jame bond styled install

[southernhighlander 0]

ok i am wanting to who everyone would recommed for a audio install in christchurch into my 1990 bmw 318i

yeah is a pic of the inside i know it ain't a good one only one i got at the moment.

[Old_Skool_Bmw 0]

I was running standard 2way front's & some rear speakers w/sub in my old e30 BUT first things first..

What budget are you working with here?? Also do you need headunit + speakers or do you have some gear already? Are you wanting a big bass system or something with better sound quality??

Post up some info and we'll be more than happy to help you out

Laurence.

[rogan 1]

The E30 isn't the greatest car to do audio installs into. The factory front speaker mounts are rubbish.

5 3/8 is the biggest size speakers you can realistically fit unless you do some decent work on the mounting, and even then you can end up having the pack out the trim panel a little to get them to fit behind. I ran tweeters in the triangle by the wing mirrors, the sound is a bit in your face and directional. Next time I'd look at putting the tweeters in the A pillars or maybe in the front corner of the dash just to try and get them a bit further away.

I run an old 10"Soundstream Exact off 300rms and it's got plenty of grunt, it's in a sealed 0.75ft3 enclosure pointing through the ski hatch.

But your instal depends on your budget / what you're wanting to achieve (street bass / sound quality or somewhere in between), and how much you can do yourself with making sub boxes, mounting for the fronts etc etc

[southernhighlander 0]

I was running standard 2way front's & some rear speakers w/sub in my old e30 BUT first things first..

What budget are you working with here?? Also do you need headunit + speakers or do you have some gear already? Are you wanting a big bass system or something with better sound quality??

Post up some info and we'll be more than happy to help you out

Laurence.

i don't have any gear at the moment.and i am looking at sound quality i would like bass but first and foremost i want sound quality.i have also been told i would be stupid to spend about 20 grand on the sounds but i have budgeted for the install been hard to do on the car.

[Old_Skool_Bmw 0]

yeah, 20K on an e30 is a bit OTT lol..

Like was mentioned by Rogan, if you get some big speakers you're probably looking at some custom work to fit 2 or 3-way speakers & get nice sound. The stock speaker positions wer'nt my fav thing about the e30.

From personal preference, i'd recomend DLS speakers !! They have wicked sound quality. My set of speakers set me back over $1000 but were 3-way, 2-way won't cost as much and they do some really nice sets for far less money. Check out:

DLS Classis series (model - B5A) or (model - C5A) - 2-way 5.25"

50wrms/80w max

60 - 18,000hz

http://dls.alfredo.se/en/car/prod.html?produkt=en_41

Next step up:

DLS Reference series (model - MS5A) or (model - R5A) - 2-way 5.25"

80wrms/120w max

http://dls.alfredo.se/en/car/prod.html?produkt=en_59

Or:

DLS Ultimate UP5 - 2-way 5.25"

120wrms/180w max

60 - 20,000hz

55 - 20,000 hz

http://dls.alfredo.se/en/car/prod.html?produkt=en_64

Don't be fooled by the low watt values, they do go really hard!!. Im down in CHCH next weekend at XPS III (paintball tournament). PM me your cell and i'll give you a txt if you wana talk sounds etc. I'll also put you onto a good mate of mine in car audio business

Laurence.

[bravo 34]

Big ups for being the most committed e30 owner on bimmersport. no-one else I know would be willing to pour $10k on a body kit, $20k on sounds, plus rims and springs into a 17yo 318i auto. You must love your car.

Edited September 1, 2007 by bravo

[Old_Skool_Bmw 0]

Big ups for being the most committed e30 owner on bimmersport. no-one else I know would be willing to pour $10k on a body kit, $20k on sounds, plus rims and springs into a 17yo 318i auto. You must love your car.

Agreed... I'd only ever put that sort of money into an e3 m3 if i was going to spend that sorta money on ANY e30.

Laurence.

[rogan 1]

20K, shi!t. My budget is about $8k and I reckon I'll have a hard to beat sq system.

If you're spending that much cash on audio, go see Chris at Pauls Audio and have a good long chat about options. He knows his stuff.

Personally I wouldn't recommend the E30 as a sq car, you sit far to far to the sides of the car and the dash isn't deep enough - this creates path length differences between drivers which are difficult to overcome even with the best time alignment and eq'ing. With the way the car is set up there's limited options of angling pods for on-axis sound, and the only way I can see of getting any decent staging and imaging into an E30 is to use horn loaded compression drivers under the dash and put the midbass drivers in the doors. I'm not convinced the under-dash shape of the E30 is suitable for horns (need a curved surface to extend the horn throat up lifting the sound stage to winscreen level).

I'll be putting horns in my E39 - will be a very interesting experiment

Edited September 1, 2007 by rogan