My brother's E30 actually had fantastic stock speakers. They were made by Nokia, had very stiff cones (looked spun), and huge surrounds. Despite being 5", they could pump out a fantastic amount of bass.

 

My E30 doesn't have any speakers. Or a head unit. Or... well... or much of anything, really. It's basically a race car being converted to a fast street car.

 

You should check out R3vlimited for some ideas for your e30.

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/forumdisplay.php?f=102

 

In general, you'll get much better performance/$ with speakers that aren't explicitly made for car use. On the rear shelf, I would put only subwoofers. If you're willing to cut and can make them fit, put a pair of Tang Band W6-1139sif woofers in the rear deck. The W5-1138SM, though 5.25in, is far worse in performance, though much better than any other 5.25 for bass.

In the front kick panels, put a pair of DC130-4 woofers.

For sail-panel tweeters, see if you can fit any of:

• HiWave BMR12
• Fountek FR58ex <-- Have these in my E46, as midranges. Fit nicely in factory location
• Tang Band W2-852SH
• Tang Band W2-748SG
• Celestion AN2075
• Vifa OX20SC00-04

If you're willing to put a midrange up high in the door (such as the FR58EX or BMR12), then you can put actual tweeters in the sail panel and cross them much higher.

Real tweeters include:

• TangBand 13-1761s <-- What I have in my E46, easy to mount
• Dayton ND16FA
• Vifa OX20SC00-04

If you need help with any of this, please let us know. I have no idea what, if any, fab skills you have, but the fact that you're trying to make a race car streetable tells me you're reasonably capable.

 

I have the Pioneer TS-A1375R as part of my audio setup in my Fiero and I like them. Bass is not great but I have a separate subwoofer so I didn't mind.

 

I'm now thinking of doing 5.25" speakers front and rear and mounting a single 10" sub in the rear deck. Or should I opt for the trunk?

 

I would put it in the trunk, and for the most part stay stock size with speakers. It will save you a lot of trouble. But also remember, if you get a sub you need an amp, and those alone will run $200+. Pioneer makes really good head units as well, I have one in my e46 with bluetooth. It was $130 I believe.

Back in my e36 I had 2 pioneer 6x9 4-ways in the rear, 2 4 inch pioneers up front, and 2 Kenwood 12's in the back powered by a 2000 Watt Planet Audio amp. (never putting that much weight in the back again, it was a 318iS.)


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So, you're not going to fit anything good, even from Pioneer, in the back without some extra height.

Look at http://www.midwestroads.com/bmw/#speakers. This is a private seller parting out an E30, and he's selling the premium speaker package. This is what my brother's E30 had, and I was honestly completely blown away by how fantastic that sounded. He's missing parts for the front, so you may as well get Pioneer there, but the reason these fit is because of the extra space provided by the mounting frames/platforms that he's selling with them.

 

If you're willing to cut, though, the Tang Band 5.25 subwoofer is a fantastic way to go in the back. That way you don't lose any trunk space to the sub. Also, if you do put a sub in the trunk, it needs to be very loud because there's a lot of sound insulation between the trunk and cabin. A friend of mine used to have a different E30, and his sub was much louder outside the car than in.

If you do go with the TB Subs, add one of these in series with each side.

 

Trust me on this: A lot of sound deadening material has been removed from this car. It was in the works to becoming a race car, so I'm working on getting that restored. My original plan was to run 6"x9"s in the rear deck, but I'm not sure how well that would work out for me. Some cutting required, yes, but I'm sure they'd fit just fine. As far as enclosing the backs of them, that would be an entirely different challenge.

I'll have to do more research before I dive into it.

 

The TB subs have enough throw relative to power handling that they can probably do without having the backs enclosed.

 

Oh man...first, let me ask: why Pioneer? They make fine decks, one of my faves in fact...but for the rest of it Pioneer is not the best choice either for price or performance.

Have you read the "Killer $500 Stereo" thread on R3V?

BTW, there are trunk springs running across the rear deck, under the sheet metal. Getting anything to fit flush is going to be just about impossible.

Luke

 

i have this setup on my e30 vert
-Pioneer P6200BT
-RE Audio Sex10d4
-Rockford Fosgate Prime R500-1
-Pioneer TS-D1302R
-Pioneer TS-D1320C
-Pioneer GM-D9500F

 

I have a 318is. Well the Luke Box fit? If so, go with 5.25" speakers all around and install the single 10" sub in the Luke Box?

I was hoping to keep it around $300. Money is fairly tight and I'm no audiophile, so I just wanted something decent so I can at least enjoy music.

[Sent from my Galaxy Nexus.]

 

Absolutely. It will drop in and you get audiophile quality, like it or not: big, deep, clean, loud, solid thump with no rattles. Flawless fit, extremely tight, plenty of trunk left. So well designed it actually makes your car quieter, these truly are unique.

However, it would kind of break your budget. The box alone, shipped to you, is going to be over $250. A $50 woofer and a $50 amp still needs $40 in cables to install and a $150 5 channel amp makes way more sense in terms of money spent. You are better off doing a 5 channel with stock speakers than anything on deck power, it makes a huge difference.

I know you are on a student budget, but you can only stretch a dollar so far!

let me know if I can help.