99 Bmw 323i complete audio redo

[CJtech323]

This build will be slow since I am very busy with school right now, but I will work on it as much as I can and keep you updated. Here are the specs:

Sub: 1 Pioneer Premier TS-W3001D4 12"
Sub amp: Rockford Fosgate T1500-1BD
Speakers: Boston Acoustics Pro60se
Speaker Amp: Rockford Fosgate P400-2
KnuKonceptz wire
Second Skin Damplifier

And its all tying into the OEM head unit with a 3sixty.1
I am waiting on the pro60se's and P400-2 in the mail, onto the pics!

The car:


Sub box diagram:
[IM]http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p155/CJalderman/portedbox3.jpg[/IMG]

The sub:


All the MDF cut and ready to glue:


I started with the port:


And the box:




All together with the port painted:
[IMG]http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p155/CJalderman/CIMG3110.jpg[/IMG}

Speaker terminals:


Carpeting the box:

[CJtech323]

Sub and box:


Now I wonder what could be in these boxes?


8 ft each of Red and black 1/0 awg, 8 ft each of red and black 4 awg, and 75 ft of 12 awg speaker wire


And in box #2, 50 sq ft of Damplifier


And here is everything I have received:






And onto the install!
Beginning to lay down the Damplifier on the trunk lid:


All done! I put down 6 sq ft


And everything buttoned up, I know it peeks out a little bit, but its not that noticeable so Im not worrying about it


And thats it for today, I will post more pics as I move along.

[vidizzle]

does your trunk still have that ghetto rattle?
also did you cover the grills with the flaps behind on the sides of the trunk behind the factory carpeting? if they arent covered up they can give you a rattle like an old car lol

[arrivalanche]

You have a little Second Skin hanging out of the lid cover. That would drive me nuts, please cut it off. lol

[krouchchocolate]

nice RF amp man. I have the T20001bd series.

[AdamTaylor]

Originally Posted by arrivalanche

You have a little Second Skin hanging out of the lid cover. That would drive me nuts, please cut it off. lol

yeah, you too?

[CJtech323]

Ive finished deadening the trunk, picks are uploading to photobucket and I will post them later. And im also going to go and trim that little bit of second skin sticking out on the trunk lid haha

[vidizzle]

cj u didnt answer my question..

cuz im also doing a build and im quite a while away from isntallin speakers or amp..so im quite interested in that..
was the dampening u put on ur trunk lid enough to keep awau that nasty trunk rattle ?

[Serious Sam]

Nice ride.
IMO, you can cut down on any rattling by firing the sub into the cabin instead of into the trunk itself. It'll give better performance as well. Some might argue with that, but I think a sub otta fire into the cabin than firing away - especially in a bass-sapping trunk like BMW's. Believe me, I own the same car. You can fire that thru the ski hole, and still port it through the same hole.
But, if you like, then stay with it. That's what sound is all about - what you want.

[CJtech323]

Originally Posted by vidizzle

cj u didnt answer my question..

cuz im also doing a build and im quite a while away from isntallin speakers or amp..so im quite interested in that..
was the dampening u put on ur trunk lid enough to keep awau that nasty trunk rattle ?

Sorry, yes I put it there to get rid of the trunk rattle

[CJtech323]

Here are the pics, cleared out the trunk:






And finished laying down the Second Skin in the trunk:










Also, my Boston's came today!

[CJtech323]

On-axis mounting hardware


Various tweeter mounting hardware pieces


The tweeter


Finally, the crossovers

[CJtech323]

My amp for the Boston's and ring terminals came in today. I have all my equipment and will start building sometime this week.

[CJtech323]

Update, here is what I got done today. Cut into the driver side door:



And put two layers of electical tape on the edges:



Here it is with the window closed, its about 1/2" of space from the door panel:



I also soldered all my wires

4 awg



1/0 awg

[CJtech323]

Alright here are the pics for the passenger door panel. First I cut a lot of little holes



Then I went in and snipped the connectors with tin snips



There is a wiring harness right behind a section where I drilled through, had to be carefull



Then I put a double layer of electrical tape down

[Beyond Silence]

don´t just put tape on that cut out edge, you have to put some sort of rust protection on that. at least some paint

[tinctorus]

I would wrap those jagged edges with some of the black door gaurd stuff you can buy at pep boys/autozone etc

Or even better get in there with a diegrinder and get those things smooth

Plus like was stated before you NEED to do something to prevent rust or in a few years you will be buying new doors

[CJtech323]

Thanks for the heads up on the doors, here is a little update, tweeter pods

[FLYONWALL9]

A bunch of nice looking gear you have.....

Question
Where did you get your 1/0 and how much did you pay per foot? I too am in need of some and am trying to better 4.25per foot, that I have already found.

Thanks, keep up the good work

[CJtech323]

Originally Posted by FLYONWALL9

A bunch of nice looking gear you have.....

Question
Where did you get your 1/0 and how much did you pay per foot? I too am in need of some and am trying to better 4.25per foot, that I have already found.

Thanks, keep up the good work

I got all my wires from KnuKonceptz, great wire and their 1/0 is only 3.40 per foot, I HIGHLY recommend them.

Big Update, everything is installed and working! Right now I am just tuning the crossover between the sub and components and also tuning the comps. My trunk is a rats nest right now, but Im in the process of building a new box/ amp rack to fit all this equipment in my limited trunk Here are some pics, I'll upload some more later.

I used the stock 16ga speaker wire for the woofers


And then I applied to Second Skin. I kept on putting down layers in rattling spot until there was no more resonance, up to three layers at some spots. But now my doors are dead silent


Didn't take any pics of the building of my door pods, but they are covered in layers of rustoleom for moisture protection. Here is the drivers side




And the passengers side




The tweeters are mounted in the stock locations, aimed slightly up and towards the opposite seats (passenger tweet aimed towards driver seat and vise versa). This gives a great image, voices sound centered and coming from the bottom center of the windshield. I do have a little alternator whine problem, but thats just because I need to work out the ground. Overall I am highly pleased with the bostons, I ended up putting the tweeters at -4db because they were to profound at first, but they sound excellent now.

[CJtech323]

Oh and I also trimmed that deadener that was sticking out on the trunk lid, but I don't have a pic of it right now.

[reker13]

Hope you can get the 3sixty working. I have a 2000 323i and had problems with it. I think because of the balanced signal which the 3sixty doesn't handle too well. Someone has a detailed post on this on this at the e46forum website.

Right now, I'm using a Navone passive LOC. Problem solved but no 3sixty features.