Coming soon, can't wait!

Monday my car goes in for a complete audio system upgrade. Installing a JL 5 channel amp, a custom sub box with a JL 10w6 dual voice coils, 4 ohm. JL XR series components in front, JL coaxials in rear. Keeping the stock head and changer for stock appearance. Heck from outside, you won't see anything and it will look completely stock. The custom enclosure is being made from fiberglass and molded to the inside of the trunk where the plastic tray is on the right hand side. They will match color exactly on the enclosure. Not sure where the amp will go, the will give me few choices once it comes time. I have never spent this much on a system, but I need it, as the current speakers are shot, and no low end. Will post pics once it's installed. Anyone in CT that needs a system should check these guys out. The owner used to work for Tweeter, and received multiple awards for his work. The place is called High Fidelity Auto Sport on Cedar street in Newington. If you go see Chris and tell him Kirt sent you. Also, can anyone tell me what the "stock" tint it on the windows, as I am getting tint but want to be legal.

Let me know how your FM reception is after the install. I have the JL 500/5 and 2 jl subs as well and the FM reception went down hill after the amp install, I did nothing else but add an amp and subs to the trunk. I am going to try and adjust some things this weekend but we'll see. I love it when a CD is playing though sounds great. Let me know how the JL seperates and rear fill sounds, i'm looking for some new speakers for the inside of the car

Originally Posted by JustinB181

Let me know how your FM reception is after the install. I have the JL 500/5 and 2 jl subs as well and the FM reception went down hill after the amp install, I did nothing else but add an amp and subs to the trunk. I am going to try and adjust some things this weekend but we'll see. I love it when a CD is playing though sounds great. Let me know how the JL seperates and rear fill sounds, i'm looking for some new speakers for the inside of the car

Did you keep your stock head? I was planning on keeping, until I started researching. Now I realize, to get the full potential out of the amp, I should replace the deck with a Alpine with 4 volt pre-outs. I will definately let you know how it sounds. Will a new Alpine head with cd changer controls, work with my stock CD changer in the trunk? I thought they were Alpine changers, but not sure. Also, the guys installing said I could still use the steering wheel controls if they add an infrared (sp?) unit. Did you do the install yourself? Is it possible the antenna connection is a little loose? Or did you run the power cable for the amp too close the antenna wire?

I just want to know where the antenna wires are, i kept my stock headunit so I only worked in the trunk only. All wires are in the trunk did not leave, so unless the antenna wire is in the trunk I don't see how i messed with it. I kept the stock head unit and it sounds pretty good for now, I plan on getting the Pioneer AVIC-N1 all in one TV dvd navigation combo when it comes out so I am keeping the stock headunit until then.

I have a JL 250/1 and a JL 10w3v2 that I installed and my reception is also very sh*tty. When I first installed my Clarion HU the reception was fine, but after I put the amp and sub in, it turned to crap. Let me know if guys come up with a solution to this. Thanks -Michael.

Where is your amp mounted? Maybe the problem will go away if you relocated it further away from the antenna.

Has anyone tried to cover their amp with aluminum foil. Maybe that's a bad idea because of heat dissipating from the amp. Maybe put aluminum foil under the liner around the amp. Just like in a computers, your case is metal and it acts like a shield to block out RF interference.

I'm not sure, but give it a try and tell us what happens?

I've got it mounted to the back of a custom box that I made, its in the middle of the trunk. Heres a pic, please don't be jealous of the custom diy job..... here are some bad pics...... Should I move the amp?





Thanks -Michael.

Try it and see what happens.

If the aluminum foil works and you can get better reception, you can try some aluminum mess instead for a more custom look. You can custom make it to fit your amp and it will also let your amp breath.

Not sure why all you guys are having bad reception. I'm never heard of that problem with amps. I personally don't like messing with the interior of a BMW. I have a custom stereo but have used the factory head unit. The wires and amp are in the inside of the left rear seat panel. A good stereo shop can patch into the right outputs and get a perfect signal to the amps. I have my 330ci for 40 months. 39 of those months have been with a custom stereo with 1000 watts of power to 6 speakers. The factory head unit is very clean. If you paid for a custom instal,l I'd insist on having them fix the FM reception. They wired something wrong.

