# BMW E91 / ZAPCO / GLADEN / IMAGE DYNAMICS



## Sonus (Jun 28, 2010)

I'm about to upgrade the sound system in my ’09 BMW 325DAT M-sport E91 wagon.

I’ve been messing with car audio for nearly 20 years. Lately time hasn’t really been sufficient to do any larger installs. Most of the installs I’ve started hasn’t been completed before the car has been sold. However the BMW is a keeper, so I’ve decided to upgrade the 676 HIFI system. 

I’ve been researching and buying equipment for the last year. After much searching for small footprint amps I decided to go with Zapcos new ST-D-series amplifiers. I’ve also bought their new DSP-Z8 which is in the post as I type this. I’ve had an Image Dynamics IDQ10D2V2 subwoofer for many years that I haven’t used yet so I’m going to use it in this install. A year ago the Norwegian importer had a 50% off sale on System Audio (Now GLADEN) so I pick up their GLADEN X-ION200 3-way system for BMWs consisting of tweeters, midranges and two 8” woofers. So the equipment list is as follows;

1x ZAPCO ST-D2 driving the Subwoofer
2x ZAPCO ST-D4 driving the front and rear components and the under seat 8” midbasses
1x ZAPCO DSP-Z8 taking the signal from the stock headunit
1x Image Dynamics IDQ10D2V2 subwoofer in a .5 cubic feet enclosure
1x Audio System X-Ion 200 BMW component set
Stock rear speakers
Stock Headunit

I started building the subwoofer enclosure from an original BMW storage troug. I then reinforced this internally with fiber glass and polyester resin mixed with cement to increase weight. I was originally planning to fit either an amp or the DSP to the same troug, but having been warned by John from Zapco ( zapco new product lines ) about the possible impact of the vibration to the electrics I’ve decided to fit the amps to the cover panel. I’ll fit them hanging from the panel and making sure the subwoofer doesn’t directly vibrate the cover panel. The enclosure is .5 cubic feet which should work fine with the IDQ. After removing the circumference of the troug it was apparent that I could have made it bigger if I had laid fibre glass directly into the cubby hole. I’ll try it as it is and see how it performs. If it doesn’t drop down low enough I’ll see if I can’t make another enclosure that takes up all the vacant space in the cubby hole.










So by changing the layout by cutting the troug I’ll be able to fit the two ST-D4 amps to the cover panel. 










The DSP will be fitted where the original amp is installed originally. The ST-D2 I’ve fitted underneath the forward floor of the luggage compartment. I made a bracket that fixes to original attachment point in the car.










The fuse holder from Connection is mounted to a 5mm thick aluminum bracket that sits above the battery on the inner fender well. This will supply all the three amps and the DSP. Unfortunately my car did not have vacant slots in the original battery distro block like some has. Due to this I will have to attach the fuse holder to the main battery positive and negative terminals somehow (?). I’ll also be running the earth cables from all three amps and the DSP back to the fuse holder and battery.


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## Sonus (Jun 28, 2010)

Here's a few more pics


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## wdemetrius1 (Aug 16, 2007)

Looks great!!!


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## Sonus (Jun 28, 2010)

Thanks wdemetrius1

I hope to be able to keep this install going at a fair pace.

Next I'll have to decided what material to make the cover panel to fit the amps to.

I made a mock up in plywood, but I cut the opening in the wrong place and the plywood had started deforming due to moisture. So I'm considering having it cut in 4mm Aluminum or steel.

In the picture with the amp cut out you can also see the markings for the cut out for the subwoofer.


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## Sonus (Jun 28, 2010)

What to do about too big power wires?

I've got some 1/0 gauge power wires that I'd like to use. However the terminals on both the fuse block and the amps are slightly too small.

I'm adding techflex to the wires so was wondering if it'd be okay to reduce the wire diameter by cutting of copper strands and then using the heat shrink to fix the techflex and neaten the ends of the power wires?


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## HIS4 (Oct 6, 2005)

Sonus said:


> What to do about too big power wires?
> 
> I've got some 1/0 gauge power wires that I'd like to use. However the terminals on both the fuse block and the amps are slightly too small.
> 
> I'm adding techflex to the wires so was wondering if it'd be okay to reduce the wire diameter by cutting of copper strands and then using the heat shrink to fix the techflex and neaten the ends of the power wires?


If you're going to start snipping off strands you might as well just use smaller wire because you're going to create a high impedance point and the connection. There are reducers available that you can put on a 1/0 wire to connect to the 4 AWG terminal.


