Adding Sub!

[Ferret]

Hah, amps fit quite neatly in the tools bin!
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a190/Ferret101/Car/IMG_9089.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a190/Ferret101/Car/IMG_9077.jpg

Tourers lend themselves to quiet sub installs:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a190/Ferret101/Car/IMG_9080.jpg

[kev535i]

ive just got a small sub box in the boot to which i mounted the sub amp to the side of - knocked out the ski hole -power direct to battery and signal and control cables run from deck down the centre. sub is held in place with a couple of right angle bracket attached to the box and the floor of the boot

[mamilapon]

Hi guys! I am in the process of upgrading my sound system,and would like to add an amp and a sub. Here in OZ, our E34's didn't come with amps in the trunk (boot), so the archives on this site are of no use to me. So what is the best and simplest way of adding an amp and a sub?

[BigKriss]

what head deck are you running?

[mamilapon]

G'day Kriss, Ive got a sony xplod GT270 (nothing fancy) but i get 52x4 and rear sub out.

[mamilapon]

So you are only running your sub off the amp. If you are thats what I want to do!

[bad_manners_god]

Nice setup, love where you mounted the sub, very clever. Do you load your touring up where things can move around? If so, I'd suggest some sort of grill overlay to protect the cone from things hitting/puncturing it.

[BigKriss]

you can't run a sub from the headdeck. you can the 4 speakers (the 4x52), but you need a separate amp to run the sub.

you need a separate 2 channel amp. I made a new shelf were the skipass hole goes and mounted a free air sub. I think mine is too boomy. I'd rather a tight sub.

http://www.bimmernut.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12156&highlight=stero

[gmannino]

Hah, amps fit quite neatly in the tools bin!
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a190/Ferret101/Car/IMG_9089.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a190/Ferret101/Car/IMG_9077.jpg

Tourers lend themselves to quiet sub installs:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a190/Ferret101/Car/IMG_9080.jpg
Looks to me like you mounted that kenwood amp upside down, which is never good. This would surely overheat on hot days and possibly cause a fire. Also your wiring is pretty messy and can be easily cleaned up with some zip ties.

[gmannino]

Not to mention, mounting an amp upside down and inside that small cubby might blow out the amp.

[Ferret]

Ferret, flip it over brother.
Feret, what did you do about the rear of the enclosure? Surely you are not letting the rear wave cancel out the front wave and reduce output???

To answer some questions!

The amp is too wide to mount any other way, it wedges and wont go in - however it's fan cooled and there's a good inch of space between the 'top' of it and the bottom of the tools bin.

Not once in 12 months did that amp overheat and shut down - in fact it worked so well in that position that when I sold the tourer, the amp went into the same place in the saloon 540i/6 I now drive.

Unfortunately, there's nowhere quite as interesting to mount the sub in the 540 so it's back in its old enclosure, velcro'd to the bottom of the boot. I couldnt abide by just bolting it to the ski-hatch - its sound quality went right out of the window and it started booming. This kinda defeats the point of the sub as it means you have to turn it right down and you lose all the range.

If you're going to install a sub, get a decent enclosure as well - if you like the E34 for its quality, you should be able to appreciate the difference between an enclosed sub and a rice-racer boom box.

Which comes onto my next answer, to Eagle!

I found that on it's own with nothing behind it, the sub sounded totally shite in the changer box - my solution was to wedge and old heavy pillow behind it:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a190/Ferret101/Car/IMG_9078.jpg
(Before anyone else goes 'omg dats messy' - this was the trial fitting before it got a wood collar for the screws to fit into)

and wham, it sounded perfect - despite now needing a lot of extra power from the amp.

At 800w the amp had plenty of power to play with anyway - it now sounded good and made for one of the cleanest audio installs I've ever done:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a190/Ferret101/Car/IMG_9092.jpg

Whoever said 'you should tiewrap your wiring up!' - do you really think it was left like that - that was mid install... the cheek!

bad_manners_god: I nearly punched the sub out at one point with some heavy luggage in the boot, so I bought a standard speaker grille from Maplin and never had any trouble with it again - it looked like it was factory fit after I sprayed it beige.

When I moved onto my 540, I changed to a blaupunkt headunit, one of the best I've ever seen for the £200 range - it also got chosen because you can select the color for the display (It has auto dimming and happily picks up the light feed from the car - dims the display when you switch the lights on):
(Not quite 100% color tuned here)
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a190/Ferret101/aud/IMG_1770Large.jpg

[Ferret]

This one was routed through the centre console, a much neater way of running the sub cables:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a190/Ferret101/aud/IMG_1760Large.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a190/Ferret101/aud/IMG_1767Large.jpg

[attack eagle]

I have my 80x4 in the cubby, and have for over a year now. It is fan cooled though.
Ferret, flip it over brother.
And if you have the chance to pic up a PPI Art, remember they can all be water cooled, and they fit perfectly in the cubby to boot. ;)

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b106/AttackEagle/100_0754.jpg




Feret, what did you do about the rear of the enclosure? Surely you are not letting the rear wave cancel out the front wave and reduce output???

[Derek A.]

