pjs323i

Posted Saturday, Dec 2nd 2:30pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 51

Canberra, Australia
'81 323i

Now, i know this isn't really a discussion that a lot of us would have on e21.tricord.be. However, installing a stereo system (a decent one at that) into an e21 is quite a challenge as i found out today while I was installing a keyless entry system (works really well, a mate of mine helped me wire it up properly so the lights flash and everything...its so cool!).

So...back onto subject. I have recently purchased a set of 4 Sony 6x9" 320Wpeak 80WRMS speakers. For any of you stereo system geeks your probably thinking 'Why would you put 6x9's all around?' well...i have my reasons. Installing these babies into the back is quite easy (post images when i do) but into the front is a totally different story whether they are a 6x9 or just 6. I have pulled off my door trims and everything and found where i can install them perhaps (post images of that soon too) but there has to be a better way without butchering my door trims!

Any images of your stereo installation or just some tips would be great as I am restoring my baby and i want to keep it as original as possible. I'm also quite open to fibreglassing.

Thanks in advance,
-PJ

P.S i have re-wired the speaker cable's because the standard cables are not so great

ArnZ

Posted Saturday, Dec 2nd 2:38pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 36

Qld, Australia
BMW 323i

mate i had to cut my door trims to put 6's in, not too bad of a hole and looks okay so its not a big loss.

to fit 6x9s in the front door it would be a good idea to make spacers (im doing that) for em cuz the depth of the speaker will hit the window unless u dont lik ur windows open

r u gonna cut whole into the metal in ur parcel shelf???

BruceH

Posted Saturday, Dec 2nd 3:25pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 1051

Atlanta, GA USA
81 323 Baur, 85 745

Do a search for the thread on Wil Bryants fabrication work for speakers. First rate work.

ichiwan2

Posted Saturday, Dec 2nd 5:25pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 245

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
BMW320/6(e21)

Here's my installation - not done by me tho. My friend has an accessories shop and people who do this all the time:

Closeup of Tweeter location

Midrange

Sub

Amp, Cap n Audio Control

Front-end

It's a Sony!

davethedog

Posted Saturday, Dec 2nd 5:57pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 145

Northants, England
E21 320

If you check my car out you'll see what I have done.
I have fitted an xbox in the glove box, screens in the sun-visors, Boston Acoustic speakers in the door pockets (still keeping 3/4 of the pocket),4 x 180w Pioneer 3 ways in the boot, 2 x 12" Fli 1000w bass speakers, 2 x 1.5 Farad Power Caps, Boston Acoustics 20 amp and a RTO 300w amp.
All of this is hidden from the inside of the car, totally stealth. All you can see are the colour coded bass ports in the parcel shelf to let the sound in from the trunk.
The system sounds amazing if I get a chance tomorrow i'll take some more piccy's to post.

redmist

Posted Sunday, Dec 3rd 12:36am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 1012

NY USA
357i , 325i e30 turbo

On the e30 I'm mounting a Pentium 3 mini-itx computer($99), flip out LCD screen ($125)(replaces the radio, center console mounted touch pad and mini key board ($125). Pulling out the glovebox and putting in racks. Using the computer for on the fly megasquirt tuning and MP3.
Nice install on your system!

Remuxer

Posted Saturday, Dec 23rd 5:07pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 2

Atlanta GA USA
83 320i

I would avoid installing any oval shaped speakers -they always sound inferior to circular configurations. Once you spend all that work modding your car for those 6x9s you'll find a faint buzzing and distortion inherent that you obsolutely cannot get rid of!! This is because the speaker does not move at a uniform speed over the entire surface speaker cone! The lateral 9 inch axis is constantly playing catch up with the more reactive 6 inch axis.
For optimum sound 1)remove the rear speakers entirely they will never sound good no matter how expensive!!(they become ports for your sub) 2)get outboard amplification and crossovers 3) disconnect the front speakers 4)buy a "musical" sub that can follow a bass line not just the kick drum 5)and install the largest coaxial round speakers you can fit in kicker panels covering the front speaker locations but facing the driver.
I personally would avoid component configurations like Ichiwan2 where the tweet is above the dash and woofer on the door. -this is a classic recipe for phasing problems between tweets and tweet to woofer -which will give you a big headache, naseau, faster ear fatigue and a desire to turn on talk radio -ouch. You might be irritable or miserable everytime you drive car and never know why! Trust me. Phasing can really disrupt your life -ofcourse ichiwan2 might just be less sensitive than most people.
Ofcourse if you don't have good ears, your audio source is from a compression format (mp3,4,wma etc) or you listen exclusively to rap(generally poor production) and/or over-compressed "nu metal" then all of this advice means nothing because 6x9 speakers will no longer be the weak link in your setup. Their inaccuracies will hide some limitations in your audio source. Good luck and don't go cutting on your car until you get plenty of advice.

