Audio

SHIMBIMMER

SHIMBIMMER

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My good friend Terry (turning out to be my saving grace) recommended some equipment to consider for upgrading my DATED system. Now the concern is who puts it in.

a) anyone know a good audio shop in LA...actually an excellent audio shop?
b) although I trust Terry forever - anyone have recommendations for placement of speakers, equipment, etc. they have found magical?

Cheers,
M
 
There's precious little space in an E9 for stereo equipment. I suggest the rear parcel tray, and maybe a sub in the trunk. I had such a setup in my CSL before I removed it all to back to stock appearance. I still have a subwoofer and rack to mount it in if you're interested. I'll sell it to you for a sweetheart deal. Also have some decent Alpine coaxials with separate tweets. You'd just need an amp. Contact me if interested.

-tj in Los Gatos
 
stereo

I wanted a period correct radio in the console so I mounted an Alpine head unit ($200) in the glove box, Alpine amp under the rear shelf ($200) between the 3 way speakers ($200), intrared repeater with a remote to use the stereo with glove box closed ($39) and power cables ($75). I jumped the 4 channels to 2 giving 80 watts/channel. It delivers great sound. The install was fairly easy but time consuming, but I didn't want some kid hacking up the coupe.
 
Fine stereo work--VG source

Contact Erik Sliskovich @ CoupeKing for high quality,discreet and custom sound system installations--they are his specialty.

As you are in Los Angeles call him @ 310-505-0797 or 310-834-5000--they are just down the Freeway a bit in Wilmington/North Long Beach area.

HTH
 
Stereo

Here are some pics of the hidden stereo:

CIMG1182.JPG


CIMG1190.JPG


CIMG0793.JPG
 
Hide or see

Are you trying to do this without altering the stock interior or do you care? It's hard to have the best sound possible and hide the speakers. My thoughts/opinions given the wind noise we're fighting:

1. Power and as much as you can afford.
2. A modest amount of sub woofer with a dedicated amp.
3. The mid and tweets in front and as high as possible - dash height if you can.
4. Front kick panel location is better than either the rear parcel or rear seat bulkhead.

and finally, I generally use "in ear" headphones on the highway because nothing else has worked as well.

EDIT June 22

My car had a pair of 3" JL coaxials (mid + tweeters) in the kick panels when I bought the car from TJ. I replaced them with 5" coaxial oriented towards the cabin and up as much as possible which greatly improved the sound. This combined with the pair of 6" coaxial and 10" sub in the rear parcel shelf sound great for any type of music up to 50mph. Above that the wind noise starts to force me into sound levels of a heavy metal concerts. At that point I use the ear buds.

IMGP4325.jpg


Just for grins, I connected the Alpine head unit to the 3" mid/tweets and put them naked in the dash corners and went for a drive. Holy crap did that improve the sound quality at all speeds and especially above 50mph without resorting to extreme measures. So while I won't butcher the interior to do it or glue them to the A pillars, I will try to find a tasteful way to install them as close to that location as possible. Some sort of small fiberglass enclosures pointed up? I like the idea the tweeters in the OEM speaker location but that's where I have two gauges.

Added to the list of 10,000 things.
 
SHIMBIMMER,

A good friend of mine is also a truly talented audio guy and had similar suggestions. He also wanted me to hack up the rear parcel shelf and stick 2" tweets in the A-Column interior (ludicrous suggestions IMO).

so I quietly diregarded most of his advise and went with a period-look 240-Watt head unit from Woody's Customs in LA.
http://www.bench-racing.com/html/ebay_store.html

See Bmwmadman's retro conversion of a period Becker head unit in this forum. (use the search function) His set-up probably cost him more money, but it looks like the quality is better than the retro-knock-off unit I purchased. That said, both have ample power and both are i-Pod and USB adaptor compatible.