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## Sonus (Jun 28, 2010)

HIS4 said:


> *If you're going to start snipping off strands* you might as well just use smaller wire because *you're going to create a high impedance point* and the connection. There are reducers available that you can put on a 1/0 wire to connect to the 4 AWG terminal.


I didn't know that - thanks for sharing.

I'll see if I can't get hold of some 2 Gauge wire instead since I need to have a rather sharp bend straight out of the power connectors of two of the amps, so no space for adapters really.


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## Sonus (Jun 28, 2010)

I'm considering making my own signal cables. Since the stock HU has balanced differential signal output and the DSP-Z8 and amps accepts this signal I'm looking for twisted pair cable. 

Any suggestion where I might find this online where they'd ship internationally?

I've been looking at these RCA connectors at Parts Express - Gold RCA Plug For RG-59 Coax Pair 

They are nice and short, but slightly worried about their metal body touching ground/car body.


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

interested to see where this goes! love the form factor of the amps.


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## sydmonster (Oct 5, 2009)

indeed very cool and interesting build! 

Lorv the e9o chassis!


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## Sonus (Jun 28, 2010)

Made new cover panel today. It's 6mm MDF that will need some strengthening braces underneath once finished.

Mounted the amps from beneath using captive nuts and threaded rod cut into pieces.

Slightly worried abut cooling the amps, but I'll try with the stock cover panel first and see if they shut down due to thermal. If I need to vent it more I'll buy a spare stock panel and remove some material from underneath it somehow.

Will need to measure for the hole for the sub woofer to peek through.

Also considering making the cover panel in steel or aluminum.


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## Sonus (Jun 28, 2010)

If any ones got any suggestions how to close the gaps either end and between the amps let me hear it 

Should I Cover the panel in fake leather or should I paint it the same colour as the car?


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## Sonus (Jun 28, 2010)

Having looked at the photo of my fuse block bracket I realize that I need to redo it. I don't like how it is close to the cars original wires. I'll probably try to mount it further up and probably try to use the original groundig lug as well.


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## sydmonster (Oct 5, 2009)

To close the gaps you could cover/masking tape the amps and then user fibreglass filler on the gaps so the filler sticks to the panel and not the amps. Remove panel and sand the filler until your happy with the finish.

What colour is the car?


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## Sonus (Jun 28, 2010)

sydmonster said:


> To close the gaps you could cover/masking tape the amps and then user fibreglass filler on the gaps so the filler sticks to the panel and not the amps. Remove panel and sand the filler until your happy with the finish.
> 
> What colour is the car?


Nice suggestion. I'll see what can be done by using some speaker cloth I've got laying around to see what shape that would give me.

EDIT: Would you go low or high on where the panel would connect with the amp?

The car is space grau (grey). Pic from the previous owners sales ad.


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## sydmonster (Oct 5, 2009)

Go low... more depth for the eye and better for cooling of the amp too!


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## Sonus (Jun 28, 2010)

I might even lower the amps somewhat from the cover as I would get more air around the cooling fins on top of the amps.

Will have to look into it this weekend.


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## sydmonster (Oct 5, 2009)

Good man! Look after your gear and it will reward in sweet, sweet music!!


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## Sonus (Jun 28, 2010)

My DSP-Z8 arrived today 

Unfortunatly it's slightly bigger than I hoped for so I will need to do some bracket modifications. However I need to wait for my Nakamichi RCAs and Cordial twisted pair signal cable to arrive to be able to place the dsp accuratly.









Sorry for the crap iphone pic :/


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## Sonus (Jun 28, 2010)

My signal cable turned up today

Cordial CMG8








8ch installation cable - 8x2x0.22mm2
This will be used between dsp and the two ST-D4s

Cordial CMG2








2ch installation cable - 2x2x0.22mm2
This will be used between dsp and ST-D2 sub amp


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

very cool! i toyed with the idea of using similar cable like that. i ended up with toslink fiberoptic


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## sydmonster (Oct 5, 2009)

woah... nice cable!!! impressive.


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## Sonus (Jun 28, 2010)

Tried to weld my alu bracket for the distro block with my ESAB Caddymig today. Can't seem to get it to work. Need to read up on how to weld alu with a MIG welder.

Also checked what wire gauge I need between the distro block and amps and decided to run 4 gauge as the amps are class D and the maximum length will be 2m (6.6ft).

Will run 0.5m of 0 gauge from battery to the distro block. would it be okay to leave that short run unfused?


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## Jfreak (Dec 20, 2012)

Sonus said:


> Tried to weld my alu bracket for the distro block with my ESAB Caddymig today. Can't seem to get it to work. Need to read up on how to weld alu with a MIG welder.
> 
> Also checked what wire gauge I need between the distro block and amps and decided to run 4 gauge as the amps are class D and the maximum length will be 2m (6.6ft).
> 
> Will run 0.5m of 0 gauge from battery to the distro block. would it be okay to leave that short run unfused?


