E30 Audio Overhaul - My Project Details

[bmwman91]

i thought an amp shouldn't be mounted upside-down because it won't dissipate the heat properly. Or is that a myth....

It depends. There are vents on the bottom of this one (now facing up). I suppose that the hot air inside would leak out the end plates & draw cooler air up through them. With the current setup, the opposite might happen, who knows.

The large side vanes are still horizontal, which IMO is the most important part. The major power dissipating parts are mounted on them, and they will work better this way. Mounting an amp vertically (either orientation) will cause pre-heating further up the sink, or really poor convection on one side depending on how it is mounted.

Truthfully though, I don't really know if this setup is better or worse. I rarely push the amp hard, so I am not too worried.

[mrmckie]

i thought an amp shouldn't be mounted upside-down because it won't dissipate the heat properly. Or is that a myth....

[bmwman91]

Wow! I would really love to see exactly how the inside of the kick panels look like after your modifications. I was looking into PPI's PC3.65C set since the woofer only has about 67mm depth to it. Or at least trying to find a 6-7" driver that has shallow mounting since I have the ability to go 3 way active off the old cda - 9835.

Since I would want to set the tweet and midrange in a fb enclsoure I was thinking of doing the same thing with the shallow woofer but just angling it a bit more on axis. The big issue of course being how tilted I can get with the space allowed in the back and getting that damn hood release a little bit farther out.

All of this of course is smoke being blown out of my ass for now since the rest of the car deems it okay to keep breaking down. :D You truly are an inspiration for some clean looking sound in an e30. So in other words thanks for making this thread!

There isn't too much to see inside there. Basically, I pounded the back surface as far out as I could without it hitting the leading edge of the door when it is fully open (that is what limits you, and you don't want it hitting...paint will chip & you'll have a rust initiation spot). Getting the larger drivers in required me to do a lot of cutting (with tin snips) and folding of the perimeter of the existing cut-out. It is one of those "you can't go back, ever" mods.

There is no room what so ever for angling the drivers down there. On the passenger side, the kick panel cover can come out maybe 3mm before the glove box starts binding on it. I had to cut a little bit off of the bottom outside edge of the box so it would drop. You can see the scrapes in the pics above. On the driver's side, the issue is just as bad with the knee bolster cover. Really, the drivers can't be angled.

If you can find shallow drivers that fit the stock depth, go that route. Pounding out the pods and having the drivers sitting against the back surface is less than ideal!

Good luck!

[Dozyproductions]

Wow! I would really love to see exactly how the inside of the kick panels look like after your modifications. I was looking into PPI's PC3.65C set since the woofer only has about 67mm depth to it. Or at least trying to find a 6-7" driver that has shallow mounting since I have the ability to go 3 way active off the old cda - 9835.

Since I would want to set the tweet and midrange in a fb enclsoure I was thinking of doing the same thing with the shallow woofer but just angling it a bit more on axis. The big issue of course being how tilted I can get with the space allowed in the back and getting that damn hood release a little bit farther out.

All of this of course is smoke being blown out of my ass for now since the rest of the car deems it okay to keep breaking down. :D You truly are an inspiration for some clean looking sound in an e30. So in other words thanks for making this thread!

[bmwman91]

I finally got this thing bumping the other day. A friend with a "system" in his Civic wanted to hear the rig. So, I busted out some Ben Folds - Rockin' the Suburbs lol. It was definitely in the 110dB+ range, because it started getting that characteristic hissing non-linear distortion sound (air behaves fairly linearly up to about 110dB re. 20uPa). If you've been to a live rock concert, you know what I mean. Damn, it is freaking sweet to know that I can get this thing p past the point of hearing damage without any audible distortion in the electronics/drivers!

[franco90]

bump

[bmwman91]

Oh, and if anyone wants vector-art copies of the diagrams let me know (.svg format). The CD43/electronics art blocks can be used by anyone else with an interest in making these diagrams. Use them for whatever you want (personal/profit/whatever).

OK, as promised here are some pics of the final installation.

The CD43, installed. I have messed with it a little (took it apart, cleaned the optics & checked the springs/dampers) & that helped reduce the skipping. Radio reception is still awful though. If only there was another factory BMW CD player option...


Tweeters...installed.


Driver's side mid. I need a new kick panel cover.


