sRt

Hello

I just got myself a 2006 E61 a few days ago. But Im not sure about this stereo system. I thought that the amps were in the left pocket in the trunk, but its empty in there. It seems like I have the ones under the seat, atleast i have the speakerbox. But im not sure if theres any sound coming out from it, and I havent planned to crawl under these to check eighter, hehe. Are these boxes there on the ones without subs there also?

Is there anywere I can check this, in iDrive or something? And were do I find my amplifier?
I have installed Earthquake SWS subwoofers in the boxes under the seat in a 1-series earlier, and then the amp car in the left rear pocket in the trunk. So I just wired up a high/converter on the cables heading from the amp to the speakerbox and mounted an aftermarket amplifier with a bit more power.

I only have one CD tray, if that maybe describes what system I have... ?

narvselius

What you could do is ask a dealer for a transcript of what's installed in your car - could come handy in the future too.

Of your description I would guess you have the standard system installed; you would find amps in the left pocket. The CD slot is there all the time; it's not a give away.

sRt

Yes, I will try that. But the car is imported from Germany. So It may be that they can't help me at the local dealer. But I will of course try, thx

Regarding the CD tray I only meant that I dont have one for DVD's also. I heard that some people have two trays, one for CD, and one for DVD/Navi.

I doublechecked the left pocket today, and as you see in the picture its empty there.

Bimmerstyle

You have the European standard system.

This means, no external amplifier (only the build in amp in the radio), 16,5cm woofers under the seats, 10cm kicks in doors and rear, no tweeters.

In Germany (and other european country's) this setup is the most common although it sounds like crap. In US models (and probably other country's too) this setup doesn't exist. There the standard system is the same as the hifi-system in Europe (20cm Woofers with external amp, 10cm kicks front and rear, tweeters front and rear).

sRt

Thank you for very good info, exactly what I wondered.

Then I will use a high/low converter on the rear speakers to get signal, and wire this to an external aftermarket amplifier.
But for this I need a remote signal for the amplifier to turn on when I turn on the ignition. Where should I find this? I tried to check the rear lights, as this usually is a ok solition for this. But I only measured 3V on the rear bulbs, is this correct? I need 12v for the amp remote signal...

Maybe the 12V plug in the trunk will work? Or maybe this has a constant 12V, not only when the ignition is on?
This thingy: (only an illustration)


Hmmm, it was much easier with stereo systems in the good old days, hehe

Bimmerstyle

The best solution is taking the remote from the remote-out wire on the head-unit. It's a blue wire on the connector behind the radio. This however involves taking apart your dashboard (but it's not that difficult). If you want to upgrade the entire system by using an amp for all speakers this is the way I recommend because this way the gong sound from BC will still be audible even when the ignition is turned off.

If you only want to add a subwoofer to the existing system, a switched ignition wire will do. In that case you can use the power socket in the trunk. This should be a switched 12V when the ignition is turned on.

Inventor

Hello Norge

I have exactly the same problem. But now at least I understand why there is little knowledge in this forum regarding this exact setup. It does not exist in the US.

Here is what I know so far: It seems the front speakers and the front midrange is paralel connected. Strange. And the speakers in back is separate wired to the stereo. There is no low level output, and when I took signal from the back speakers it sounded bad. No low freqence. Got a tip that it would work with a sound processor, maybe my converter is not good enough.

Anyone here who can add info about the european business stereo version? How can the subs and midrange be paralel!?

And yes I have found a good remote in the power socket in the trunk. I can give you the location if needed.

Bimmerstyle

Here is what I found out about the basic audio:

The front speakers seem to be parallel indeed. There is only one front output on the HU and while disassembling the car to upgrade my stereo I didn't find any filters on the speakers so it seems they are just parallel.

The rear speakers have no low frequenties on them. The HU simply doesn't send low freqs to the rear. This probably is done to elliminate rattle coming from the headliner on higher volumes. Adding a processor will not help your cause. There are no low freqs and there is no way to get them. The only way to get the full range signal (including lows) is to get the signal from the front speakers.

Also the fader is weird. It's not a real fader. When completely set to the rear the subs keep on going. When listening closely you will hear (and feel) that the front mids are also playing low frequenties with the fader set to the back. This leads me to believe that instead of a real fader some sort of filter is used as a fader. When set to the back the highs are cutt-off from the front but the lows keep on going. This probably is done because the rears don't have lows on them and otherwise there wouldn't be any bass when the fader is set to the back.

So for attaching a subwoofer the best sollution is using the signal from the front speakers.

What I did was a complete upgrade. I've upgraded the front speakers with Audio-System speakers and added a 5channel DLS amp to power the entire thing. Front, rear and sub are now powered seperatly by the 5channel amp. I also added a RF 3sixty.2 to process the signal coming from the HU before going to the amp. Almost no wires are cut for the upgrade. I used a Parrot adapter-cable to make the connections behind the radio. From there the OEM wires are used to power most of the speakers. Only the wires for the sub are seperate. They go to the sub directly from the amplifier. The OEM sub wire isn't used anymore. The only wires that are cut are the ones in the doors powering the mids. These had to be cut because the new speakers use a different connector. However I didn't disgart the OEM connector. It's still on the cable and when uninstalling the system it can be used again.

Attached are some pictures of the install and a simple scheme of how I connected things. The black wires are OEM wires, the coloured ones are those I've added. On this scheme the RF 3Sixty.2 isn't present yet. I've added this later on. At fist I used a simple High/Low convertor.

sRt

Very interesting!

I have been driving around the last week with a active subwoofer with signal from the rear speaakers now. And what you say about that the rear signal has been filtered and sends no low frequency signals makes perfects sense.

Thank you for sharing your experiences.

I will try to get the signal from the front like you. But exactly where in the front did you pick up the signal from the front speakers? I would like to use the OEM cables trough the door, and I don't want to dismount the cash eighter.

I will do this job when I have time the next weeks, and bould my sub into my floor. So if you guys are interested, I can take some pictures to make it easier for you when you plan to do it yourself.

Bimmerstyle

I made all my connections in the dash behind the radio. I used a parrot adapter-cable (seen in the first pic of my previous post) and made my connections on this. After the connections were made I simply snapped the adapter in between the connectors behind the radio. This way all my connections are made on the adapter and no OEM wires are cut.

For only adding a subwoofer this might be overkill. There are two other places were you can get your signals from. The front doors and the underseat subwoofers. I would go with the subwoofers. They're not that difficult to reach and you are sure that they have the lowest frequenties on them.

To reach them you will have to remove the seats wich is not very difficult. Remove the plastic covers on the rails. Remove the 4 bolts and disconnect the cables connected to the seats. I advise you to disconnect the battery first since sensors for the airbags are in the seats. Disconnecting those with the battery connected may result in error messages on the BC that can't be resetted except by the dealer. After the cables are disconnected you can tilt the seats backwards and you will see a plastic cover underneath them. Remove the 4 screws holding this cover in place, remove the cover and you will see the subwoofer. When you pul the carpet away on the door-side you will find the connector. There you can attach the wires for the subwoofer.

I think this is the easiest way to make the connections and still be sure you get the lowest frequenties that you need to power the subwoofer.