Biscuits Posted November 22, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 22, 2008 Thank you for all your help Gizze. I spent all day yesterday fitting the SWS8 subs to the enclosures (bit of hacking was required to do a pukka job), installing the THA555 amp and running all the cables under the trim. I haven't had chance to play with the settings on the amp. I'm sure you had written somewhere how to set the levels/switches up. On the drive home last night I checked all my head unit levels were neutral. Oh... parking sensor bleeps now only work if the radio is on... did you find this too ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizze Posted November 22, 2008 Report Share Posted November 22, 2008 Biscuits said: Oh... parking sensor bleeps now only work if the radio is on... did you find this too ? Hmm?? Can't say I ever noticed. Did you move the optical cable from the original harness to the blaupunkt harness?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biscuits Posted November 22, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 22, 2008 gizze said: Hmm?? Can't say I ever noticed. Did you move the optical cable from the original harness to the blaupunkt harness?? Yep, moved the optical cable. Parking bleeps are heard... maybe my levels aren't setup right, so the bleeps (when the radio is off) are too low a level? There are a few things I'm not 100% on. Did you trim any of the carpet when replacing the sub enclosures? The original covers went on without any problems (I did a LOT of grinding to get the SWS8's to fit!) Not sure I have the LoPass & HiPass switches and the level trims setup correctly either. Having a blonde moment ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizze Posted November 22, 2008 Report Share Posted November 22, 2008 You want the front output on 8v. Unplug the subs from the amp. Now set the hi pass so it will go as low as possible, once you hear the front speakers are not getting any lower you are where you want it to be. Would think it will be about 80-120hz somewhere in that region. Now you want to set the sub channel to take over from there, so set the low pass on that to where ever you got to with the fronts. So say you got 100hz on the fronts set the sub to do everything below 100hz. You will now need to tweak the sub levels on the amp so you can hear it but not, if that makes sense?? Turn the gain to around 4v and then back off till the subs disapear, you want the bass to be there but not overpowering the fronts. I also set the low pass on the rears so it was only 125hz and lower going to them, this gives a nice rear fill and doesn't drag the soundstage back. Once that is done you can maybe fasde to the front slightly and add a little treble or bass if needed. You maust make sure that the front channel input is 8v though, very important. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biscuits Posted November 22, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 22, 2008 Excellent. Thanks Guy Here's a couple of pics of my install... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizze Posted November 22, 2008 Report Share Posted November 22, 2008 Looking good!! I left the carpet sitting on top of teh grille, that is on the outside/sill side. Just in case the driver hit it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ad525d Posted December 4, 2008 Report Share Posted December 4, 2008 ok i have read the whole thread but i am slightly confused now ..... I have the standard business radio .... 6 speakers if i add the blaupunkt two channel amp for the fronts.... will it be possible to add the logic 7 tweeters ??? i mean how are the speakers wired in at the moment? what is the load in ohms that the radio is working on at the moment? what load will the amp be running on if i add the tweeters? Hope someone can shed some light on this to clarify this for me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biscuits Posted December 5, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 5, 2008 ad525d said: if i add the blaupunkt two channel amp for the fronts.... will it be possible to add the logic 7 tweeters ??? Yes, they just plug into the existing mid-range door speakers, see below... the tweeters come with the correct lead/plug, simple as that! i mean how are the speakers wired in at the moment? what is the load in ohms that the radio is working on at the moment? what load will the amp be running on if i add the tweeters? Not sure, but they work a treat and well worth the £100 Happy to help out as much as I can Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parmblagan Posted January 14, 2009 Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 gizze said: The amp drives the 4 main speakers with 55w of clean power, (that is rms and all channels driven compared with 40w shared between all speakers as standard) and you get another mono channel that drives a sub (in the case fo the BMW the ones under the seat) with 250w into one or 125w into 2. The earthquake subs being only 8" run more than happily with 125W each, in fact they recommend no more than 150w. The cabinet that the oem subs sit in is the same for all systems, the only difference is the driver that is attached, the basic system and the hi-fi system use a 6.5" Philips driver and the Logic 7 uses an 8" driver. The subs are made for BMW by Earthquake in the USA, the SWS-8 uses the BMW surround, so it is a perfect fit (these are not compltely round). However, it is