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OEM Sound System Upgrade, Need Wiring Diagram/Pics (Many Search)

10K views 12 replies 4 participants last post by  Salman Iftikhar 
#1 ·
Hi all, I'm in the planning stages of upgrading my sound system to something half way respectable, and need some help with the wiring. I searched and searched and searched but couldn't find anything beyond the pinouts. I'd really like a wiring diagram that includes the colors of the stock wiring.

In my search I came across a huge amount of information regarding keeping or getting rid of the dsp. I'd like to retain the oem head unit and the steering wheel controls.

I had previously added a subwoofer by tapping into the wires that are going into the amp, and want to know if it is possible to get the signal from the front and rear speakers. I read somewhere that the head unit outputs both an analog and digital signal, and that the analog is 2 channel only.

I was in the process of replacing the basic line out converter for the subwoofer with an Audiocontrol LC2i:



Amazon sent me this:





Which should look like this:



After sending the LC2i back to Amazon, I got pumped up to not only upgrade the sound quality of my sub, but also clean up the front and rear speakers. At first I was looking at the Audiocontrol LC7i, which is an expanded LC2i, that would allow me to install a 4 channel amp to feed awesome to the front and rear speakers:



But then I thought about getting the LCQ-1, which is the LC7i with EQ:



I went ahead and ordered the LCQ-1, and have a JL 300/4v2 to power the front and rear speakers, and plan to run new speaker wire to them. I previously installed JL Audio speakers in the car (ZR 6.5 components in the front, XR 5.25 coaxials in the rear.)

After mulling it around in my head and reading through a bunch of threads, here are my hopefully logical questions for you sound system gurus out there:

1. Does the oem headunit indeed only output 2 channel, and would this cause problems trying to make that a front and rear signal? I also read that the cd changer (now a dice source for my ipod), radio, and nav use either analog or digital.

2. Can I tap into the wires going into the amp for the fronts and rears like I did for the sub, and if so, which wires are what, and what color are they? (I have seen the pinouts like here: http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/m5-e39-e60-tips-tricks/9928-dsp-wiring-pinout.html But the colors only cover the rear subwoofer signal.)

3. Is this even a good idea, or should I just improve the line out to my sub? I'd really like to add an amp to the front and rear speakers, but I was reading that the stock amp needs to stay to keep certain functions, etc.
 
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#2 ·
Hi Gouki,

I've read and re-read your post here and there's a few things that immediately jump out for me. It's always best to research and ask/discuss prior to purchasing products so that you get things right initially and not have to re-arrange things later and potentially lose money. You've got some items already but you've not 'planned' your setup in the way for it to provide what you wish to achieve with an upgrade. I'll explain a bit more of what I mean below and give you pointers on a good 'plan' for the upgrade/install.

Those ZR 6.5 components you have are from the high end JL Audio range and they're capable of absolutely stupendous performance and abilities. They're often shortlisted by car and car audio enthusiasts alike for when a high(er) end audio install is planned/done due to just how awesome they can sound, and you'll usually see them in carefully measured and made solid door builds and often at the optimum mounting angle to help with imaging and soundstage characteristics. Putting them in the oem door locations in an E39 is quite simply wasting them, they'll not perform to what they're capable of at all. To put that into perspective, the ZR6.5's are a $700-800 component set, if you put in say a $350 component set, the sound/performance would be pretty much the same, you'd be very very, very hard pushed to tell a difference. A few years ago, a good friend in his M5 also wanted to put the ZR's in the front and we had exactly this same conversation as he also wanted to put them in the OEM locations. I showed him another good friends Golf GTi which had been overhauled and modified along with a simple yet brilliant Sound Quality orientated audio install which used the ZR's for the front stage. This is what it looks like;






The soundstage, imaging and response from the front end was spectacular. Precise, smooth and detailed and a real pleasure to listen to. In this setup, there was no outboard or electronic equalization - just the head unit's controls and the gain/bass level's etc on the amplifiers. As you can see, the ZR's are in angled fabricated solid enclosures/door builds and it's the reason they play to their capabilities.

I think the XR rear co-axials are an older model and I don't see them listed on the current JL range. I'll assume that they are also the 'higher' priced co-axials and it's like above, they'd be wasted sitting on the rear parcel shelf providing a bit of rear fill. A $50-75 set of co-axials would do the same and sound pretty much the same as well.

