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      06-05-2023, 05:03 AM   #45
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The focal ES100k Streetwise 3D door speakers brackets arrived. They are well designed and have the right depth for the face of the focal and the door card. Same as focal inside range OEM range.

Did a quick test fit. Speaker fits nicely !




Also brought some sound deadener , 5 sheets so will treat doors and area under the Underseat woofers. Using Dynamat as easy to get in New Zealand and a well know. Product. Also unlike some brands doesn’t smell when interior hearts up. I’m a bit caught here between using to improve doors speaker response and woofers verse making the the M3 any quieter. The noise the car makes is one of the appealing aspects of M3 and the F80 is a reasonably quiet M3 compared with earlier models.

Going to leave the factory door vapour seal in place and treat the metal around the speaker mounting area and the inner door card.

For a great install of sound insulation and all other aspects of f80 audio builds see jmcivers install.
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      06-06-2023, 05:18 AM   #46
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Thanks for the comments and think your right about Tuning first and music later. I also haven’t run in the component speakers on the bench yet. The shop I ordered the focals via was saying retune at roughly 20 hours and then again in a years time as the speakers free up and improve. ( mainly tweeters ) .

Haven’t sorted a tuning mic yet so should probably get on to ordering one soon. Shop I used to borrow one from went under. Thinking of a MiniDSP USB unit.

Think I’m a few weeks away from tuning as some BMW parts are a few weeks away which will allow me to finish the Most digital feed for the amp.
I have the UMIK-1 from MiniDSP. Best value for the DIY/hobbyist audio tuner IMHO (under $100 USD). Pretty much all other alternatives I could find were “professional grade” with a much higher price tag - and I am not sure my ears could hear the difference, but my wallet would
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      06-06-2023, 02:58 PM   #47
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Thanks for the Mic suggestion, have ordered the MiniDSP UMik-1. The Dayton UMM6 looked to be about the same price since. So mic is $77 usd at the moment so $130 shipped and taxed down under.

Also download the latest version of Rew. It’s changed quite a bit since I last used it. Looks like watching some YouTube videos are in order.

https://www.minidsp.com/products/aco...BoCkysQAvD_BwE


http://www.roomeqwizard.com
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      06-13-2023, 04:18 AM   #48
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MiniDSP microphone arrived. Can’t wait to give it a test. Will pop into a camera shop and get a 3/8 16 pitch thread to 1/4 inch adapter so I can use a an old Sony tripod when using the mic.

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      06-13-2023, 05:01 AM   #49
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Continued trunk wiring today.

Decided to terminate the new speaker loom onto a new Tyco / amp TE 32 pin connector that the Mobridge uses. I left RCA out and secondary power and “power on” as not intending to add any further amplifiers to this install.

There is nothing wrong with the Mobridge to 20 pin BMW / Harmon Kardon patch lead and no doubt you could either splice it or augment it with a technic PNP harness options if you have an ASD based base audio.

The tyco connector uses Amp mcp sockets. There are three types within the connector.

Amp MCP 1.5k 2.8k and 4.8k Dbg style. The can be brought to terminate various gauges. The majority of the sockets are 1.5k and will take 18 awg / 075mm2 or 15 awg / 1.5mm2 wire.

I originally ran 13awg / 2.5mm2 for the underseat woofers as that is what BMW had done. But if I were to do this again I’d use 15awg /1.5 mm2 which is more than adequate for any aftermarket 2 ohm woofer options. I cut the wire back slightly at the socket pin so it would fit into the socket pins.

For the Mobridge subwoofer channel the amp uses a bridged pair output so uses two pairs of outputs. As I’m running a 2 ohm sub so running 4 wires to the sub to ensure it can deliver enough current ( 800 watt peak potential.

I used the Mobridge patch cable as a reference for my loom matching speakers ti wires to the amp channels.
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      06-13-2023, 05:29 AM   #50
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Looking into earth and power for the amp.

I changed the orientation of the amp so the power and speaker connectors were facing the trunk. I did this to take advantage of the factory amp bracket mounting stud. It’s basically the same as what BMW uses for the earth Combes earthing points around the vehicle. Uses an 10mm bolt so it’s 6mm in diameter. I checked it with a multimeter and it’s 0 ohms to ground so absolutely fine as a earth point.