What wire, and settings are you using on your welder? Pics of the weld? I could give you some suggestions based off your answer. (I've been welding for 10 years)

As far as the 0ga, I'd fuse it. An in-line ANL fuse would be perfect, or even a breaker.


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## Sonus (Jun 28, 2010)

The welder hasn't got all that much adjustment on it; Metall thickness and heat.

I didn't try to change the polarity, might need to do that?

Problem was that as soon as I tried to arch there was a little "poff" and the wire would get stuck bunching up inside the welder after the feeder.

Wire was a cheap one from a home depot equivalent here in Norway

The technical blurb states;



> Acc. standard: AWS A5.10:ER4043. Homogen. For welding with shielding gas in cast and or aluminum alloys with less than 7 % Si. 55 N/mm². Ø 0,9 mm. 80–145 A. 0,5 kg.


I have no idea what grade my aluminum is as I got it as scrap from a metal shop.


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## Jfreak (Dec 20, 2012)

Sonus said:


> The welder hasn't got all that much adjustment on it; Metall thickness and heat.
> 
> I didn't try to change the polarity, might need to do that?
> 
> ...


Should run electrode + like normal. Are you using pure argon for gas? Make sure your gun is set as close to the drive rolls as possible. Also make sure you have the proper size drive rolls, you may have to losen the tension up as well. 

You can intermix different alloys without a problem, it's just not ideal, all you really risk is a weaker weld.


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## Sonus (Jun 28, 2010)

I'm using MISON18 or 16

Problem is that as soon as the welding wire starts to arch it "melts/disappears" with a poff and then the wire gets stuck in the pistol i believe?


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## Jfreak (Dec 20, 2012)

Sonus said:


> I'm using MISON18 or 16
> 
> Problem is that as soon as the welding wire starts to arch it "melts/disappears" with a poff and then the wire gets stuck in the pistol i believe?


Turn your voltage way down or your wire speed up significantly and try it.


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## Sonus (Jun 28, 2010)

Voltage = heat?
Wire speed = material thickness?

As these are the teo parameters I can adjust


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## Jfreak (Dec 20, 2012)

Sonus said:


> Voltage = heat?
> Wire speed = material thickness?
> 
> As these are the teo parameters I can adjust


Yes, when welding aluminum you need a significant amount of wire as that's what cools your weld.


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

Sonus said:


> I didn't know that - thanks for sharing.
> 
> I'll see if I can't get hold of some 2 Gauge wire instead since I need to have a rather sharp bend straight out of the power connectors of two of the amps, so no space for adapters really.


Might be cheaper just to get a different distro block.


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## Sonus (Jun 28, 2010)

I'd need to change the amps aswell which isn't really going to happen


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## Sonus (Jun 28, 2010)

Isn't it strange how buying things can make you all warm and fuzzy 

I just placed three orders;

One for my missing 4ga power wire
One for some new router bits with top bearings.
And the largest with Parts Express for some cable fixing bits, a crb7 router jig, a Dayton USB measuring mic and some how a Dayton 10" HO subwoofer was added too. Don't know how that happened 

I should be all set now to finish this install. Now where do they sell time? I need more of it!


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## Tsmith (Dec 17, 2008)

Sub'd. I am anxious to see what you think about the Zapco amps.


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## Sonus (Jun 28, 2010)

Me too 

Slow going at the moment as I'm working outside and it's winter here at 63.43 degrees North


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## Sine Swept (Sep 3, 2010)

Back on the 1/0 cable - I've drilled out a few fuseblocks in my day, IMO better than cutting off strands. I just bought a drill press just for this purpose.

Great work BTW, especially in the cold I feel your pain.


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## Sonus (Jun 28, 2010)

Regarding cable; I did some math and ended up with 4ga for the midbass and HF amps ( only 6ft of cable to each amp ). Might use the 1/0 cable with reducers for the sub amp, but don't think i've got the balls to drill out the termknals on my brand new amps


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## Sonus (Jun 28, 2010)

Bought 10 yards of 5.8oz 2x2 twill carbon fiber cloth today 

Roughly half price from Cjcompositestechnology on Ebay compared to local suppliers even with US$65 in freight and US$40 in import duties.


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## Sonus (Jun 28, 2010)

What should I use this for ?


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## mitchjr (Mar 8, 2010)

Subscribe


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## bardo (Oct 12, 2011)

Looks good - /subscribed. want to see what happens with that carbon fiber.


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