Onto the aspect of where to get your audio signals from and all that headache/faffing around. You can go in depth here and locate the right wires to tap the pre-amplified signal from and then I currently believe (ready to be corrected here!) that it's certain amplifiers that are capable of using the signal when tapped at that location as it's a balanced line signal. There's very in-depth posts from member DouglasA Baker explaining how to do this for those owners wishing to go this route. Another route is to use the Intravee setup along with the Alpine PXA-h800 processor. This setup does integrate with the oem head unit so you can control aspects via the oem screen etc. The Alpine outputs the clean audio signal to connect to your amplifier(s). You do need to install and set things up here too which is still relatively fiddly still.

The other, much easier way is to use a good sound processor. Do you have DSP on the oem setup you have? if you do, then look to the JL Audio Cleansweep & Signal Summing units as they'll take all the outputs from the OEM DSP amp and 'sum' them up to create one full range signal. With more clever processing, the oem EQ curve pre-set is removed so the response is as close to acoustically 'flat' as possible, the signal voltage is then boosted and the other clever part is no matter how hard you drive the oem amp into distortion (relatively easy as it only has a modest/low RMS power output) the signal output by the CleanSweep is never distorted. That 'clean and pure' signal is then connected to your choice amplifier(s) and then speakers. This method removes all the hassle and faff you have been finding searching through all those posts and keeps things simple and easy to install saving time/money if you have to have a Pro install done.

The above methods mean that you need to keep the oem setup working and functional. The oem modules are very old now and failing more often and each module has multiple points of failure so in the long(er) term, it's the most expensive route to go as naturally, most of the points of failure are relatively expensive to fix/repair.

Here's an install I've referenced here on M5board previously. The owner wanted a significant increase in sound quality from the oem 16:9 audio setup, yet wanted everything to remain oem looking in the cabin. I think this is what you would ideally like. The install was done by a local installer I partnered with at the time;

Full JL Audio install - E39 530i Sport Saloon/Sedan - Audio & Navigation - BMW 5 Series Owners Board

The front speaker components I recall were the C2 6.5s or their mid range equivalent model at the time and the rear co-axials were the entry level range line at the time. The subwoofers are the upper entry level 10W3-V3. The quality level of the install is where the bulk of the money was spent, but those extravagances can be dialed right back to make a big saving if you don't want a 'show' or 'high end' level install. If you get the front door baffles made up to be as possible and the sub enclosure too along with it fitting up tightly to the rear seat bulkhead, you'll get the same efficient setup.

If, you are open to the idea of making door builds and are looking to make those ZR's perform and play to what they're capable of, then do speak to quality car audio installers and fabricators to get what you'd like. I had door builds made to my spec's and requirements and very happy with them. I use the phenomenal sounding DLS R5A's for my front end and the entry level DLS 4 inch co-axials in custom pods on my D Pillar's. Many, many enthusiasts have heard my setup and are shocked/astounded when I tell them it's a 5.25" driver providing all that excellent mid bass response and just an 8 inch for the sub bass when they thought they were hearing a 10, 12 and in some cases a 15 inch !

My door builds;











Here's my writeup of why I went the route I did and the various aspects I carefully evaluated for all of it;

https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?1839222-The-Ultimate-Audio-BMW (scroll about half way down the page) - I changed to a Parrot Asteroid Smart head unit since this thread, and that looks like this;






This unit fits flush as you can see without modifying the cabin airbox as it's a shallow depth unit. For a cleaner and better sounding source, a good quality head unit is the ideal way to go about things - the oem modules don't have the same level of quality as compared to modern aftermarket units and would be the route I'd recommend if SQ is a big part of what you require.

Cheers, Dennis!
 
#3 ·
Hi Dennis, thank you very much for the in depth reply! I have all of these components from a previous install on my STi, so the budget is not an issue. I understand that the imaging on the front door locations is basically garbage, but did notice a decent improvement when I installed the ZRs into the front doors using the birchwood adapters, replacing the Rainbows that were part of the bavsound upgrade that my car came with. The XR was the top of the line trim before JL went to the CX designations, although the budget TR is till in production. Looks like they discontinued the 5.25 ZR, which I was initially trying to buy to reuse the stock enclosures. (I know, I know...)

I would really like to keep the oem interface, since it came to my possession with all the Dice goodies. (Although I just got done relocating the ipod connection to the cabin rather than the trunk, and didn't realize this was to blame for the multiple disconnections, lock/unlocking issues, and general slowness, all from running 15 feet of usb cable from the unit to the trunk...)

