I recommend a box in the trunk if the OEM system is the Logic7, as at least you will have a 7-band EQ to make some adjustments to the rest of the speakers to better blend with the sub and the OEM amp is decently powered so the sub can be tuned to not overwhelm the system.

For the HiFi there is no such 7-band EQ and the overall system power is lacking, so a trunk sub could be too much for the system to blend. My recommendation for the HiFi is to try the SWS-8 instead with a 2-channel amp as they will be also the midbass drivers in your system. Any compact 100W-150W RMS 2-channel amp will do, like the PDX 2.150, the Rockford Fosgate P400-2, the JL Audio XD200/2 (shipping in July) or at the high end the Zapco DC350.2 with built in DSP.

The SWS-8 are great woofers that play very low (I would not call them real subwoofers), but by the same token they do not play midbass that great without EQ. DSP can fix that, so that's something to be considered.

 

OK, For the Hi Fi system...with the PNP harness, SWS-8, and the 2 channel amp, do you find the need to substitute the front stage and amplify that too? Can a LOC be added to your harness for a 4 channel amp to drive the fronts and the SWS's? Also, do you recommend the 2ohm or 4 ohm SWS-8's?

I guess what I am trying to ask is if you had the Hi Fi system in your e60, what would you do. I know you have a great knowledge base. I have tracked your posts on e90post.com

 

Your OEM amp in the trunk is a low pass amp, meaning that there is no full range or high range signals there. You cannot use anything in that OEM amp to run any other speaker but the woofers. You need to tap the iDrive high level outputs to run the components. I have a harness that may work with the E60 iDrive as well so you do not have to cut any OEM wires.

What I would do with an E60 and the HiFi is:

- MS-8 processor
- OEM Individual Audio center speaker channel
- Rainbow SLC 210.25 NG (front)
- Rainbow SLX 210 (rear)
- Kicker SSMB8 (if you find them) or Morel ADMW SW 9 underseat woofers
- Image Dynamics ID10D4 V.3 trunk sub
- JL Audio HD600/4
- JL Audio HD900/5
- HiFi amp harness (no LOC)
- MASK/CCC/CIC harness (I sell that one too, for the 3-Series but it fits the E60 as well)

For a more modest system, I would do:

- JBL MS-8
- OEM Individual Audio center speaker channel (powered by the MS-8)
- Rainbow SLC 210.25 NG (front)
- Morel ADMW SW 9 (underseat woofers)
- Image Dynamics ID10D4 V.3 trunk sub
- JL 900/5
- keep rear OEM speakers (powered by the MS-8)

You need a processor that can defeat the OEM EQ curve built in in the MASK/CCC/CIC and once you do that the you need the processor again to get everything to sound coherent.

 

Bump!

 

Technic - If you added a couple simple pictures of this in place and how/where to run the wires for the amp this thread would probably blow up, as well as sales of the harness as this is a pretty simple DIY, for anyone.

 

Thanks... forum member installation photos coming soon.

 

$$$$?

 

$85...Read the first post carefully.

 

coming soon, I promise...keep forgetting to plug the camera in to upload pics when I get home from work.

 

OK, here are the pics.

first, the post on the fuse panel I used for +12V (first red cable on left, with plastic nut, I did replace with a metal nut once I got to Home Depot:


here's the harness plugged in to the car side of the amp wiring


here's the harness plugged into the L7 amp:


and here's the whole setup before I finish cleaning up and putting the cover back on. Note that I've moved the ground since this pic was taken from the location shown to just under the taillight.