Remuxer

Posted Saturday, Dec 23rd 7:59pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 11

Atlanta GA USA
83 320i

Personally I'd stay away from Sony....They hold primary importance in fashionable sleek products. They are loaded with usless beta features which enevitably create bugs and logic problems for the useful portion of the product. They are famous for faulty electrolitic caps and unserviceable multi layer circuit boards and components -thats how they get them so small and fashionable. And then when your stuff craps out try getting warranty support! Ask someone who ever bought a mini-disc,handi-cam, or viao -Awesome ideas but unrealible CRAP!! Overrated. Their high fashion, price points(fueled by quasi slave labor)(They gave up manufacturing plasmas altogether because Samsung could do it for them cheaper because they are set up in less regulated area of the southeastern asia archepelago), and short consumer memory keep sony around. I hate them!! sorry this has ignited some repressed feelings.

Boost_me

Posted Saturday, Dec 30th 4:47pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 21

Victoria, Australia
1981 BMW 323i

I TOTALLY agree with Remuxer......SONY=SHIT, I would NEVER buy a sony unit if my life depended on it, they are very unraliable and have no customer support for when things go wrong....

I would make some custom fibreglass kickpanels to hold your 6inches....I would disagree with the 'Get rid of rear speaker's' quote, You will find that people that ride wit you will only beable to hear bass and no treble or mid, even if you install little 4inches in the parcel shelf ( I'm going with 6's though) it will give you some higher frequencies and be more soothing to the ears than just bass and minimal high's and mid's....Plus you will get good sound quality and your front's wont have to fight so hard to play the majority of your music, bass is between 20-120HZ everything else 120HZ-20,000HZ come from your mid's and high's. Don't get me wrong I love love love my bass but you need to hear the rest of the song too!!!!

pjs323i

Posted Sunday, Dec 31st 7:46am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 51

Canberra, Australia
'81 323i

well its all there, speakers half installed and headeck all wired up http://panasonic.com.au/products/details.cfm?objectID=3379
sounds great i'm pretty impressed so far. But i'm not into a THUD THUD THUD system just somthing that sounds good and what i went with did the trick.

In the end there is a lot better things to waste your money on than a sound sytem

kpeters

Posted Sunday, Dec 31st 9:08pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 821

San Jose, Costa Rica
1981 320/6 Kastanienrot-Metallic 5spd

I use Sony with Kenwood speakers but if I could chose i would go Blaupunkt, Clarion with Boston Acoustics (Best speakers ever along with BOSE).

PS: ICHIWAN I need some caps like the ones you got on you door trim panels for the windows! Do you know where can I find them? E30 caps wont fit.

velocewest

Posted Monday, Jan 1st 8:25am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 555

Oregon USA
e9, e12x2, no E21?

I'm puzzled by the desire to install video or a game system in a car. Driving is a full time occupation, so I KNOW you're not playing games or watching video while you drive, right?! Plus, all that stuff adds weight, and attracts theft. I have a pretty nice TV in my house if I want to watch a movie, and video games never captured my attention anyway.

I'm all for a decent sound system, but at the end of the day you have to acknowledge that a car is a poor environment for music. At anything over about 25mph, my car makes enough noise that any noticeable shortcomings of the speakers or other components are drowned out by the mechanical noise. With enough money I'm sure you could overcome some of this, but it will always be less than perfect, and when I choose how to spend money on my car, the loud pedal always wins out over the volume knob...

pjs323i

Posted Monday, Jan 1st 11:48am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 51

Canberra, Australia
'81 323i

velocewest: couldn't aggree more.

But for some people their car is the only place they can listen to music (i know mine is) with work and study its the only time I have to myself, why not spend a little money on it??