I did look into the JL Audio oem integration modules, which has now been named Fix, and they do have a unit that is comparable to the LCQ-1, but they want 400 Murican for their unit, and I prefer the idea of little rotory knobs for the eq rather than having to sit there with a laptop and software every time I want to make an adjustment. ("WTF is this guy complaining about money if he's wasting a grand on those ZR components?") I was super into expensive car audio when I had the STi, and was content to just to add a sub to the M5. It was my sub par line out converter intermittently losing signal that started me on this mad journey in the first place. I had a $70 credit with Amazon, so I went and ordered the LCQ-1. (And now the current line out converter hasn't skipped a beat, like it knows it's about to be replaced. #Skynet)

I am currently contemplating removing the whole interior and running proper speaker cable to the front stage if the stock setup can't deliver. I've always heard "The stock speaker cable will handle up to 100 watts rms", and my tried and true JL 300/4 outputs a honest 75 watts rms, so I'll see how that goes.

I'm thinking about mounting the amps on the underside of the rear deck, so running new cable to the rears is a no brainer.

Thanks for your response, and I will look into the links you provided!
 
#4 ·
I am about to do a full replacement. I'm ready for more modern functionality and I don't trust the 13 year old complicated oem electronics to keep on chugging for another 5 years or more.

Planning to use the alpine ILX-207 when they finally start shipping. Includes both apple CarPlay and android auto and expandability for XM which I may also add. This brings up the interface to my newer cars.
I will lose the computer and nav but never use it.
Mpg and range is still available on the dash display. That doesn't get fed by the Mk4 does it ? I was hoping to remove all that stock stuff.

I picked up focal 6.5 2 ways and got some baffles to mount them in the stock location. Not planning rear fills.
I'm reusing some amps from previous builds. Have a old mono 200W sub amp that can handle a 2ohm load. Plan to wire the M audio subs together to present a 4 ohm load if that's possible for bass. At least first pass. See how hay works. Will use a 50W per channel 4 channel amp I have and either use two channels or bridge them for the fronts.
I was hoping to splice into the speaker wire for the fronts if possible.

Fairly simple set up. Shouldn't need sound processors or EQ but could always add that later.

Looking forward to getting a proper stereo in the M5.


Sent from AutoGuide.com Free App
 
#5 ·
Hi,

Gouki - I'll need to dig the post out where one of the M5 owners I know very well here did the initial installation of 6.5 inch drivers and found the cone excursion was hitting the back of the door card causing buzzing/distortion. The door's were then stripped and a lot of work, cutting, light fabrication and sound deadening was done/added to ensure more precise fitment of the speakers was done. At that point, the change to H.A.T drivers was also made as I believe, the ZR's mounting depth presented an issue and the H.A.T's were just that little bit less of a mounting depth meaning the issue was overcome. I think this will be a factor for you if you also wish to use the ZR's and mount them behind the oem door card. The ZR's are far too good to waste using the oem plastic enclosures - it is of course up to you if you want to use them, however you'll still need to cut them up a bit and faff around with them to make them fit - if you try not having to cut them and keep the internal volume the same, the 'midrange' response becomes emphasized and doesn't sound so good and even more reason those ZR's would be wasted! you might as well put in a set of $80 components! Moving on, it's not good practice to mount amplifiers upside down if that's what you are thinking if they go underneath the parcel shelf. Most amplifiers have their heatsinks or 'thermal' design to have heat rise upwards to escape - if you have the amps upside down, the heat will not escape as efficiently and will warm up the PCB and components, so more chances of thermal cut out in the short term, and heat weakened components longer term.

I like running new speaker cabling so that you know from that point everything is going to run well. The OEM speaker wiring should be ok too, but in case of issues later, it becomes another area to have to investigate/test.

I've dropped you a PM as well :)

