My sound was bad almost the entire time I owned my car...never got around to trying to fix it as I had too much to do maintaining the important parts of the car.

That said, my cassette radio worked fine--I'd lost some channels from the amp...and some speakers due to the foam speakers surrounds all decomposing...which I tried to fix--not so easy, though it was cheap--I fixed one of four speakers...the others I messed up on.

Also, I'm old and a dad, so I'll just say to make sure you don't spend your $ on sound unless you have enough extra for things that make the car go, stop, and steer.

 

Yeah true maintenance is very important, but my car is perfectly fine right now plus i always have some money left for it, so that won't be an issue.

I currently use a aux cassette tape to listen to spotify and such, sounds is ok i guess for it's age. But have to have it on low-medium volume and if i turn up the volume it doesn't sound that good cracking sounds and such.

So i was thinking of starting with just changing the radio and getting this one Alpine UTE-93DAB Alpine UTE-93DAB DIGITAL MEDIA/DAB RECEIVER WITH ADVANCED BLUETOOTH

My current cassette player works fine for what it is. But i think it's time to upgrade it. Will changing just the radio gonna make my original speakers sound better than with the original radio?

If not, then i will be changing the speakers later on, but no idea which ones to get

 

Go to www.crutchfield.com to see what fits. Generally, more expensive speakers will sound “better,” producing a more accurate sound. I prefer to stay away from Japanese speakers as they tend to sound a little shrill. This is also a good place to get info: DiyMobileAudio.com Car Stereo Forum

 

Thanks, gonna check crutchfield and post diymobileaudio aswell.

Did you change your radio and speakers?

 

I kept the head unit. I changed all of the speakers. I also replaced the amp with a JL 400/4. I added crossovers. Why? The factory amp has built in crossovers. I also put 6.5” subs in the rear package shelf along with an Alpine sub amp.

 

Bavsound is the most plug and play, and they're 10% off right now with their Black Friday sale.

My HK speakers have been performing fine but I know that it's about time for all of the surrounds to disintegrate so I pulled the trigger on a set the other day.

 

Yeah, i heard about that for Bavsound. But are they really that good compare to like Focal, Alpine, MTX and such? Plus doesn't adapters exist so you can plug and play Focal, Alpine, MTX speakers aswell or doesn't that exists and you need to cut wires and such?

 

The virtue of the BavSound upgrade is that they are plug and play. The other speakers will require cutting the car to get them to fit.

There are tons of threads on this in the Mobile and Electronics forum here.

Speaker upgrade BMW E46

I am looking at progressively upgrading speakers for a BMW E46 saloon starting with the 6.25" 2 ohm midbass speakers and 0.75" 8 ohm tweeters. I am considering MB Quart QM165 which are a direct fit for E46 BMWs. These are 4 ohm speakers. Impedance confuses me but I understand that going from 2...

www.diymobileaudio.com

.

 

you’re going to need to match your new speakers impedance/ohms to your new headunit’s (or amp’s).
then you gotta find what fits in that space.
right now the system is wired up that sends high/low signals to respective type speakers.

I like speakers sets that are “separates” aka “components” to fill these spots like cabin was set up for. these are more costly is the drawback.

 

Car Speakers & Subs, Replacement Speakers - Crutchfield

Shopping for Car Speakers & Subs? Our Virginia-based experts love helping folks find the right gear. Get FREE 2-day shipping and free lifetime tech support with your order.

www.crutchfield.com

I found this nice to know what fits in the car besides Bavsound.

I'm partial to Infinity's, more the old stuff than the new ones after it became part of Harman.

 

I've got the BavSound. I like them. Mostly. I believe I've lost some bass. Everybody tells me they have plenty of base, but I'm not convinced. I have a touring, so no subwoofer option for me (from BavSound). I can compensate somewhat with the equalizer on my Dynavin N6.

They are very bright and clear in the mid-range and highs for sure.

 

I have the Bav Sound in the front doors only. Definitely better since my stock speakers were shot.

Recently I installed KillMat insulation in both front doors and under the rear seat. Made a world of difference. Road noise is much less and I don’t have to blast the the sound system when I’m on the highway just to hear it.

HTH


Sent from my iPhone using E46Fanatics

 

Another vote for Bavsound. The sound quality is good.

 

Well seems like Bavsound is a no go, they says this on the checkout "We are unable to ship internationally"

I live in Europe, even if they did sell internationally i bet the shipping and taxes would have been way to expensive, probably double the price of the speakers.

So i have to look elsewhere Focal, Alpine, MTX, Helix, JBL, Hertz, Pioneer, Rockford Fosgard and other brands i didn't mentioned.

What's the size of the speakers? I've seen some posts say their is not much depth space and such, but i can't find any info about it plus lots of companies don't even mentioned the depth size. Some mentioning different sizes for the speakers 13" and 16", can a you put a 16" speakers if you have 13" originally in your car and vice versa?

Does every non Bavsound speakers mean i have to cut things up?

 

Use Crutchfield to tell you what sizes you need. Not sure if they ship internationally either, but their website is great for telling you what fits, then take that to another retailer that you can actually buy from.

