# BMW E60 "plug and play" build



## benny z (Mar 17, 2008)

Picked my wife up a 2010 535i Xdrive with 60k miles from a dealer in Ohio a few weeks ago. It's well optioned with the cold weather, premium, and sports packages, plus the comfort access system. It *does not* have the premium Logic 7 sound system - rather it came with the HiFi system. This is good news in that it means there is flat, full range 5V balanced front and rear signal going into the unified 6ch OEM amp in the trunk. 

Hybrid Audio Technologies recently partnered with Audiotec Fischer as a sister company and now distributes all Match, Helix, and Brax products. I'm good friends with the Hybrid guys and quickly decided a Plug n Play Match amp would be a good fit for a quick upgrade in this car. My good friend Ken Ward of Musicar Northwest directed me to the PP 82DSP, which is an 8x55w @ 4 ohm / 8x70w @ 2 ohm amp. The front door speakers are a passively crossed midrange + tweeter at a 4 ohm load, while the midbasses under the seats are 2 ohms. So - will be 55w to the doors and 70w to the 8s...with full DSP, which is basically the Helix DSP. Perfect. If I want, I can run more speaker wires to the tweeters and run it full active. There are car chimes, reverse warning sounds, etc, that go thru the rear speakers, so additional channels will be used for the rear - chimes etc are independent of the audio fade control. 

So!

Here's the amp, as it arrived:










I promptly shipped it off to Ken's shop in Portland where he made a truly plug and play adapter harness for it to plug in at the factory amp, and a mounting board/brackets to mount it in an OEM location in the trunk. He also provided the necessary power/ground/fuse. 










I can literally just plug this puppy in and get on with the tuning goodness. 

Not too shabby!

AAAAAAANND! I was able to pull it off as a "Mother's Day present" for my wife.


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## KrautNotRice (Nov 2, 2015)

Wow off to a great start with the plug 'n' play harness! What's next?


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## danno14 (Sep 1, 2009)

Musicar NW on your "buddy" list....

You ARE a bigshot! &#55357;&#56842;

They do very, very nice work. Kudos on pulling off a great Mother's Day gift.


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## Tsmith (Dec 17, 2008)

Can't wait to see how this turns out.


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## BlackHHR (May 12, 2013)

Excellent choice to have the PP82DSP integrated by Musicar Northwest. I am sure your wife is thrilled that you bought her a new car.


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

Oh wow, this makes your wife and I twins as that's what's installed in my Ram.


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## benny z (Mar 17, 2008)

*BMW E60 &quot;plug and play&quot; build*

Nice!

Got it all installed. Took maybe 30 mins start to finish. 










Once the side panel is on it's only visible if you open the OEM door for the optional cd changer in the trunk (which this car didn't have).












Fired it up and it works! Ken's guys put a tune on it so at least for now she has music - she's taking the car to a 90s concert tonight with some friends so no time to do my own tune. Tmrw. 

Have to say I'm very pleased with the installation of Musicar's kit for this amp in this car. Top notch, guys...really...top notch.


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## strong*I*bumpin (Oct 3, 2005)

First install I've seen on this site using the Match equipment.Been eyeing their stuff on Crutchfield.


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

If it were only that easy in the Ram. That canbus system will take you for a loop if not done properly lol.


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## chithead (Mar 19, 2008)

Yup. ^^^ That is awesome! Plug and play, is the best way!


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

Coppertone said:


> If it were only that easy in the Ram. That *canbus* system will take you for a loop if not done properly lol.


Totally read that as canibus. :blush:

Jay


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

Depends on what you were doing at the time of the read lol.


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## GERMANIKS (Dec 7, 2013)

Nicely done
This amp is not my cup of tea though
Performs quiet poorly in my opinion
Not enough power and does not sound good enough.


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## damonryoung (Mar 23, 2012)

Hey Ben... I just wanted to see if you had any further insights to the performance of this amp/dsp. I took over a friend's lease on a 4 series and was considering doing this since I really don't want to get to deep into a lease car.

Thanks!


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## benny z (Mar 17, 2008)

*BMW E60 &quot;plug and play&quot; build*

Honestly for the price/performance/plug and play factor I couldn't think of a better way to go about it. The stock speakers do leave me wanting more, but my reference is pretty strict and for most it would be great. There's a pretty big gap in the 160-315hz range no matter what I've tried with the xovers and tuning. So because of that I would really like to try some different midranges. ...and since I'm at it probably also tweeters.


