REAR SPEAKERS

[jettpack]

Hey guys need to some rear speakers to finish my system and was wondering how big the stock rears are???

[F1fan]

The stock rear speakers are a special fit "4T". This makes it very difficult to find aftermarket speakers to replace the cruddy stock Nokia speakers in the rear. MBQuart is the only manufacture I was able to find that specifically make a speaker/mounting bracket combo for this application and they are somwhere in the neighborhood of $260.00. I purchased 4" Infinty Reference speakers($65) and then Italian Engineered(rigged) mounting brackets out of 1/4" plywood and dynamat. It actually came out real nice but was a bit of work.

[bimmerboi318]

i bought some kenwood 4" 2-way speakers and they fit nicely between the stock speakers and the grill. all i did was remove the stock speakers, they come out in a big plastic assembly, dropped in the new ones directly on top of the old ones, and bolted it back up into position. i didnt have to fabricate anything besides wiring them up. the stock ones are glued in or something so i didnt bother removing them. it worked out pretty well i think.

[saxman0321]

I did something similar to F1fan with the plywood brackets, but I used
5 1/4" speakers and made the brackets myself out of 1/4" plywood. It's not too hard, just use the plastic factory speaker bracket as a template. You will need a jigsaw and a drill, also some nuts and bolts to attach the speaker to the plywood. This probably doesn't make much sense unless you've pulled the rear speaker and see how it's attached. I could make you a set for real cheap since I still have leftover plywood from when I made mine.

[dominguezh]

Well, at least MBQuart makes a perfect fit. Simply the best speakers. Yes, expensive, but once you hear them you will be sold.

Hector

[jigg60]

does anyone have part/model numbers for those MB Quarts that fit right in?

[robcarync]

i need an explanation here. bestbuy.com and circuitcity.com have a vehicle fit guide. it says that 5 1/4 inch speakers fit a 1995 bmw 318ti in the panel speakers and the rear speakers. is that wrong? because F1fan said they are a special fit.

id like to know because if 5 1/4 speakers would fit, id probably start looking to upgrade...but i cant spend 260 for a speaker....

[2ndBimmer]

the front kick panels should be 5.25 and the rears 4.

[robcarync]

so if i bought normal 4 inch speakers...should they be able to fit in there...would i have to do any engineering ot make it fit...im just wondering because the other guy said it was a special fit... so would any 4 inch and 5.25 in speaker fit in without problems?

[2ndBimmer]

Ive not removed either the 4"s or 5.25"s so I dont know. The 4s seems to be held in with a unique harness which is screwed into the underside of the rear baffle.

[CMM83]

The bestbuy fit-machien I looked at said 5.25 for the front and 4" in the rear for my '98 ti

[ClubSport]

If you buy a 4" for the rear you will need to do some "engineering" to get it to fit. One of mine blew up and I had to hack up a 4" to get it in. Not too hard though, the hardest part was the glue holding things together from the factory.

[robcarync]

ok...

2ndbimmer...so do you know if the 5 1/4 have the special harness as well or is it just the 4 inchers in the rear?

cmm83...i didnt look at the bestbuy site just circuit city...my friend looked at the best buy site but that sounds right with 4 inchers in the rear...

and finally club sport...what exactly would i have to engineer to get it to fit...i dont really need instructions...i was just curious as to what id have to do because i havent had a chnace to really check the speakers out yet.

but you say its not hard so i imagine me and my pops could get it done.

sorry for asking so many questions...im just trying to get my thoughts all figured out before i do anything...

[2ndBimmer]

do you know if the 5 1/4 have the special harness

Nope, havent pulled the front ones.

[robcarync]

thanks ... i guess the best way to go about doing this is to take some stuff apart and check it out formyself.

it shall be fun i imagine

[ClubSport332ti]

I did something similar to F1fan with the plywood brackets, but I used
5 1/4" speakers and made the brackets myself out of 1/4" plywood. It's not too hard, just use the plastic factory speaker bracket as a template. You will need a jigsaw and a drill, also some nuts and bolts to attach the speaker to the plywood. This probably doesn't make much sense unless you've pulled the rear speaker and see how it's attached. I could make you a set for real cheap since I still have leftover plywood from when I made mine.

Do 5 1/4" speakers fit the rear? I just want to make sure before i attempt this. ANYONE else that knows this or knows of others that have done this please post a reply.

Can you explain how you installed these?

