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01-20-2009, 06:06 PM | #1 |
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For those that replaced their front door speakers
Did you cut the moisture barrier to allow the speaker to utilize the airspace in the door cavity or did you leave it sealed? It seems that the available airspace between the barrier and the door panel would not allow for optimal bass performance. Increasing the amount of airspace behind the speaker would help. I know there might be some risks to cutting the barrier which is why I'm asking if anyone has done it without having problems.
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01-20-2009, 10:31 PM | #2 |
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depends on what you consider "optimal bass performance"....using the airspace would most likely increase in midbass volume, but would most certainly sacrifice sound quality..... many woofers are designed for a moderate-to-limited sized airspace, which helps control the travel of the cone and creates tightness in the sound... opening things up into an "infinite baffle (IB)" type of setup will create distortion at loud volumes in many loudspeakers, unless they are deigned for IB application (those that are, are usually advertised as such).
Just something to consider, although most car manufacturers (actually not sure about our bmws, and i do doubt they intended to create a sealed enclosure using weatherproofing) don't take this into consideration and most often mount door speakers without a sealed or properly ported enclosure. People who install high end audio aftermarket in their cars, usually opt for a sealed or ported custom fiberglass enclosure even for their front mid-bass woofers... |
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01-21-2009, 12:11 AM | #3 | |
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01-21-2009, 09:45 AM | #4 | |
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I did however have an audi with a bose system in the past where the doors had properly ported enclosures for the midbass that werent IB, i completely replaced the system, and found MB Quart speakers sounded phenomenal in the factory enclosures... another thing is, do you know what the crossover point is from the midbass drivers to your floor mounted subwoofers? my guess is its pretty high (over 100hz) and those floor woofers are almost pushing into midbass (they distort because of that at high volumes i find).... i dont know how much you could improve the midbass out of the door speakers without changing amplifiers/crossovers do you have the upgraded factory system? this is an interesting topic to me as im definitely looking for weak points in the system that small mods will help... |
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01-21-2009, 10:52 AM | #5 | |
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01-21-2009, 11:37 AM | #6 | |
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01-21-2009, 11:57 AM | #7 |
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I did not cut it. I put in Diamond Audio S400 speakers in there and the midbass is great. I moved the high-pass down to about 80 Hz and it was surprisingly powerful. But moving the crossover frequency to 125 allowed them to play louder and cleaner. Subs sound good up to 150 hz. Since they are near the front, it's not so easily localized.
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01-21-2009, 11:59 AM | #8 | |
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About that OEM moisture barrier in the door, I would not mess with it unless you create another moisture barrier on whatever hole you make. Water and moisture always find ways of messing things up. I would say, replace the underseat woofers first with the SWS-8 or with a custom shallow 10", tune it to 250Hz/200Hz/150Hz and listen to each case. Then decide if you will need extra mid bass from the 4" in the doors. I think that there is a general misunderstanding on the capabilities of this central bass location and the reason of why BMW combined this bass setup with multiple 4" mids all around. The SWS-8 has to be tuned with an EQ to really get deep -not quite sub deep but it can fool it- and solid mid bass all the way to 250Hz without any sound issues. And some aftermarket 4" drivers -including the Premium OEM- can go down to 150Hz and still provide tight sounding mid bass that can blend nicely with the bass under the seat. |
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01-21-2009, 12:09 PM | #9 | |
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01-21-2009, 12:21 PM | #10 | |
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If I was the same installer years ago, I would have gone for the best and made it fit no matter what. Now I just want something better that won't compromise the car too much. I used to always run a big sub boxes that would weigh over 100 pounds. These days I spend more money trying to reduce the weight on my car. It's an M so I need to stick with the purpose. These speakers are more than good enough and what they don't do well I can fix with equalization.
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01-21-2009, 12:24 PM | #11 | |
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One thing though: forget about installing its crossovers inside the doors: the suckers are as big as a Cracker Jack box. In my case I used instead CDT Audio compact crossovers... |
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01-21-2009, 12:34 PM | #12 | |
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01-21-2009, 12:37 PM | #13 | |
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01-21-2009, 12:52 PM | #14 | |
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One other thing to be wary of when installing the speakers on the coupe. You will probably end up using the grill that the speaker comes with. If it is too far forward with respect to the car, it will hit the dash. So be very careful when closing the door after you install your speakers. Make sure there is adequate clearance between the grill and the dash. There is more than enough room for adjustment. At first, mine was just barely touching the dash. I adjusted it to where I probably have 1/4" clearance which is plenty.
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01-21-2009, 02:46 PM | #15 | ||
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01-21-2009, 03:14 PM | #16 | |
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Stock vs Diamond Stock mounted in door panel Diamond mounted in door panel
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01-21-2009, 07:49 PM | #17 |
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Anyone wanna do my stereo?? Id rather pay you guys thats done this than some shop that has not!
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01-29-2009, 09:21 PM | #18 |
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Nice pics!!!
Any reason you couldn't use the stock wiring and place the cross-over's in the trunk? That's how we did it in the X5 i had.
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Let me get this straight... You are swapping out parts designed by some of the top engineers in the world because some guys sponsored by a company told you it's "better??" But when you ask the same guy about tracking, "oh no, I have a kid now" or "I just detailed my car." or "i just got new tires."
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01-30-2009, 03:24 PM | #20 |
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The tweeter and driver are powered off of the crossover. The OEM speakers had a single speaker wire run to each door and the tweeter has a coil on it. I would have to run extra wiring if I were to place the crossovers in the trunk.
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01-30-2009, 11:00 PM | #21 | |
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My old X5 hae speaker wire from the DSP amp to the mids and separate cables to the tweets. It seems like BMW changed the way they run their speakers. Thanks for the info.
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Let me get this straight... You are swapping out parts designed by some of the top engineers in the world because some guys sponsored by a company told you it's "better??" But when you ask the same guy about tracking, "oh no, I have a kid now" or "I just detailed my car." or "i just got new tires."
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01-31-2009, 11:31 PM | #22 |
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Standard audio.... it makes it a lot easier to upgrade.
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