Midrange Tweeters on front door

Diny · 21st September 2008, 18:52

I'm in the process of upgrading the audio system from the craptacular DSP factory system. Speakers first, then AMP with subwoofer, and then ipod integration.

But I just noticed that there are 2 tweeters on each front door along with the mid-bass speaker. Most component systems come with 1 tweeter and one midbass (as did mine).

So how do I tackle this? Which one on the front door do I replace? Do I leave the other one there or remove it so that I only have the non-factory system installed?

The rear door only has one tweeter, so that's not a problem, but I was surprised when I noticed 2 separate tweeters per front door.

Thanks for the help.

dave_gt · 21st September 2008, 20:16

All of the crossovers are in the amplifier so none of the amp outputs are full range. This causes a problem if you replace the three front speakers each side with a more conventional two.

Bavarian soundwerks sell a set of component speakers which are designed to replace two of the speakers, leaving one stock speaker and the stock amplifier. Other people have reported this is a good upgrade.

There is a procedure in DouglasABakers blog which shows how to get rid of the DSP amplifier in order to use your own aftermarket amp. This needs to be followed because the inputs to the DSP amplifier are digital and so incompatible with normal analogue amp inputs. Once you have got a nice set of analogue amp inputs you can of course add your own amplifier and use normal 2 way components up front with good results.

Hope that is of some help.

David

Diny · 21st September 2008, 20:24

Yup, I read Doug's DSP blog and talked with him extensively about this upgrade. I'm aware of the crossover situation and he suggested that if I were to do it in stages, then speakers first, then amp (best would be both at the same time), and then ipod or whatever).

I'll be doing the amp within a month or two so I figured I'd save some time and get the speakers done now.

So you're basically saying that I can remove one of the tweeters, right? I mean I could leave one on until I replace the DSP but why disassemble the door panel twice?

Is it a viable interim option to remove the tweeter that's by the vent and just replace the one by the mirror along with the mid-bass speaker?

dave_gt · 21st September 2008, 20:47

Of your two suggested options;

1) If you removed two of the stock speakers and replaced them with aftermarket ones you should be fine short term. If the speakers sensitivity (how much noise they make given a certain amount of power) is much different the frequency response may be a bit distorted, but you'd manage. I can't remember off the top of my head which of the stock speakers are best off being left in, but I have a feeling that it is the midrange. When you replace the amplifier, you could use the stock wiring for the new components and just disconnect the stock speaker at the amp end. If you are using passive crossovers and you want to put them near the speakers you'll have to either take the door apart again or fit them when you do the front speakers. In this case you might find a frequency 'hole' in the sound until the aftermarket amp goes in, depending what frequencies are used for the crossovers.

The only word of warning would be to take it easy with volume levels if you are fitting the mother of all component sets; you don't want to damage them with insufficient amplification being over driven.

2) If you remove the tweeter or midrange now and fitted the new components it would work but the stock amp is still in and giving crossed-over signals to the speakers, so you'd lose either the upper treble or midrange.

If it were me, I would wait a month or two and then swap amplifier and speakers together. Should be worth the upgrade though & hope I'm not teaching my granny to suck eggs

Diny · 21st September 2008, 21:14

Gotcha. The speakers have a sensitivity of 88db, and I veeeery seldom fully blast the speakers. In fact, I drove 320 miles yesterday on the Bear Mountain run here in New York and I only turned the radio on when I hit traffic coming back into Long Island.

I think I'm gonna resist the urge to work on the car and maybe do everything at once like you're suggesting.

dave_gt · 21st September 2008, 21:56

Yeah, do it once and do it right! Good luck with the upgrade and let us know how it goes.

BMWMPWR · 21st September 2008, 23:34

Get a 5.25 coax or seperate. If coax, ther are ones that has seperate inputs for its tweeter and midrange.

Replace the tweeter in the a pillar with a 1 inch tweeter.

If you decide to use both tweeters, you can Y connect the tweeter signal together. Ohm load doesn't really matter for tweeters, like it drastically can for subwoofers so dont worry about that.

To remove the door panel, it is like 2 screws and a bunch of clips, so doing it in stages doesn't cost you that much time. I could probably swap out speakers in a door in about 15 minutes each- if I was in a hurry, however I never try to be "in a hurry." Granted you dont opt for super power hungry speakers, you could get a set that works well with DSP amp, then do even better when you swap out to aftermarket amps.
60-85watt range works great. Anything more and you'll wonder why the $600 5.25's speakers suck- which they don't the dsp amp just can't push em cleanly.

I started with a pair of polk db1000 tweeters (in a pilar) and a pair of Boston 5.25 co-ax. 10x better sound than OEM. Easily found for $150 or less- quite less.

I've moved on since then but still use my polk tweets.

My 2 cents.

G/L

Diny · 21st September 2008, 23:43

I got 2 sets of 5.25 component Alpine SPX-13REF. No, I did not listen to them before buying it. I'm going based with my history, which has never been dissapointed by any Alpine product. It's highly unlikely that they sound worse than stock anyways.

For amp, right now I'm thinking of going with the PDX-5. Ultimately, I'd like a system that allows me to individually control the subwoofer channel with a knob mounted in the cabin. Some amps have remote control options but I dont know if it's gonna be just for the subwoofer channel or the whole system.

BMWMPWR · 21st September 2008, 23:53

Whatheheck has that amp running his whole system and loves it!

He replaced his two m subs with a single 10 inch sub in a pretty shallow box, made by Pioneer I think.

Good luck with your adventure!

Diny · 21st September 2008, 23:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by BMWMPWR

Whatheheck has that amp running his whole system and loves it!

He replaced his two m subs with a single 10 inch sub in a pretty shallow box, made by Pioneer I think.

Good luck with your adventure!

Yea I'm ware of him also, hehe. And I'm eyeing a 12-inch pioneer shallow mount with a shallow box as well.

I'm just not looking forward to the wiring mess that's gonna be deleting the DSP and installing the new amp.