Finally installed my sub in ski pass...

I wanted to upgrade the sound in my 'vert, in general I was happy with the sound quality of the stock speakers, just not with the lack of bass. I thought that if I was able to adda sub I could turn the bass down to the stock speakers and drive them harder. Yes, I know they are rubbish, but I know how much trouble people have gone to to repace them and I wanted to leave things as stock as possible (or as easily removable as possible when I sell the car... eventually).

I've been thinking about doing this for absolutely ages now, spent a while waiting for a specific free air sub which was a bit troublesome to get hold of. So in the end I went we just a normal sub. The idea was to mount a 10" speaker in the ski hatch area and use the boot space as the enclosure. I just wasn't sure how ell it would work... although it worked very well my head

I installed a 10" Kicker Solobaric L5 Dual 2 sub with a Alpine MRP-M352 amp. This combination kicks out 200W rms, although if I went with a Dual 4 sub (wired to 2ohms) the Amp could go to 350w. It was enough power for me!

In total the install cost about £210; Amp £100, Sub £60 (clearance price, normally £135), wiring £20, Soundgate LocX £30.

Enough talking, here's some pics!

So I measured up and using 18mm MDF I made up a mount for the sub. Notice the notches in the mdf, they're need cos of the shape of the metal.


Here it is installed in ski pass area. There was a black plastic box which was head in my 4 large torx screws before.


I then sprayed the side showing into the cabin black, and the back in silver, so it stand out too much. No pictures but you'll see it in the next pictures.

Here's the sub installed in the car


Here's another shot of the sub


Here's a shot with the seats back in


The amp went on the right hand side of the trunk wall. The mdf had to be shaved to fit over the lugs and lumps on the wall.


The mdf fitted to the rear wall. The sub mount was also fixed using 4 screws from the back, you can see 2 of them above and 2 below to the left of the amp. There was also a nice hole already there to fir the speaker cable through. Also a handy location for the power since the battery is less than half a metre away!


Next job was to get some rca's to the amp. I tapped into the speaker outputs and remote wire from the radio module, which also quite luckily was also in the boot!


As you can see, it was a VERY tight fit!!! Everything only just went it. I had to go out and buy the right angled phono connectors since there was not enough room for them to go in upright! The wires had to connected before the amp was fixed to the mdf since they're wasn't enough room to be able to get them on otherwise!


And here's the finished install. All the wires are routed behind the carpet and a small hole made to poke them through. The carper is the standard BMW one, with the hole cut our for the amp/ski pass using a stanley knife.


And how does it sound I hear you ask me? Frickin awesome. And I haven't even adjusted anything yet! There's enough bass to rattle a few things about and be able to feel your seat vibrate! And totally noticeable from outside the car, but not stupidly so. Everything is still controllable from the head unit (I have Nav and TV) so bass can be increased/decreased from there.

I do need to make some adjustments though, so that the bass can be turned right down on the head unit so the door speakers can be driven harder.

All in all, I'm very pleased with the sound now and it turned out a lot better than I'd hoped As you can see, it takes up NO boot space and it is totally hidden away with the arm rest in place (and the arm rest can be left in place at lower volumes, just gets blown off otherwise


Kam

Damn thats a clean setup.. Nice work!

Very nice and clean.
Great to hear that it sounds nice too. Some say that you have to seal the entire trunk space for it to sound nice...

Thanks for taking the time sharing with the group!

Originally Posted by Kanaljen

Very nice and clean.
Great to hear that it sounds nice too. Some say that you have to seal the entire trunk space for it to sound nice...

Thanks for taking the time sharing with the group!

Thanks for the comments guys. I've heard this about sealing the trunk area, but I'm not sure how it is on the coupes, but in the vert's the trunk area is totally sealed. Plus the rear seats are fixed and don't fold down, the only opening is the ski pass. The rear wall behind the seats is 3/4mm thick metal, double skinned plus you have seats on top of that. There was a couple of potential gaps, but they are blocked off by the 2 triangular uprights in the sub mount.

Like I say, I wasn't too sure how it would sound due to people saying it had to be sealed or the trunk area will be too big as a enclosure (the shop esp, they did offer to custom make me abox for a hell of a lot of money though )

Luckily it turned out well, if it hadn't then I woulda used the same sub in a custom box so had nothing to lose really!

MAN you did a AWESOME JOB!!

I'm DYING to do this to my car.

Do you have a write up? (Pattern for the cut outs, how you mounted the enclosure to the opening, etc?)

Congrats!

What the width of the opening? Is it about 11" across?

Seems wider than in my sedan.. must go and measure now..

Yeah.. I think the vent holes into the cabin in the sedan (and coupe?) is the problem.

Congrats again!

Very nice work-your installation looks very clean and well integrated!

damn thats clean

Originally Posted by TKC

MAN you did a AWESOME JOB!!

I'm DYING to do this to my car.

Do you have a write up? (Pattern for the cut outs, how you mounted the enclosure to the opening, etc?)

Congrats!

Thanks guys, very pleased with the results. The drive into work has been so much more enjoyable these last 2 days (esp since the sun is out too )

The width of the opening is about 11.5 inches, maybe slightly less. I don't have any pattern's for the cut outs but it's easy enough to mesure up and make. I just used a radial arm saw and kept going back and forth till it was perfect. It's literally a square front and the 2 triangular uprights. You'll need to make cut outs in the wood to compensate for grooves in the metal, again, I just played it by eye. You can get away with a lot since everything is so hidden away. If you get it spot on then you can get a nice tight fit which also means you seal the trunk better. If need be I'm sure I can measure up most of it without removing anything.

If you look at picture 6 & 7 you'll see 2 screws either side of the speaker. Those are the only 4 screws securing the enclosure, screwed into the back of the traingular uprights (I'll edit the pictures to highlight these)

The tricky part is the amp. You need to get a small as amp as possible (without sacrificing too much power!). It literally only just went in, both vertically and horizontally. The amp is butted up to the right as far as possible and only just clears the speaker. I'm sure there are smaller, better amps out there, but this was good for the price.


Kam

This thread come just in time!

I am still doing my research as I am planning to do the same.

Do you think there is enough space to hide the amp behind the carpet somewhere?

Btw, where did you buy the converter from? It converts balanced/differential to RCA correct?

Btw, did I mention that your installation is super clean! BRAVO!

Originally Posted by gkoutsis

This thread come just in time!

I am still doing my research as I am planning to do the same.

Do you think there is enough space to hide the amp behind the carpet somewhere?

Btw, where did you buy the converter from? It converts balanced/differential to RCA correct?

Btw, did I mention that your installation is super clean! BRAVO!

I bought the convertor from http://www.edaudio.com/store/product...roducts_id=144. It seems to work perfect, I was looking for the SVEN convertor but couldn't get it in the UK. Another UK member recommended this one and works perfect with the balanced differential.

There isn't enough room behind the carpet for the amp, I barely got the MDF board in... I removed all the foam padding from behind the carpet and it fitted but it does sit flush. If you don't have Sat Nav/TV then the TV module sits on the left hand side. In my car the carpet is moulded to fit around the tuner so you could fit the amp there.

The alternative would be to try and find a super small amp and fit it where the BMW amp would sit, behind the left rear speaker card. But it is very small, something like 8"x8" but you'd need to measure the size.

I'd definately recommend the square sub though, looks so much cooler than the round ones and makes maximum use of the space.


Kam

Originally Posted by gkoutsis

This thread come just in time!

I am still doing my research as I am planning to do the same.

Do you think there is enough space to hide the amp behind the carpet somewhere?

Btw, where did you buy the converter from? It converts balanced/differential to RCA correct?

Btw, did I mention that your installation is super clean! BRAVO!

+1!

I want to do something similar as well.
Fantastic job, well done!

I want to do this exact type of install in my Coupe. It looks great and, now seeing the amount that the magnet sticks out, I know I can retain my fold down seat functionality. I do, however, plan to seal a sub into its own little box. Sure it might be small but I was thinking of a JL 8W7 and being done with it. Very cool! Only problem is that the coupes require cutting to get the ski-pass to be open... at least in my non-Winter Package car.

Excellent choice in the location of the woofer. That is the best spot for the cabrio owners!

Nice work!

Halston! Design a similar enclosure for coupes. I'd love to be able to mount something there in my car and still be able to fold down the seats.q

wheres there a good place to find out wiring diagram for us verts?

wheres there a good place to find out wiring diagram for us verts?

What do you need? I have the complete WDS DVD

Originally Posted by JADE46

wheres there a good place to find out wiring diagram for us verts?

There's not a lot to it really, I tapped in the speaker wires from the radio in the trunk...

Here's the radio connector for the BM54 radio's... might be different for other radio's/non-nav cars, I'm not sure.

Ignore the colours it mentions for the wires. Mine was different and other people I have spoken to have said there's are different. But the pin out's are correct. Also note, pins 5-8 are the - (negative) for the speakers, not + as it says on diagram. You basically need:

Pin 1 Rear Right Speaker +
Pin 4 Rear Left Speaker +
Pin 5 Rear Right Speaker -
Pin 8 Rear Left Speaker -
Pin 13 [White] Remote Turn On for Amp



Apart from these, you also need to run power cables from the battery, but since it was in the trunk also it was very easy!

///Kam

Some extra info....

Notice the outputs for the HK amp (balanced/differential output), are covered.



However, the wires are there.....



And the plug on the BM54

I posted on a wrong thread!!!
Sorry....