E46 Coupe replacement speakers. What should I do?

[E46 MAN]

Hi Guys,

So I've been thinking of changing the speakers or putting in a sub and amp, in my e46 coupe for a while now because they are basically not good enough for base with my new eonon head unit, and I am toying with the idea of just getting a sub and amp set-up with the existing speakers or buying a whole new speaker set-up without a sub. I am also finding it difficult to find the exact size of speakers I need. I have just the standard speakers at the moment (no sub).

I would be very grateful if I could get any recommendations of brands, sizes and ideas of what to do here to get the best sound without having to take out a mortgage to fund it. I'm thinking that a budget of around €400 to complete the job should be sufficient but once again i am looking for some guidance of this.

Thanks in advance,

Aidan

[JohnH]

Aidan,

There's a complete package available from bavsound.com in the US or perhaps an upgrade kit from @[GERMANIKS] Germaniks.com

Have a look here too
http://forums.m3cutters.co.uk/showthread.php?t=130102&highlight=Speakers

[E46 MAN]

Aidan,

There's a complete package available from bavsound.com in the US or perhaps an upgrade kit from @[GERMANIKS] Germaniks.com

Have a look here too
http://forums.m3cutters.co.uk/showthread.php?t=130102&highlight=Speakers

Thanks John,

Would it be a good idea to try a sub and amp enclosure first to see what its like with the standard system? or is it just better to go for a full speaker change?

[JohnH]

Aidan,

There's a complete package available from bavsound.com in the US or perhaps an upgrade kit from @[GERMANIKS] Germaniks.com

Have a look here too
http://forums.m3cutters.co.uk/showthread.php?t=130102&highlight=Speakers

Thanks John,

Would it be a good idea to try a sub and amp enclosure first to see what its like with the standard system? or is it just better to go for a full speaker change?

I think the speakers are so bad (for audiophiles) that you may as well replace the speakers first.

[GERMANIKS]

I am with John, adding a sub will only add more bass, this is not on its own going to improve the overall musical experience if the rest is crap.
You need one obviously if you want to achieve good sound, but this is only one item in the puzzle.
If you want to improve a good bit without breaking the bank, you can change the front speakers only, 6.5" midrange and tweeters. Components speakers 2 ways.

Then add a small sub and make an opening in the metal sheet behind the rear seat to get more bass inside. Ideally the sub should be pointing towards the end of the car as opposed to inside the cabin like often seen.

But you know, without proper amplification, you will have distortion at higher volume if you do not provide enough power to those speakers inside the cabin. At best a headunit provides about 20 watt rms per channel usually. And an OEM one a good bit less.
So if you install new speakers handling 100 wrms, you will get poor sound quality without a proper amp at higher volume. They will be fine at normal volume and will improve dramatically the sound experience over the stock ones, if they are from a decent brand/range.

Usually I recommend to go 4ch amp for each corner of the car on the basic setups, and 1 mono channel amp for powering up the sub in the trunk.
Don't be fooled by poor brands commonly found in Halfords advertising 2000 wrms on their sub/mono amp that costs 150 euros. Most of the time they actually do 200-300 wrms at best.
I run a proper 250 wrms 8" sub in my e39 and believe me this thing will rock your socks off.

Plenty of brands and quality out there, really depends of your budget. You can get good front speakers for like 200-250 euros.
Bavsound are overpriced if you ask me. Plus you run the risk of having to pay import duty on top.

[E46 MAN]

Thanks Germaniks some pretty serious info there. I just sent you a pm.

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk

[TRMZ]

Here's my experience.
The main problem with setting up new front speakers is that the factory mounts are very shallow so most speakers wont fit without heavy modifying and/or cutting the door panel.
The second problem is that the speakers are mounted to the door cover panel and not the actual door. Which means that your bass will always suffer.
The proper way to go would be to cut speaker size holes in the door and re-do the cover panel for proper mounts. But that seemed like too much hassle to me
So I decided to go with factory mounts.
The not all standard speakers (6.5") will fit, they need to be low profile if you want to fit them in the factory slot.
In my case I used old MB Quart PSD 216 midbass. I dont think they make them anymore. You can also go for Rainbows they have custom built model for e46, heard good things about them.
I also used two mounting rings per midbass, something like this http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTAwMFgxMDAw/z/AswAAOxy6MBSSqMj/$T2eC16dHJGIFFonMC7myBSSqMi5Yn!~~60_57.JPG
Covered the door panel inside out with dynamat, also added around and on the mounting rings.
Morel MT12 tweeters went in to factory slot instead of the stock ones.
New wiring, no filtering (HU takes care of that)
The front is driven by Audison LRx 4.5 one channel per speaker

In the boot on the battery I have a Hertz hx250d in a custom made sealed box (made it ages ago so dont remember capacity, ~25l I think).
This is driven by Magnat tribal X One.

HU at the moment is CDA-9887 but this is in the process of upgrading to 7" Android tablet.
Will do pictures on this once all the parts arrive.