I also want a front facing sub mate, so the space in the box is important ?
Woohoo Done it !!
- Thread starter Antm72
- Start date
Its the size of the box as in the volume of air inside it to allow the speaker to move efficiently.
Going to go sealed rather than ported as sealed box volume appears to be smaller and the space is limited so will work better.
Going to go sealed rather than ported as sealed box volume appears to be smaller and the space is limited so will work better.
Wow, thats new to me, best get researching it as I want to get building the box, will the box that Susan built be ok with a front facing Sub and a sealed top.
I think the dimentions will be too tall and the box an odd shape as to get a flat surface 6.5" in diameter its towards to back.
This is the investigation thats needed the stock H.K system can enclose a 6.5 sub so it will fit its looking at the best way to do it but i think it may be easier to gut the space and get the sub in there to work out the best way to do it.
My zed has the speaker grill already in the console hence wanting to get the sub fitted stick behind it .
At 6.5" its not gonna shake the car but will fill in the space and give a more rounded sound.
Looked at under seat options but not much room under or really behind the seat to give an uncluttered clean look which im looking for..
This is the investigation thats needed the stock H.K system can enclose a 6.5 sub so it will fit its looking at the best way to do it but i think it may be easier to gut the space and get the sub in there to work out the best way to do it.
My zed has the speaker grill already in the console hence wanting to get the sub fitted stick behind it .
At 6.5" its not gonna shake the car but will fill in the space and give a more rounded sound.
Looked at under seat options but not much room under or really behind the seat to give an uncluttered clean look which im looking for..
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2014
- Points
- 181
- Model of Z
- Z4 coupe sport.
Hi Ant, any info I can help you with just give us a shout. Will say this though, if you want to face a bass speaker forward you will find there ain't a lot of room for a significant sized round one in the lower six inches of the centre box, could try and source a oblong one which might just fit, that way you may be able to fit a deeper one than the HK you already have. Just an idea from what I can remember.
Roy.
Roy.
Well these arrived today..
And me being an eager beaver decided to get stuck in ..
I started at the rear stripping out the roll hoops and the H.K sub box and removed the old HK rears they are only 3" on my zed so holes needed to be cut out to except the 4" rears.
The old speakers where shot very little of the driver was left the paper cone was ok but the foam outer was all but gone explains why they sounded terrible.
Standard speaker.....
Only tiny but quite a heavy piece of kit when removed i templated up the new hole.When doing this just be careful that the speaker is shallow and the cut out high and towards the centre enough as the seat belt and a chassis rail run close to the rear of the hole and you'd need spacer rings to get it right.
After measuring up the dremel made light work of cutting the holes to the new size.
And after running the wires in and connecting them up fitted the speaker.
Completed both sides and at present have them wired to tbe HK amp it drives them beautifully as the stock speakers where 3 Ohm it has no issues driving the 4Ohm replacments.
In the center you can see the stock HK sub box mine holds two 5.25 " speakers i had replaced these before and although a vast improvement on stock they never really worked great.
The HK system feeds 2 channels @2 ohm load to the speakers and although again no issue arisedby fitting 4Ohm replacements but it left them under driven.
Have looked in to getting the amp loading right found if i drop the sub box feed to one channel and wire in series the two speakers i can get a 2Ohm load which has made a massive difference they no longer distort under load and the overall sound in the car is transformed.
Before i had to have the balance forward due to the poor rears but in turn this switched off the subs too so now everything is set balanced and you can turn it up and get quite a nice sound.
Will fit the fronts tomorrow interested in how it will change it as i have to say the front H.K speakers are the only ones that seem to have faired well in the systems life.
Will update as i fit them and hopefully be equally as impressed.
And me being an eager beaver decided to get stuck in ..
I started at the rear stripping out the roll hoops and the H.K sub box and removed the old HK rears they are only 3" on my zed so holes needed to be cut out to except the 4" rears.
The old speakers where shot very little of the driver was left the paper cone was ok but the foam outer was all but gone explains why they sounded terrible.
Standard speaker.....
Only tiny but quite a heavy piece of kit when removed i templated up the new hole.When doing this just be careful that the speaker is shallow and the cut out high and towards the centre enough as the seat belt and a chassis rail run close to the rear of the hole and you'd need spacer rings to get it right.
After measuring up the dremel made light work of cutting the holes to the new size.
And after running the wires in and connecting them up fitted the speaker.
In the center you can see the stock HK sub box mine holds two 5.25 " speakers i had replaced these before and although a vast improvement on stock they never really worked great.
The HK system feeds 2 channels @2 ohm load to the speakers and although again no issue arisedby fitting 4Ohm replacements but it left them under driven.
Have looked in to getting the amp loading right found if i drop the sub box feed to one channel and wire in series the two speakers i can get a 2Ohm load which has made a massive difference they no longer distort under load and the overall sound in the car is transformed.
