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Adding the Blaupunkt plug and play.....


gizze
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Remove connector and the optical cables if you have them...

amp-10.jpg

amp-14.jpg

Then plug your new cable into the existing cable and put the optical into the blaupunkt adapter....

amp-18.jpg

Undo the trim under your glovebox (RHD) or steering wheel (LHD)....

amp-19.jpg

And push the extension cable up to behind radio....

amp-20.jpg

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  • 6 months later...

Thank you for all your help Gizze.

I spent all day yesterday fitting the SWS8 subs to the enclosures (bit of hacking was required to do a pukka job), installing the THA555 amp and running all the cables under the trim.

I haven't had chance to play with the settings on the amp. I'm sure you had written somewhere how to set the levels/switches up. On the drive home last night I checked all my head unit levels were neutral.

Oh... parking sensor bleeps now only work if the radio is on... did you find this too ?

+++

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  • 2 months later...

This may sound like a daft question (and probably is!)

I have the Hi-Fi option and know I cant change speakers over, but a little part of me is thinking the amp is to blame for the sometimes shoddy quality.

Can this amp replace the one that's currently in? If not do you know of a suitable aftermarket one?

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If you have the hi-fi amp you would need to chop off the connector that goes into the amp, then run new cables back into a new amp and back out to the cables that go to the speakers.

You can use any amp for this that takes a balanced hi level input.

A lot of work but no more than running a load of new cables I suppose.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Right, after having a look at the amp level settings, it's no wonder it sounds like a bag of spanners !

Had an other tinker and it's now starting to sound really very good.

Here's a (v poor) photo of the settings for anyone else to use as a reference. If you need me to take a better one, let me know and I'll get a proper camera (not iPhone) with a flash.

tha555_settings_1.jpg

Here's the diagram out the manual... (ignore the settings!)

tha555.bmp

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You want the front level on 8v, so the lowest it will go. The head unit is putting out 10v so even that is slightly too high.

Do the same for the rear level.

The crossover points look about right, but I did have teh low pass set to on for the rear and then at 250hz, so it gives some nice rear fill without pulling the sound stage away from the front of the car.

I think I then had the sub level a little higher too, near the 12 o'clock mark.

Then the bass on the head unit on 0 and treble on +3, but I had different speakers so that may vary.

Just make sure the levels for front and rear are on their lowest settings.

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  • 1 month later...

Hi Gizzie, I have read this a few times and want to understand if this will work with the hi fi set up in the E60, the one that has the small 2 channel amp that powers the subs under the seats? Any help would be appreciated - I know the adapter from Blaupunkt states E60 but it does not specify what radio option

I have an 05 E60 with the std Hi Fi (here in the US it is std) and want to amplify all of the speakers - I know about the mod where you can essentially make your own connector to fit into the fact sub to install an amp to power only the subs but I want to power all of the speakers as I am going to add the logic 7 speakers :cool:

Thanks

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Thanks Gize, the problem with the signal going to the rear amp is it is not a full spectrum, it is has already been lowered because the amp only sends a low bass signal to the subs..........this is driving me crazy, I may actually purchase the logic 7 entire wire harness from a wrecked car and install it! lots of work so we'll see

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It is full range, going into your amp the head unit sends a balanced line level signal over the high level outputs.

You simply remove the amp that is there and take the 4 inputs FR, FL, RR and RL that went into the OEM amp and put that into your new amp.

You need an amp that will take this signal, anything from Audison will as will the Blaupunkt digital amps and I think DLS amps do as well.

You then just have a choice on how you wire it up sub wise. I would run the cables that went from your OEM amp still, saves a lot of messing around.

If you get a 5 channel amp you are good to go, run the fronts to fronts, rears to rears and then just hook both of the subs into the one sub out on your new amp.

Add the Earthquake subs and make sure you get the ones that will give you a 2-4ohm load when wired this way.

You could have a new amp installed with decent subs in around 3 hours. +++

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  • 2 weeks later...

Gizze:

I have standard audio in my 530d and I followed your excellent instructions and installed the THA-555 amp and SWS-8 woofers. In addition, I installed tweeters in the mirrors up front. A big improvement, but I'm still not 100% happy about the sound.