Here is what mine looks like:
3482674405_1340a14cae.jpg


The PO of my car had already butchered the NLA blue door panels with 5.25" rounds, so I decided to use thos locations for mid-range speakers.
3483490730_ca0bbf2410.jpg


I hijacked bmwmadman's idea to mount tweeters in the forward speaker grill, although I did fabricate my own mounting system. Your mounting method would vary depending on what size and type of tweeters you run with:
3483491000_1bebdbcd2b.jpg


All of the afore-mentioned have been done before, but here is where I broke new ground (I think). I didn't want to cut into a perfect parcel shelf or the upright section beneath the rear seats, so I played around with different speaker box configurations and sizes beneath the front seats and used the sheet metal box beneath the front seat as a "sound chamber" allowing more base to be created. You'll have to insulated the interior of this sheet metal with Dyna-Mat or equivelant. My audio expert buddy sounded very skeptical of this plan and encouraged me to locate the 6x9s in the rear parcel shelf wheer they would have plenty of air circulating behind them. I'm pretty stubborn, so I again disregarded his advise.

I had no plans of adding additional amps, wiring and sub-woofers, so proper and adequate base was crucial. The 6x9s that I placed beneath the seat move plenty of air and actually point directly up at the seat. At higher levels, you can actually feel a little of the base in the back of your spine! never thought that would happen.

3482674843_c01d29e0f1.jpg


3482674659_15bc3f050e.jpg

3483490810_ea7e63c1e5.jpg

Bottom line, how does it sound? well that would be subjective and depends on your standards, but I don't listen to Jay-Z or thrash metal at 400db, so if you want someting that's going to set off car alarms, then you should disregard everything I just wrote.

Instead, I can tell you that with the windows down and cruising at 30-40mph, I have no problem hearing all types of quality at 50-60% volume. At highway speeds with windows rolled up, it's the same. In fact, I recently threw an AC compressor belt on the highway and the only thing that gave it away was the smell of melting belt rubber! Never heard a thing over the tunes!

BTW, lots of newly installed Dynamat & Dynaliner during the course of the interior restoration contributes a lot to the overall sound quality, so keep that in consideration. I.E. results may vary depending on how well insulated your coupe is.

Good luck.
 
acat2002 - had you considered mounting the under-seat speakers directly into the sloped face of the metal seat support/stiffener? There looks like there would be enough depth. I am considering this option as I plan to put the battery under the rear right seat, thereby not leaving room on that side for a speaker in the vertical wall. Maybe a small woofer under the left rear seat?
 
Sven said:
acat2002 - had you considered mounting the under-seat speakers directly into the sloped face of the metal seat support/stiffener? There looks like there would be enough depth. I am considering this option as I plan to put the battery under the rear right seat, thereby not leaving room on that side for a speaker in the vertical wall. Maybe a small woofer under the left rear seat?
Click to expand...

Yes, that would work well too depending upon the depth of your speakers and size of the magnets. There wouldn't be the need for the speaker boxes and your rear passengers would have a bit more room. Definately apply the Dynamat to all surfaces in the "box" so there will be maximum sound reflection and minimal vibration.

However, I did not want to do any more cutting than necessary in case the idea did not work well. The only hole I cut was a 2" hole for air to move through the metal. Alternatively, I suppose you could cut a larger hole to receive the rear depth or magnet part of the speaker. May even result in a cleaner look.

I also did not dare cut a hole in my new carpet set. I simply cut an "X" with a utility knife and folded the excess carpet down under the metal with the aid of a 2" electrical conduit spacer (the grey trim piece in the photos). That way, the whole thing could be undone without any fuss.
 
I'm considering removing my system all together after installing my stainless exhaust system from Peter @ Coupeking.

My inline six provides all the music I need! :D :D :D
 
That's a beautiful radio, the C indicates 1970 vintage so it isn't stereo, not that it matters. The chrome nose models look even better and I think the most popular dealer installed radio would have been the Blaupunkt.
 
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