[richard_tricky]

hiya all
my first post
i have a bmw 318 tds compact which has been chipped etc etc

a company here in the uk called autoleads makes a speaker adapter for the bmw compact (or 318ti as u guys call it)

the product code is sak-1203, autoleads is www.autoleads.co.uk also check out

http://caraudiosecurity.com/catalog/product_info.php+cPath+48_237_267+products_id+1889

[silkysack]

I installed a new mp3 CD reciever in my 318 and two 10" subs. I ran the power wire for the amp for my 10" subs through the firewall behind the battery. I had to take off the glove box section of the dash (very easy just 4 screws) also to run the rca and power cables to the rear of my
318 I had to take off the following...my passenger side kick panel the plastic carpet liner the rear seat and the side panels in the trunk which cover the 4" rear nokia speakers. Everything pulls right off no screws or hard work. Basicly I riped all that off like you rip a sheet of paper out of a notebook. The kickpanel has two screws though. Anyways behind the kick panel there is a 5.25" speaker very easy to take off and replace no special bracket required. The rear 4" speakers are glued to a plastic bracket that could be taken off. If you wish to keep the bracket you must rip the old 4" speaker off the bracket by prying it off and then use your large brain like I did to find an way to make a normal 4" speaker to fit to the slightly smaller hole. Not rocket science. Basicly don't be affraid to rip shiz off the car because it comes off and goes back on very easy. DON'T BE AFFRAID TO DAMAGE YOUR PRECIOUS BIMMER! it can be fixed.......................................If you have a question post a reply I will answer it when I get a chance. I've done a lot of shiz to this car so I know what is ok and what is not ok. Oh and for those of you who want to put a new radio in your 318ti I'm going to post another reply explaining how to because buying a wiring harness at circuitcity wont get the job done :)

[silkysack]

ok, First use a allen key to unscrew the two allen bolts on the side of the stock radio (even though every stupid allen screw on the car is metric these two arn't so use the good old standard english allen keys) as you unscrew the bolts the radio starts to come out little at a time, once the radio stops coming out any further it should be free to be pulled out all the way with your hands. remove the wiring from the radio. Discard the crapy radio and go get a new one. A new aftermarket radio has different and less wire so you need to buy a wireing harness from a store like circuitcity( around $15.00). All you have to do is match the correct color from the wires on the harness you just bought to the ones on your new radio. NOTE....Most people think they are done at this point but what they don't know is that your 318ti has 10 speakers but your radio puts out wires for only 4 speakers. I wonder how this will work? Oh after i rip all the panels off my car I see the wires from the radio run to the back of my car into a crossover amp which basicly takes the signal from your radio and splits and amplifies it then throws it out to your speakers. But as we all know if you have an amp it must be getting power to turn on. If the amp is not on the radio will work but no music will go through the amp and out to your speakers. hhhmmmmmmmm, which wire turns that amp on? Well after trial and error I discovered that the LITE BLUE wire comming out of the circuitcity wiring harness is the one that goes to the amp to turn it on......funny how the radio instructions says thats for a car telephone. Whoever made that wiring harness is a dumb @$$. SO basicly just attach the pre amp out wire from your radio which should be dark blue to the lite blue wire on your circuitcity wiring harness. WOW, the amp now gets power and you can finaly hear the wonderful music the nice nokia speakers are putting out. If my um way of explaining this procedure wasn't clear enough for you just post a message asking me to make it clearer and I will.

[Billan]

5 1/4 inch speakers fit the kick panels fine, I run MBQ 5 1/4" PWE130 speakers in the front. The rear speakers are a 4T. There are only a few companies that make this type of 4 inch speaker, as others said you can get anything to fit with a little "Persuasion". The rear speakers that I run are MBQ 4" PCE210. I don’t know what your budget is but the speakers listed above are amazing. I have a pic of my system in the lounge under new member if you are interested. Let me know if you have any questions.

[ddiorio1313]

I have the 10 speaker setup in my Ti. The rear speakers are weird cuz they have some kind of forward firing tweeter and then the woofer mounted below...at least that is what it looks like to me(haven't taken it apart yet). I don't know about you guys but why would you put 10 ****ty speakers in a car. I mean the sound is okay but there are no lows at all! Plus like 2 months after I bought my car the right rear speaker blew at least that is what it sounds like. I have been looking for upgrades and haven't found anything yet. If I find something I will post it.

