Complete Sound System Upgrade

[Jabels]

So just kinda ran into a problem, where to stash the crossovers and where to place the amp, I was considering putting it where the original was, but I'm concerned about overheating.

[Uber E30]

For the front i ended up sticking the crossovers about a foot above the speakers with some heavy duty double sided tape. The rears are pretty straight forward, mine went where the old amp was on the drivers side and just mirrored that on the passenger side. As for the amp im building a standoff that screws into two of the old amp holes. Once its finished I will show you some pics.

[Jabels]

Cool, I was thinking of doing the same thing, I was just worried about overheating.

[Uber E30]

The standoff is actually going to be outside the carpet, im pretty sure if you use any real amp it will have issues behind the carpet. Basically im going to take an MDF board, drill a couple of countersunk holes into them and run a few long bolts through them that screw into the stock mount points for the amp. Then im going to JBweld a stud on the floor and use an L shaped bracket on the MDF to secure it to that. The amp would be exposed but still out of the way so i can use the vast majority of the hatch. See crappy MS paint drawing for the general idea.

[Jabels]

well that is the fanciest way I have ever heard of an amp being mounted but should turn out pretty goodly.

[Shellback]

Originally Posted by Uber E30

Similar to my setup, im running:

Polk Audio db5251 front/rear
Kenwood KDC-BT852HD
Rockford Fosgate PBR300X4

So I see no issues with what you have.

maybe i missed it, but are you running the original speaker wires or running new wires in their place. Seems like that would be a lot of work

[Uber E30]

No, all the wires have been replaced with 16g speaker wire. Its actually really simple and only took me a few hours to run everything. I pulled all the seats (front/rear), removed the plastic door guards, and the pannel under the glove box. This gave me access to the puchout in the floor of the passenger side. I drilled it instead of removing the whole thing, ran my 4g amp power wire through it. I then removed the battery/tray and routed my wire up into the tray area. Attached my cylinder fuse and my terminal ring then replaced the battery. From there I ran the power wire down my passenger side corner, under the rear seat, and under the trunk carpet. I ran two speaker wires from each kick panel down the drivers side, a small one from the drivers side rear and a medium sized one from the passenger side rear. I also ran my RCA's down the drivers side as well. Replaced the seats and door guards.

[Shellback]

I want to run my RCA's down the middle (center console) but removing the center console has become a PITA. I was able to remove the shifter surround leather and foam, but I don't see how the center console is bolted up to the car.
Maybe I should run the RCA's bellow the driver's side of the dash and then down the driver's side along with the original speaker wire.
I'm not planning on rewiring the speaker wire. I hope the original wire is good enough for a semi-decent system.

[Shellback]

Originally Posted by Uber E30

No, all the wires have been replaced with 16g speaker wire...
....I ran two speaker wires from each kick panel down the drivers side, a small one from the drivers side rear and a medium sized one from the passenger side rear.....

What about the door speakers? How did you run the speaker wire from the midranges and tweeters?

[Uber E30]

Originally Posted by Shellback

I want to run my RCA's down the middle

Dont bother splitting the RCA's, its only the power wire that needs to be run separate and that can run down the passenger side.

Originally Posted by Shellback

What about the door speakers? How did you run the speaker wire from the midranges and tweeters?

I have components/crossovers so only one wire is needed to run from the speakers to the amp. The actual tweeter itself has its own wire that runs to the crossover. I removed that little rubber accordion boot that by the door hinge(just two bolts). I then ran the tweeter wire through that and it feeds out right above the kick panel, which is where my crossovers are mounted. If you're already taking the door panel off, just spend the extra few minutes to do it the right way.

[tiFreak]

Originally Posted by Shellback

I want to run my RCA's down the middle (center console) but removing the center console has become a PITA. I was able to remove the shifter surround leather and foam, but I don't see how the center console is bolted up to the car.

the screws for the rear section are under the cupholder, rear ash tray and hazard switch, I've never removed my front section but I was able to fish my RCA and remote wires through without removing it

[Shellback]

Thanks for the help.
Fornicate it, I'm running the RCA's along the Driver's side

[cmptrwiz]

Originally Posted by Shellback

I want to run my RCA's down the middle (center console) but removing the center console has become a PITA. I was able to remove the shifter surround leather and foam, but I don't see how the center console is bolted up to the car.
Maybe I should run the RCA's bellow the driver's side of the dash and then down the driver's side along with the original speaker wire.
I'm not planning on rewiring the speaker wire. I hope the original wire is good enough for a semi-decent system.

There is a screw under the hazard light switch, one the front of the centre console. One under the ashtray holder ( push down to pop open, the inner tray lifts out), and the third under the upholder/coin box (on most US cars), under a 'plug'.

Getting the 'hazard light switch' out was a bit tricky. You got to lift the shifter surround, push up on the right side of the switch from under it. The switches wire connector sticks out right side of the housing. No fear of gouging the centre console around the switch trying to pop it up.

realoem.com is invaluable for finding out how things 'not in the manuals' come apart. At least where the screws are.

Its worth some research to find out how do the job correctly. This link realoem.com

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/partgrp.d...06&hg=51&fg=35