E36 Sound System Upgrades - Page 2

paul christians · 04-21-2006, 11:55 AM

that is why it is called EXPLODE....hehehehehheeeeeee..

Proliphic · 04-21-2006, 01:06 PM

Well what you can do is

1. Check how many speakers you have in your car, each side should have ( 1 at your feet, 2 on the door, and 2 in the back it looks like one but if you open it theres a tweeter in it aswell..) so the same should be for the other side of the car.. = 10 speakers.

2. Find your stock AMP. should be behind the trunk lining on the left side right behind the wheel well.

3. Get a decent - good head unit, Id recommend Alpine, one of the few head units that is not over rated, the power it says it has is what it has..

4. Figure out how much bass you want, I run 2 10" JL's in a sealed box in the truck with a Power acoustics "Fire & Ice" 820 watt AMP with a capacitor (to avoid power drain)

5. find subs and have installed into a proper box or have one custom made for your trunk. (custom = costly)

6. If you do not have the ski hole behind the rear armrest of your car like I dont (didnt) and you want the base to travel in the car heres what you can do, remove your seats (they just pop out off clips) then remove the insulation, you should see a perferated line in the insulation shaped like "home plate" in baseball, also in the actual metal barrier between the car and truck you should see the same shape outlined, it is just held in place with a few spot welds and punches out with a few good smacks with a hammer, then file down the sharp edges and POOF you now have a ski hole or bass port which ever you wanna call it.. not the prettiest thing in the world but it works..

7. Drive and enjoy pissing off your neighbors with your new sound..

Pro.

Proliphic · 04-21-2006, 01:10 PM

BTW get Paul to do your install when you get all your gear.. he does nice clean work.

Pro.

vadim321go · 04-22-2006, 10:34 AM

question for u pro, how was the noise vibration after installing the sub? what im worried about is that everything in the trunk is gonna vibrate, like all the plsatics and such. also the doors and pretty much everything else. did u sound deaden the trunk or what did u do?

Understated · 04-22-2006, 01:32 PM

how is SQ in a vert tho? i heard it's absolutely garbage compared to a coupe because of the obvious fact that you will never have an 'isolated' cabin unless u have a top up but even then it's not as good

one of the only downsides to a cab imo

MP328 · 04-22-2006, 04:37 PM

it's very easy to wire a amp+sub to ur existing sounds system.

might not be the best way to do it but it's the easiest for sure. just take one of the rear speaker wires (not the tweeter) and splice into it and feed that wire to the new amp + connect new amp to the battery + connect sub to the amp and ur done.

mine has been running like that for 6 years now all on stock deck and stock amp still being there. i dont wanna upgrade the deck cuz it's just gonna ruin the looks of the front, and i'm not too much into the whole audio stuff. as long as the seats vibrate i'm happy.

BennyL · 04-22-2006, 05:36 PM

yeah,

see... I like the look of the stock deck. but at the same time, the general opinion is that a decent aftermarket deck will give better sound. oh, and the display on my stock head unit is really f*cked up. so I may very well have to get a new deck. I just want something that will look clean.

then I'm gonna toss a 10" sub in the trunk with an amp, and thats it. all done.

ps - the sub that was on sale at Future Shop was a 10" Rockford Fosgate with a bassworx box for $89.99 - but I didn't get it, cuz I was busy doing other things. anyways, a buddy of mine works at Future Shop, so he can get it for me cheaper.

BennyL · 04-22-2006, 06:15 PM

oh, and here are pictures of my speakers

seems I have 10 speakers (do all E36's have 10... or is it an option?)

foot panel:

door:

back:

vadim321go · 04-22-2006, 10:17 PM

i dont understand the last picture :S

Proliphic · 04-23-2006, 10:22 AM

I had a small amount of vibration from the trunk being the liscense plate but $20 @ future shop for the dynamat plate kit fixed that and also the small trim peice above the plate where the trunk button is was rattling, not sure how to fix that one yet but other then that there was no noticible vibrations that I could tell and was nice clean sound, Propr'One and Rico have heard my car with the subs and they seemed to like it,

but you could always dynamat your trunk, (dynamat trunk kit = $100 i think at future shop)

but install it play it and see how it sounds every car is different,, not sure how the sound quality will differ in a convertible.. but im sure it will sound decent,,

Pro.

Proliphic · 04-23-2006, 10:23 AM

what the heck is that last pic of ?? i cant make sense of it !!!

lol

Pro.

MP328 · 04-23-2006, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Proliphic

what the heck is that last pic of ?? i cant make sense of it !!!

lol

Pro.

like he said his car is a convertible. so the speakers are on the side in the back. not like the coupe or sedan

spooner_dee · 04-23-2006, 02:27 PM

im not sure how it is in the vert, but with my car, if you fold down that center piece in the rear seat (the arm rest) theres a velcroed piece of leather, pull it down and it reveals, the "ski" hole (i believe its called)?

anywho from looking at mine it appears to be precut so that it can be removed easily. So if you have the same set up pop out that piece and have your sub mounted right on or around that hole to get the best thump in the trunk.

By the way how much you spending on your one 10" sub?

Speaking from previous experience i put together one hard hitting system including 2 10's a 500 watt amp, speaker box and wiring for under 300 total.

The speakers were cerwin vega stealth series subs (one of the best subs out there in my opinion) 500 watt jensen amp (did its job) and it hit harder then my friends system which he spent well over 500 on a 12 inch 1200 watt sub and a 1000 watt amp.

something to think about if your building on a budget.

BennyL · 04-23-2006, 02:51 PM

well, as I said, there is a sale for a 10" Rockford Fosgate sub with sub box for $89.99

then I'll get a friend of mine (who works at Future Shop) to hook me up with employee price on an amp & wire kit. should be cheap...

oh, and to explain the last pic: if you are sitting in the back seat, behind the driver, and you turn to your left - thats where those speakers are. they are located on the side panels in the rear seating area.

vadim321go · 04-24-2006, 11:44 AM

no offence but cerwin vega is right next to lightning audio, and sony when it comes to car audio.