# BMW 530 KICKA$$ Sound Build!!!



## Ankurg09 (Jun 2, 2012)

Hey Guys 

I have a 06 530i with Logic 7 sound system. I used to like the way my car sounded but felt the bass was lacking. So I bought Technic's harness , a sub and amp installed it and I had excellent bass but as you all know once you are bitten by this bug its really hard to stop.

So I started reading a lot of threads on sound builds for BMW's. Nelson's build on 530i and Kai's build on e90 stood out. I though to myself how would the system sound if I upgraded the under seat woofers. So then i got under seat woofers (as recommended by technic in some posts) but wasn't happy, So finally I gave in to the temptation and started scouring threads here in the classifieds for some gear that I would be installing in my car. It took me about 3-4 months to hoard everything I would be installing.

Here's the List.

1> MoBridge M1000 MDA2 (To remove L7 amp completely)
2> JBL MS8
3> 5 x Hybrid Audio Technologie's L3se(2 front, 2 rear doors and 1 center)
4> 3 x HAT L2x crossovers
5> Rainbow Cal 25 silk SLC with Crossovers
6> Hybrid Audio Technologies L1 Pro (Rear shelf)
7> 1 x Morel Ultimo 12 (in a sealed box)
8> 2 x Arc Audio 4200 SE's
9> 2 x Audison LRx2.9 ( using only 1 now)
10> Audison SFD-41c Distribution Block
11> 8 x Knukoncepts Krystal RCA cables
12> Knukonceptz Kolossus 0 , 4 , 8 gauge power and ground cable
13> KnuKonceptz 0 Gauge Set Screw Ring Terminal Pair
14> KnuKonceotz Karma Kable 50' Twisted 12 Gauge Speaker Wire
14> Kicker SSMB8's (underseat)
15> Dynamat Bulk 36 sq ft (Dynamat the whole trunk)

and obviously Technic's harness

Here are some pics of the gear

*Morel Ultimo 12*






































*Mobridge MDA2*










JBL MS8










*Rainbow Cal 25 Silk with crossover*




























*HAT L3Se's*





































*HAT Tweeter's - Thanks Sound Suggestions for the Christmas Present!!*



















*HAT L2X*



















*Audison Distribution Block*










*Kicker SSMB8's*










*Arc Audio 4200 SE*














































*KnuKonceptz Krystal RCA's , 0 Gauge Power Ground Cables/ Terminals and Karma SS Speaker Cables*























































Rockford Fosgate 4ga(Red) vs Knukoncepts 4ga(Black)










Installation Pics Coming Soon!!!


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## thehatedguy (May 4, 2007)

You had me right up until the Kicker midbasses...maybe you will dig them though.

Looks like top notch stuff...sure it will sound nice.


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## Ankurg09 (Jun 2, 2012)

Honestly , Don't like them much myself not sure if its because of the leaks or the drivers suck but the Next step would be to upgrade to Jehnert XE 200R and after that to the Doorboard systems with 2 x 6.5" midbasses.


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## south east customz (Jan 17, 2011)

U may like l6se carbons they work well in the underseat configuration


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## thehatedguy (May 4, 2007)

And don't forget Illusion Audio.

It's the drivers...the 8s hit pretty hard for some 4s.


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## Sound Suggestions (Dec 5, 2010)

:snacks: totally badass! Everything looks great! Enjoy


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## kaigoss69 (Apr 2, 2008)

Great choice of equipment! The underseat locations in these cars are very shallow, standard 8's don't fit. I think you went a bit overkill with the L3SE's in the rear, and the L1 Pros, LOL. If I can make a recommendation, I'd say return the rear speakers and get the L6 Carbons instead or get some Morel MW265-4's. You'll probably get much more bang for your buck from those than the rears.

Are you going to use the Rainbow or HAT crossovers? - Curious why you bought both.

Oh, and have you considered installing the Morel IB???

Looking forward to reading more about your install progress, and hopefully a very positive review when it's all done!


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## nepl29 (Mar 25, 2007)

Looking good bro!!! You're a true hoarder  Subscribed! I agree with Kai, a little overkill on the hybrid stuff.


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## Ankurg09 (Jun 2, 2012)

kaigoss69 said:


> Great choice of equipment! The underseat locations in these cars are very shallow, standard 8's don't fit. I think you went a bit overkill with the L3SE's in the rear, and the L1 Pros, LOL. If I can make a recommendation, I'd say return the rear speakers and get the L6 Carbons instead or get some Morel MW265-4's. You'll probably get much more bang for your buck from those than the rears.
> 
> Are you going to use the Rainbow or HAT crossovers? - Curious why you bought both.
> 
> ...


Hey Kai, LOL you know I wasn't thinking straight when i was planning the build. I bought the rear L3se's thinking that I am not going to use the Logic 7 feature on MS8 much since the music i listen to is mostly Hip hop , Trance dubstep. Sometimes I listen to good songs where staging is important but after the installation I realized Fronts would have been sufficient and I'm really enjoying listening to Logic 7. I am so glad i didn't spend extra to buy rear shelf L3se's. I am going to try the Focal as center and cross them at 160hz to see how it sounds. I guess Andy mentioned somewhere in the ginormous MS8 thread to use as big center driver as possible.

