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Audio upgrade in E60 535d


Biscuits
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Yeah, you remove the alumnium/wood trim, pull away starting at the passenger side.

Then slide the climate out.

You then put a long screwdriver down behind the radio either side and pop it out.

I will find a pdf for you. ;)

Thanks.. hope to get the bits over the next few weeks. +++

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This upgrade is for cars that do not have the hi-fi upgrade.

If you have the hi-fi upgrade you can buy any 3 or 5 channel amp that takes a balanced level input, blaupunkt, Audison and I think DLS from memory, and use the cables that went into the oem amp, simply chop that amp out and wire the new amp in.

Oh thats spot on. Theres hope for an upgrade in my car then, I'd all but given up. Do you know if the underseat speakers are wired in with the door speakers behind the headunit? and can you just buy tweeters for the mirror grill position?

Sorry for all the questions:).

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The standard system drives the speakers from the head unit and the front speakers consist of a 6.5" mid bass under the seat and a midrange in the door.

The Hi-Fi system has front and rear left and right signals sent to an amp in the boot, the amp then sends out 3 pairs of left and right signals.

One to the front midrange and tweeters.

Second to the under seat subs.

Last to the rear speakers.

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I have standard and I realise the speakers are powered from the head unit. I just dont know if the headunit sends the same signal down two different sets of wires to the underseat and door speakers all the way so if you unplug the headunit from the speaker cable the speakers are all now seprate or are they still in parallel. I'm not getting at across very well but another way of asking is "do all the speaker connections have independant pins in the plug that goes into the headunit or are the door and seat speaker connections joined at that point?".

Thanks.

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same cable to the a pillar, then it splits and goes to door speaker and to sub.

You need to un hook the subs if adding a 5 channel amp and run new cables to the new subs.

If you are sticking with factory subs you run them of the front channels of the amp.

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Your info is what i have been looking for! How did you fit the DLS R4 speakers into the 3 hole fixing in the 535D?

The loom you got, was it for the "basic" audio system ( 6 speaker) and is that the one supplied by Blaupunkt with the amplifier?

Have you thought of an extra sub bass woofer in the boot?

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Paul, the speakers in the car now have a connector for the tweeter, an dthe tweeter comes with a plug, so they just plug in. +++

Michael,

I attached the R4 speakers to the outside of the door car and then used the DLS grille, only someone who owned another BMW would know it was not OEM.

You can fit them on the inside with an adapter made up, but why bother?

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  • 1 month later...

Morning,

Pardon my car hifi ignorance but i am i right thinking the following:

The install goes with New pair of Subs, New Amp, New door speakers?

My question revolves around the door speakers.

I see gizze you changed the door speakersby adding on to the door but if i wanted to keep the original placings (as the car has to go back eventually) can i use an aftermarket speaker that is made in the correct size or should i get the BMW HiFi speakers upgrade individually or are the Logic7 speakers available seperately?

I hope that makes sense.

Cheers

Nev

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Gizze - first of all what a superb thread.

Secondly, I have a 2004 E61 with standard audio plus 6 cd changer in glove box. I've looked behind the tweeter grilles and there are no tweeters (obviously) but I also didn't see any wires or connectors. Are you saying there are speaker wires coming from the mids in the doors that the tweeters will plug into?

If I were to get the Blaupunkt amp you suggest am I right in thinking I need to plug a lead into the back of the head unit, then run it along the passenger side to the rear of the car. I then run power cables from the amp across to the battery on the other side of the boot. I then run new speaker cable from the amp to the subs under the seats, from the amp to the mids and from the amp to the rear speakers? If I add the tweeters these can run off the mids?

Have done more or less the same before in other cars but with line level outputs from head unit to amp. This uses high level outputs to the amp from the head unit (i.e. the speakers outputs)?

For the speakers you're also saying keep the original mids and buy additional Logic 7 tweeters? Is there a difference between the bog standard mids and the logic 7 mids?

