How to install a killer stereo for $500 (loads of pics)

[lambo]

Yeah, I didn't really want to port my seats but I think I might do that until I source an armrest seat or something.

Definitely gonna port my seats somehow... It's amazing how much the foam absorbs...

[klavender1]

Definitely gonna port my seats somehow... It's amazing how much the foam absorbs...

I had a non armrest rear seat. Originally I was planning on drilling holes in the rear seat and putting in 4" sub box ports in the seats. I decided not to use the ports and just drill out the foam up to the vinyl. So it still looked stock.

[nostar]

Luke,

Very impressive stuff here. I've been reading about E30 audio for the past 24 hours, most of which has been your various forum posts. I have an 87 325i convertible. I have 2 actually, both with common ground premium sound. I bought both of them not running or drivable, and I now have one of them in near perfect working order and have started on the tunes. A few days ago I pulled the factory stereo to install a sony CDXGT360MP and studied the schematics to find that I had no direct access to speaker wire pairs from the dash, so last night I ran new wires to the left side front & back, then ran out of wire so I came inside for the night and started googling. Big mistake! Now I have a Pioneer DEH44 and a planet audio ac1800.5 on their way, and I am planning on buying your E30 convertible box and doing your recommended install. I'm gonna probably then use the sony in my other 325ic and just do a manual rewire 4 speaker system, then finish fixing it up and sell it.

I have a few questions for you, if you dont mind. I'm sure you have heard them all before, but I'm just about forum'ed out. What I am going for is a system that lives up to what you consider a "Killer audio system for $500" as described in that thread, but for a convertible. I am also not against spending a little more on this system if the return in full range quality is worth it.

First, can you give me a good, better, best (based on price) recommendation on woofers for your convertible LukeBox? I saw various posts about your love/hate relationship with kicker, but seems like those were a while back and some of the mentioned models aren't available.

Next, it looks like you use the stock speakers in your $500 system thread. I know that thread is based on a hard top with much better rear speakers/enclosures though. I also read a thread where you recommended that the owner of a convertible use the stock rear speakers because he was *not* planning on using a LukeBox, your reason being that they were capable of better bass response than any replacement. Since I am going to use the convertible LukeBox, do you have a recommendation on a rear speaker, coax perhaps, that would better compliment this system? How about a good, better, and best on that too if possible?

As far as front speakers, the drivers and door tweeters both seem pretty nice to me. I have one dead door tweeter though. So, *good* being all stock and replacing the door tweeter with a stocker, is there a better & best recommendation out there or are these just the ones to go with? Also is the LC filter built into these components good to go?

Finally, I've read enough posts in the past 24 hours to know how much you like the factory speaker wires, and now that I am going to use the 5ch amp-in-trunk config, I can use them after all. What are your thoughts on the guage though? Seems like they are borderline as far as guage goes. I guess the backs would be pretty short but the fronts are somewhat longer, any issues there with running more power? This question applies to the scenario of using stock speakers vs aftermarket, based on your other recommendations.

PS Be gentle, I'll most likely be off to ebay with whatever you recommend here, hah!

-Doug

[nostar]

I have a few more questions & observations after receiving and wiring up my amp.

Sure enough, the stock speakers are pretty loud. As I suspected, the fronts sound pretty good. I took a door tweeter out of my other car so they both work now. The rear speakers are pretty honkey (high midrange sound) but thats probably good when there is a good subwoofer system in place. I still wonder if there is an aftermarket alternative for the rear that would be better for this system. I notice the fronts are 40W capable and the backs are 20W capable. I'm really excited about having good sounding and powerful full range sound with the top down at highway speeds as you described, and also being able to pull up to a bonfire or something outdoors and providing good loud great sounding tunes. That's my goal with this system.

It's surprising how bad the stock amp is. I was never able to get the right code in either of my cars to unlock the stock stereo, so my attempts at sending a line level signal down those signal wires with an aftermarket head unit resulted in awful crackling and very little volume. I was sure the speakers were all fried in both cars, until hooking up this amp.

As someone posted earlier in the thread, the 1987 ETM is indeed wrong on the RR wire color. Even more, on the convertible the colors at the rear speakers change somewhere in between the amp and speaker. They are yellow with stripes for L and blue with stripes for R. The manual makes no mention of this and no mention of any splice or connector in between, just FYI.

This probably belongs in the vert box thread but I found 25sqft of fatmat 50mil for $55, should be good to line the chamber huh? Also, I have both a 4.25" and 4.5" hole saw, is the 4.5" the right size?

[StereoInstaller1]

I have a few more questions & observations after receiving and wiring up my amp.

Sure enough, the stock speakers are pretty loud. As I suspected, the fronts sound pretty good. I took a door tweeter out of my other car so they both work now. The rear speakers are pretty honkey (high midrange sound) but thats probably good when there is a good subwoofer system in place. I still wonder if there is an aftermarket alternative for the rear that would be better for this system. I notice the fronts are 40W capable and the backs are 20W capable. I'm really excited about having good sounding and powerful full range sound with the top down at highway speeds as you described, and also being able to pull up to a bonfire or something outdoors and providing good loud great sounding tunes. That's my goal with this system.

It's surprising how bad the stock amp is. I was never able to get the right code in either of my cars to unlock the stock stereo, so my attempts at sending a line level signal down those signal wires with an aftermarket head unit resulted in awful crackling and very little volume. I was sure the speakers were all fried in both cars, until hooking up this amp.

As someone posted earlier in the thread, the 1987 ETM is indeed wrong on the RR wire color. Even more, on the convertible the colors at the rear speakers change somewhere in between the amp and speaker. They are yellow with stripes for L and blue with stripes for R. The manual makes no mention of this and no mention of any splice or connector in between, just FYI.

This probably belongs in the vert box thread but I found 25sqft of fatmat 50mil for $55, should be good to line the chamber huh? Also, I have both a 4.25" and 4.5" hole saw, is the 4.5" the right size?

Damn! You don't need me for nothin, do ya?

OK...first, thank you. 1st forum post is always cool to see, so welcome to R3V. Every single thing I do is based on R3V, this place is my life. So, what I mean is welcome to your new addiction!

Rears: Yuk. Most 5.25 aftermarket speakers have tweeters that protrude too much to let the stock grille fit nicely. The Pioneer TSG series are pretty decent SQ, cheap enough and have very little protrusion:

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-qvvlPl4EkIB/p_130TSG1344/Pioneer-TS-G1344R.html

Otherwise, I typically use stock Premium speakers (the fronts from that other car!) but am careful to make certain that the inductor coil is bypassed. You can easily spot the correct terminals and a few seconds with a soldering iron will clean them right up. You want the speaker high-passed at roughly 125hz if you use the typical 12db/oct setting. Raise it as needed, the poor thing is just flapping around in mid-air.

They are a raging pain in the ass to install, so pay extra attention to re-installing the panel once they are mounted. Watch the seal against the window, if there is a gap, do it over.

Now, since this is the killer stereo thread and not a 'vert thread, I gotta make sure to update that info. Seems the ETM is more or less comprehensive depending on year, its weird.

Thank you for documenting that change. Oddly enough, when I did Turf1600s car I noticed that weirdity and did not add that data anywhere...clearly, it is my job to keep all this crap straight so everyone can learn from it, right?

One of these days I have to sit down and parse all this data and streamline it into a truly comprehensive guide. Writing this stuff is tough, I spend hours and hours typing. Now I wish I had paid attention in typing class!

OK, so last thing here: 'Vert and Power Top 'Vert boxes are back in the product lineup. We will shortly address the issue of the spare tire access, that will require a new floor, replacing the stock floor carpet entirely.

That also means a black trunk is an easy option...Expect the new 'Vert thread in the morning. We are not yet ready to accept payment on them, but certainly will be this weekend. We have opened up woofer choices with new offerings from Rockford and Alpine, both of which are far superior to the old Kickers.

You really did make my day, thanks!


Luke

[bigdrick323]

Pics of how you ran the wiring through the cabin? I have Vert with battery under the hood.
Recs on how to do it?

[nostar]

Well, I need your box and your instructions :)

I was going to say that I dont mind cutting a hole in the rear panels and installing covers, but I went ahead and ordered those pioneers. They have good reviews and can't beat the price, $35 new shipped from ebay!

I thought using the front speakers from my other car was a great idea for about 5 seconds. I have to stop thinking of the other car, the *blue* one as a parts car for the *grey* car. I think my initial post made it sound like I bought the 2 together with the intention of making one good one but thats not the case. I bought blue a year ago, and have rebuilt the engine and replaced the convertible top and drove it to NYC among other places, so its got a place in my heart :) Its still needs work though, seats and brake lines mainly. I just bought grey a few weeks ago, while looking for parts for blue :) Grey ended up being in such great condition, aside from not running, that I fell in love with it and am now focusing on it for now. I may not even sell blue, Im not sure but so far i took the in-tank fuel pump, intake snorkel, interior light and aftermarket stereo (the sony i mentioned) out of blue to get grey going. Today I lost a cylinder in grey and found it to be dead #4 fuel injector, so for a moment I considered pulling the injectors/rail from blue but no more parting her out! The madness stops now :) Instead I ordered a set of nice reman bosch injectors off ebay for $65.

I only went into all that detail because in the back of my mind I am considering doing this install twice. I may be interested in buying 2 boxes and doing both cars, any discount avail for 2 at once?

Oh, I agree fully with your interest in sharing and organizing information. I am a computer programmer, linux user, and huge open source software advocate. The open source software community is completely based on information sharing. I took a look at your site, and I'm going to PM you a proposition I have to possibly help you easily build a well organized database of all of your products and tutorials.

[StereoInstaller1]

Pics of how you ran the wiring through the cabin? I have Vert with battery under the hood.
Recs on how to do it?

There are plenty of good ways to run wires.

I highly recommend using one of these:



They run wires like this:





And just to see the finished product:

[nostar]

Hahahaha, thats the funniest response I've ever seen. I just spilled beer all over myself.

[bigdrick323]

There are plenty of good ways to run wires.

I highly recommend using one of these:



They run wires like this:





And just to see the finished product:

I definitely need to find one of those ...harbor freight, or anyone selling a used one on here?

Sent from my LG-MS870 using Tapatalk 2

[StereoInstaller1]

Lol

[bigdrick323]

I figured out where the stock wiring was going. Need to figure out how to get power through dash to the battery, thoughts?

Sent from my LG-MS870 using Tapatalk 2

[bigdrick323]

Got it, found the holes above the pedals. Used hangar to send wire through and jackpot, power wire is connected. Need to wire up the deck and be done...

[StereoInstaller1]

Wish I had time to answer earlier, sorry.

My typical route is on the right side of the car. Typically, I drill a hole below the battery tray and use a grommet.

Luke

[bigdrick323]

Thought about that, but the amp outputs suggested opposite, ran remote and power wire driver side, speaker and sub knob passenger side.

Sent from my LG-MS870 using Tapatalk 2