Standard 6 speaker set up with CIC

[vr6er]

Hi all,

I have a 2016 car with the CIC, with the 6 speaker set up and be upgrading the audio. I have done a lot of surfing (other threads on this forum and elsewhere) and have come up with the following:

The standard system is heavily equalised with the rear losing the bass.
The front might also be high passed somewhat.

What gets me is that the wiring diagram shows the woofers wired in parallel with the fronts. If anyone can confirm the wiring diagram is correct and can point at a resource that can help me understand it better, that would be great.

Mikeinaustin points out..

Originally Posted by mikeinaustin

if you use the fade control to put all the volume to the rear speakers, i notice 2 things:

1) lots of bass still comes out the front lower speakers (in the foot well)
2) the volume out the rear two speakers is low

The only explanation I can come up with is that the fader only operates at mid and higher levels. Moreover, people who fit 3 way systems complain of a bright sound. That made me think the impedance of the woofers is a factor. The sound is probably equalised at the CIC end to allow for an easy to drive 2 Ohm woofer and as soon as you make things harder with 4 ohms the obvious happens. It would be good to understand how this works exactly as it impacts what I'm going to do.

Stage 1 was going to be:
Visation 6.5" woofer WS17E
Visation 4" mid, 4 Ohm, 25W RMS - KT 100 V
Peerless OC TWEETER, 20MM, SILK DOME,NEO
Visation 3-Way Crossover

The thinking was try it without amplification first. Now I'm thinking just do the mids and tweets. What are your thoughts?

https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/e...ystem/HT8AgAEE

[mikeinaustin]

Changing out the tweeter and the mid in the door made the biggest difference for me. I did add amp and subwoofer and all that stuff. I do think though that just mid and tweet changes things a lot. I have an x3 m40i coming in next week and that is the first thing I am going to try.

[Telthedog]

Hi
So i am working on my audio system as well, to keep the stock radio, to run new wiring system from the stock radio to Sound processor then to a 5 channel amp, then new speaker wiring from amp to the speakers and sub. this setup will keep the car stock look.

With this setup the cross over for front speaker should have all correct levels going to high mid and lows.

the back with the 2-way will add a good balance of sound

the 2 sub will be from the AMP 5 channel sub out for both bridge. the amp will will have 500 RMS

Front speack Focal ps165f3 3 way for Front. 6 1/2 for foo, 3 middle door, 2 tweet,

Back will be Focal Performance 100AC 4" 2-way car speakers

Sub replacement IFBMW-Sub.V2, 8" behind seats 2 of them.Max. power: 180W, RMS power: 90W

LC7i - AudioControl 6 channel

AMP Alpine X-A90V
X-Series 5-channel car amplifier — 75 watts RMS x 4 at 4 ohms + 500 watts RMS x 1 at 2 ohms

Power Acoustik PCX-30F 30 Farad Hybrid Power Capacitor with Digital Display

Speaker wire from radio Metra MC918-20 20-Feet Nine-Conductor 18 AWG Twisted Multi-Use Cable

AMP to speakers 16-Gauge Speaker Wire

3 standard RCA twisted wiring 2 FT

[fmorelli]

Focal Performance 100AC ... man the sensitivity on those speakers absolutely sucks: 83.3 db w/m.

Filippo

[Telthedog]

Or the focal icu 100, the rear speaker I am not looking to go too high for price wise for speaker. Specially how the speaker location is place the seat will be blocking a lot of the sound. So with the ifsubv2 that should deliver the bass I need, and the focal will add enough sounds for the back. The front focal 3 way will be enough for the overall sound.


Filippo I saw your post with your audio setup, it very nice which inspired me to upgrade me system.

I still haven’t started the install yet, don’t have time yet but hopefully once I do get it in.

[vr6er]

Hi Mike,

So glad I saw your comment. I have ordered the Rainbow set up and will try these with the standard 6.5"s as well as the Magic Flutes (highly recommended on diymobileaudio.com). I'll see how that goes before tearing the car apart to fit the amp and active sub. If the sound is good, I can always just add the sub.

Does anyone know how much dynamat I need?

https://www.rainbow-audio.de/en/spea...ence-line/bmw/
https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.co...1/2-wool-cone/

[Lurcher]

So I see Fillipo already chimed in. His build thread is full of useful stereo information. I've just got my Hertz 165's for the foot well and will be installing in 2 weeks when I get home - I'll post a review when I'm done. The subs will be the last to get upgraded (if I feel the need).

To answer the first question - yes, the 6.5 foot well speakers are wired together (mono) - so with most of the common BMW amp upgrades offering 8 channels - you either leave them alone, or loose the center channel (again - check Fillipo's build thread).

The DSP amps offer a great deal of flexibility of tuning. This is a convertible - so there will always be sound considerations and due to the overall small internal volume you will never get "great" sound. Top down tuning is such a different configuration than top up - another decision point you will need to address

I don't see the need to upgrade the rear speakers - as driving top down they get lost, and when you can hear them it's so directional it muddies the soundstage. Play with the fader and you can see what I mean. With the seats all the way back - the opposing rear speaker is lost.

If you want to go to the next level with some wiring, don't amp up the rears, but split out the mids/tweets into separate channels (tweets/mids/mid-bass/subs each on a separate channel).

[Lurcher]

Originally Posted by vr6er

Stage 1 was going to be:
Visation 6.5" woofer WS17E
Visation 4" mid, 4 Ohm, 25W RMS - KT 100 V
Peerless OC TWEETER, 20MM, SILK DOME,NEO

6.5 is 8 ohm (stock is 4 ohm) - 4" is 4 ohm - going to have some power (spl) issues here.

6.5 - Sensitivity 88 dB 1W/1m
4" - Mean SPL (1W/1m): 80dB

Sound level mismatch again + 4" is just a poorly designed speaker at 80db. Remember, for every 3 db gain - it's like doubling the wattage from the amp. In this case your cutting your spl levels by ~3-4x from stock sound levels (assuming 88-90 db levels).

As the 4" has a lot of the sound frequency coming through it - at least find something to match the 88 db of the 6.5. You should really be looking for a target of 90+db (93+ is preferred) so your not over driving your amp. Low db ratings just means you will turn your amp up to get adequate sound levels.

Plenty of data (and engineering) on sound deadening on the web, and how to apply. What I use: https://www.amazon.com/Second-Skin-D...45072011&psc=1

[vr6er]

I think this is the wiring diagram for my car. The subs are 2 ohm and wired in series with the mids which are 4 ohm.

I moved on from the original spec to Rainbows and Silver flutes. I dont know the sensitivity of the original units but the Rainbows are 90 dB and the flutes are 91.5 dB.

I will RTA it when in and then determine if I need to add the other bits. Watch this space. Will be 2-3 weeks.