Full Audio Install on 91 535i BMW

[FLIRTN 0]

Ok sick of the crap audio system that comes standard in the bima. The speakers are all crackling and its just not a plesant experiance. Then the head unit broke on me. Ive ripped out the head unit to put in a new one and hello hello what do I find? All thats happening is RCAs. I immediatley think that this is a good thing but then realise I wanna install my big ass amp in for my sub.

This poses a problem as I can not for the life of me find where the (I presume factory) amp is in it. Can anyone enlighten me as to where this mite be?

Also im hoping I can keep the old amp in there to run the speakers even thou i may be able to do that off the new amp + sub.

As i have no money at the mo and can put 2 wires together I know i can do this myself. (I have installed numerous head units before and know how an amp works) Problem is just finding out where the amp is.

Also anotehr random question - i rang a well reputed audio installer and they rekon standard 6.5 components wont fit in bmws? Anyone know if this is true or not?

Thanks for your help.

Clint

[petone 0]

Welcome

Not sure on 5 series but if they like the 3 then they probably have 5.25" speakers. So if you want a clean and simple install get 5.25. On the other hand its not too hard to make 6.5" fit. I squeezed 6.5 into the kick panels in my E30 so you should be able to easily manage it in the E34.

As for the amp is it under the parcel tray? Otherwise just follow the wires.

I don't know about the stereo in E34 but i asume the amp will just drive the current 5.25 speakers? Why don't you just install your sub and amp as you would normally. Then put your new speakers in place of the old factory ones, using the same wires and then hook up your headunit to the factory RCA and you don't even have to rewire.

Hope that helps and makes sense.

[FLIRTN 0]

Ahhh so my BMW would be a E34 model? LEarn something new everyday.

Yes im yet to pry off the covers on the rear speakers as I attempted it and the didnt seem to budge. So gave up cause i had to be somewhere else.

It doesnt look like theres an amp under the parcel tray uness its inbetween in the hollow. Plus wouldnt that mean that all the wire would then have to run back to the front to power the front speakers?

And I think ive done things the hard way as ive just connected everything up from the head unit insert as I didnt try to take off the whole front dash as it looked liek to me there was heaps to unscrew. Wasnt too sure thou. I think i mite set aside the whole afternoon on saturday to see if I can take it all apart and get it done properly. Cause the other hassle i had was that where the RCAs went into was a prewired clip into the back of the headunit which means everything is round the wrong way. So have to go find some adaptors. Now i sound like im making no sense.

But yeh you make sense. I was thinking i mite just rip out that amp and put in my one and hope I can run everything off the one amp. But it'll be easy enough to swap the rcas over. *Thinking out loud*

[E30-323ti 66]

PM Sam (E34-535ti)

He just fixed his stereo issues and will be able to help.

ps. the amp is in the boot, LH side.

[bmwsparkle 3]

my standard amp is in the boot too, left hand at the top.

[Guest WAGON]

hmmm do e30 have factory amp?

if not why not?

lol

[FLIRTN 0]

Hmmm well i'll have to have a look before i head home. If its just there should be easy to swap over or some thing to my more powerful amp. Sweet as. Any more suggestions would be great...

[FLIRTN 0]

OK cant seem to find the amp?

Is it ment to sit under the parcel tray (like hanging upside downscrewed underneath) or would it be attached to the rear seat somehow behind the tray that sits against the back seat? I havnt pulled it out yet as ive got heaps of crap. Probably investigate more on the weekend when i get a chance.

[Surge 1]

hmmm do e30 have factory amp?

if not why not?

lol

Our 325i's got one, located next to the steering column.

Just need to get the radio that matches it from the previous owner like he promised, I'll see what waving some small claims papers at him does.....

[E34-535ti 5]

The factory amp should be behind the guard lining on the passanger side of the boot, mounted vertically to the inner guard (not the floor)

I wouldn't bother using any of the existing wiring to the amp (with the exception of the speaker wires) I ran RCAs (along with the remote turn on wire) up the centre of the car under the centre console and carpet. If you run the RCAs along the factory path you can get interference problems. The battery is mounted under the back seat so it's easy to run a power wire direct from it to the amp. Also I didn't reuse the factory amp location and instead mounted it underneath the parcel tray (mainly cause it didn't really fit any where else...)

I reused the factory speaker wires as I didn't really want to run new ones around the car and they seem capable of doing what I want (which isn't really much just an improvement over stock, not a mAd ShOW system or anything)

As for speakers I put 6.5 components in the front, using the original tweeter mounts in the doors. The back speakers are standard but aren't really used at all any more. I'd like to put a small sub in at some distant point in the future.

Hope thats somewhat helpful!

[FLIRTN 0]

Thanks dude - that helps heaps. I'll let everyone know how it went after the weekend.

Cheers

Clint

[FLIRTN 0]

Ok so factory amp is a no go and after doing a google search it pretty much confirms where you said the amp would be. But its not so yeh - i could just set up the amp up but only thing is is that the remote amp wire is already connected to the other amp meaning that i can turn the factory one on and off if i connect up the new one - and i cant find where the speaker wires are runnign so who knows.

Any other suggestions?

[bravo 34]

If you are unable to follow the wires back and find the amp, you could just run 100% new wires (including speaker and remote wires) and just pretend there isn't any factoy stuff in there. If it were me though, I wouldn't be able to stand it and I'd be in there ripping out the dash etc to trace them back - but then I'm anally retentive so...

[kiwi535 538]

i can asure you that the factory location for the amp is in the boot on the lh side(looking from the back of the car)It is mounted high up and doesnt look like an amp at all just a small square box.You didnt really say what year your 535 is it could be a e28 like sparlkles or an e34 (see sig pic).There are a few tricks with stereo upgrades on these cars takea look at this link(for american e 34s but it may help.If you lift the carpet there is a neat little depression in the floor of the boot that would fit a shallow amp /crossovers etc.

[cainchapman 0]

I'd recommend you go and talk to Rob Charteris @ Rapid Radio in Ponsonby. By the Dog's Bollix.

They do excellent work.

[jochen 4]

The E34s and E36s had an amp in the rear LH side

the amp fed the rear speakers, the front were driven direct by the radio.

the radio actually has amps for front and rear in it, so the stock amp took normal speaker output from radio, then amplified it again

There's a turn-on wire from radio to amp, it also powers the rear window antenna amplifier - so don't forget to use it. If you don't the antenna amp won't get power and radio reception will be crappy.

All of this is true for the E34/E36 - I'm not sure what you car is so there you go...

J

[E30stz 0]

I came to this thread expecting pictures - dont let me down .

[BM WORLD 1260]

when i stripped a 535iA e34 1989 nz new recently it had 2 amps one above glovebox and one in boot .