Mobridge uses 6awg /16mm2 cable leads so just got a 16mm2 with 6mm hole lug.

Also ran a 4 awg cable through the back of the trunk pannel as mentioned in an earlier post. Used a curtain wire to pull the cable through. It’s from my last audio build so it’s wrapped in a plastic protection sheath. Also lined the entry and exit holes with Tesa tape. Note.

The short run distance is fine for 6awg to the battery. However. 4awg will have a slightly lower voltage drop.



I’ll leave as is for a few days and see if it causes any rattles. If it does rattle I’ll change the cable route to back of trunk under the trunk floor past the fuse box.
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      06-13-2023, 05:35 AM   #51
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Just need to add some tesa tape to the speaker loom and finish Battery power connection.

Also going to add a wiring for the rear 12v auxiliary socket as mine wasn’t connected to anything.
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      06-17-2023, 03:57 PM   #52
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Positive power from battery to amp done next.

The Mobridge has a 6awg / 16mm2 gauge power cable lead. It just needs a power feed from battery.

My goal this run have main fuse within 30 centimetres of the battery terminal which is best practice , have the installation so battery can be serviced.

I tend to overprotect the cable which was learnings from a colleague install where he ran a slightly undersized cable and fuse at a point where the cable run was up against the body. The wire insulation melted and welded itself to chassis.The battery top melted with the current. But he managed to get the terminals off. Very close to loosing his car.

For the cable run a quick calculation that at the amps 1100 watts rms point 6 awg run would be ok routed via the back pannel of the trunk ( less than 7 feet ) . At around 11 feet 4 awg would be a better choice but only needed if routing cable via rear fusebox. My target was to ensure voltage drop doesn’t get below 3%.

I ended up using 4awg cable for the run as I had some spare from a previous installation.
I wrapped in in a plastic conduit to further protect the cable insulation and used nylon wrap at each end as it’s a bit more flexible where the cable needs to end.

Fuse location by side of battery so mounted it on a bit of painted MDF wood and shaped it so the battery stay looks it into place.

For battery termination I couldn’t get any 25mm2 / 6.4mm 90 degree lugs so bent an terminal so it can piggy back and drop straight down at the battery terminal. That way the power cable can be better routed and kept away from the ibs terminal function

.

At the amp end I used a 4awg screw down joiner as couldn’t get a 4awg to 6awg crimp reducer. I put a copper ferrule on the 6awg lead to ensure maximum contact.
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      06-24-2023, 04:14 PM   #53
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Onto doors now.

With the custom loom I’m also running two pair of new speaker wires into each door including rears. Normally you just use the factory wire and add another pair for the tweeters. I didn’t want any extra connectors in path for this path and might as well connect to use the silver tinned OFC Copper wire. As mentioned earlier, I doubt you can hear any difference between silver tinned and normal copper speaker wire but it wasn’t much difference in price .

First task was make up door wire and crimp the socket connectors on.

With the rear tweeters I added factory speaker connectors so wiring can be disconnected if the door cards need to come off. The focal tweeter cable insulation is a bit thick for the connector / crimp pin so crimped it in a manner that just crimps onto the wire.


Next is the door connector. Have started on back door first. Outer door connector has a pull up tab . Pull it up and the connector will come away from the car body. Be careful with the space as looks easy for connector to get crushed when opening or closing door. Found best way is to open drivers door. Pull locking tab up half way. Then open rear door all the way and pull up tab. Gives more space to add connectors and run wire into doors.

The inner connector comes apart by pull the inner part forward . It will click and the inner part can be pulled out of the body.

New speaker wire is then feed through garter and into the door. I didn’t need fisher tape or curtain wire to use as a pilot for this.
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      06-25-2023, 03:45 AM   #54
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I used curtain wire within the door and routed it via the door membrane. The speaker wire followed the path of the door loom to keep it away from the window mechanism. Used the speaker hole to gain access and wrap the speaker wire to the loom in a couple of places using tesa tape.

Then simple case of routing to speaker positions.
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      06-25-2023, 04:06 AM   #55
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Next was door card.

Base audio doesn’t have rear tweeters and the door cards need modified to fit them.

The inside of the door card has a slight indentation where the tweeter hole is made.
It’s 51mm in diameter so used a 51mm holesaw. Measured 25.5 mm on the two sides middle point and then messured from top of indentation to middle to confirm center. Checked it three times to ensure center drill point.

Drilled pilot hole from the inside of the door card to the outside .

Then flipped the door card as less chance of vinyl tearing if you cut through it first. Made sure that hole saw was spinning ture an made the hole. Speaker grill fitted well.

The Hk / hifi bracket is secured via a m6 axcel clip. Just used a 10 mm socket over the top as they are a tight fit. Gently hit the socket with a small hammer until each clip was tight against tweeter bracket.

Mount tweeter and good to go.

.
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      06-25-2023, 04:29 AM   #56
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I went with a basic level of sound treatment for the door and door card. Didn’t want to go too far as part of the ownership of an M3 is the sound it makes IMHO.

Brought a 5 sheet pack of Dynamat. It’s an easy product to get in NZ and dominated the market here. This one is about 2.8mm thick. Basically peel the back and stick to panels. One sheet was used on the door. What I like about this product is that it’s oderless.

For the door surface I just applied it to the outer metal around the speaker mount . For the door card I did a reasonable amount of coverage . You want in in areas were the door is covered by the factory membrane.

Quick knock test and the door was a bit quieter. Really would need full treatment to get it perfect. Door card however was very good.

For the speaker mount you want to islolate the speaker from the metal. The streetwise 3D printed focal adaptors came with a stick on seal. Worked out ideal as flexible enough to follow a circle without kinking . Left a small gap for speaker wire.

Also added a seal to the inner door card speaker door card ring. This is so the door card seals with the outter face of the speaker.

Changed speaker grills out to HK as slightly more open than hifi / base audio. Not much in it , but looks to be about 20% more open.

.
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      07-05-2023, 05:00 AM   #57
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Another door down on the weekend. So front doors next. Unfortunately due to blood thinners I’ll need take a break for a couple of weeks from door work to let arm bruising repair. Seems to happen when using arm through speaker hole to Tesa tape new speaker wire.

Think I’ll finish sub box carpet and bracing sub at tie down anchorage points and sort the Y cable for Most cable to idrive install.

Also been working on Calulating cabin gain ( thanks Bill ) and looking at doing a couple of audio house curves to try ( Harman and Audiofrog)
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      07-08-2023, 05:52 AM   #58
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In the end I decided to get one of the front doors done.

Similar to rear door , door connector slightly different and took a bit more effort to release the inner part . Normally you’d just slide the inner connector forward and it clicks out. Connector wasn’t having a bar of it. Used a plastic pri tool in the side edge and the conector popped out. Added pre crimped speaker wire to the four spare slots I’d used on the inner door.

People have commented that if you don’t have 360 cameras you can use the round hole that the coax connectors would sit in to run speaker wire. Looks quite feasible if the gauge and insulation of the speaker wire isn’t too thick .

Wiring path within door different in front door. Comes almost straight up and through bottom door hole closer to the front of the car. Removed a section of the door membrane by gently pulling it away . Ran wires and secured with tesa tape.

The front tweeters are running active so connected straight to an amp channel. To protect the tweeter from tuning mistakes and getting damaged by low frequencies you can put in a bass blocker which give it a degree of protection. I’ve used a ln audiophile style capictor ( doesn’t really need to be ) foil type which are massive. I used 18 microfarads which is a bit on the high side . Target crossover frequency is 3500 hz so I probably should have used 22
Microfarads . I installed with tesa tape and 15kg Velcro.

I pulled out the old door trim and added the Harmon Kardon door trim. I did this the end of the install as it’s easy to install with window down.


Rather than put a acoustic sealing ring around the face of the speaker adaptor I used a 10 mm neoprene seal and installed it on the outer ring of the door card speaker ring. Lined it with Tessa tape to keep the exposed sticky section at bay.

