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      06-11-2011, 07:09 PM   #1
808MGuy
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Replaced SWS-8s with ADMW9s

I've been meaning to do this for a long time but got too busy and pushed the project aside for awhile. I've had these ADMWs in my possession for about 8 months now and I figured its time to get this going.

The Morel ADMWs have been installed in the underseat enclosures in many 1-series and 3-series cars by VP Electricity and others but VP did mention that for some reason, the M3 doesn't have quite enough clearance under the seat to make it a straight forward install. I can confirm that he his correct. I suspect that might be why he has started to use the Jenhert woofers now which are pretty much drop in replacements for the OEM woofers. Since I already had the ADMWs, I figured I would give it a go anyway and see what happens.

The procedure of installing the SWS-8s are well documented so I'll start with the removal of them.

Here is the OEM underseat grill hiding the SWS-8s. You can see how clean and factory it looks. No one would ever suspect there is something aftermarket under there.


With a finger ratchet, I removed the 6 phillips screws securing the grill. The finger ratchet is a great tool for small confined spaces and also for making sure you don't over torque small screws.


With the grill off, you can see the binding posts I installed when I did the SWS-8s to make it easy to remove if need be.


After removing the 2 nuts securing the enclosure to the car, I pulled the enclosure out of the car and here it is ready to be disassembled.


After removing the SWS-8, I have the 3/4" thick MDF spacers made by forum member jtsherri. The spacers were delivered unfinished so I painted them black to blend in. I also countersunk the holes where the spacers get screwed into the enclosure. This is necessary otherwise the heads of the screws will get in the way of the mounting frame of the ADMWs. You can also see the pigtails I wired through the spacer for connecting the wiring. There are female terminals on the inside and male terminals on the outside to connect to the wiring from the amp. I didn't use binding posts here because they stick up too far and would interfere with the seat rail.


Here is what the enclosure looks like with the spacers and ADMWs installed. Again, you can see the male ends of the pigtails coming out of the enclosure. The holes the wires pass through are sealed from the inside with epoxy plumbers putty. It is soft and workable for a minute allowing you to press it into the hole and then hardens. The cured putty is water tight and air tight.


Here is the ADMW with the grill installed. I actually found it easier to install the grill after you put it in the car otherwise the grill gets in the way. It is also only pressure fit into the frame so it will end up falling off when you're trying to get the enclosure back into the car.


The enclosure is now installed back into the car. Notice how I had to roll back the carpet so it doesn't sit on top of the grill. This needs to be done because there is not enough clearance between the seat and the floor that will allow both the ADMW grill and the carpet to fit under the seat rail. If you try to force it, the seat rail will crush the grill when you reinstall the seat and the woofer cone will hit the grill. You'll hear a pretty loud popping sound if you push the grill down too far. Ask me how I know


Here you can see the clearance (or lack of clearance) between the seat rail and the ADMW grill after it is installed. The rail is actually crushing the grill a little but there is enough clearance between the grill and the cone of the woofer to allow the grill to be depressed a little without affecting the movement of the woofer. A 1/4" spacer under the seat rails might have helped with this but that still wouldn't be enough to get the carpet in.


I did do some listening with the ADMWs installed and right away there are a few things noticeably different from the SWS-8s. The midbass on the ADMWs is much cleaner. There is less resonance in the upper midbass notes between 80 and 150Hz. The SWS-8s would resonate really bad in that area so I had to turn down those frequencies to compensate. Now, I have no issues in that area. The ADMWs do not go as low as the SWS-8s though. That was obvious with any material that had an orchestra in it. The low notes from the tympany would cause the ADMWs to bottom with the 25 Hz subsonic filter I had setup for the SWS-8s. Moving that subsonic filter up to 40Hz helped eliminate that but I will definitely need to look into getting a trunk sub now.

So, they do work but not without a good amount of work to get them in there. My opinion, if you're not planning on putting a sub in the trunk, stick with the SWS-8s. If you are planning for a sub, the ADMWs can work but its definitely not drop in. Are the benefits worth the effort? I would have to say, I don't know. I've never heard the Jenherts so if those give the same sonic benefits that the ADMWs do, I would say that is the way to go. Sound wise, I have no issues with the ADMWs but if there is something out there that sounds just as good and is easier to fit, I think that would be the winner in this case.

BTW, I gotta say thanks to jtsherri for making those spacers for me and of course to VP Electricity for helping me out when I had a problem with the ADMWs. VP also shared a lot of his technical knowledge with me about how he got these to work in other cars. Without his help, I probably would have abandoned this project months ago.
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      06-12-2011, 12:53 AM   #2
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What stock system does you car have, Hifi?

Big difference between stock sub and SWS-8s?
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      06-12-2011, 02:42 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Auto View Post
What stock system does you car have, Hifi?

Big difference between stock sub and SWS-8s?
I never did just a straight swap from OEM to SWS-8s. The SWS-8s were powered by a Zapco amp so its hard to make a direct comparison. With the Zapco and SWS, it was a huge difference.
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      06-12-2011, 08:54 AM   #4
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Thanks! I was thinking of this. I have the SWS8 as well.

