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E46 bass not that great . .

296 Views 10 Replies 6 Participants Last post by  Millennial Toolbox
i have 6 speakers 2001 325i. I assume that is stock.
I know i dont have HK system

the HK system in my old E36 was pretty good.

Seems the bass in the trunk is weak. Those speakers do work.

Would the rear speakers in my old HK E36 fit in the E46 ?

what do people recommend ? The E36 HK had small door speakers like
the E46 ( 4 inches if i remeber ) altho they were mounted higher.

i looked at the thread FAQ's didnt see much

thanks
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The HK system has a dedicated subwoofer. I don't think simply swapping speakers without adding a subwoofer will get you what you're looking for.
the HK system has two 6x9 speakers in the rear deck that act as "subwoofers". They are not subwoofers, they do add some bass, but nothing near what even just an 8'' sub with a couple hundred watts would do. I put in a 10'' JL when I first bought my car and haven't looked back, the HK system overall is great though for the mids and highs. And I'm only running 150 watts rms to that subwoofer.. but having 4 volt preouts from the Kenwood head unit is not to be underestimated :devilish: so I suppose my suggestion would be to put in a real subwoofer.. which is very easy on our cars with the battery in the trunk.. if you're on a budget get a 8 or 10'' Skar sub, get an alpine 500W mono block hook it up and you'll be bumpin hard for less than $300 for years to come.
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Im not into the booming subwoofer sound.
I just like nice bass. like 200 - 600 HZ .
Is 6 x9 the size of the regular E46 speakers in the trunk ?

or do we have to cut stuff in the back ?

otherwise ive seen on a Youtube video the plug and play Bavarian sound replacement .
Anybody else but Bavarian have a plug and play ?
Good mid range ($) sound system in E46 would be IMHO focal kit, with a head unit which integrates an amplifier, along with sound proofing some of the panels (proven to have a nice impact on the quality of the sound system in a car).

If you only want to get your whole car to vibrate without even hearing you music anymore, you can install those big trunk sub, but I don't think they add anything but noise to a bad sound system.

I have the regular sound system in my E46, and I agree, it really sounds bad.
But the solution I recommended wouldn't be really cheap, that's why I didn't do it yet.
what are you trying to do? more bass ? more oomph at the front seats where you reside?

do you just want to rip out all old speakers and replace with similar but newer made (and review say better sounding) - go with bws

add a 8" - 10" sub... hey make your own box and go all the way up to 12" !!!

or rip out everything and install speakers & amp combo and basically you'll be heaven.

i've had all 3 systems.. the custom speakers (rainbow 6.5" & a bsw 12" sub) - amazing.

with the hk system, definitely need a little more bass by simply adding a sub

normal standard system... if its original speakers you're probably have a crappy surround and its deteririoting
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what are you trying to do? more bass ? more oomph at the front seats where you reside?

do you just want to rip out all old speakers and replace with similar but newer made (and review say better sounding) - go with bws

add a 8" - 10" sub... hey make your own box and go all the way up to 12" !!!

or rip out everything and install speakers & amp combo and basically you'll be heaven.

i've had all 3 systems.. the custom speakers (rainbow 6.5" & a bsw 12" sub) - amazing.

with the hk system, definitely need a little more bass by simply adding a sub

normal standard system... if its original speakers you're probably have a crappy surround and its deteririoting
I think its just that stock E36 is dead below 500 HZ. So i just want a good system that plays a good, not excessive bass. i dont want oomph.
> what are you trying to do? more bass ? more oomph at the front seats where you reside?
As i mentioned im not into a booming bass sound that shakes the car and is heard on the street.
I want close to a home audiophile system.
I wont need a sub woofer.

I had the HK in the E36 which was pretty good.
But i rode in an E36 car with a upgraded system from HK that sounded even better.
Really good. The owner didnt know what speakers were in there. But very clear realistic sound.

How are Alpine Speakers ?

thanks
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id go with bws for 500 bucks.

im about to do this in my sedan and see if i like it more than original h&k which is showing some wear (20 year old system by now..)
is that Bowers and Wilkins ???

>> id go with bws
btw turns out i have a speaker in rear door. so i have 8 speakers fwiw
I've replaced 2 e46s with a newer radio that can adapt the AUX and the newer radios 04 and up sound better.
Its funny because subwoofers and head units have gain control, you would have control over how much oomph the system has at any given moment for any given song. Sometimes I bump my gain down on the fly because the bass for a 21 savage or drake song is already good, then sometimes I need to jack my gain up because I'm playing an 80's billy idol or depeche mode cut and the bass is almost non existent if I don't jack the db's up a bit for the sub. I totally get if somebody doesn't want to take up space in there trunk with a sub. I've thought about an 8'' sub fabricated into the rear seat pass through area or just in a compact box fitted above the battery or something.. The bottom line most efficient & cost effective thing you can do for the sound you want, get an alpine 300w 4 channel amp, bridge channels 3&4 for a sub or run 6x9's in the deck, use the low pass filter for channel 3/4 and tune it, then use channel 1&2 to drive some really good quality front speakers, then the head unit can power the standard rear door speakers and or a pair of front tweeters, once again not sure if the non HK systems even have a spot for tweeters up front, but if not you could add them for cheap. If you want to keep the Stock head unit get a line out converter to run signal to the amp, or get a Kenwood and run RCA cables to the amp. All can be done for around $350-400 and will yield great results.
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