Before i had to have the balance forward due to the poor rears but in turn this switched off the subs too so now everything is set balanced and you can turn it up and get quite a nice sound.
Will fit the fronts tomorrow interested in how it will change it as i have to say the front H.K speakers are the only ones that seem to have faired well in the systems life.
Will update as i fit them and hopefully be equally as impressed.
I would say 6.5 " i think to could possible get a 8" in but it would have to face up but you build it to cover it and drive the sound forward.
The space is small as there is a crossmember to ward the front of it so you would struggle getting the depth even a 6.5 facing forward would have to sit toward the rear and be built forward just for volume i'll find a pic to show what i mean
Last edited:
@Sean d
The two stock boxes are like this.
Mine with two 5.25" speakers they fit side by side back to back and are wired out of phase so they move in the same dirrection when driven.
This speaker faces the rear where the hood sits when down.
The other faces foward as doess the boxes port to force the sound forward.
The other box houses the 6.5.
Shapes different and as you can see the sub sits further back to miss the crossmember.
And fitted
The two stock boxes are like this.
Mine with two 5.25" speakers they fit side by side back to back and are wired out of phase so they move in the same dirrection when driven.
This speaker faces the rear where the hood sits when down.
The other faces foward as doess the boxes port to force the sound forward.
The other box houses the 6.5.
Shapes different and as you can see the sub sits further back to miss the crossmember.
And fitted
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2014
- Points
- 181
- Model of Z
- Z4 coupe sport.
Hi @Sean d, might be better to get an old 8inch speaker similar to what you want to use and see if you could space it out into the footwell a inch or two therefore using the original hole or you'll be cutting metal out around the old hole, that's the way I'd go then inform any passengers to be carefull with their size 13s. You can buy ready made mdf round speaker mounts to space them, again just an idea I had but didn't go with anything bigger than 6.5inch front in the end.
RHA, Roy.
RHA, Roy.
Thanks for the info pal, If I make a box would this get rid of the depth issue due to the cross member, also would one sub be enough
Good work mate they look well, I fitted 4" but there is not much depth to them, Thats why I want to add a sub so I can use them for top end onlyWell these arrived today..
View attachment 46645
And me being an eager beaver decided to get stuck in ..
I started at the rear stripping out the roll hoops and the H.K sub box and removed the old HK rears they are only 3" on my zed so holes needed to be cut out to except the 4" rears.
The old speakers where shot very little of the driver was left the paper cone was ok but the foam outer was all but gone explains why they sounded terrible.
Standard speaker.....
View attachment 46646
Only tiny but quite a heavy piece of kit when removed i templated up the new hole.When doing this just be careful that the speaker is shallow and the cut out high and towards the centre enough as the seat belt and a chassis rail run close to the rear of the hole and you'd need spacer rings to get it right.
After measuring up the dremel made light work of cutting the holes to the new size.
View attachment 46647
And after running the wires in and connecting them up fitted the speaker.
View attachment 46648 Completed both sides and at present have them wired to tbe HK amp it drives them beautifully as the stock speakers where 3 Ohm it has no issues driving the 4Ohm replacments.
View attachment 46649
In the center you can see the stock HK sub box mine holds two 5.25 " speakers i had replaced these before and although a vast improvement on stock they never really worked great.
The HK system feeds 2 channels @2 ohm load to the speakers and although again no issue arisedby fitting 4Ohm replacements but it left them under driven.
Have looked in to getting the amp loading right found if i drop the sub box feed to one channel and wire in series the two speakers i can get a 2Ohm load which has made a massive difference they no longer distort under load and the overall sound in the car is transformed.
Before i had to have the balance forward due to the poor rears but in turn this switched off the subs too so now everything is set balanced and you can turn it up and get quite a nice sound.
Will fit the fronts tomorrow interested in how it will change it as i have to say the front H.K speakers are the only ones that seem to have faired well in the systems life.
Will update as i fit them and hopefully be equally as impressed.
Yeah one will be fine as mentiomed it won't shake any biuldings down put it will fill in the sound.
The H.K box is common to pick up i think Andy has them the brackets to hold it in place bolt to the roll hoop mounts and the cubby hole lid has a different under side that clips in place.
It would make life easy just too fit one but once its in pieces you can see what needs to be done and how .
You would build the box to step over it like the standard one .
The H.K box is common to pick up i think Andy has them the brackets to hold it in place bolt to the roll hoop mounts and the cubby hole lid has a different under side that clips in place.
It would make life easy just too fit one but once its in pieces you can see what needs to be done and how .
You would build the box to step over it like the standard one .
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2014
- Points
- 181
- Model of Z
- Z4 coupe sport.
Sorry Sean, got that all wrong, so just in case you've not seen it here's what I ended up doing but haven't wired it in yet, have got all the wireing needed to re wire the whole system plus an 600watt amp to go into the old disc player mount. Really not looking forward to the hassle of the re wire.