[Billan]

I also have the 10-speaker system, I believe all TI's do but I could be wrong. As stated in my last post they are 4T speakers, the MB Quart PCE210 has a coaxial mounted tweeter that you can move to the forward firing tweeter hole as I did. The 4" mid range speaker gets mounted below facing upwards. Hope this helps.

[Rhys]

I had a nice set of infinities in the back of my E30, can't put them in my compact unless I get a new shelf. Why do BMW put naff speakers in?

How do you take the Pioneer unit out, I've tried the key things, but it seems to be fastened in at the bottom.

I think my ti only has 6 speakers (2 rear, 2 in front doors, 2 in footwells)

[ddiorio1313]

Never had a problem taking my unit out and I don't think mne is pioneer wither...

[dazen13]

I have a '97 E36, and am just putting in MB Quart components on the front doors, and 2 Kicker L5s in a box in the trunk. I was told at tweeter that it wasn't even worth it to replace the rear 4inchers cuz I have good enough speakers and subs. I have a 440W Hifonics Zues amp powering the components, and a 1500W Power Acoustics amp powerings the L5s. It sounds crazy.

[surfsessn]

I have a 96 ti and nice pair of Peerless 5.25 woofers I'd really like to get in the ti. I'm sure I can "rig it", but I haven't attempted to take apart the rear trim yet. Does anyone on here have any tips regarding removing the rear trim pieces so that I can fully get to the crappy little 4" speakers in there?

Other than that, I've been considering the jigsaw and cutting out the rear hatch cover and sticking some decent 6x9s back there. Of course the stock cassette deck has GOTTA GO... I've also recently checked out a few units that have decent amp ratings. Would it be better to bypass the BMW stock factory amp and use the the amp in a new head unit?

[cali-ti]

a pic i found i took when i had to work on the POS alpine changer, might give someone an idea of how it looks under there :)

[seala8]

wat are in the doors i think i have 2 tweets in each door ?

[Tman100z]

I removed the rear speakers including the tweeters, now when i hook up the new speakers, do i just hook up the wires coming from the 4 in speaker to the new ones or do I combine the tweeter wires as well to the new speakers. Im thinking of combining both sets to get a full range of sound?

[sparkchaser]

I removed the rear speakers including the tweeters, now when i hook up the new speakers, do i just hook up the wires coming from the 4 in speaker to the new ones or do I combine the tweeter wires as well to the new speakers. Im thinking of combining both sets to get a full range of sound?

I think there is a crossover back there. Find it and remove it and splice into those wires. Should work.

[Diginerd]

DON'T COMBINE WIRES!!!

I tried and wound up with an ex amp....

[aceyx]

The crossover is built-in to the factory amp. You need in-line resistor thingies if you're using the stock amp.

[changus]

I too replaced my rear speakers with Infinity. I used a 5.25 and again made a mounting plate from 5/8" MDF. I used the plastic scoop that came out as a template and cut the MDF opening with a dremel cutout tool and the shaped it to fit with the dremel sanding disk. Fits like a glove but sounds so-so. I did find out later the Boston Acoustic also make a 4" that will fit. About $99 bucks.

[Tman100z]

im thinking about just putting some 6x9s on the hatch cover like some others on here have done. I did rig up som 5.25 in the rear location but they sound like crap so now they just have the highs going through them sine the bass was crappy

[Nitro Nollie]

I got 5x 7 to work...
Remove the entire 4" housing. If you cut a 1/2 inch by 1 1/2 inch piece of wood, and drill a hole through it, you can attach the 5x 7 in two locations into the factory original holes.

[PettitWC]

id like to know because if 5 1/4 speakers would fit, id probably start looking to upgrade...but i cant spend 260 for a speaker....
I'm in the same boat cause man, are those things expensive :yikes:

[robcarync]

i just bought 5 1/4" pioneer speakers and they fit in the front fine....no problem at all

i also fitted 4 inch pioneers in the rear too...with some modifications

[Tman100z]

I got 5x 7 to work...
Remove the entire 4" housing. If you cut a 1/2 inch by 1 1/2 inch piece of wood, and drill a hole through it, you can attach the 5x 7 in two locations into the factory original holes.

you wouldnt happen to have any pics of that???

[Tman100z]

Does anyone happen to have or can make a paper template of the 5.25 speaker adapter mentioned above for the rear speakers so i could fab my own. I threw out/damaged the original housing so i Dont have anything to trace. I was thinking of bringing the whole assembly into work and put it on the copying machine so i could try to fab something.

