For those following along (or those doing searches for scant e89 information!) ...
I'm in the middle of installing the footwell mid-bass woofers. These are somewhat elusive. The Bavsound kit does not include them. As I previously mentioned, and based on
jake169 input, I am installing
Hertz 165.1 speakers. The fit seems good (and I suspect any 6.5" single coil speaker would fit). But I did not want to cut the factory wiring harness, so passing this information along.
There is no BMW connector for the male side of the connection, since the factory speakers have the connector integrated in the chassis. No one in the aftermarket seems to sell this connector, either, nor could I figure out if there is a like connector on the BMW. So finally I went spelunking for a two-pin spade bit connector that was in the zip code. Sure enough
Metra 72-6512 looked close, made for a Chrysler. I ordered it from Amazon (which has the wrong photo ... ignore the photo, the p/n is what matters).
I cut the plastic housing off, exposing the spade points. They fit perfectly into the BMW female connector on the wiring harness. I'll put small cable tie across the backside of the male and female connectors to keep them together. Problem solved.
I will need to drill 4 mounting holes in the car, which was not my favorite thing to do, either. But frankly the hole locations are close enough that it is too much of a headache to make (and mount) a conversion plate. I plan to put a bead of silicone caulk between the speaker chassis and car chassis.
FWIW, pulling the panels to access the speakers are easy. In both cases you have to unscrew the above foot kickpanel (underside of dash) with a few torx screws. Those panels then slide backward. You pull both door sills (a good firm tug pops them off), and finally you slide each kick panel off the rear carpet (where you'll see the kick panel sort of clips to the carpet). Of course on the driver side there is a phillips screw that mounts the hood release handle, which must be removed. Real simple stuff. The kick panels also slide back and out, once you've disconnected them from the carpet at the rear.
Filippo
Note the factory speaker connector is integrated into the overall speaker chassis. Of the two connectors shown, the right one is original, the left shows the shroud cut off:
Speaker ready for installation:
Hertz speakers clocks in at twice the weight of the BMW factory speaker it replaces:
