What speakers for my E30?

[StereoInstaller1]

The Polks are more cheap Chinese crap...fine if you have a subwoofer and the bottom end is not needed...but the stock Premium Sound speakers will blow them away.

Those Infinitys (one of my fave cheap-O speakers ever) sound great but will not fit, the tweeter protrudes too much.

Seriously, the absolute best midbass (its 4 dinky speakers, do you really expect bass?) ever made in this size of speaker is the stock Premium sound...period.

Adding an amp will allow you sone level of adjustability, but what you are asking is just retarded. I don't give a shit what your Nissan or your pick-up (6X9s in the door, try that in your E30!) did, or what my old '77 Nova did, this is an E30 that has no roof.

What you heard in another acoustical environment (and by that, I mean another car) has NOTHING to do with what you hear in THIS car.

Luke

[randomtask37]

Just yesterday I installed 4 Infinity Reference 5030cs to replace the crappy kenwoods my PO installed. I cant compare them to the stock premium speakers, but i am happy with these speakers. However, I am running them from an amp.

Also, to make these fit, i had to modfy the kick panels and custom fit the rears (nothing too techncial.) Basically the tweeters in the rear i had to mount 'on the bottom'... and had to lift the grills a tad.

ill add some pictures at some point

[WhyNot]

Here is a audio test video shot on my Canon 60D, no recording mic.


amps
Alpine MRX-F30 and MRX-M50
Pioneer TS-D1320C (front) and TS-D1302R (rear)
Luke sub box for power top cars
2x8" Kickers

i think thats its near impossible to get a feel for what it sounds like in person.
it seems worse than when you listen to exhaust clips
not trying to rag on your system at all but the clip imho tells nothing
the actual song you are playing....well thats one is just too easy...

[greentalks43]

What you want will not be achieved with some mediocre aftermarket speakers off your Alpine deck. The purpose of a sub is to have your music sounds "full". Personally, I would track down the BMW Premium Sound tweeters/woofers and go from there. But no matter what you do, without a sub you will continue to feel as if something is missing, the lower frequency range that a deck and your average 5-1/4 woofer cannot produce.

[StereoInstaller1]

What you want will not be achieved with some mediocre aftermarket speakers off your Alpine deck. The purpose of a sub is to have your music sounds "full". Personally, I would track down the BMW Premium Sound tweeters/woofers and go from there. But no matter what you do, without a sub you will continue to feel as if something is missing, the lower frequency range that a deck and your average 5-1/4 woofer cannot produce.

This.

Sorry I sound like the grouchy old bitch that I am.

This guy nailed your upgrade path.

[Mitch H]

I think he pretty clearly stated that he didn't want to invest in an amp/sub setup...

Don't get me wrong, I think that's the right path. A HU and a few midranges aren't going to give you a well rounded sound, from 25 to 20k HZ. But to do that you need to invest a lot more time/energy than just swapping out the stock speakers, which is what it sounds like he wants to do.

I still think you should pick up some high sensitivity aftermarket speakers and plug them in. If you want a sub in the future, go for it. I would recommend the stock BMW premium woofers, but I can't find specs for them, and while I love the way mine sound, I'm driving them with a fair bit of power, which you don't have with your HU.

[Cabriolet]

Mitch, do you own a vert?

[Mitch H]

Nope.

[Cabriolet]

Nope.

Hrm k, this is why I ask. I have owned an eta with premium audio and a similar HU to OP. I have an M3 with full factory premium audio. My dad has an identical mtech2 vert as me will full premium audio and I have an mtech2 vert with a full nice system. And building a 4dr for my wife and ill mention why I do what I do.
So you can see, why I know what I'm talking about when it comes to audio and these cars.
In a hard top car you hear more than 2x more of the sound produced by the speaker than you do in a convertible. This is especially noticeable with anything below 120Hz. In an E30 convertible the rear speaker are on floating panels and that alone ruins the audio that is able to be produced back there. The front woofers are hardly audible with ones feet/legs blocking the sound.

Premium audio speaks do not produce sound below 90Hz.
In a convertible you hear nothing below 120Hz.

I rarely drive my M3, because the audio from the speaker is so bad (nothing is blown, all in 100% perfect working order) it's that bad and if I do I drive most of the time without music, in comparison to my convertible. I ran premium speakers and a similar HU to OP for 1.5 years and it sucked.

Telling someone it's a good idea to run stock premium audio in a convertible it like telling someone it's ok to be sodomized because it makes it easier to shit.

Get quality speakers, even running on the head unit makes a little difference. get a sub pod for the pass-rear seat (one that can be removed easily) will make a huge difference.

You can quote me on this. Anyone that has said it's a good idea to run "stock premium audio speakers" in a convertible has never owned an e30 convertible.

[Mitch H]

That's why I didn't recommend he run stock premium speakers? I'm not sure you read my post. I recommended putting in high sensitivity (above 90 dB) woofers with as wide of frequency range he could find. A woofer with a high sensitivity will create more acoustical energy per watt electrical energy than a woofer with a low sensitivity. This is important for two reasons: his head unit does not output much power, and there will be much higher ambient noise threshold because he drives a convertible.

You're right, I bet stock premium speakers do not sound great with that head unit. That's why I didn't recommend it. As stated before, I suspect they aren't very effecient.

You're claim that they do not produce sound below 90 Hz is flat out false, however. I just played a 56 Hz sine wave through all four of my premium speakers. So I dunno where you got that information from...

I agree that a subwoofer is a good idea, but he explicitly stated that he does not want one, so I don't know why everyone is recommending one. A sub also isn't the magic fix to any sound system either; getting the full range of frequencies down to 25 Hz is great, but your sound system isn't going to sound good if everything above 150 Hz is being played through worn out speakers.

All this seems to be moot though, because OP hasn't responded since Monday. Probably because we're all bitching over trivialities.

[Cabriolet]

I would recommend the stock BMW premium woofers, but I can't find specs for them

[Mitch H]

I didn't recommend them because I couldn't find specs...

[randomtask37]

i said id put pics up. so here

[Gregolas]

What you want will not be achieved with some mediocre aftermarket speakers off your Alpine deck. The purpose of a sub is to have your music sounds "full". Personally, I would track down the BMW Premium Sound tweeters/woofers and go from there. But no matter what you do, without a sub you will continue to feel as if something is missing, the lower frequency range that a deck and your average 5-1/4 woofer cannot produce.

This exactly. Problem with asking everyones preference on speakers is that most have different tastes on what sounds "good" to them. For decent sound though, you WILL need to run a subwoofer (I have the 8" LTW Lukebox, as I don't want "stupid" or "ridiculous" bass [again, my personal preference]). I have never heard a system in a car that has a mid bass that comes close to fulfilling the low frequency that a subwoofer in a box produces. I also do not run a rear stage (rear speakers). Again, my personal preference on what I think sounds best to me.

My recommendation on this would be to start with the stock BMW premium sound speakers run through an aftermarket amp. The output from the head units amp is pointless and does not produce SQ at all. I tried mine in both configurations and it is amazing the difference between the two. I know this in counter intuitive to most thinking that some aftermarket company provides a speaker that will beat a 20+ yr old speaker, but most fall short. I have heard it myself and was absolutely amazed given the premium sound speakers' performance.

Just my $.02

Been there and back in car audio components and have realized the gimmick that most products are.

[bastianshaw]

didnt all 2.5l verts come w premium sound?