I have 2 problems:

Engine rpm is very audible in the speakers. I'm thinking that this is probably due to the blaupunkt cable running in parallell to other powercables and therefore inducing voltage in my signalpath. Another probable reason for this is that I have turned up the amp level pretty high and therefore amplifing noise. I have probably turned the pot up to about 11 o'clock. I felt this was necessary to avoid distortion on high volumes. At Biscouts recommended levels the sound is no better that stock amp the headunit.

The second problem I have is the audio alarm messages. It's now much louder than before. To be able to get a propper sound I really can't decrease the level of the amplifier.

It really pisses me of that BMW have no audio output on the headunit. I would have made everything so much better. Now I will have to settle for something that is less than ideal. But at least it's better than stock!

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For a start where is your ground??

Are you taking power off the head unit??

If you are disconnect the power and ground from the harness and run power and ground from the chassis and battery.

Also, the pots you have upped are not amp levels, they are input levels, you need to match the voltage out of your head unit to the amp, leave it as it is and you will fry your head unit, the amp and possibly the speakers as well.

You need to have the levels as low as possible as your head unit actually outputs around 10v and this only goes down to 8v.

You then need to tweak the crossovers, you want everything below about 125-150hz cut from the mains.

You want everything from below 28ish hz cut from the subs and definitely everything above 125-150hz cut from them as well, depending where you cut the frequencies for the fronts.

For the rears I cut everything below 125-150hz again, but also cut everything above 5khz as well, this gives a nice rear fill but doesn't drag the soundstage backwards.

The only channel where the input levels need to be off the bottom are the sub channel, it is less sensitive so needs a little more, but make sure you turn the others down before you end up with a nasty £2k bill. +++

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At first I did use the power from the headunit. I was pretty sure this was cousing the noiseproblems. But then I installed 6mm2 cables from the battery and chassisground to the amp. The noise is still present.

I'm not sure why I cannot turn up the input level of the amp? If I turn it to your suggested settings if will distort on high volume(even if I have adjusted the crossover to 150hz). I think that the headunit will distort the signal before reaching the amp. So I thought that I would avoid this by increasing the input level on the amp. Is there any other way to go?

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Which side have you run the cables down??

The drivers side has all the power cables and you don't want to be sat on top of those.

RHD car obviously.

It shouldn't be distorting.

You really don't want to tell the amp you are inputting 4v and then put 10v into it, it will fry stuff.

You got the

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Unfortunately, I ran the cable on the drivers side. Probably not a good idea I know now..

When I put the amp at at the correct level input it is distorting. The sound is just as bad as without the amp actually. I think the headamp is being pushed to hard at high volumes and causes distortion before the blaupunkt is able to help out. But that makes me wonder about something. How much power is being drawn from the headunit when its connected to the blaupunkt amp? It seems its drawing about the same amount of power as if connected to real speakers.

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  • 1 month later...

Awesome guide Gizze...many thanks.

I'm planning on doing this to our E70 X5 which will have standard audio when it arrives. Planning on getting L7 tweeters, 575 amp and SWS 8's. What sort of connectors/quality of wires are required for the sub, what kit did you use to power the amp and does the standard enclosure have to be trimmed? I'd rather get all the kit and fit it all at once :-D.

I found a supplier for the sub - is this the one? Any alternative supplier recommendations will be much appreciated.

Earthquake SWS-8 Slim-Line Subwoofer. I've also seen a few on ebay also. I was going to use bluespot to order rest of the gear.

Cant wait for operation X5 to begin. How would it work if I dont have the sub right away or keep the stock.

Edited by flyfs6
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  • 3 months later...

Why did you adjust the sub settings - from the picture there are no sub connected no IN and no OUT?.

Du you by any chance know if the amplifier is capable of sorting the sub frequencies from the normal speaker input, and put the signal out of the SUb output. This being without any Sub input on the RCA plug?

Great threat anyway

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  • 10 months later...

I have just changed the subs from the SWS-8X (4 ohm) to the SWS-8Xi (2 ohm). However when I turn the volume up I can hear the subs cut out.

Please find attached a picture of mu current amp settings, is there anything I can change to prevent this. Also how can I get a deeper bass sound from the subs.

Also I have the remote sub volume cabled to my glove box, does this affect the situation in any way?

Thanks.

post-28577-137914452268_thumb.jpg

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