Sorry for all the questions. PS I've also done the M5 paddle shift steering wheel upgrade on my 530D auto like you have.

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Depends what you want. If you upgrade the subs you need the 5 channel amp, well a 3 channel would do but they don't offer one.

You can buy the 2 channel amp and use that to upgrade the factory front speakers and subs that are in there, this, along with new tweeters is a nice upgrade.

You can also fit the amp up front and not have to worry about running cables to the battery, the 2 channel amp will run of the power going to the head unit.

The amp is small and will fit in the gap under the glove box or tucked behind the carpet in the passenger footwell.

The tweeter comes with cable and a plug on it, the mid in the door has the correct connecter for that tweeter to plug into.

5 minute install for £30, in fact do that even if you do nothing else.

You only run new cable to the subs if you upgrade them, not to any other speakers, that is the point of this plug and play system. +++

Yeah the paddle shift retrofit is a nice little touch.

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Gizze - first of all what a superb thread.

Secondly, I have a 2004 E61 with standard audio plus 6 cd changer in glove box. I've looked behind the tweeter grilles and there are no tweeters (obviously) but I also didn't see any wires or connectors. Are you saying there are speaker wires coming from the mids in the doors that the tweeters will plug into?

If I were to get the Blaupunkt amp you suggest am I right in thinking I need to plug a lead into the back of the head unit, then run it along the passenger side to the rear of the car. I then run power cables from the amp across to the battery on the other side of the boot. I then run new speaker cable from the amp to the subs under the seats, from the amp to the mids and from the amp to the rear speakers? If I add the tweeters these can run off the mids?

Have done more or less the same before in other cars but with line level outputs from head unit to amp. This uses high level outputs to the amp from the head unit (i.e. the speakers outputs)?

For the speakers you're also saying keep the original mids and buy additional Logic 7 tweeters? Is there a difference between the bog standard mids and the logic 7 mids?

Sorry for all the questions. PS I've also done the M5 paddle shift steering wheel upgrade on my 530D auto like you have.

Answering for Gizze here, but it sounds like you've understood his upgrade very well.

However:

You don't need to run new speaker cable for the door speakers, as the stock is fine, just need to run it for the Subs as these are currently fed along with the front door speakers.

L7 tweeters are supposed to be as good as you need, can't comment on the mids. BTW, the tweeters come with a lead to plug into the existing mids (hence why you can't see the lead)

I looked onto this upgrade (hence finding out all the details) but done nothing yet. Think I'll do the 130 rather than the 535d.

HTH

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You can buy the 2 channel amp and use that to upgrade the factory front speakers and subs that are in there, this, along with new tweeters is a nice upgrade.

You can also fit the amp up front and not have to worry about running cables to the battery, the 2 channel amp will run of the power going to the head unit.

The amp is small and will fit in the gap under the glove box or tucked behind the carpet in the passenger footwell.

Oh no, more choices!

Thanks, that's very helpful info.

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The tweeter comes with cable and a plug on it, the mid in the door has the correct connecter for that tweeter to plug into.

5 minute install for £30, in fact do that even if you do nothing else.

You only run new cable to the subs if you upgrade them, not to any other speakers, that is the point of this plug and play system. +++

Ah, I see what you mean now re the tweeters. Think I'll get these then.

So the plug n play cables basically plug in the back of the headunit, run the signals up to the amp, then the speaker cables run back from the amp to the multi plug that came out the back of the head unit. That now makes a lot of sense! I guess it's clearer when you've seen it. I did wonder about the speaker cable to the rears and mids! It now sounds a lot simpler and definitely something I want to do.

I guess the difficult bit is sourcing the SWS subs.

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You need an M5 wheel, ebay.de is best, around €150.

Slip ring from an M5 with smg from dealer for £40.

Two wires then hook this to the wires on the steptronic, dead simple.

Nothing on eBay... :mad:

I guess you transfer the airbag... always thought this was a scary job to DIY.

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