Speaker/Install advice>>>BMW

vr6Cop

Hello, and thanks in advance for any suggestions

I used to be into car audio about 15 yrs ago, and I've since gotten into other stuff. I just bought a 92 BMW 525i Touring (E34 wagon) and the PO had a custom install. He took all his stuff out and put the OEM stuff back in. The problem is, it sounds like cr@p and he apparently lost the OEM front tweeters.

I've looked at several store & manufacturer web sites with fitment guides, and they all recommend 2-piece components. I have space for 3 speakers in front, and 2 in the rear.

The front kick panels are 5.25" and the tweeters are in the door by the mirrors. On the top of the dash are smaller speaker grilles that look like they would accomodate a 3" speaker. Is it worth fooling with, or should I leave the 3" out?

The rear setup is actually pretty cool: the speakers are mounted in the headliner. The woofers fire straight down, and the tweeters fire forward From what I've read, the woofer is 5.25" (like the front), and the tweeter is like the front also. So 2-piece components are fine there.

I am planning on putting in either a single 8" or a single 10" woofer in the cargo area. There is a space in the side panel that would accomodate it, but I'll have to fabricate a fiberglass enclosure (poly-filled, of course) and make it look stock or invisible.

This is a daily-commute car for my wife &/or me, so it is not going to be a show-stopper. I just want good tunes for the hour-plus round trip and for road trips. What would you guys recommend?

Steve@3dai

I wouldn't mess with the 3" speakers in the dash, I bet they would be prone to rattles anyway.

I'd just go with the db series all the way around, and then the MM104 Polk/Momo 10" subwoofer. The MM104 would give a more solid sound in a hatch, as I have a wagon as well and tried the GNX 10" and found it a little weak, but the MM104 gave me more punch and was quite natural sounding.

I love 5 series wagons

MacLeod

I agree not to mess with the dash speakers. They will reflect off the glass which will screw up their sound.

Now when you say kick panels do you mean actual kick panels in the floor board? If thats the case then there should be a place to stick a tweeter in there as well. You dont want a midrange in the floor and a tweeter in the mirror sail, theyre too far apart. You want your speakers to act like a single source unit.

As far as seperates go, Polk doesnt make 5 1/4 components so youll have to look elsewhere. And 5 1/4 comps tend to be a little pricey so expect to pay around $250-350 for a good pair.

As far as amps go, I say go with a 5 channel. They are simple and a lot cheaper and plenty capable of running an entire system.

Here is a suggestion for a mid level system:

Kicker KX 700.5 5 channel amp $580
Alpine Type R 5 1/4 components $250
Custom box in trunk with 2 MM2104 10" Momos $120 each

The Kicker is capable of 2 ohm loads so you can run both subs at 200 rms each.

This is just a suggestion off the top of my head using products I really like. It doesnt necessarily mean its the best one you could come up with.

sntnsupermen131

polk made 5 1/4" momo components
im not sure if they still sell them on the polk site or have them listed
but if you look on the internet, you can find em
check out crutchfield and sounddomain, they might still carry them
-Cody

PoweredByDodge

the original momo came in a 5.25" component -- but no longer is it offered as polk said that like 90% of its component sales were for the 6.5" -- that's understandable, and i dont fault them for it... however it is a pain in the **** for you...

nione the less -- i dotn think you need a 150 w component set... the db component sets with like 75 watts per channel will be plenty fine. and plenty loud at that.

i'd do two sets of 5.25" two way comps -- one up front, one in back... or... just do coaxials in back and glass over your tweet holes... since you'll want the audio staged front anyway for imaging purposes.

as far as subs -- i would do a single MM2104 ... this is a 300-350 watt rms momo 'carbon fiber' series sub... not as power hungy as the larger momo MM104, but more responsive, and something more along the lines of what would mate with your db components.

slap a 350 - 400 watt amp on it and call that a day -- amp you components with a 75 x 4 @ 4 ohm amp and call that a day as well...

shouldn't be a big deal.

as far as the 3" in teh dash -- dont even think about it -- it'll throw off sound staging and fk the whole damn setup up... you'll spend months trying to get it to sound right, and then you'll tear your hair out and wonder why you over botherd when it sounds better with just the one set anyway.