Another Rear Speaker replacement question

wonderloaf · Post by **wonderloaf** » Sun 20 Feb, 2011 19:05

I guess this has been asked before, just spent an hour using the search facility but can't find a straight answer, so thought I'd ask....

My passenger side rear speaker has just blown, probably down to the new HU. I know lot of people say they're useless but I do notice the difference if I don't use them so would like to replace them.

Does anyone know what speakers will be a straight like-for-like swap, without having to resort to hacking the interior of the car? Mine are the 4" versions.

I've taken the offending speaker out and will take a trip down to Halfrauds tomorrow, but any recommendations gratefully received.

Cheers.

jayson f · Post by **jayson f** » Sun 20 Feb, 2011 21:28

Alpine do a budget component speaker that fits a treat, Halfords sell them for a budget £30 you need to trim if some lugs on the back of the z3 speaker covers but this takes minutes . The difference in sound is so much better than the standard bmw speakers. Alpine sxe 10252 are the ones you need just look on Halfords web site.

simiewimie · Post by **simiewimie** » Sun 20 Feb, 2011 23:15

Did this the other week, and didn't even need to trim anything. Much better now. Well worth it for the money.

JohnZ · Post by **JohnZ** » Mon 21 Feb, 2011 00:43

these speakers are only £20 when you search for them via Froogle.co.uk

I found them available at www.incar-emporium.com/

LATE EDIT
delivery charge £9:00 oh well!

wonderloaf · Post by **wonderloaf** » Mon 21 Feb, 2011 10:05

Hi guys, thanks for the replies, taking a trip down Halfrauds lunchtime with the old speaker to have a look and listen to the Alpines.

Also identified some Kenwood KFCE1052 speakers that should drop straight in, I'm also tempted by these as I've got a Kenwood HU fitted.

SpaceMonkey · Post by **SpaceMonkey** » Mon 21 Feb, 2011 10:36

Are the rears difficult to remove?
Read mixed things on it tbh.

simiewimie · Post by **simiewimie** » Mon 21 Feb, 2011 10:47

I found it pretty easy.
Pop the plastic fascia, unscrew existing speakers, clip the connecting wires.
Connect wires to new speakers, screw in new speakers, replace fascia.

I wrapped the wire around the connector and "secured" in place with electrical tape, as I couldn't find the extension cord to get the soldering iron to the car at the time! I will get back in there at some point and solder.

As I said, I didn't seem to need to trim the lugs from the rear of the speaker fascia.
In all, it was about a 15 minute job.

SpaceMonkey · Post by **SpaceMonkey** » Mon 21 Feb, 2011 11:18

Thanking you kindly

wonderloaf · Post by **wonderloaf** » Mon 21 Feb, 2011 13:34

Just had a look at the Alpines in halfrauds, the centre tweeter section looked to be sticking out quite a way, in fact I think it would hit the inside of the speaker cover. I reckon there's about another 3mm of space in front of the existing speaker, and this one seemed to be a bit larger than that.

Perhaps on another sample it would be a little lower and would fit, but I don't want to start trimming the cover so am leaning towards the Kenwoods. Hopefully there shouldn't be any compatabilty issues either as I have a Kenwood HU.

Regarding removal of the cover, it was pretty easy, carefully put a screwdriver in the gap between the cover and the surrounding trim and lever the cover up. Probably worth putting some card or plastic under the screwdriver to stop damage to the trim. Once the edge of the cover is out you can use your fingers to completely remove the cover.

wonderloaf · Post by **wonderloaf** » Mon 21 Feb, 2011 19:43

Just finished fitting the Kenwood KFCE1052 speakers (£30 from Argos), think they are absolutely brilliant, they made me realise just how bad the stock BMW ones were!

They may not be audiophile speakers, but if you want speakers that will drop straight in without any hassle or modification to the covers or surrounding trim then these are definitely worth considering.

maccers · Post by **maccers** » Mon 21 Feb, 2011 19:43

I've just done this and used Pioneer TS-E1002i 10CM 2 ways (link - http://www.pioneer.eu/uk/products/25/13 ... index.html) and also used the same in front but 13cm versions.

Although they have the sticky out tweeter bit, they fit fine under the snap on plastic grilles. They sound good too. I did solder the wires on, but done this out of the car as I re-wried them using new speaker cable due to using an amp for the front and rear.

What I did notice, and mine fitted ok more by luck than design, is the depth of the speaker. If they are too deep, the magnet will foul the seatbelt anchor, which would mean using a spacer and then risk the BMW standard grille not fitting or incorrectly/speaker hitting it.

I can definately say these Pioneer 10cm's fit ok. If you are ever near epsom and want have a look at my setup feel free. PM me on here etc.

If you are replacing the fronts as well, I was advised to use the same manufacturer of speaker, more for the high range tweeters. I am not using door card mounted tweeters, they are in place, but not connected.

Delving a bit deeper into this - the amp I bought is 4 channel, and has high pass filters on both channels. So I can control the high frequencies, which I am sending to the rears, being smaller physically (10cm) and less capable to handle any bass, and sending slightly lower to the fronts (13cm), but more importanly, as the higher notes are more direct the rear speakers are right next to your ears, so better agian to send higher notes to the rears. Lower notes bass etc are less direct, suppose this is why you can have a bass box / sub anywhere.

If you need a replacement rear BMW OEM I have one here that I'm not using, its from a year 2000 car but it would probably fail again.

Richard.

wonderloaf · Post by **wonderloaf** » Mon 21 Feb, 2011 19:56

maccers wrote:
If you need a replacement rear BMW OEM I have one here that I'm not using, its from a year 2000 car but it would probably fail again.

Richard.

If you need a pair then I've got the other one!

Actually maccers reading your post has also made me realise that I can adjust the hi/lo frequencies on my front and rear speakers as it has crossover adjustments for both...always wondered what it was for, now I know!

maccers · Post by **maccers** » Mon 21 Feb, 2011 20:00

I have all 4 speakers in a card board box! My head unit also has a LPF setting - but amp also has one, so I just leave the head unit (Pioneer) as default, and then use the settings on the amp.

I think anything above 100hz is high pass, anything below is more bass'y. I could be wrong, just looking at the dials on the amp.

I've only installed a week ago, so not got round to fine tuning.

zroadster.net

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