Passenger's side mid. I REALLY need a new kick panel cover! That, and a clean way to attach the back portion to the body so it isn't sticking out so much. Since this cover is ruined already, I will experiment with a heat gun to see if I can re-shape it to sit in there better.


The electronics. The wiring isn't perfect, and I do need to tidy up the stuff on the right.


Yeah I know, you shouldn't have rat's nests for signal lines. It's a car...road noise dominates over anything that might come from ugly RCA cables. I don't hear any odd stuff anyway.


The outputs. Again, it isn't exactly aircraft-grade. It works.


Here is the sub peeking from behind the arm-rest. I do not hear any difference with the arm rest up & closed, or down & open. So, I leave it up. Any attention is bad attention in my opinion, so I like to keep this sucker as stock & boring looking as possible.


I avoid loose articles in the trunk, for obvious reasons. I can still jam all of my climbing & camping gear in there without any worries (it might slide a little, but I can arrange it so that nothing hits the sub or the dials on the electronics.
Yes, a hatchet, 8" knife, fire extinguisher, MAG light, various fluids, a cheap set of tools & sockets & a box of electrical supplies are necessary. For one, I drive a 20 year old German car...duh. Also, I don't like getting stuck by trees that have fallen onto the road & that sort of nonsense.


So there it all is. The sound is very nice. I still need to swap out the 9-conductor cable for some CAT6 cable...there is a very faint bit of alternator whine present when I am revving the motor hard & whatever is on the CD/radio is quiet at that time.. It is completely unnoticeable except under very specific circumstances, and I am the only one who notices...but I still want to get rid of it. I hope you all enjoyed the pictures & story!

Oh, and here is what I did to clean up the rear deck since I am not using the rear speakers at all.

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=188359

[M42Power]

This thread is spewing with awesome.

[StereoInstaller1]

Those flow chart diagrams kick ass too

[Jean]

I like everything about this build other than using the fancy mounting feet IN A FRICKING CAR.... and using RTA lol.

Good job though!

[bmwman91]

Bumpity bump...

I updated the (completely unnecessary) installation diagrams in the original post. Since I first made them, I have had a lot more time to get comfy with Inkscape, so I made them pretty.

Anyway, I will try to get out tomorrow afternoon to take some pictures of the finished product. I still need a new passenger side kick panel. The one that is in there is fugly thanks to some "creative" ideas I had with it a while back. Eew.

Also, does anyone happen to be parting out an E36 that has the diversity antenna & related electronic bits? The CD43 gets terrible reception with the E30's stock, unamplified single antenna. At the very least I would be interested in trying a stock E36 antenna signal amplifier box to see if it helps things at all.

And once again...I love this system. Time to find a used RTA to see just how technically good it really is!

[Schniddy]

kewl. awaiting mor pictchas

[bmwman91]

Well, it looks like I am good to go now. After installing the LC6i the ugly alternator whine disappeared. I want to say that I knew it would work, but I was only 90% sure that it would (and that 10% uncertainty had me sweating!). Yay for differential signals & inputs.

I have been spending some time trying to get the bass/mid/treble gains set well on the 6XS. Due to the crappy placement of the mids in the stock locations, I have the gain for them cranked up considerably higher than the other bits. I need to get out there with an oscilloscope again & re-adjust the gains now that the LC6i is in place, so I will tune around having the mids maxed out with the HU on the verge of clipping. Then from there I can tune the bass & treble by ear since their gains just need to be less than the mids' to avoid clipping.

Oh and my CD43 still skips when I hit medium/large bumps. That's annoying. I need to pull it & check the CD carrier. This seems to be the project that will never end.

I also have a cargo net that I need to install in my trunk to keep things from sliding into the sub/LC6i/6XS.

[bmwman91]

The LC6i should come tomorrow, and it had damn well better alleviate my alternator whine problem. I pulled the inputs to the 6XS & it all went away, so I know that the noise is from the HU or the signal line. The signals are running with the main chassis harness under the door sill, and they are unshielded, so I am 99.9% sure that the problem lies there. Once I get some common-mode noise rejection on the amp side, things should be sorted out.

One funny thing was when I was listening to it in the parking spot. I almost didn't like it. Something about having a super good sounding system in a car just feels totally foreign to me. Like, "a car isn't supposed to sound this good." lol

[alwaysinabimmer]

;)any updates? please?