Its only really on the Holidays that i do have time with my car and even then; i just have enough time and $$$$$ to do mechanical maintainance and repairs.

ichiwan2

Posted Monday, Jan 1st 6:57pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 255

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
BMW320/6(e21)

Remuxer wrote:

.... tweet is above the dash and woofer on the door. -this is a classic recipe for phasing problems between tweets and tweet to woofer -which will give you a big headache, naseau, faster ear fatigue and a desire to turn on talk radio -ouch. You might be irritable or miserable everytime you drive car and never know why! Trust me. Phasing can really disrupt your life -ofcourse ichiwan2 might just be less sensitive than most people.

Would agree with you on the phasing - if you get it wrong. BUT it is not impossible to get it right - with the right equipment and an experienced tuner helping.

I can listen to music from my system for quite a few hours, usually usually louder as time passes. No pain. Not just my ears (that don't hurt), others too. Hopefully, not everyone I know is not sensitive.

I do know the sound would hurt if the tweeters were to fire directly towards me and my passenger. The way it is mounted, i.e., firing acoss the windscreen, improved the sound quality tremendously. Had tried it mounted above the mid-range - did not work as well as it does now.

Not sure if I should get sensitive on your comment about my hearing.

velocewest

Posted Tuesday, Jan 2nd 7:43pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 556

Oregon USA
e9, e12x2, no E21?

ichiwan2 wrote:

Not sure if I should get sensitive on your comment about my hearing.

Don't waste the energy. I'm sure Remuxer is pleasant in person, he's just doing a little posturing to establish his position in the message board community. He'll relax once he realizes he's not on Roadfly any more...

pjs323i

Posted Thursday, Jan 4th 1:08pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 51

Canberra, Australia
'81 323i

the stereo that i got was faulty (loading mechanism) so the shop i brought it from took it out and got a new one, so i thought why not give it a go at installing myself??? and so-far so-good. just a question:

There are 3 wires for the power; Earth, Ignition/Acc and 12v battery power and three wires i have:
1) Purple and Grey
2) Red and Yellow
3) Brown

Which is which...i dont want to short out the head deck and blow it up

Boost_me

Posted Thursday, Jan 4th 2:32pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 39

Victoria, Australia
1981 BMW 323i

pjs323i wrote:

Purple and Grey would be speaker's if there 2 of each, one will have a black line on it, this is the negative wire. The one with no black line = positive wire.

Red would be your Accesory's- Plug this into a sorce that only get's 12.4v when the ignition is turned on one click.

Yellow is your battery wire-or constant 12.4v

I'm thinking that Brown would be your illumination wire, I don't usually use this wire.

pjs323i

Posted Thursday, Jan 4th 8:05pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 51

Canberra, Australia
'81 323i

sorry boost, you might not get what i mean. i should make myself clearer

3 wires:

1)purple with a light grey stripe

2)Red with a yellow stripe

3)Brown

Which is power, which is ignition and which is earth?

thanks man

Boost_me

Posted Friday, Jan 5th 2:40am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 42

Victoria, Australia
1981 BMW 323i

What sort of sterio are you running bro??? I think purple with a grey strip would be used for maybe your remote(usually blue) or it could be an auxillary wire....Yellow with a red stripe would be 12.4vB+ wire....Brown unknown.....Looking at my wiring harness for my Pioneer DEH-P5850MP I have:
Yellow: Battery 12.4v
Red: Accesorys
Black: Ground
Orange with a white strip: Illumination
Blue with a white strip: Remote turn on wire (goes to amps)
Yellow with Black strip: Mute wire
2x Purple(one with black strip): Rear Right speaker.
2x Green (one with black strip): Rear Left speaker.
2x Gray (one with black strip) : Front Right speaker.
2x White (one with black strip): Front Left speaker.
That's what I have dude, So what sort of H/Unit is it?? Do you know the model?? If you do I should beable to find a diagram of the loom and forward it to you so you know where your going with this.....Seriously though it's not hard to do you just need to know....

pjs323i

Posted Friday, Jan 5th 4:25am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 51

Canberra, Australia
'81 323i

yeah its a brand new Pananasonic the one in the link i have posted above. but the 3 wires i am refering to are in the car not the headeck.

pjs323i

Posted Friday, Jan 5th 8:07am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 51

Canberra, Australia
'81 323i

went into good old dick smith and brought a $15 multimeter...so i'll find out using that