Originally Posted by mnbmw

Not sure why all you guys are having bad reception. I'm never heard of that problem with amps. I personally don't like messing with the interior of a BMW. I have a custom stereo but have used the factory head unit. The wires and amp are in the inside of the left rear seat panel. A good stereo shop can patch into the right outputs and get a perfect signal to the amps. I have my 330ci for 40 months. 39 of those months have been with a custom stereo with 1000 watts of power to 6 speakers. The factory head unit is very clean. If you paid for a custom instal,l I'd insist on having them fix the FM reception. They wired something wrong.

Are you happy with using the stock head unit? When you are listening, do you ever wish you had "more precise" control of all speakers and sub? Just asking because I was originally going to keep my stock head unit for the look and the ability to use the wheel controls (great feature when driving fast). But after researching, I have decided to swap my head unit, but I am still debating if this is the "right" thing to do. TIA

Originally Posted by mnbmw

Not sure why all you guys are having bad reception. I'm never heard of that problem with amps. I personally don't like messing with the interior of a BMW. I have a custom stereo but have used the factory head unit. The wires and amp are in the inside of the left rear seat panel. A good stereo shop can patch into the right outputs and get a perfect signal to the amps. I have my 330ci for 40 months. 39 of those months have been with a custom stereo with 1000 watts of power to 6 speakers. The factory head unit is very clean. If you paid for a custom instal,l I'd insist on having them fix the FM reception. They wired something wrong.

We are not sure either, I perosonally did not leave the trunk so nothing was cut except the factory wiring harness and wired to the amp from there. Unless the factory harness and amp has anything to do with the signal I didn't cut or mess with anything else.

Exact same thing here, I didn't cut or mess with any wires. When I installed the Clarion HU everything was fine, but as soon as I put in the JL amp it got messed up so I don't think that its a wiring issue. Is everyone with this problem using JL amps? It must send off some signal or somthing that causes interference, I really don't know. Also, has anyone actually tried aluminum foil? What do I wrap the amp with foil?? -Michael.

yeah, try to cover up the amp and all of the exposed wires with the aluminum foil. Make sure there is no open wire lead that can touch the foil. You don't want to short-circuit your amp. This is just to test to see if it works. You don't want to leave the aluminum foil on the amp for too long, because of the heat dissipating from the amp.

Actually, I just thought of something. I'm grounding my amp to the rear deck lid in the trunk. Do you think that this has something to do with the bad reception?? Thanks -Michael.

I am grounding my amp to the factory ground location, which i assume is a very good location since its the factory ground for the OEM amp. That isn't an issue for me.

congrats man,

cant wait to see some pics!!!

Originally Posted by M320psi

congrats man,

cant wait to see some pics!!!

I stopped by the shop to check out the progress, my jaw like hit the floor. Everything is out of the car, rear deck, rear seats, all 4 door panels. I also bought the factory alarm today, going to have them do the install while everything is apart. I have an appt. Friday at the dealer, my air bag light came on on the way to drop the car off , my car is certified, so hopefully they will cover it. They are also going to activate the alarm for me. They charged me 300.00 for the alarm and they wanted 250 for the install. My audio guys are going to do it for like next to nothing (30.00) since everything is already apart. Oh yea, a while ago I purchased tether anchors for the rear deck for my son's car seat. After I realized what was involved in installing them, I decided not to. Now that the deck is out anyway, I am going to have them install them for me too. So far they have mounted my amp under the deck, ran 4 gauge power and ground to the battery (thank god the battery is in front), and have run the rear speaker wires. They were making new mounting rings for the speakers while I was there. I was impressed so far, they even taped the car wherever they would be working to protect the paint from belt bukles and crap. My new changer will play mp3s, does anyone recommend a good encoder program for converting my CD's to MP3s? Thanks, will post pics soon as it's done!

Ok, stopped by yesterday hoping to get some pics with the car apart. However, they had it all buckled up and now they are working on the sub enclosure, which they have to make removable because the battery will be sitting underneath it. I took some pics of my changer and speaker x-overs. My close ups always come out blurry, does anyone know how I should set up my digital camera to take clear pics? Here's the pics and sorry about the quality, I suck at digital cameras.