Subwoofer?

[matt323is]

I have a JL 12w3v2 subwoofer and an XTANT amp from my last car and am interested putting it in my 1998 323is. The car has the stock stereo which I dont think sounds that bad. I am on a limited budget because I am paying for the car. Are there inputs on the stock headunit? Has anyone here done this? The only other option ill consider is one of the new alpines that has the 512 color selection....wouldnt want to ruin the wonderful color scheme.... and help is appreciated.

[El Presidente]

you have to use a line level converter to run RCAs out of the stock HU.

After that you're fine.

[matt323is]

would you say that it is better to save up for the alpine headunit or just work with the stock headunit?

[El Presidente]

aftermakret is always better.

[matt323is]

Would swapping the stock headunit out be fairly painless....i mean i know that the stock stereo has some amps involved....?

[silver328is]

I also have a JL w3 12in sub in my 328is I'm using the stock deck and the way that I did it was I had a line converter to RCA, then I spliced into the low output coming out of the stock amp, then just hook the rest of the setup as you would normally. Also you can get the remote wire off the stock amp. A new deck would sound great but I don’t have the money to buy one know. Same situation good luck with that!

[kjlbryan]

Originally posted by matt323is@Oct 6 2004, 05:38 PM
I have a JL 12w3v2 subwoofer and an XTANT amp from my last car and am interested putting it in my 1998 323is. The car has the stock stereo which I dont think sounds that bad. I am on a limited budget because I am paying for the car. Are there inputs on the stock headunit? Has anyone here done this? The only other option ill consider is one of the new alpines that has the 512 color selection....wouldnt want to ruin the wonderful color scheme.... and help is appreciated.

[snapback]206352[/snapback]

Yeah.... even though this may sound pretty lame... i did exactly what matt 323is is thinking of doing.... I ran a subwoofer from my stock system using a Sony Xplod amp...

I did not change any of the speakers in the car... or anything of the like... The sony xplod amp that i got had a high level input to it..... this allowed you to take a signal from a Left & Right speaker (both +ve and -ve).. and feed it into the amp as the main input...

I searched this site and came up with the amp wiring diagram (will try and post link later... in the mean while do a search for amp wiring diagram).... and found the different connections coming from the amp going to the speakers...

Using a wire cutter (careful now... dont want to cut throgh the wire, only remove the insulation) i took a signal (+ve and -ve) from the R & L speaker output... I also took a signal from the "remote".... which turns on and off ur amp.... For the power and GND i used the battery (gotta love the battery in the trunk) I could've used a body GND pt too...

After hoooking the amp up it was only a matter of connecting it to my woofer box... and then finding a place to mount the amp.... I decided to mount the amp on the woofer box (for simplicity)... The entire operation took abt 2hrs (first time) would prob take abt 45 mins now...

Ensure that you have electrical tape... Screwdrivers, wire cutters, knife... and of course your ground and power amp wires.

I must say the SYSTEM sound GOOOD.... maybe not as great as $400+ systems but for the simplicity and ease of installation the bass adds character to the system set up :-D....

Hope this was useful... if i think of anything else i'll post it....

ENJOY!

[matt323is]

Hahaha ya I hear ya. Thats probably what I will have to do. I am afraid to do that myself even though i installed all of my system in my old car. I dont want to break anything in my bimmer. Did you pay someone to do this or was it DIY? I was probably going to have a place like tweeter do it.

[matt323is]

Originally posted by silver328is@Oct 6 2004, 08:06 PM
I also have a JL w3 12in sub in my 328is I'm using the stock deck and the way that I did it was I had a line converter to RCA, then I spliced into the low output coming out of the stock amp, then just hook the rest of the setup as you would normally. Also you can get the remote wire off the stock amp. A new deck would sound great but I don’t have the money to buy one know. Same situation good luck with that!

[snapback]206382[/snapback]

How do you control the bass level for the subwoofer? I used to have an alpine so im used to just pressing in the main control knob.

[El Presidente]

you can't.

Although the pics arent loaded, I have directions for running wires, HU installs, and the like in my sig.

[PMB]

I did similar. I disconnected the rear speakers and used the cables to fee my amp. I then use the fader to control sub level. I am still using the stock HU and cd stacker until I have time. Good components up front running off the HU and it sounds remarkably good considering. RF 10" has now been replaced with a 15" but I have not taken any pics. yet.

[silver328is]

you can adjust the bass leval of the transformer and also the amp. once your get the sound close to what you want you can adjust from the stock deck. I lowerd the stock bass coming out the speakers so i can turn it up louder.

[kjlbryan]

Originally posted by matt323is@Oct 6 2004, 06:14 PM
Hahaha ya I hear ya. Thats probably what I will have to do. I am afraid to do that myself even though i installed all of my system in my old car. I dont want to break anything in my bimmer. Did you pay someone to do this or was it DIY? I was probably going to have a place like tweeter do it.

[snapback]206393[/snapback]

It was a DIY.... i actually found the amp wiring diagram on this site... under audio & electronics.
http://www.bmw-forums.com/forum/index.php?...topic=16293&hl= < --- check that one out... for one of the diagrams...

Alrite

[BLACKBMW]

Before I could be arsed to set up my whole system I ran my sub from the stock head unit

I disconnected the rear parcel shelf speakers and just ran a power cable form the battery through the car into the trunk - wired up the amp and sub - used one of the outputs from the h/u and could control the level of the sub through the fader on the h/u - this was fine and the sound was quite impressive even using the stock speakers in the front

Of course, I switched it all up when I had the dough and it sounds fantastic - but for very little money you can get good quality sounds using stock speakers & h/u

[mattster2002]

Hey guys,
I've got a 1995 316i (e36 of course!) And i followed el's instructions for replacing the HU. I'm using the stock system with a Pioneer mp3 deck that sounds alright, Now i've got two sub's already mounted in a cabinet ready to go into the boot. I want to wire the subs from the stock amp (is this possible?) and I dont want to do too much wiring. Does anyone know where the stock amp actually is in the car? I'm yet to find any post that actually describes where it is. I think on the wiring diagram it had left sub out and right sub out, Would these be as simple as just connecting them up to my two sub's in the sub box? Cheers for your support