I assume kick panel refers to the speakers at your feet. My question is this. If I wanted to get components in the front and coaxials in the rear and move to only 4 channels vs the current 6, where would I put the components? The front door speaker is 3.5 inches which is far to small for most speakers. Is there any way I could fit a larger speaker in there via some type of modification to the door? What is the best way to proceed? Which speakers do most people replace in E36's and what types/sizes do they put in?
FOrget the 3.5s they are a waste of time. Spend as much as you can afford on a set of 5.25 components for the kick panel and front tweeters. If you want speakers in the rear put a sub and amp on the ski hatch as below. The amp can be driven by the speaker output from the rear speakers.
Are really good for the price. Are there any other options for components that are good for around the $100 range? Also Anyone have suggestions regarding coaxial speakers?
i actually just replaced my speakers, and pmb is right in a sense( besides the fact he doesnt have the same car) but get some good 2 way component speakers for the kick panel and tweeter,as for the 3.5 you can pick up a ok pair for under 40 bux from sounddomain.com. as for the rears, i jus bought some pioneers for 40 bux...as for what do most people use, its mostly mb quarts or infinitys. but those are basically high end..what price range are u looking at? and are u plannign on adding subs and amps, etc?
So do I need 3.5's also? I was thinking about just having a 4 channel system with a sub. So components in the front and coaxials in the back. I guess since you cant expand the door speaker size, I wanted to buy component speakers and put the tweeters in the door and the mids in the kicker area. Would this be the right way to go about it? As for the rest of the system, I am basically going to revamp the whole system. I am putting in a deck, the speakers I just mentioned, and a 12" sub. This will be powered by 2 amps, 1 for the sub and 1 for the speakers unless I can find a 5 channel or 6channel(bridged) to power the whole thing. Any ideas/suggestions?
Alpine makes awesome 5 channel amps. As for the component setup, don't buy until you've got the money to buy good stuff. $100 for components is outrageous unless you know they are coming direct from the factory. Anything else and I would be afraid they're refurbed.
__________________ <span style='color:gray'><span style='font-family:Courier'>1995 e36 3 Series RIP
1999 e46 3 Series BURN IN HELL
2000 MR-S Roadster= Current</span></span>
Apparently the ebay link I pasted above is direct from factory, I obviously can't be 100% sure of this though. Although I would love to save up and spend more on components I am not looking for a really really good system, just something that is pretty good and moderately better than the stock system. So as for my other question, would it be ok to just leave out the 3.5's in the new system I am building and just stick with the tweeter in the door and the mid's in the kicker? Also, does anyone know where I can buy the older Orion component speakers? They used to be on ebay for 80 however now only the new ones are available.
Danyal, contrary to a previous poster's claim the car is irrelevant. I now have an E46, I just moved from an E30, which was very, very similar to the E36 as far as the speakers are concerned.
The point is that the simpler you keep the system the better it will sound. Components will always sound better than coax because of the ability to experiment with the placement of the tweeters before you actually fasten them in place. The smallest movement of the tweeter can have an huge effect on the sound. In fact in my E30 I never fastened the tweeters permenantly in place, I just had them held with double sided tape and actually moved them every few months until I got it sounding "perfect".
El Pres. is correct about component speakers though, you get what you pay for. I like the Infinity Ref. components, although they are entry level they sound pretty good. Phoenix Gold Octane 5.0 is also a good sounding, easy to install set. They are better than the Infinities, but they cost a little more. Avoid the Alpine components unless you are going to get serious about the rest of the system.
Now these 3.5s, forget them. They are a waste of time and space and more importantly money. If you were going to spend $100 on a set of 5.25 components and then a further $50 on those 3.5"s don't. Spend the full $150 on the 5.25s That extra $50 puts you into the next league, especially where sound quality is concerned.
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