Didn't like the look of the port on the front so hid it behind grill.
The rear H.K speakers are around £40 each from Bmw the issue with changing them all is just power ratings really the amp will run them but it loudneas and efficency.
If your happy with the sound i would be maybe looking to swap rhe oem speakers as with all things zed they are aging !!
If your happy with the sound i would be maybe looking to swap rhe oem speakers as with all things zed they are aging !!
So an update....
Stripped to replace the front speakers the H.K set up is different to the stock one in the fact that there is no small amp fitted to the front left speaker its just two 5.25 "speakers.
I have already upgraded the rears and brought matching Rochford Fostgate Prime 5.25" 2 way speakers for the front.
These needed the mounting luggs to be slightly elongated but screwed striaght in.
The stock speaker was 2 ohm 30watt and replaced them with the new ones powering them off the stock H.K amp.
This gave an effect of loss of bass again because a 4 Ohm speaker replaced the 2Ohm one in the front in effect not powering them the same, so decided to wire them up off the headunit but although improved it still didn't fill the front like the H.K stock speakers.
So a u turn on these stock back in and all restored i think because the amp is 2ohm stable to these and rated correctly with the right crossovers it gives them a fuller sound and as they appear undamaged will do he job.
The system can now run balanced with out the distortion from the old rear speakers but when turned up it still sounds terrible.
I have narrowed this down to the stock sub woofer set up disconnected the system can be turned up loud, it has little distortion and the bass levels are very good but the sound has a hole in it from no rear bass.
So attention to the sub..... the stock system has 2 different sub boxes the earlier one (mine holds 2 5.25" speakers the same as the fronts the other i presume face lift runs a single DVC 6.5" speaker.
Having trawled the net it is possible that a snorkel is missing from my set up,it shows in real oem and is used to drop the port lower in to the car.
Without this people report the rear speakers to sound blown this may be because they are over exerting as the port moves the air differently in effect tuning the box.
It is availble as said but unsure as to weather it will fix the issue as so many report the system to be poor.
A common fix seems to be to fit a Kicker 40CWRT672 this is shallow mount and with a little modding fits the stock box.
This is a 2 Ohm DVC sub so can be wired striaght in and its reported it sounds great but with an aftermarket amp would sound alot better.
I've managed to build a box out of 12mm mdf to fit the space that will hold this so will try it stock powered but have brought a mono block amp to use but will probably replace it with a far smaller amp if it proves to be benificial.
So have a nice set of 5.25" speakers if anyone wants a good set and maybe a mono amp too thats rated way beyond whats needed.
Waiting for the sub to arrive and can fix striaght in the mdf box fits and all back on looking standard so fingers crossed
Stripped to replace the front speakers the H.K set up is different to the stock one in the fact that there is no small amp fitted to the front left speaker its just two 5.25 "speakers.
I have already upgraded the rears and brought matching Rochford Fostgate Prime 5.25" 2 way speakers for the front.
These needed the mounting luggs to be slightly elongated but screwed striaght in.
The stock speaker was 2 ohm 30watt and replaced them with the new ones powering them off the stock H.K amp.
This gave an effect of loss of bass again because a 4 Ohm speaker replaced the 2Ohm one in the front in effect not powering them the same, so decided to wire them up off the headunit but although improved it still didn't fill the front like the H.K stock speakers.
So a u turn on these stock back in and all restored i think because the amp is 2ohm stable to these and rated correctly with the right crossovers it gives them a fuller sound and as they appear undamaged will do he job.
The system can now run balanced with out the distortion from the old rear speakers but when turned up it still sounds terrible.
I have narrowed this down to the stock sub woofer set up disconnected the system can be turned up loud, it has little distortion and the bass levels are very good but the sound has a hole in it from no rear bass.
So attention to the sub..... the stock system has 2 different sub boxes the earlier one (mine holds 2 5.25" speakers the same as the fronts the other i presume face lift runs a single DVC 6.5" speaker.
Having trawled the net it is possible that a snorkel is missing from my set up,it shows in real oem and is used to drop the port lower in to the car.
Without this people report the rear speakers to sound blown this may be because they are over exerting as the port moves the air differently in effect tuning the box.
It is availble as said but unsure as to weather it will fix the issue as so many report the system to be poor.
A common fix seems to be to fit a Kicker 40CWRT672 this is shallow mount and with a little modding fits the stock box.
This is a 2 Ohm DVC sub so can be wired striaght in and its reported it sounds great but with an aftermarket amp would sound alot better.
I've managed to build a box out of 12mm mdf to fit the space that will hold this so will try it stock powered but have brought a mono block amp to use but will probably replace it with a far smaller amp if it proves to be benificial.
So have a nice set of 5.25" speakers if anyone wants a good set and maybe a mono amp too thats rated way beyond whats needed.
Waiting for the sub to arrive and can fix striaght in the mdf box fits and all back on looking standard so fingers crossed
