Spec me some ICE

Hmm, if I was going to use 6x9's, I'd use them just for bass and use a DSP to delay the fronts so it's all in phase, make the bass mono also. Car DSP's are more than £300 tho... :(

This is probably the best speaker in 6x9 size for bass, the Tang Band W69-1042J:
w691042j3.jpg


Xmax of 7.3mm and Fs 35Hz, if anyone can find a 6x9 which offers more displacement, I'll be interested to know what it is! :)
 
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dont install 6x9 speakers there not as good as the chavs make out
if you havr to buy 6x9 speakers make sure they are single way no cones or drivers int he middle as this makes for bad sound regardless of how expencive they are
same with the other speakers, any set with seperate tweeters will sound better
 
For the components have a look at some Rainbow speakers. They tend to be really good sound quality for the money
 
Why would you not go with a subwoofer in the boot?
A small 8" in a sealed enclosure will be small and give far more punch than any 6x9s. The E39s boot is sealed yes but bass frequencies travel well. I used to run a 10" sub in the boot of my E39 saloon that I had many moons ago and it was fine.

As far as the front components are concerned, you will get a normal 5.5" mid in the stock housing but you will find that the stock tweeter space is a bit fiddly (in the popouts behind the mirrors) and too small to get a normal 1.5" tweeter inside. Best thing to do is to place a tweeter in the space by the doorhandles where the DSP system would have the mid tweeter. This is what I've done with mine. You will need to bypass the stock crossovers though and use the ones that come with the speakers.
Do not get combined midbass+tweeter coaxail speakers. The stock mounting points are too low down on the doors and it will sound muddy.

I wasn't aware that there were 6x9s as standard fit in the rear of the E39. I always thought they were 5.5" coaxail. They are in my touring anyway.

Another option for bass is that if you look under your parcel shelf you will see a template and mounting holes for the M5s standard fit 10" subwoofers. Some have done this with good effect.
 
Rilot said:
Why would you not go with a subwoofer in the boot?
A small 8" in a sealed enclosure will be small and give far more punch than any 6x9s. The E39s boot is sealed yes but bass frequencies travel well. I used to run a 10" sub in the boot of my E39 saloon that I had many moons ago and it was fine.
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He'll have to build an enclosure, drill, screw, run new wiring from the amplifier to the boot...whereas with 6x9s subs (which is the course of action I'd take) it's a 5 minute job to unscrew and re-fit some 6x9s. Not normally one for 6x9s but for someone that just wants to improve the sound with a bit more bass, they are perfect for this application. They'll also need less power to drive properly than a subwoofer, even if it is only 8".

I had some Focal Polykevlar K2 components in my Fiesta and they were very detailed and smooth, but lacked midbass (probably installation issue, I had a 10" sub though). Can't really recommend any speakers myself as I haven't looked into this for years.
 
I am about to do a similair move as I can't have a sub due to needing the boot for my pet lab so I am going to run a genisis amp to front 3 way focal speakers with the factory headunit programmed for low level output and replacing the rear 6.5"s just with bass drivers and put the amp in the factory amp position under the passanger seat this I am told will give the best performance as two 6.5" bass drivers offer a similair surface area to a 8" bass driver.

My advise would be get bass 6 by 9s and don't send anything above 120hz to them, passengers in the rear will still be able to here the sound from the front.
 
my advice

a decent 4ch amp would do wonders to the final sound.

chosing some components for the front is simple enough, but the 6x9s in the rear is the tricky part

get that wrong and it wont sound right. i like the logic of the 6x9s for added bass, that will work fine but you also run the risk of adding shed loads of mid and trebble which is what would do the ruining

are there no speakers in the rear doors?

if not, then you have to work out a way of controlling the level of mid and trebble being produced by the rears. clever amps may have those features
 
[TW]Fox;15398757 said:
So does anyone want to have a go at speccing some specific speakers? I dont know whats good, what isnt and how much to spend :(
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Spend as much as you can afford on some Pioneer/Alpine speakers and you shouldn't really go wrong :p
 
peterattheboro said:
Spend as much as you can afford on some Pioneer/Alpine speakers and you shouldn't really go wrong :p
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If we were talking about Headunits, I'd agree but their speaker range is not great.

Hertz do fantastic value stuff and it's worth looking down that avenue. As the 6x9s will be well sealed then they should perform well but as said earlier, they are only good for punchy bass, not low down rolling bass. Only a sub can do that.
 
I couldn't find any info on the Sound On Top with a quick google, are there any specs anywhere?

If you don't want to re-use this then like Wicksta says just get a converter which will take your speaker outputs and turn them into a line level signal which you can then drive any amp with. Then the world's your oyster. Nice set of two way components up front and decent quality speakers in the rear. I'd recommend a sub in the boot though, a set of 6x9s isn't going to deliver anywhere near the depth/punch a nice 10 or 12" one would. I have had a 10" and now have a 12" in my (sealed saloon) boot and they work fine.


Are there absolutely no aftermarket head units that look respectable in the 5's dash? Not even something made by Becker, Blaupunkt etc? :(


Matt82 said:
if not, then you have to work out a way of controlling the level of mid and trebble being produced by the rears. clever amps may have those features
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My last two Pioneers have had a feature (called FIE or Front Image Enhancer IIRC) that cuts the upper frequency response of the rear speakers to make the fronts sound more pronounced while just adding a bit of rear fill. If he's not gonna go down the sub root then just turn on the low pass filter on whichever amp he uses for the rears I guess :)


edit: Battery's in the boot of an E39 isn't it? Should make installing an amp in the boot even easier then, all you hvae to do is run phono cables :)
 
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Howard; said:
If he's not gonna go down the sub root then just turn on the low pass filter on whichever amp he uses for the rears I guess
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ah, but thats why i asked if there were speakers in the door. run 6x9s as subs by all means, but youll want some rear fill otherwise itll sound odd for rear passengers

if yu can add a "low pass filter" that just cuts out trebble but keeps mid and bass, i think youd still win
 
thats a bit wrong tho innit stockhausen, deep vocals go as low as 100hz. i have a feeling 1000hz might actually be above most of the vocal range anyway
 
You could always run a line level converter to give you RCA, then it wont matter what head unit you go for. As for speakers, it depends on budget, Focal,Rainbow etc are damn good. I wouldnt spend any money on the back end! Just go for a decent 8" sub and a monoblock.

Have a look on TalkAudio as previously mentioned.
 
You can add bass by using 6x9's, the sound isn't very tight but it can be done, furthermore you can get 6x9 shaped subs anyway........

You can use any amp via the OEM HU outputs by getting an adapter.

Don't buy Pioneer or Alpine speakers.

Don't be shocked if by adding better plastic coned speakers and a substandard amp if you actually end up with less bass than you currently have.
 
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