Thanks

Terence

[Tman100z]

Anyone???

[aren]

I'm in the same boat cause man, are those things expensive :yikes:

They're not too bad really- 230 bucks for 2 5.25", 2 1" tweets and 2 matching x-overs?

http://www.ikesound.com/product-product_id/2066
or:
http://www.sonicelectronix.com/viewitem.php?id=1742

They also make a lower-class set, the RCE 213.
MB Quart make some of the very best speakers you can get... seems like a bargain. It'd be cool if we had some "step-by-step" install pages specific to the compact.
-Aren

[cali-ti]

They're not too bad really- 230 bucks for 2 5.25", 2 1" tweets and 2 matching x-overs?

http://www.ikesound.com/product-product_id/2066
or:
http://www.sonicelectronix.com/viewitem.php?id=1742

They also make a lower-class set, the RCE 213.
MB Quart make some of the very best speakers you can get... seems like a bargain. It'd be cool if we had some "step-by-step" install pages specific to the compact.
-Aren
somebody send me a set of those MB Quarts and i'll do an article on installing them ;)

[Tyler]

changing the rear speakers on this car is a pain in the ass. I mean they Come out easy but the speaker is attached to this enclosure and it's glued in,so you can't remove the speakers from it. So your only option is to customize it which is just plain silly if you ask me. I wish i saved my pics when i took them out,cause i bought speakers off someone on this site which he said was a dirrect fit but i didn't see that happening ,plus the speakers were ripped which to me means they are blown and are not going to sound good.

[saintly]

Does anyone happen to have or can make a paper template of the 5.25 speaker adapter mentioned above for the rear speakers so i could fab my own. I threw out/damaged the original housing so i Dont have anything to trace. I was thinking of bringing the whole assembly into work and put it on the copying machine so i could try to fab something.

Thanks

Terence
I have a new set of the adaptor rings to mount 13cm (5.25") speakers where the rear 4T" currently goes. i havn't had a chance to mount them yet so i'd be happy the scan, copy, photograph or what ever but how do we make sure that the scale stays the same at your end? i could scan to a PDF and then as long as you print on A4 it should match. Let me know what you would like.

Saintly

[Tman100z]

Thanks for the help, we dont have access to those plates here in the states. So please try scanning it to a pdf file and Email it to tman100z@yahoo.com. Maybe scan it with a ruler next to it or some kind of size reference so we can tell if its the same size. Thanks in advance for the help. Ill be happy to share if its OK with Saintly.

[saintly]

Thanks for the help, we dont have access to those plates here in the states. So please try scanning it to a pdf file and Email it to tman100z@yahoo.com. Maybe scan it with a ruler next to it or some kind of size reference so we can tell if its the same size. Thanks in advance for the help. Ill be happy to share if its OK with Saintly.
no problem.. i'll try to bring it in tomorrow to scan.
good idea about the ruler.. why didn't i think of that? must try to get some sleep next weekend.

[sparkchaser]

Thanks for the help, we dont have access to those plates here in the states. So please try scanning it to a pdf file and Email it to tman100z@yahoo.com. Maybe scan it with a ruler next to it or some kind of size reference so we can tell if its the same size. Thanks in advance for the help. Ill be happy to share if its OK with Saintly.

I'd be interested as well.

[changus]

email me a copy of that template as well. When you scan it can you scan it at a high resolution so that it stays real size when printed.

[cali-ti]

just post the template to your gallery and link to it here. then anyone can get to it if they want it.

[saintly]

Hi everyone,
I have made the scans
page 1 is the instructions that came with the mounts
page 2 is the mount. I had to cut out a piece of paper to go around the mount and inside it to try to get some contrast.
page 3 is a trace of the mount.
there is a ruler next to it for scale (both metric and imperial)

I scanned it once as a low (200dpi) rez PDF and again as a high (600dpi) rez tif.
I printed the PDF version and noticed that the mount had shrunk just a little. check the scale.
I hope that they are good enough.

I have uploaded them to my (incompleat - only photos at the moment) site.
PDF : http://2saintly.com/garage/Speaker_Mounts.pdf (178Kb)
TIF : http://2saintly.com/garage/Speaker_Mounts.tif (712Kb)

[bimbim]

Hurrah!

[Tman100z]

Thanks again,I just found this post again. Im surprised i missed it.

Terence