thefatalrisk

Hello,

I have been going through the forums and have found a few of your expert posts regarding E60 stereo upgrade. A lot of these posts were from a number of years back and so I don't know how relevant they are currently.

I have a 2005 manufactured E60 european version. It is not the Logic 7 system, but the STANDARD (HI-FI) system.

I have just ordered the BSW speaker sets to replace my tweeters and mid ranges.

I am keen on changing my underseat subs to the SWS 8 to achieve more bass. I understand that since these are 4ohm speakers, they will need a stronger amp to drive them. Is this correct?

I also understand that there is a SWS 8xi which are 2ohm and therefore do not require an additional amp. My understanding is that these are not advised because they potentially do not add more bass. Correct?

I understand that there is a factory amp in the rear that just drives the factory underseat subs (with the remaining speakers being driven by the HU. Is this correct? Some people have reported that they have no amp so I'm not 100% sure on this one.

I therefore would like to install a separate amp that just drives the SWS 8.

Is there a special connector/harness I need that will plug directly into the oem system without any splicing?

Do I need a 1 channel or 2 channel amp? Any recommendations.

Do I need some sort of low-pass filter to the SWS 8's?

Your expert opinions would be highly appreciated.

biz77

You can go with either version of the SWS (4 or 2 ohm), but I would not run them off of the stock Hi-Fi amp in either case. They need some decent power (100+ watts each) to really get them moving. They are not nearly as efficient as the stock woofers.


If you are sure you have the Hi-Fi system, then you have the amp in the rear to drive the woofers. In the US the base stereo is Hi-Fi. I believe in other regions the "Base Stereo" system may have been available in the 5-series. If you have tweeters in the sail panels of your front doors then you have Hi-Fi and not the base stereo.


Contact member Technic on this or most other BMW forums. He will sell you a plug and play harness to add an amp to your Hi-Fi system.


I would personally go with a 2-channel amp to run the under seat woofers due to crossover point to the door speakers being close to 200hz, although others have gone with mono sub amps.


Most amps these days have basic crossover functions built-in, but it isn't necessary as the factory head unit is feeding the factory amplifier a low-passed signal already.

Kryptus

Hey man, I purchased the same speaker kit from BSW a few years back. They sound great.

I wanted to warn you about upgrading the stock 8" subs. I replaced mine with earthquakes like you want to. The bass really isn't that great. They just can't hit very low and even with a lot of power it leaves a lot to be desired. I had a big soundstream tarantula amp powering the 2 8"s.

I have since installed a single 12" in the trunk and it is sooo much better. I wish I did it from the start. It was even cheaper than purchasing the 2 earthquakes. Just my 2cents.

rackhacker9275

where did you find the wiring diagram to add the sub? i have an 09 535?

thanks

billyfrancis40

Looking for this harness tooo add some needed bass

joyner08

all I did to my 525i is to cut the sub out wires on the stock amp on the rear and installed a Highs to low adapter on the sub out coming from stock amp. from the highs to low adapter a pair of rca to an epicenter then another rca to a boss riot amp. then the sub out wires I cut that go to the subs under the seat I connected those to the boss amp. I get tons of bass my setup makes those stock 8 subs bump so hard. they do rattle if I drive them too high so maybe with a better set of 8ths it will handle more power but I'm happy as is. the epicenter really helps to get that clear bass in all types of music