BTW with taking the door card off lots of YouTube videos have people prying the window controls out from the top. Personally a risky way of doing it and risks damaging upholstery with tools. Leave the controls in place. Pop the door card and from the inside of the door card push window control out instead.
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      07-09-2023, 08:18 PM   #59
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Ah yes…. I remember doing those front door connectors for my install. Serious PITA, with each side being a slightly different PITA. But very rewarding once done… .
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      07-09-2023, 08:31 PM   #60
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I can appreciate the effort you put into sound treatment on your doors. Must have been quite an exercise!. I think I was roughly 5 hours per door. Just as well I don’t install audio for a living , I’d go broke !
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      07-11-2023, 04:08 AM   #61
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Thought this might be an interesting illustration of the acoustic transparency of standard grill verse Harman Kardon.
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      07-12-2023, 08:34 AM   #62
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NealfromNZ View Post
I can appreciate the effort you put into sound treatment on your doors. Must have been quite an exercise!. I think I was roughly 5 hours per door. Just as well I don’t install audio for a living , I’d go broke !
It actually was not that bad. Just took off the existing vapor barrier and used it as a template for the new one using the new sound deadening material. While the vapor barrier was off, I added more material to the inner door skin using the “checker board” patter technique which gave me 60%+ coverage or more inside the door.
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      07-13-2023, 05:27 AM   #63
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Trunk 12volt Aux power outlet tidy.

I took the opportunity to sort the 12volt trunk aux outlet wiring today. Previous owner must of had a go at a retro fit and the dealer I brought the car from might have removed part of the wiring. Anyway , two small gauge wires double crimped for an earth and Ve+ was a small gauge wire twisted into a medium gauge wire. Talk about a bushman’s wiring job.

Brought some 2.5mm cable for VE+ and 2.5mm2 brown cable for earth.

The closest earth comb to 12volt rear outlet was full , but the one on left had side behind rear seat bloster had one spare position left.

The main power feed for a 12volt outlet is via rear fuse box. Position 162 is the correct fuse but no connector installed on the inside.

Ordered one earth comb crimp terminal and one leaf terminal for fuse box and crimped wires. Then a straight forward job of flipping the fusebox and inserting contact leaf terminal into position 162 on underside of fusebox connector and ram wire via factory path to rear 12volt outlet position.

Earth Comb crimp terminal part number
61131387144. 1.5-2.5mm2 contact

Fuse Box contact leaf part number
61138377732. 2.5mm2 contact leaf

Also used a couple of cable grommets from a spare secondhand door wiring loom I brought for working out spear wire looms.
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      07-14-2023, 12:26 AM   #64
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Adding Most loop for base audio / hifi

As mentioned earlier, I ran a 5 meter Most fibre cable from Trunk to Idrive location on left side of car and then via firewall.

Behind the idrive on my M3 ( nbt evo 4.1 ) was a Most cable from NTB to cluster connector. I brought a Y patch cable with 2 female and one male connector which had universal outer shells . Not quite identical to BMW which meant the Most cable grommet needed to be modified.

Used Tesa tape to do so and also stop any rattles once installed . The BMW grommet ended up being loose when inserted into the right hand bracket location. Just used tesa tape the make the grommet contact point wider.

Then simply unplugged Most cluster connection and and connect Y patch cable

NTB to Y cable via female connector
Cluster to Y cable via male connector
Mobridge Amp extension to Y cable female connector.

I then reassembled Dash and put a Most loop back on Mobridge end extension cable to ensure Most y cable and extension working correctly. Startup gong worked so Most ready to go for Amp.
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      07-14-2023, 12:33 AM   #65
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And Most cable integrity with loop connector
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      07-15-2023, 01:49 AM   #66
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Swapped out base audio underset woofers for Harman Kardon version .

Orginal plans for 8 inch replacements was for a newish driver but unfortunately too close to seat rail. Really after a good 50- 60 hz to 175 / 200 hz midbass driver with lowish QTS of around .5 - .7 to get tight midbass. Have a heavy lifting sub to cover 20 - 50hz thst delivers substantial output down to 23hz hence not considering an SWS.

Maybe the integral audio 8 inch underseat woofer might fit the role ? Pitty IA don’t publish any specs and no oppertunity to hear them down under.

Anyway, added BMW underseat male connectors to speaker wiring . These have four connector positions.

Postion 2 , Woofer —
postion 3 , Woofer ++
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