 

I tried to self-match, however, found it difficult/impossible (and time consuming) to match factory sizes and impedance. And, even with quality replacements, results were somewhat muddled and unbalanced. Removed, installed Bavsound’s stage one (plus sound deadening to door cards), and am pleased. To me, the extra money (~$100) is more than offset by the results.

Edit: Just saw no international shipping... Maybe email them to see if they can offer an option or exception? GL

 

What are the sizes of the Bavsound ones 16" and what about depth?

What size did you originally have 16" or 13"?

Can you put 16" speakers if you have originally 13" speakers and vice versa?

I have a sedan, i have seen mentioning different sizes 13" for sedan's and 16" for coupes and others saying that sedan/coupes are both 16" other are saying 16" in front and 13" in back and such. So kinds confusing

 

Do you mean 13 and 16 cm?

 

13" and 16" speakers would be huge. I have big speakers as my mains in the house and even those are only 12", so not sure where those sizes are coming from.

E46s do seem to suffer from shallow doors, making speaker selection difficult, but that should be covered in Crutchfield's fit tool.


EDIT: Wow. They've got nothing for our cars. Front door woofer is the only thing for my wagon, and I have to buy a two-piece component set with a tweeter that won't work to get that!

 

13" and 16" speakers would be huge. I have big speakers as my mains in the house and even those are only 12", so not sure where those sizes are coming from.

E46s do seem to suffer from shallow doors, making speaker selection difficult, but that should be covered in Crutchfield's fit tool.

My bad i think i confused cm and inch or something. Apparently the speakers are either 165mm so 16.5cm that's 6.5inch i think and 130mm 13cm so 5inch or something. Idk not good with the measurements

But what is the actual size of the speakers, they only mention the 165mm or 130mm but i can't seem to find the depth size for the original speakers. I see speakers with 55mm in depth others with 65mm in depth and such so idk what's a good size that will fit the E46. Tried to look at Bavsound since those those fit perfectly but even they don't mention the sizes. So kinds confusing to look for speakers if idk the size of the depth and such

 

There may be another possibility for BavSound. I think they are called reshippers (not sure). The concept is, if you want to ship something outside the US where the seller doesn't do so, you buy it and it sent to the reshipper. They ship it overseas and take care of all the paperwork. For a modest fee of course.

 

The mobile electronics section of the forum probably has the answers that you're looking for. Threads like this one would be a good place to start. You'll be wanting to try and stay with one brand for each of the component speakers so that they match sound-wise and it looks like they'll all require some amount of fabrication to make work.

 

Ok thanks, yeah probably best to stick with one brand for all speakers.

Thanks for the link.

So that means i have to cut something, any reason why? This kinda confused me why you have to cut things

 

Question how many speakers does the Non Harman Kardon have? And the location of them?

 

HiFi and HK both have a mid bass, mid and tweeter in the front door, mid in the rear door, and a woofer in the rear package tray.

 

Hum i seem to only count 6 in mine 🤔

 

Coupe?

There should be a mid in the doors under the door pull.

EDIT: Looks like the coupe/vert has the mid in the rear seat side panel.
So mid bass and tweeter in front door, mid rear seat side panel, woofer in the rear deck.

RealOEM.com - Online BMW Parts Catalog

BMW parts 3' E46 320Ci Diagram Selection

www.realoem.com

 

Coupe?

There should be a mid in the doors under the door pull.

No i have a sedan

 

You can use the factory screw on ones and cut the basket to give you a washer for your type of speaker to mount to. If its been like 10 years since, i recommend while you have the door panels and speakers out to write down what color wires go where. Cause the amplifier may be on its way out too. Had to replace mine with Crescendo audio kits that came with mids and crossovers. i took out the factor ones in the doors and put 1 mid in the bottom and a tweeter in the front doors on the window corner. I put 1 mid a tweet in the back doors. I have a touring so i have 2 mids in the trunk plus woofer.

 

Thanks for the tip. Can't you just buy the washers and such?

I don't have an amp, don't know if I have the prewires.

I'll see what i'll do, probably gonna bring into a shop and have them install them

 

Should not be any risk, no. What usually smokes speakers is overdriving the amp to the point that it sends direct current to the speaker. This happens far more often than blowing them with a higher powered source.

 

Ok cool, thank you. I'm gonna order the HU then.

 

Hello, i'm thinking of changing my current original cassette radio soon. I think I'm gonna get this radio Alpine UTE-93DAB Alpine UTE-93DAB DIGITAL MEDIA/DAB RECEIVER WITH ADVANCED BLUETOOTH anything i should buy to install the radio adapters and what not? Will the radio gonna make my current original speakers sound better?

Since i'm gonna change my radio might aswell change my original speakers non Harman Kardon later but i have no idea which one are the best and the ones i should get Focal, Alpine, MTX, Helix, JBL, Hertz, Bavsound, Pioneer, Rockford Fosgard and such?

Probably gonna get an Amp and subs aswell later, any recommendations for that aswell?

As a ex Al n Ed's shop owner and distributor, I go the Focal, Alpine, or Pioneer route. As for sub I hid my Illusion audio c10 in the rear seat cupholder/ armrest fold down.