VP is right I guess. Jehnert and trunk Morel is best. Or, leave the SWS8.
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      06-15-2011, 01:18 AM   #5
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edit: nice job -- seems like a lot of work -- I think these are great if u are planning a 12" for the real subsonic frequencies. But this seems like a low-midrange champ,

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      06-15-2011, 02:11 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mastek View Post
edit: nice job -- seems like a lot of work -- I think these are great if u are planning a 12" for the real subsonic frequencies. But this seems like a low-midrange champ,
Shopping a 10" to fit in one of VP's enclosures right now. Looking at either a JL 10W6 or Image Dynamics IDQ10.
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      06-15-2011, 02:32 AM   #7
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u dont think a 12" will pickup where the 9" leaves off better then a 10"?
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      06-15-2011, 03:27 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mastek View Post
u dont think a 12" will pickup where the 9" leaves off better then a 10"?
I don't think I can fit a 12 anywhere that won't take up usable trunk space. Also, having done a previous system with a single 10, a good 10 with some decent power to it will be more than enough to fill this car with bass. I figure I'll be cutting off the Morels at somewhere between 50 and 60 Hz once the sub is installed.
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      06-15-2011, 11:40 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 808MGuy View Post
I don't think I can fit a 12 anywhere that won't take up usable trunk space. Also, having done a previous system with a single 10, a good 10 with some decent power to it will be more than enough to fill this car with bass. I figure I'll be cutting off the Morels at somewhere between 50 and 60 Hz once the sub is installed.
Thats true - the new high-end 10" woofers are vry efficient and go low enough for this small cabin. The Morel 9" cut at 60hz should be great ... i wonder how low it gets without an actual box. Morel's specs say 44hz ... But i assume thats with some back pressure.

Nice system - im going to do the SWS8 since i do not plan on a 10" or 12" sub.

Do you think the improvement in low freq (from OE to SWS8) wlll be just as dramatic with a D-Class over a Zapco like you used?
If no, is there a fairly light and compact A-B Class Amp you could recommend that compares to a D-Class (in weight and size)
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      06-15-2011, 12:07 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mastek View Post
Thats true - the new high-end 10" woofers are vry efficient and go low enough for this small cabin. The Morel 9" cut at 60hz should be great ... i wonder how low it gets without an actual box. Morel's specs say 44hz ... But i assume thats with some back pressure.

Nice system - im going to do the SWS8 since i do not plan on a 10" or 12" sub.

Do you think the improvement in low freq (from OE to SWS8) wlll be just as dramatic with a D-Class over a Zapco like you used?
If no, is there a fairly light and compact A-B Class Amp you could recommend that compares to a D-Class (in weight and size)
I don't think you will hear a huge difference between a class D and AB in that application. A good compromise if you're concerned about size and weight would be the class GH Arc Audio KS mini amps.
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      06-20-2011, 03:53 PM   #11
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Nice setup. What kind of crossover (make/model) are you going to use to band-pass the ADMW9s when you get a trunk sub?
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      06-20-2011, 04:02 PM   #12
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Nice setup. What kind of crossover (make/model) are you going to use to band-pass the ADMW9s when you get a trunk sub?
Everything will be active. If I stick with the Zapco setup I'll just add another DC500 for the sub to the ADMWs will stay on the DC650. If I decide to go a difference direction with amp, I'll probably get a JBL MS-8 or Audison BitOne to take over the DSP duties.
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      06-23-2011, 09:50 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 808MGuy View Post
I don't think I can fit a 12 anywhere that won't take up usable trunk space. Also, having done a previous system with a single 10, a good 10 with some decent power to it will be more than enough to fill this car with bass. I figure I'll be cutting off the Morels at somewhere between 50 and 60 Hz once the sub is installed.
@808 Talk to Ken. He just made me a 12" enclosure that fits above the battery compartment. I'm using a Morel Ultimo. Can't wait to install it and hear how it sounds.
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      06-23-2011, 10:09 PM   #14
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Quote:
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@808 Talk to Ken. He just made me a 12" enclosure that fits above the battery compartment. I'm using a Morel Ultimo. Can't wait to install it and hear how it sounds.
Unfortunately, he's only doing 12" enclosures for E92 right now. I have an E90. It looks like the 12" for the E90 is still a work in progress.
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      08-04-2011, 03:20 PM   #15
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Mixing a SWS-8X with a Jehnert or Morel???

So the SWS-8Xs are better for low range and the Morels/Jehnerts are better in filling that 100-150 gap that having the Earthquake leaves. What about using one SWS-8X and one Morel or Jehnert on the other side? Each driven by a separate channel off the amp of course. Would this approach solve the 100-150 gap? Thoughts???
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      08-04-2011, 03:44 PM   #16
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Quote:
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So the SWS-8Xs are better for low range and the Morels/Jehnerts are better in filling that 100-150 gap that having the Earthquake leaves. What about using one SWS-8X and one Morel or Jehnert on the other side? Each driven by a separate channel off the amp of course. Would this approach solve the 100-150 gap? Thoughts???
I swear I've seen this question somewhere before. Did you post it in the E90 forum? My opinion is no, it wouldn't help. One of each wouldn't be enough to cover those ranges. Try disconnecting one of your under seat woofers and see how it sounds. That's pretty much what you would get in the usable range of the woofer.
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      08-04-2011, 04:04 PM   #17
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The frequencies at which we have to cross over the under seat woofers are high enough to be directional, unlike low bass which is unidirectional. You would probably notice the difference in upper bass between the left and right sides.
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