For the tweeters I have currently installed the Rainbow tweeters and crossovers. Nelson sent me these tweeters when I just moved to a new place and the USPS guys lost this package. That's when Guy (sound suggestions) sent the L1 pro's with the Arc amp as a Christmas present. They Delivered the package to my house few weeks later. I haven't tried the L1's yet.Rainbow sounds pretty good so far. 

I was looking to buy ADMW9's but I am glad i didn't just read your posts on the enclosure's for MOREL's . I would probably go with MW265/MW 266's or the jehnert(a little skeptical since they are on the expensive side) Kickers sound fine but they don't play low. I tried them at 40 , 50, 60 they just don't sound right with low notes. Right now I have them crossed at 80hz HPF 24db. 

I haven't tried the morel in IB just the Sealed box. I did some search but couldn't find a review of this sub in IB. In sealed this sub sounds freaking amazing. It could be better if it played low's with some authority.


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## Ankurg09 (Jun 2, 2012)

nepl29 said:


> Looking good bro!!! You're a true hoarder  Subscribed! I agree with Kai, a little overkill on the hybrid stuff.


Lol Thanks Nelson! Now I just need to find someone to do the custom work on the car , Love the way you had your Tru's installed. I guess I would probably have to go to Don to NJ. Not sure if we have anyone here in Columbus who could do such custom work.


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## Ankurg09 (Jun 2, 2012)

Trunk trim removed










Trunk Dynamted


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## Ankurg09 (Jun 2, 2012)

Working on the trunk wall(i guess) where all the amps would be mounted










Test Fitting the wall 










Holes drilled to route the cables 










Mounting Amps, MS8 and Distribution Block 





































Making sure the Scredriver doesnt scrape the paint off the Amps and MS8










Rear view of the Wall with Amps and MS8 mounted and Power/Ground cable routed










Wiring looks funny not linear but this is the only way i could think of to avoid overlapping/interfering of RCA's with Ground/Power cables









Not looking too bad for something done by Noob


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## Ankurg09 (Jun 2, 2012)

This is how it looks after hooking up the RCA's. Could someone tell me if the RCA loop/circle is gonna cause any noise issues??


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## Ankurg09 (Jun 2, 2012)

Working on replacing underseat woofers - Removing Seats - Good time to clean that mess and coffee stains




























Driver Side Seat Removed


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## Ankurg09 (Jun 2, 2012)

Technic's Harness before any modification. Now its cut in half and wires connected to the speaker cables coming from Amps connecting with the factory speaker wiring.


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## Ankurg09 (Jun 2, 2012)

Time to install the speakers 




























Rainbows were a tad bigger than the stock so had to tear up the stock location




















Installed foamies(could only find red ) on the speaker ring.




























Rear Doors










Installing MoBridge










Ground Connected










Power Connected










Everything hooked up - Setting up the MS8 and Sub Amp











Finally everything ready to go


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## Ankurg09 (Jun 2, 2012)

The car got really messy on the outside since I was driving it , it was snowing and when I was working on cutting and routing MDF, all the saw dust got stuck on it.

I played some music everything sounded great. Few things i noticed , Sound was coming from dead center. BMW Logic 7 processing and MS8's logic 7 processing are way different. With BMW's Logic 7 the imaging is not upfront. The front door speakers and sides also Play vocals loud where as in MS8 even though the Front sides are playing vocals , it feels as if the artist is singing right on your Dash. 

Still a lot of Tuning and playing around to do with MS8 but so far system sounds pretty good. I wont say Excellent since I know it can do much better but its pretty good.

Will Post Channel mapping and Crossovers shortly.


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## TwoDrink (Aug 26, 2009)

Nice work! Excellent parts and clean install. 
It looks like you only have a couple of threads on the nuts for the ground and power lugs. I would switch out to thinner solder/crimp lugs or at least put some thread lock on.


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## diqq80 (Jul 2, 2011)

Good start of the install!


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## Ankurg09 (Jun 2, 2012)

TwoDrink said:


> Nice work! Excellent parts and clean install.
> It looks like you only have a couple of threads on the nuts for the ground and power lugs. I would switch out to thinner solder/crimp lugs or at least put some thread lock on.


Hey , Thanks!! Till now I was just trying to get my system to sound good with MS8. Will definitely get a thread lock or thin crimp.


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## Ankurg09 (Jun 2, 2012)

diqq80 said:


> Good start of the install!


Haha thanks .. True , just put this in and already looking to upgrade


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## safe d (Dec 4, 2010)

Very neat. From a jealous noob. Good use of boot space.


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## Niebur3 (Jul 11, 2008)

Very nice.....curious why your ARCse amp had a customs sticker on the box and why you used Copper Clad Aluminum for your power/ground wire with all that nice equipment?


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