6x9s In An E30

I have an extra set of 6x9 speakers on the shelf, and I was wondering if there is a way to make them fit in the rear deck of my E30. I already have the wiring figured out.

Cut out a bigger hole in the rear deck.

There are a bunch of audiophiles on the www.mye28.com board (for 5 series BMWs) and a bunch of threads about upgrading speakers (they have pretty much the same stereos and speakers as the e30 cars.) Most of them say 6x9s are a bad idea and suggest various 5 1/4 speakers instead. I'm half deaf so I'm not the person to ask about hi-fi anymore.... :) You could go over there and do some searching on past discussions.

Don't bother.

Just put some nice components in the front and put a sub in back. Buy one of these boxes

http://r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=100820

and prepare to enjoy decent sound in your E30. I have an old Zapco AG 360 (4 x 90 rms) with JL ZR components up front and a 12" exile out back. Loud, balanced goodness for when I crank up Tool or NIN.

To me, round speakers sound better. I'll never install another set of ovals if I can help it.

i have ovals on the back shelf of my E30.. (i got it that way)..

its got little adapter boxes on the top. if you want pics i can probly get them this weekend.

Apexcarver wrote: i have ovals on the back shelf of my E30.. (i got it that way).. its got little adapter boxes on the top. if you want pics i can probly get them this weekend.

If it's not too much trouble, that would be nice.

z31maniac wrote: Don't bother. Just put some nice components in the front and put a sub in back. Buy one of these boxes http://r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=100820 and prepare to enjoy decent sound in your E30. I have an old Zapco AG 360 (4 x 90 rms) with JL ZR components up front and a 12" exile out back. Loud, balanced goodness for when I crank up Tool or NIN.

That sounds like a good idea. I don't know much about sub woofers though. How hard are they to put in, how hard are they to take out, how much weight do they add, do I have to butcher the car to install it?

These damn kids and their loud stereos.

Tommy Suddard wrote:

z31maniac wrote: Don't bother. Just put some nice components in the front and put a sub in back. Buy one of these boxes http://r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=100820 and prepare to enjoy decent sound in your E30. I have an old Zapco AG 360 (4 x 90 rms) with JL ZR components up front and a 12" exile out back. Loud, balanced goodness for when I crank up Tool or NIN.

That sounds like a good idea. I don't know much about sub woofers though. How hard are they to put in, how hard are they to take out, how much weight do they add, do I have to butcher the car to install it?

First off, do you have the premium sound pods in the back? That's what I have and the box is ported through those then grills go back in place so it looks stock.

Not hard at all. Stereo stuff is super simple, at least at this level. That box + a sub and amp would add around 65 lbs or so to the car. So I pulled out the sound deadening in the trunk for a loss of 50 lbs (plus it gives you another inch or so of clearance.

So I only gained ~15 pounds with the install. Which is well worth it to me to have good sound in the car.

I run a 4 channel amp with the front two channels running into external crossovers for the components, then the back to channels are bridged to run the subwoofer.

Yes, I have the premium sound pods. That sounds like a good idea. Nice speakers up front, small subwoofer in back.

It will lead you to some good sound. Having speakers in the rear deck just bounce off the glass and drown out the front stage.

I don't ever have anyone in the backseat, and even if I did, I care more about how the music sounds to me. lol

And by small we mean several heavy 10" subs filling the trunk... I heard you were fast kid we are just leveling the playing field ;)

Crawl inside the trunk [lid open] and look up at the shelf; map out what holes you have compared to the ones you need.

Sucks to get 270 degrees into cutting a circle and find out you cant cut that beam out after all.

Dan

I built custom boxes that would bolt to the factory speaker locations and encompass a single 8" subwoofer ported through the speaker opening. They were usually shaped like the cheap truck boxes but were generally made of .75" mdf or better and acoustically tuned with baffle foam. the angled side would match the seat back and would secure by bolts to the seat back frame and the parcel shelf.

The key to a subwoofer is to get the surrounding metal to resonate without rattling. If you FEEL the bass it is doing its job.

What do you have as a head unit?

Here is a great combination of components that will make your system ROCK, BUMP or TWANG for little money:

Kenwood CD Player $99.99 http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?g=300&i=113MP208&tp=5684

Kenwood Bass Package from Crutchfield $169.99 http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?g=208250&i=113PW510&tp=118

add a sealed sub box and some high quality speakers and you have a feature article!

I've got an amp just lying around if you want it Tommy. It would work well for speakers but its not big enough for a sub.

Did you get the pictures from when we picked up the E30 by the way?

I faced the same dilemma with my e30.

Fortunately it was my "race-car", and with the rear seat already removed, I cut a couple of 6x9 holes in the divider between the passenger compartment and the trunk. I then took some fabric from a arts and crafts store and covered that whole panel so when you look in you don't really see anything.

I have an Alpine CDA 7873 headunit. I don't think I need an amp for the front speakers, because it puts out 60 watts at each channel. I don't really understand what porting means. Also, I got your pictures, Greg.

By "porting" I mean you are building a sealed box for a subwoofer that attaches to a second chamber that has a hole in it that passes into the interior compartment. In a hatchback a similar box would be called a band pass box. Similar designs are available off the shelf but a standard band pass box sucks in a sedan. You must match the chamber volumes to the speakers and to each other. In a sedan such as yours a well engineered chamber will allow a small sub to offer great sound in small packages.

So it is like two boxes glued together but not connected, one with the sub, and the other with' a hole that goes into the passenger compartment?

Arrg, I left the charger for my camera up at the other house and the battery is dead, so i cant get you those pics..

what i can tell you is that it is simply a plastic speaker holder that sits on the shelf covering the hole from the round speaker. It is trimmed out with a nice grate covering the speaker and dosent look out of place back there, almost factory look.

I have no idea where it came from, you might ask the previous owner Dherr (he's on here, he has the 2.3 turbo spitfire challenge car) IIRC he told me that he and his son redid the interior of the car so it is likely that they were procured and installed by one of them.

Ok, no big deal. I get the idea.

I'm sensing you didn't actually read the entire thread I linked you too.

Go to the 2nd page and your questions will be answered.

Here is the tutorial on installing his box.

http://r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=104449

um, no... my speakers are ovals that sit on top of the shelf encased within the plastic.., no cutting on the car had occurred.. i have no subs...