C4Racer - I'm eagerly awaiting the new Alpine head units announced at CES 2017 and it's great they've updated so that there's a shallow depth with CarPlay and Android Auto ! As per above, mounting 6.5's can cause issues with cone excursion and mounting depths etc when wanting to use behind the stock door cards. Some of the very latest super slim 6.5 components don't have this issue as they're shallower. Morel do a very slim 6.5 inch component set for instance. I'll edit this thread when I find the link to all the work done by the enthusiast here (it's on his build thread here on m5board) so you can also see the areas of potential issue. Keep in mind if you have an older type amplifier that can and will play into 2 ohm loads, then it's likely it'll run quite a bit hotter, so mounting locations becomes more of an issue/concern to overcome. Would the 200W be an RMS figure at 2 ohms? or 4 ohms? even at 4 ohms, it's quite low and that becomes more apparent at normal cruising highway 50-70mph and a tad over ;) speeds. I have 300RMS at 4 ohms and I feel that I could do with a bit more power - perhaps 400-450W RMS. Before I change amps, I may well add some sound deadening material instead to reduce road/wind noise and that might allow the 300W of sub bass to sound better at higher speeds. You wouldn't need to splice into speaker level outputs if you connect the 4 channel amp to the RCA outputs of the amplifier you already have! again, if 50W/channel is at 4 ohms, you'll perhaps need to turn the gains up a nominal amount more. I say that as I run 4x75W RMS at 4 ohms and I'd say my gains are on about '65-75%' of their range. I do like a balanced yet powerful front end and so far, I've not needed to adjust, even when at those highway speeds. With the Parametric EQ and Digital Time Alignment on the Alpine, you'll be able to adjust things on the fly depending on music and genre's etc. Right now, I'm also wanting that capability, but I also have immensely enjoyed just keeping the Parrot Smart's sound processing to 'off' and only having the sub level control.

Also dropped you a PM :)

Cheers, Dennis!
 
#8 ·
Actually it's rated at 200 at 4ohm and 375 at 2 ohm. I think I had a sheet that the unit tested at 270w into 4 ohm. It's a 1990s era hifonics hercules mono class D amp with built in crossover. I've had it in 3 killer stereo installations.

Problem is the DVC M audio subs can be wired as a 6ohm or 1.5 ohm load. So it will only push 125W into a 6 ohm load and over 400 into 1.5 but that may push the amp too hard. Might be ok if I keep the output level around half.

Amp I have for the fronts is 75W per channel so that will do.


Sent from AutoGuide.com Free App
 
#9 ·
So after fighting with Amazon over the phone and over chat, I received a refund/gift card for the balance and bought 30 for 30 season 2 and a Dymo labeler. Why did I give up on the Audiocontrol?

Bought this on Ebay:



127.50, less than what I was spending on the LCQ-1, and well below retail. (399.99)

So I ran new power and ground cables, soldered and heat shrinked new speaker wires and a remote wire to the unit and...

Power but no sound. I used one of the old rainbow bsw speakers to test for signal, and signal is coming out of the speaker wires. I've tried to move around the jumpers for the GTO and the summing, and the only difference is that the connected to main lights will some one when the summing is enabled. I was initially inputting the speaker wires to channel 3 which is meant to be the sub, then moved them to channel one and both use the channel one output and sum to channel three, all to the same result. I also thought it was something to do with the remote wire, but I reinstalled the Fisher Price LOC and it powered right up.

I later discovered that this unit originally came with an ACR-3 remote level and set up controller.

I was reading over on diycmobileaudio and some members were saying that the signal delay knob might be on set up instead of normal, and that the controller may be necessary to initially set the unit up and then place in normal mode.

I ordered an ACR-3 from Ebay and am currently waiting for it to arrive.

Anyone one on here have experience with these?

In the meantime I reinstalled the Fisher Price LOC, I can't stand the loss of low end.

The saga continues.
 
#10 ·
Greetings Program!

Okay, so here's another Install Rule to Live By:

"Never trust the previous installer."

I was reusing the power and ground sources from the previous installation. This was giving enough power for the DQ-61 to power on, but not enough to process anything. I ran new larger power (fused) and grounds directly to the battery as advised by the manual, and I now have glorious power! (It was most frustrating, since it appeared that the unit was powering on but not doing anything.)

During the last month I have taken it upon myself to go ahead and pioneer the pinouts and wire colors for the stock speakers. I am at a loss why this information is not available for a car that has been around since I graduated high school. This took forever, and after checking, double/triple/quadruple checking, I now have two pieces of cardboard with my graphs and charts taped to them. (And one piece of do-over paper for one channel, since the "Holy Gospel Tried and True Absolutely Correct Pinout Chart" from one of the threads on here that I was going by had two identical rear "-" signals.)

Anyway, I got the Audiocontrol DQ-61 installed and did a preliminary run for all of the new speakers to make sure they are in the correct positions and receiving the correct signals.

I have all of the crossovers hooked up, and next I will re-route the cables and attempt to sound deaden the roof.