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## benny z (Mar 17, 2008)

*BMW E60 &quot;plug and play&quot; build*

the next stage of this car's upgrade has arrived. 










we have here the match models ms 42c-bmw.1 and the mw 8bmw.d

http://www.audiotec-fischer.de/lng/en/match/products/speaker/match-ms-42c-bmw.html

8" / 200 mm subwoofers with very low mounting depth

the 8s are the new version of the match shallow bmw 8 under-seat driver which now have dual 2 ohm voice coils.

my plan is to run the two unused channels of the pp 82dsp to the 8s, along with the current two channels already running them, which will double-up the power to them providing 140w to each driver.

i will go ahead and use the included passive crossovers on the midrange and tweeter so that i can keep the rear speakers connected... i want to play with the new dsp software version which includes the ability to do properly processed rear fill. ...plus the car has some sounds that come through the rear speakers for backup sensors, etc, so keeping them connected is kind of important for wife acceptance factor. the mid and tweeter are in pretty close proximity of each other on the front doors, and audiotec fischer claims they designed the crossover with the car's cabin in mind - so hopefully that will work out.

now i have 3 freaking cars to finish...! :/


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## CLK63DK (Nov 20, 2010)

Good choices!

I'm going the same route with my wife's E87.

Match PP86DSP (new version)
MS 83C-BMW.1 (like the sound from these better)
Harman midranges in back
Alpine dual voicecoil 8" in trunk in custom enclusure.

Audiotec Fischer really got the DSP functionality under control and the build quality is great!

Enjoy! 

// Chris


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## benny z (Mar 17, 2008)

Thanks!

Good timing, as I actually got the speakers installed yesterday and tuned the car today. 

The result is fantastic! Pleasantly surprised with the outcome, as I honestly didn't expect such good results. The 8s are authoritative down to 30hz, no problem. Surprising. 

Yes, the on board processing is really where the magic lies, but all of the speakers sound much better than stock, no question, and are pretty hard to fault throughout the spectrum. Very pleasing.


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## benny z (Mar 17, 2008)

Just following up with a couple of install pics. 

The car will be open for demos at the SQOLOGY event this Sunday at The Sound Factory in Knoxville, TN and then again at the Crutchfield show next weekend. Stop by for a demo. 










(We cut back the carpet over the woofer after the pic was taken...)


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## moor17 (Mar 27, 2017)

Hi,

First of all I would like to congratulate you for your sound installation in the bmw

I'm looking for a harness PNP Match PP82DSP amp to replace my hifi amp 676 in my BMW F21 ( As you did in your car ). but i don't find anywhere this harness to buy it.

Can you help me to find it ?


Thank you


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## bazookatooth (Apr 6, 2017)

Hello...

So..I have been looking at this Match product for my car.

I have a 2016 Chrysler 300 w/ the base level stereo.

According to Crutchfield the PP86DSP fits my car, but the PP82DSP does not..is this actually true? Is there really a difference? I can get the PP82DSP for significantly cheaper, but I guess that is useless if it can't be installed.

Also, Crutchfield sells a harness that appears to work for any of the Match PP series amplifiers, but I just wanted to be sure that is the case.

Since I am a new user I cannot post links..the name of the harness on Crutchfield is:

HELIX-PP-AC16-Plug-and-Play-Harness


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## benny z (Mar 17, 2008)

hi guys - i'm sorry... i'm not familiar with the specific fitments/harnesses you're speaking of.

i would say your best bet would be to contact crutchfield or audiotech fischer usa for those specific questions.


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## isot (Aug 21, 2020)

benny z said:


> *BMW E60 &quot;plug and play&quot; build*
> 
> the next stage of this car's upgrade has arrived.
> 
> ...


It has been a long time upon that post, I hope you had a chance to review and can comment

How does Match MW 8BMW-D sound? I am planning to install one of aftermarket under-seat subwoofers driven by Audison AP 1D.
Match's MW 8BMW-D seems to be most powerful according to paper specs
Did you have any chance to compare these with any other brands that has BMW under-seat subs in the market?
I will go on upgrading the system further than plug&play
I will install Focal KX3 3-way active driven by Audison APF 8.9 Bit
And subwoofer choice, will have to be under-seat since I really need to use the trunk (my car is Mini Cooper F56, so already a tiny trunk)
My concern is the lack of subwoofer power together with Focal KX3's
Appreciate your comments on the product


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