not airtight, they are bringing out a 2ohm version that can be driven off the Logic 7 system without an amp upgrade and I would suspect when this arrives they will also release a mounting ring to make it sit air tight. But for now you need to put sealant round the drivers basket before putting it into the cabinet, this will give you an airtight seal that then uses the door sills as cabinet volume. BMW have created simething very special here by using the sills as sub enclosure space, the best thing to happen to car audio since cars were invented. I don't know of anyone who sells these subs in the UK, I bought mine from New Jersey, around $280 shipped and £45 tax and duty. Having the sub up front allows you to cross over the front speakers at 150hz as you don't have to worry about that 'sound from the rear' effect you get with subs crossed over too high, and for the first time I have not felt I needed any time alignment to bring the bass/beats up front again, they are there, sat right up on the dash. You will probably find that simply adding the Logic 7 tweeters will be enough and the DLS R4 speakers are not needed, they are actually very good speakers, someone one a sound off using Genesis amps, alpine head unit and time alignment and the stock speakers. These are £30 a pair from your dealer and plug straight in. I love this system, my last system was... Alpine 9887 head unit with time alignment. Genesis amplification Rainbow Profi speakers up front. Aliante 10Si sub in a .6 cu ft sealed enclosure. This was a nice sounding sytem, however, I will say that withought having to speand hours setting up I have got a nicer overall sound from the BMW head unit driving the Blaupunkt amp, the DLS R4 speakers (1/3rd price of the Rainbows) and a pair of earthquake subs. Fitting the amp, and that includes running the harness to the boot down the passenger side under the carpet, took me 20 minutes. Running power cables to the battery takes 10 minutes, being a BMW with it in the boot is a godsend. While there I put in the 2 runs of speaker cable for the subs, and ran the bass volume cable (this is then routed into the pocket under the light switch for easy access to controlling the subs volume). Putting the subs in took an hour, I could probably do it again in 30 minutes. Total install time of no more than 3 hours and the car looks completely OEM. Job done!! hi i have read this thread through now and understand it about 95% i have the above mentioned vechile and want to install the speaker sugested. i will definetly have 2 x sws8, 2 x L7 tweeters, 1x B THA555, 1 x lead number 7607622016, and 1 x lead number 7607622011 my questions is: a: this amp has 5 channel? 2 of the channels will drive the mids and tweeters (paired in parrell) at the front, and the remaing 2 x will drive the mids in the back. OR is it that the 2 of the channels will drive the mids and the other 2 drive the tweeters, so what drives the mids in the rear? (little confused) b: the remaining channel will drive the subs (4 ohm versions) in parrell, is this amp stable at 2 ohms? c: are the above mentioned leads the correct ones for my car? d: and finally you say that, it would probaly be easier to just intall the 2 channel amp, and drive the tweeters (L7) and mids and bass (the later two are stock) would this be better sound even though the subs are 6.5" and stock? any advice will be appriciated, thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizze Posted January 14, 2009 Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 parmblagan said: my questions is:a: this amp has 5 channel? 2 of the channels will drive the mids and tweeters (paired in parrell) at the front, and the remaing 2 x will drive the mids in the back. OR is it that the 2 of the channels will drive the mids and the other 2 drive the tweeters, so what drives the mids in the rear? (little confused) b: the remaining channel will drive the subs (4 ohm versions) in parrell, is this amp stable at 2 ohms? c: are the above mentioned leads the correct ones for my car? d: and finally you say that, it would probaly be easier to just intall the 2 channel amp, and drive the tweeters (L7) and mids and bass (the later two are stock) would this be better sound even though the subs are 6.5" and stock? any advice will be appriciated, thanks 2 drive the fronts (mids and tweeters) using the the existing wiring. 2 driver the rears using the existing wiring. Then there is a Mono sub channel, with 2 outputs but still mono, this drives the subs using new cable runs. Fine at a 2ohm load using that sub channel. You could just fit the 2 channel amp and tweeters, would be alot better, but think the xtra is worth it going 5 channel and subs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parmblagan Posted January 14, 2009 Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 gizze said: Then there is a Mono sub channel, with 2 outputs but still mono, this drives the subs using new cable runs. Fine at a 2ohm load using that sub channel. ok but if there is 2 outputs for the for the subs this make this amp 6 channels? if there are 2 outputs for the subs then that means i dont have to wire the subs up in parallel, to get 2 ohms, they should be happy running at 4 ohms, i can get the amp for about £230 and the wires for £17 and £46 and £15 delivery and (add the vat) the speaker iu can get for £89 all in from the uk. what do you think is that good? will the stock speaker be any good, are there any other speakers on the market that will just fit in and use the stock wires? and finally why do i need to have 2 wire from blaukpunkt for the amp? did you buy 2 aswell? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizze Posted January 14, 2009 Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 There are still only 5 channels of amplification, just that the sub channel has A and B outputs. Wire them seperately and it will still see a 2ohm load. £89 is good. Yeah you need a Blaupunkt to ISO cable which is 5m long and then an ISO-BMW cable. Stock speaker is fine when driven properly and the L7 tweeters added. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parmblagan Posted January 14, 2009 Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 ok cool, those of you who have done this set up on a e60, where did you mount the amp? pics will help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizze Posted January 14, 2009 Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 There is loads of room under the boot floor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parmblagan Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 sorry ti bother again but for the new sws8 subs do i need to run different wires, or they plug and play to Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizze Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 New wires. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smarty156 Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 Where are you getting the SWS-8's from? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biscuits Posted January 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 smarty156 said: Where are you getting the SWS-8's from? I bought mine off eBay UK... not the cheapest way, but couldn't be bothered with sorting import duty etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parmblagan Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 i have not got the number of the company who say they will import them straight form USA for me, its at work, get you it tomorrow. when i spoke to them they said that they sold Earthquake, but didn't sell that particular model, they made a call to their suppliers and he called me back and told me that he could supply them for £89.00 delivered with VAT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biscuits Posted January 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 parmblagan said: i have not got the number of the company who say they will import them straight form USA for me, its at work, get you it tomorrow.when i spoke to them they said that they sold Earthquake, but didn't sell that particular model, they made a call to their suppliers and he called me back and told me that he could supply them for £89.00 delivered with VAT. If that's £89 for both SWS-8's then it's a bargain, infact, it's abargain if that's each ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parmblagan Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 Biscuits said: If that's £89 for both SWS-8's then it's a bargain, infact, it's abargain if that's each ! sorry didn't make this clear but £89.00 each Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parmblagan Posted January 16, 2009 Report Share Posted January 16, 2009 hi in my car (e60 basic system) once the tweeters are installed then they run in parallel to the mids and the 6.5" bass unit under the seat. once the amp is installed then, the blaupunkt leads when plugged in FL channel will power all the three speakers on the LHS and the FR channel will power all the three speaker on the RHS, is that correct? that's if i don't install the SWS8 when i install the SWS8 i will have to disconnect the existing wire that run from the mids to the 6.5" bass units and seal the up, and rewire the subs again. i know i have to run new wire to the new SWS8, the reason i ask is I'm just trying to get a full understanding of the wiring prior to the install. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizze Posted January 16, 2009 Report Share Posted January 16, 2009 That's right. The wires come from the head unit and split in the footwell, one wire runs to your mid and the other to the sub under the seat. You can add a tweeter to the mid. You can run the amp with the plug and play harness and it will drive the subs and the mids (plus tweeter if you have added this). If you want to go for it and add some bass, rather than just mid bass, you can add the Earthquake subs. However, you then need to run them off another amp channel. So the easiest thing to do is run a new cable from you amp down each side and direct to the sub, unlugging the original connector and tucking it under the door sill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parmblagan Posted January 16, 2009 Report Share Posted January 16, 2009 thanks mate i think i fully got it now, ready to order, will take pics of install and post them up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cameraman Posted February 1, 2009 Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 Great thread!!! i do have a couple of questions that have not been addressed. Do the DLS R4 speakers fit/mount under the existing speaker covers or does it require some modification? Also, did you use the DLS R4 crossovers or disguard them? If using them, how or where do they fit in the door? Thank you for all of the great info! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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