Here is where I am at:



One interesting note, and what was taking me so long to finally dive in, were the inputs for the Audiocontrol (Front/Rear, Left/Right, +/-) inputs are exactly half of what I need, since the speaker outputs for the dsp are all separate. (Right Rear Woofer +, Right Rear Woofer -, Right Rear Tweeter +, Right Rear Tweeter -, etc.) Initially I combined both the tweeter and woofer inputs together, which sounded like a horrible mess, then just used the woofer inputs, which ended up being a stronger signal. After the magic of the Audiocontrol, I now have respectable highs and mids.

Extremely happy with the upgrade so far, and will create a new post with The Holy Grail of Pinouts and Wire Color once I transfer my chicken scratches over to an excel sheet or something in paint.
 
#11 ·
Hi all, I'm in the planning stages of upgrading my sound system to something half way respectable, and need some help with the wiring. I searched and searched and searched but couldn't find anything beyond the pinouts. I'd really like a wiring diagram that includes the colors of the stock wiring.

In my search I came across a huge amount of information regarding keeping or getting rid of the dsp. I'd like to retain the oem head unit and the steering wheel controls.

I had previously added a subwoofer by tapping into the wires that are going into the amp, and want to know if it is possible to get the signal from the front and rear speakers. I read somewhere that the head unit outputs both an analog and digital signal, and that the analog is 2 channel only.

I was in the process of replacing the basic line out converter for the subwoofer with an Audiocontrol LC2i:



Amazon sent me this:





Which should look like this:



After sending the LC2i back to Amazon, I got pumped up to not only upgrade the sound quality of my sub, but also clean up the front and rear speakers. At first I was looking at the Audiocontrol LC7i, which is an expanded LC2i, that would allow me to install a 4 channel amp to feed awesome to the front and rear speakers:



But then I thought about getting the LCQ-1, which is the LC7i with EQ:



I went ahead and ordered the LCQ-1, and have a JL 300/4v2 to power the front and rear speakers, and plan to run new speaker wire to them. I previously installed JL Audio speakers in the car (ZR 6.5 components in the front, XR 5.25 coaxials in the rear.)

After mulling it around in my head and reading through a bunch of threads, here are my hopefully logical questions for you sound system gurus out there:

1. Does the oem headunit indeed only output 2 channel, and would this cause problems trying to make that a front and rear signal? I also read that the cd changer (now a dice source for my ipod), radio, and nav use either analog or digital.

2. Can I tap into the wires going into the amp for the fronts and rears like I did for the sub, and if so, which wires are what, and what color are they? (I have seen the pinouts like here: DSP wiring pinout But the colors only cover the rear subwoofer signal.)

3. Is this even a good idea, or should I just improve the line out to my sub? I'd really like to add an amp to the front and rear speakers, but I was reading that the stock amp needs to stay to keep certain functions, etc.
Bro I need to fit aftermarket amps and DSP on my BMW E60 M5, kindly confirm is it easy or difficult, and does it worth the hassle
thank you
 
#12 ·
Hi,

It's not possible to answer your questions definitively. Some will say it's easy to install, others will say it's difficult to install. Some will say it's worth the hassle, others will say it's not worth the hassle.

You need to frame your questions, which OEM setup is in your M5 now? how well do you want your music reproduced in the car? are you looking for a Sound Quality orientated install? do you want to run an active or a passive setup? do you want to go with Sound Quality with excellent loud and clean sub bass? or do you just want a modest level of sub bass? do you want the amplifiers to get as best a signal from the OEM audio as possible via specific products that interact with the cars optical bus system ? or do you wish to 'add on' to the existing setup and connect 'after' the digital to analogue conversion?

There's many many more questions for you to consider as well. The flag on your profile there I think shows 'Pakistan' as your location or did you choose that in terms of your origins? if you are in Pakistan, I'd hazard a guess there's very very few experienced car audio installers who know what they're doing for a proper SQ type installation and setup/tuning of it. If you are in the USA/Canada/UK/Western Europe/Japan/Australia/NZ and other countries, you may find some excellent, reputable and knowledgable car audio dealers/installers in your area. Check the E60 section on this and other BMW forums for those who've done car audio installs in an E60. Here's one a friend did back in 2011ish






Cabin had upgraded speakers in OEM locations so nothing to photograph/see. He used optical to audio interface units to extract an optical audio stream and then convert to analogue to then connect to his 2 amplifiers, one for the cabin speakers and the other being for the subwoofer channel. The setup sounded crisp, clean and he wanted it loud at the same time and it also did that with no distortion or muddying of the sound.

Cheers, Dennis!
 
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