JDMGTB 0 Report post Posted August 16, 2012 Hi guys, About to attempt an amp and speaker upgrade in the missus E39. Basic details are; 2002 E39 525i individual, stereo is non dsp (as far as I can tell, no DSP bottom on head unit). So the plan is to remove factory amp and replace with a brand new Pyle 2000w 4ch that has been in my garage for the last few years from a previous install that never happened. Using existing wiring HU outputs to be connected via RCA plugs that will be attached to feed audio inputs. I will also use factory speaker cabling to power speakers. I have managed to find a wiring diagram from somewhere that shows which wires from the 12pin & 26pin plugs to use incl remote turn on and outputs etc. I will only use the 4 main woofer speaker cables (the other tweeter wires will be left blank) as I will be installing a nice set of Pioneer silk dome 6.5" components and the crossover will be located on the main woofer wire in the doors. Plan is to use 2 sets of the components for front and rear, will have to pull out the jigsaw and some MDF and make up some baffles to replace the factory plastic jobs so that the larger woofers can fit. This is where I need some help/advice from anyone who has done this or knows someone who has. 1- Should I use components in the rear or just use a decent coax and get rid of the rear door tweeter all together? 2- Which tweeter hole in the front should I use, the 1 by the door handle or the 1 in the A pillar? After the new speakers install then 1 will be left blank. 3- I have read bits on balanced vs unbalanced wiring etc, does this affect me or will it be a simple plug and plug job? 4- Any other advice is more than welcome. 5- Hopefully all goes according to plan. Just acquiring all parts needed to do the job so will make a start not this weekend but next weekend. Will takes photos and document and post up after all said and done for those who are keen to upgrade their own E39's. I couldn't find a good how to guide. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Neal 540 Report post Posted August 16, 2012 In my opinion 1, If your running stereo , then only rear fill is needed at back with clean and basic speakers. However , matching fronts and rears in my opinion sounds good. If running multi channel then matched speakers are the way to go. The rear tweeters in the door are put there so they don't put the image backwards for front passenagers and also so that rear passengers have better stereo panning than if the speakers where behind. Personally I'd just run the componets in the rear parcel shelf. 2,Tweater position comes down to personel choice. If you like a headphone still of stereo image then use the doors. Down side is that the image is pulled middle to the right from the drivers side due to greater unequal distance between left and right speaker relative to the seating position. I prefer pillar or dash corner mount for tweaters. Pulls the image up and forward. Closer to listening to music at home. 3, I suspect that your amp doesn't support balanced audio input ( only a few higher end car amps do) However , you can use speaker out to high level in on your amp. Not ideal but will sound ok (two amps in the audio chain). The other way is to modify the headunit and take RCA out before the unbalanced output stage and run these to your amps. Will give a cleaner sound but doing the mod's is not for the the faint hearted. (Check out my profile attachments of a bm53 tunrer unit that I modified for RCA out) If the amp is close to 500 per channel then check the gauge of the standard speaker cabling. I'd probably run larger cable if it knocks out close to 500. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
M5V8 337 Report post Posted August 16, 2012 Hi Jonathan, i've upgraded all the speakers in my e39 but didn't bother with the AMP as it's loud enough. What was interesting in my car there are no speakers in the rear doors at all. My car has the M professional audio package and the tweeters were mounted over the mid ranges in the rear parcel shelf. I purchased two sets of components and ran them in the factory positions binned the plastic sound tubes and just built customwood mounts for the larger speakers. I generally run the fader slightly forward biased however the sound is wonderful. good luck with your build sounds like you have it all well in hand. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