You need to run a sealed sub to tighten it up. Ported boxes are more efficient, but are boomy.

http://www.opus45.com/pics/e34_amps.JPG


you can't run a sub from the headdeck. you can the 4 speakers (the 4x52), but you need a separate amp to run the sub.

you need a separate 2 channel amp. I made a new shelf were the skipass hole goes and mounted a free air sub. I think mine is too boomy. I'd rather a tight sub.

http://www.bimmernut.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12156&highlight=stero

[attack eagle]

thanks i've had a spare panel sitting here waiting for more than a year for me to decide to finally install a sub... and same for my ppi. thought maybe you built an FG or mdf back

[mamilapon]

I see you got one amp for the sub and one for the other speakers, correct? All I want is to add a little base cause as you know the acoustics of our cars are pretty pathetic.So with a 208 watt (peak) unit, Ill probably need a 150 watt sub and an amp to drive it.Is it true you shouldn't bolt the amp to anything metal?

[attack eagle]

?

I prefer NOT to provide multiple ground paths thru the shell and the negative wire by screwing it directly to metal. That has been my experience to date, and i have never had and ground loops or noise since i stopped doing it.

[BigKriss]

I can't see any problems bolting it to metal, since the power cable will (should) have a fuse anyway. Yes, I have one amp for the sub and one amp for the speakers.


I see you got one amp for the sub and one for the other speakers, correct? All I want is to add a little base cause as you know the acoustics of our cars are pretty pathetic.So with a 208 watt (peak) unit, Ill probably need a 150 watt sub and an amp to drive it.Is it true you shouldn't bolt the amp to anything metal?

[kev535i]

im running a 12" with a 200w amp - it really depends on the speaker but 200- 300 would match up nicely with your sony - your deck has a sub out to feed the amp and control to adjust the sub level

[mamilapon]

Yep Kev this is what I might be doing too.Ive seen a few enclosures at Strathfield car radio. I dont know whether I should be running 10' or 12', but because ive only got 208 watt peak off the head unit, do you think 10' should do me?

[mamilapon]

Sealed enclosure it will be ty!

[attack eagle]

what does the max "struck by lightning while blowing up" wattage of the head have to do with anything?

I guess it does sound more impressive than 18wx4 RMS or 20x4 rms, but that is all.

[mamilapon]

Hey by the way I just got 2 pairs of 5.25" JBL's from Strathfield's for $160.00 all I need now is a decent sub and amp. Don't need anything too fancy..any suggestions?

[mamilapon]

;) Mighty Eagle, Im only reading off the box the head unit came in.So as I said 208 watt..peak.If this translates to 18or 20 WRMS, so be it. All im concerned is not buying too powerful an amp and sub compared to the head unit.

[attack eagle]

no such thing as too much power. the gain control can reduce the overall volume quite effectively. what it can not do is make it louder.

I;d suggest 300w RMS amp and sub... RMS is like RWHP it is a useful measurement, peak is like max psi boost when the engine grenaded.

I've always found that 300rms is about minimum to run a good modern sub in a good sealed box.

[BigKriss]

where will you put the 5.25" speakers?


Hey by the way I just got 2 pairs of 5.25" JBL's from Strathfield's for $160.00 all I need now is a decent sub and amp. Don't need anything too fancy..any suggestions?

[mamilapon]

Well mate as far as i could gather, the speakers at the kick panels and the rear deck are all 5.25, correct me if im wrong.

[mamilapon]

Roger that mate, shall visit Strathfield next week!

[BigKriss]

yes they are. sorry I was thinking 6,5" for some reason. You will need a passive crossover for them, if you don't run a dedicated amplifier for them though.


Well mate as far as i could gather, the speakers at the kick panels and the rear deck are all 5.25, correct me if im wrong.

[525i winter driver]

I found that on it's own with nothing behind it, the sub sounded totally shite in the changer box - my solution was to wedge and old heavy pillow behind it:

(Before anyone else goes 'omg dats messy' - this was the trial fitting before it got a wood collar for the screws to fit into)

and wham, it sounded perfect - despite now needing a lot of extra power from the amp.



hey ferret - audio waves from a sub are less directional than regular speakers ie you get almost as much bass from the back of the sub as from the front of it. what you are doing with the pillow is killing the sound waves that are coming out the back of the sub and that is why you need so much power. without the pillow the sound is hitting the backside of your rear quarter-panel and reflecting back... it is the reflection that sounds shitty. (ever see a speaker cabinet shaped like a car and made of steel?)
if i had done all that work and was happy with the sound i'd probably leave it, but if i was doing that from scratch i would try to build some kind of wooden box behind the sub instead of the pillow, or a wooden 'wall' behind it or for just muting an inch or two of foam glued to the back wall of the quarter-panel would probably do - you would need way less power from your amp. also in my sedan at least there is plenty of room for an amp under the rear seat - just a thought, looks great! - tim

[bad_manners_god]

Hey by the way I just got 2 pairs of 5.25" JBL's from Strathfield's for $160.00 all I need now is a decent sub and amp. Don't need anything too fancy..any suggestions?

I put JBL 5.25" P552 all around and they come with the crossover's.

For the front kick-down panel I customized mine so that you can see the speaker mounting bracket and speaker grill.

You can easily just mount them like the stock speakers. I'll get you some pictures today.

As for my headunit I have a Panasonic CQ-VD7005U DVD Flip monitor. I got a Lanzar Amplifier powering a JBL GTO1204BP-D (Dual 12" Preloaded Band-Pass Enclosure).

It's easier running new wires for everything than trying to splice into the old harness unless you really know what your doing.