New system, E39 BMW, questions

[kendogg 10+ year member]

OK, so I'm going to attempt to use the stock door enclosures. I measured today with a graduated cylinder and water, and the enclosure holds (hard to tell, I was trying not to get the little circuit board too wet, so I spilled a bit) ~1.25-1.5l. Apparently this is only ~.05 cubic feet. I know thats TINY, but wtf am I to do? I've snagged a pair of SB Acoustics 5.25" mids (linked below) and am going to try those out.

Should I polyfill the **** out of it? I coated the inside with resin, and am putting a good bit of FatMat on the outside of it to deaden it, but I'm afraid it's still going to really lack midbass due to the size. Should I polyfill the **** out of it? I've considered attempting to build an aperiodic membrane into the back of it. I'm open for any kind of ideas.

https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/approx-5-woofers/sb-acoustics-sb13pfc25-04-5-4-ohm-paper-cone-woofer/

Click to read more...

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

Take the enclosures out, build a baffle to replace them.

 

[kendogg 10+ year member]

Take the enclosures out, build a baffle to replace them.

Are you following me around being useless in every thread I make now? Seriously - if you have nothing constructive, GTFO.

Also - been there done that in my last E39.

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

I was cutting to the most logical path for you to take without stopping during my vacation to type a more lengthy reply. What you have is a pair of enclosures which are more appropriate for some midrange drivers. These drivers you have bought can be modeled just like a subwoofer. I use WinISD Pro but I'm not at my computer to take a look.

Maybe you can use the pods to accomplish your goals. I suspect the drivers will do better at low frequencies if they have the entire door cavity to play into.

 

[kendogg 10+ year member]

I was cutting to the most logical path for you to take without stopping during my vacation to type a more lengthy reply. What you have is a pair of enclosures which are more appropriate for some midrange drivers. These drivers you have bought can be modeled just like a subwoofer. I use WinISD Pro but I'm not at my computer to take a look.
Maybe you can use the pods to accomplish your goals. I suspect the drivers will do better at low frequencies if they have the entire door cavity to play into.

Cutting into the doors and opening the vapor barrier is a horrible idea on these cars. I bought the car cheap because the vapor barriers had been removed previously and not properly re-sealed, and had leaked water into the car destroying the fuse panel thats under the carpet in the pass footwell area. The water drainage of these doors was inadequate from the factory, and if the vapor barriers leak at all they channel water directly into the cabin. Therefore, cutting the vapor barrier to use the door cavity is beyond a doubt NOT an option.

I know how to use WinISD. I don't have to model these drivers to know that as-is, with no fill or any modification to the stock enclosure, is less than ideal. In my last E39 I used a baffle, and the midbass was lackluster at best. There's no good way to seal to the vapor barrier itself, that I'm aware of at least. I'd like to avoid modding the door panels itself and building a bigger version of the factory pod to accommodate a 6.5" or 7" mid, but if worse comes to worse at a later date I'm willing to explore that option further. For now though, this discussion is about how to make the best use of the stock pod.

So I ask - AGAIN - are you going to contribute anything constructive, or are you going to continue to be an idiot? I don't care if you're on vacation. Don't be stupid, if you have nothing intelligent to post - don't post. You aren't helping.

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

Thank you for the tips on the E39.

 

[kendogg 10+ year member]

******* hell. You're a mod or admin and I'm 'not allowed' to put you on my ignore list. Who the hell lets vendors be mods or admins?

 

[kendogg 10+ year member]

Anybody?

 

[kendogg 10+ year member]

I'll update....

Ended up taking the stock enclosures, adding a good bit of deadener, a 1/4" mdf spacer to the front of it to fit these: https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/approx-5-woofers/sb-acoustics-sb13pfc25-04-5-4-ohm-paper-cone-woofer/

And I put these in the factory sail panel locations: https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/auto-tweeters/seas-prestige-27tffnc/g-h1396-1-textile-dome-tweeter/

Even just the first test-fire off the stock amp is an absolute night & day difference. Currently only have the passengers side installed for testing purposes, but I think once some real power is installed, and I get my MiniDSP in and configured I think it'll be plenty.

 

[DARKHART 10+ year member]

I'm on my 3rd e39 and have literally torn the interior down to bare metal including completely removing the dash and putting back together, my latest one a 99' 540i6 hasn't had vapor barriers in the doors for about 7yrs and I have yet to have a leak from rain. Now with that being said I think Trumpet was only trying to offer you the solution that would have yielded the best sound for your situation because honestly the factory enclosures really ****. Building a simple flat mounting plate in the shape of the factory enclosure with a raised driver mount and a foam coupling ring would have yielded a far better outcome while at the same time keeping your vapor intact....

I went from having a Focal Performance 5.25 to a Focal Performance 6.5 both of which were on flat plates to with the tweets in the factory locations to now a full blown custom 3way setup with Focal K2 6.5's in the dash, tweets in the a-pillars and PG 8's in custom sealed enclosures in rebuilt door panels.....I also have pictures if one would like to see....

 

[kendogg 10+ year member]

my latest one a 99' 540i6 hasn't had vapor barriers in the doors for about 7yrs and I have yet to have a leak from rain.

Then consider yourself extremely lucky. There's a number of service bulletins on the issue from BMW. A friend who was a dealer tech when these cars were new has told me about the massive amount of time he'd spent building rain gutters inside the doors to keep water from entering the car to keep a car from coming back to the dealer. I've repaired a number of these that have flooded the floorboards and rusted out the fuse panel thats under the carpet in the pass footwell. They leak more from the rear doors than the fronts, but it's still not an issue I'm willing to entertain. Hell, I bought this one for $700 precisely because that under-carpet fuse panel was ruined and nothing worked, some of the wires were rusted right off it. I'll be damned if I'm going to let it happen again, it's a beautiful car.

And Trumpet wasn't offering a solution - if he were, he didn't read my OP.

 

[DARKHART 10+ year member]

Then consider yourself extremely lucky. There's a number of service bulletins on the issue from BMW. A friend who was a dealer tech when these cars were new has told me about the massive amount of time he'd spent building rain gutters inside the doors to keep water from entering the car to keep a car from coming back to the dealer. I've repaired a number of these that have flooded the floorboards and rusted out the fuse panel thats under the carpet in the pass footwell. They leak more from the rear doors than the fronts, but it's still not an issue I'm willing to entertain. Hell, I bought this one for $700 precisely because that under-carpet fuse panel was ruined and nothing worked, some of the wires were rusted right off it. I'll be damned if I'm going to let it happen again, it's a beautiful car.


And Trumpet wasn't offering a solution - if he were, he didn't read my OP.

Guess I have been lucky then cause I've owned 3 without that issue....I stated that Trumpet was offering a solution because those of us that have been building in this car already knows that the factory door enclosures don't really provide a suitable option for adding aftermarket speakers to is all. But just from looking at your post, it seems that there is something else going on between the two of you in which I will kindly bow out of.....lol

 

[The Camry]

91-96 camries have this issue as well. My amp was mounted under the seat and ended up under 1/2in of water. Turns out the tiny little seal on the window rotted out and water came in all the way down the inner door, caught the door card and right into the cabin. Ive got a layer of fiberglass over the whole inner door now

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk

 

[kendogg 10+ year member]

Well, this whole system got scrapped. The car got T-boned last weekend, she's totalled //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif