# Neal's BMW E46 M3 Basic SQ Build



## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Have a BMW E46 M3 with factory Nav Hifi system.

This build log will be around upgrading the overall sound quality in a manner where the car can be returned to stock. Second objective is to have a usable trunk / boot

The gear will be a combination of re-use of old gear and buying some end of line gear.

Gear List

Front Speakers (Re-use)
PPI 355cs (5 1/4 comps ) running passive

Rear Speakers (New old stock)
PPI 355cs (5 1/4 comps) running passive

Sub (New old stock)
1 cubic foot sealed box to use Ski Pass arm rest hole
Boston Acoustics SPG555/2 Oval Sub
Boston Acoustics TRG Oval Passive Radiator
Rear seat conversion to Ski Pass via arm rest

Amps (re-use)
Soundstream Stealth Series 4x104 Watt RMS class a/b
Soundstream Stealth Series 1x600 Watt RMS class D

Crossover/ subout / Source Switch
360.1

Sources
RCA Modified Factory Bm53 Tuner for NAV,FM, CD Stacker
Acer Netbook running RideRunner CarPC & Foobar 2000 for playing Flac Music Library
USB Bluray Player for DVD/BluRay 
iphone 5 for Bluetooth / hands free

Cabling
4 gauge to each amp
Custom RCAs
Speaker wiring TBA
Custom additions to Factory Loom and tidy up

Other
VGA to Composite video convertor
Reversing Camera
USB Hub
3g Dongle
Long range Bluetooth dongle 
BMW Ibus to USB dongle (Nav Sat button Control of Netbook software)
Bluetooth mini key board
USB Headphone DAC for Netbook (TBA)

Car Pic


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Thinking about Bass

I'd run a couple of IB setups on some earlier BMW's. The M3 came with fold down rear seats, but behind the armrest was a solid metal panel. Some E46 had an option of a ski pass which allows skis to be placed into the trunk. More importantly it give you the option of venting bass directly into the cabin. 

I transferred a rear seat section off a sedan which had a ski pass setup. Was a simple case of unbolting seat , clipping the leather cover off and transferring to new section.


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## kapone (Sep 22, 2009)

This is like Deja Vu....  Very similar components and car. Mine is a 740i (E38), with PPI 356cs in the four doors (running passive), 355cs as center and two rears (running passive). JBL W15GTI MK2 running IB through the ski pass.

CarPC running XBMC is custom.

But I'm using the CIS-IBUS unit for Video conversion and audio input switching.


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## Old Skewl (May 30, 2011)

Good luck with the install. Subscribed! Anxious to see how it turns out. IB might be the best way to go with this car. I find its a b&*^h getting the bass into the cabin.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Cheers for the encouragement. Will check out your threads to pick up tips & tricks.

The passive radiator has put me down the sealed box route. Can change to IB later if it doesn't work out.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Sub woofer build

I must have put through about 10 variations of box designs before settling on final design. Original plan was to run an off square 1 cubic foot box so the sub could line up with the ski pass.

But with the depth of the driver plus the passive radiator plus 20 degree seat angel and allow for just 40mm of forward driver excursion I'd lost too much of the trunk. 

Went wide across the trunk and as narrow as possible to allow for child buggy.

Box construction was MDF 18mm with a double layer from baffle. Had a few mills to play with in terms of front baffle height and being able to fit the drivers in.

Trial fit first layer


Box trial


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Additional baffle and box finish

Cut out an mdf baffle and trial fitted. Was out a few mm on the sides. Stapled and glued rubber door seal to the sides of the baffle. Idea was for it to be flexible on the edges to take up the slack.







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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Screwed sub and passive radiator in. Brought a couple of BMW bonnet badges and trimmed the pins off and drilled a couple of small holes. Almost the same size as the Boston badges. Used existing badge screws for a nice finish to the sub.








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## carlr (Feb 27, 2011)

NealfromNZ said:


> Screwed sub and passive radiator in. Brought a couple of BMW bonnet badges and trimmed the pins off and drilled a couple of small holes. Almost the same size as the Boston badges. Used existing badge screws for a nice finish to the sub.


Wow.. I really like the touch with the BMW badges.. Something to think about for my bimmer.


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## edouble101 (Dec 9, 2010)

Looking good!


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## Old Skewl (May 30, 2011)

Turned out nice! Nice touch with the emblems. Too bad you had to bump out the rear for the magnet. Sooooo, How does it sound? I find its tough getting the bass into the cabin from. Inquiring minds want to know! Ha Ha!


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## ALan Z (Oct 9, 2013)

Looks great!


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Old Skewl said:


> Turned out nice! Nice touch with the emblems. Too bad you had to bump out the rear for the magnet. Sooooo, How does it sound? I find its tough getting the bass into the cabin from. Inquiring minds want to know! Ha Ha!


Well ..... as for the sound , need to install the amps next. At the moment its 35kg of ballast


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## fr3ek (Jan 17, 2009)

Where did you find the new old stock PPI speakers?


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## Mrnurse (Sep 8, 2011)

have you ever done a passive radiator setup before? I am wanting to do one 10' PSI platform 1 and two 10" PSI PR in my FR-S.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Fr3ek, sonic had them for a while as did woofersetc. However , neither are listing them now.

mrnurse , I ran a Boston c110 for about 10 years. This had a 10 inch sub plus one 10 inch passive radiator. Produced a nice punchy and tight baseline. It would never win any spl contest but was very musical. Main advantage is the smaller enclosure size and having some of the characteristics of a ported box.


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## Mrnurse (Sep 8, 2011)

I'm not looking for spl, I am wanting a good solid foundation for the rest of my system. But I don't want to lose all of my trunk for a big ported box.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Sound like we have similar objectives.

I didn't want to loose boot space as I need to get a baby stroller in the car from time to time. 

Another thing I like about passive radiators is the ability to customise the q setting by simply adding or subtracting weights. Makes it easy to customise the bass response according to personal tastes without having to alter box sizes.


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## Mrnurse (Sep 8, 2011)

See I am so interested in doing this.


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## Mrnurse (Sep 8, 2011)

How do you calculate box size?


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## sinister-kustoms (Jul 22, 2009)

Nice work mate, the BMW badges are a cool finishing touch!
Where abouts in NZ are you?


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## Orion525iT (Mar 6, 2011)

NealfromNZ said:


> Another thing I like about passive radiators is the ability to customise the q setting by simply adding or subtracting weights.


I think you have altered q and fs with the badges. They are a nice touch.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Box was the factory spec . But did model with bass box pro. From memory it could only do 1 passive radiator 

The bmw badges are plastic and are almost identical in weight to the alloy boston badges they replace so mass has only changed by a few grams. Hopefully they are able to hold on. 

I'm from the Wellington btw.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Enough procrastination / install pondering from my part.

Here's the kit.

Recap . Sources , CarPC (Notebook with sabre DAC), USB Bluray/DVD/CD drive , BMW Factory NAV /CD/Tuner/MD player/TV tuner module, Iphone 5s , Either via 3.5mm or 2.1 EDR BT streaming via netbook)







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Factory Source







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Tire well , note not a heap of room for installing kit on M3 due to factory exhaust taking area underneath.



Factory ICE equipment rack. Have done RCA mod to Tuner / Mixer module , Added Video in and reverse cam.


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## Old Skewl (May 30, 2011)

Definitely interested in some info on your integration of video into the BM53/54. Too bad those Stealth amps are so tall, a lower profile, cool running class D will fit under the trunk floor without having to raise the floor.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

True about the amps. The only area the would fit would being the tire gunk pump area. I didn't want to cut out the metal carriers which hold the black insert in place.

I'll post up the video info. For standard composite it's straight forward but does require the tv tuner module.

For the Boardmonitor the RGsB video signal it's complicated due to the sync signal being tied to green. Means the majority of off the shelve adapters don't work. Only way I could see of doing the was building custom electronics to run of a regulated 12volt power supply or building up a real car PC with specialised graphics adaptor.


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## E46SoundMachine (Mar 3, 2014)

Looks good. Have you had a chance to compare forward firing subs to rear firing subs? I'm Just starting my build with 1 JBL W15GTI. I have the ski pass and fold down sets like you. I'm designing a rear firing sub and port for it but I was originally planning on forward until last week.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

I've always been old school were the speakers face the listen in their correct orientation.
There maybe good arguments for rear facing from some of the people on here who have far more experience and cars to reference.

For my build I was trying to have the sound energy radiating into the cabin area rather than the trunk.

Will be interested in your build.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Basic door build

The M3 had the standard 10 speaker hifi system. This consists of a 1 inch tweeter , 2 inch midrange and a 160mm woofer in the doors. Rear passenger trim has 2 inch mid range the rear parcel shelve has 160mm woofers with an IB enclosure that vents directly into the trunk.

Door


Stock door card



The factory speaker are to be replaced by PPI 355cs speakers which are a two way with Tweeter and 5 1/4 mid bass. Rather than my usual dash / a pillar corner location I decided to go with the stock location for the tweeter on the email.
BMW make blanking plates for the coupe doors. These where brought to mount the tweeter in. The speakers came with a few mounting cups which were 2 inch, the same size as the factory mid mounts







trial fit



PPI Cross overs are massive. It's a shame to hid them away. Fortunately the door card had enough depth to mount them in with 1/4 inch to spare. The cross over was mount using hot glue which proved solid and can be pealed off if return car to stock.



Mid bass install used nylon rings and stock front ppi front cover ring. This allowed the fitment of the driver without needing to trim anything. The speaker magnet depth just fits within the space without needing cut into the door. There is roughly 2 litres of airspace within the door card which is well suited to a 5 1/4 inch driver.



14 Gauge speaker wire was added and the door card completed. As the car is used for the odd driver training / track day I decided not to add any additional sound damping / weight other than the sub which can be removed. Hopefully I won't regret not doing this later on.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Door Connector wiring

BMW use a standard door connector across many models.


Running 14 Gauge cable to all speakers. Want to leave the old cable intact so the car can be returned to factory if need be.



Getting door connectors to accept new speaker wire is a bit of a misson. Took a while to remove trim panels , glovebox , side trims etc.



The connector on the car interior comes apart and the door speaker connector can be removed. This allows room for speaker wire to be added.

Audio is contained within the left hand rectangle


Speaker wire through first connector

Door side connector is not as straight forward. However , the connector can be taken apart and carefully trimmed to remove the audio section

Then a case of threading it all together. Old fashion washing line is great to use as a pilot wire to pull the speaker wire through the connectors and door garter

Door card ready to re-attach


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Rear side panels

The passenger side panels have a two inch midrange. I've decided to mount the ppi tweeters in these locations for the benefit of rear passengers. This will keep the tweeters away from the rear parcel shelve also which should help with the front seat passengers hearing a forward image.




Old verse new setup. Angle tweeter cups used to point the tweeters up slightly.


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## Old Skewl (May 30, 2011)

I'll be curious to hear your impressions of the speakers. I mounted my tweeters in the stock location as well. I do not care for them there. The drivers side tweeter is too close to my ear(and I sit pretty far back). Time alignment seemed to help, but I am thinking about fabbing up some sail panels to mount the tweeters in to improve imaging. BTW, looks good so far.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

forgot to link old mid verse new tweeter in pervious post.


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## I Love BMW (Sep 7, 2013)

Old Skewl said:


> I'll be curious to hear your impressions of the speakers. I mounted my tweeters in the stock location as well. I do not care for them there. The drivers side tweeter is too close to my ear(and I sit pretty far back). Time alignment seemed to help, but I am thinking about fabbing up some sail panels to mount the tweeters in to improve imaging. BTW, looks good so far.



+1 my alpine tweets are in stock location and want to do something about that as well. Glad to see another e46 build...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

The rear deck factory speakers where 160mm midbass units. They are in a clever enclosure that runs IB across the rear parcel shelve with the rear of the speaker directly venting into the trunk area. They remind me of plastic versions of the JL stealth boxes from the 2000's

The rear parcel shelve was checked as a location for the rear PPI 355cs speaker crossovers. I discovered the rear parcel shelve is not symmetrical. fortunately there is enough room for them to fit between cross member indents and they sit just under the rear deck covering.

Factory speaker and crossover mock up



I decided to use the factory speaker mounts and modify for running the PPI 355s. Ironically this ended up being a calliper exercise as the PPI's are slightly deeper and have wider magnet. I stayed with the factory mounts , added some 5 1/4 speaker adaptors, trimmed the 3 mounting tabs off and offset mounted the speakers .

The result was a "just fits" . The speakers are 2 mm off the bottom mounts and vmax of the cones falls 3 mm short of touching the factory grills. I'll see how they sound , but I think these will need to be a custom fibreglass / MDF ring combo later on.









Crossovers mounted using hotglue (can be peeled off to return to stock)









Rear deck reinstalled , Everything just fits !


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Next the 3sixty.1 and amp installs

Amp position mock up on left of factory ICE rack


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## ultimatemj (Jan 15, 2009)

Looking good! The only thing you may want to reconsider is cutting the doors behind the mids. A lot of folks before us learned the hard way on this one; the mid bass is weak without the additional air volume and "a place for the back waves to go". As well as, mounting to the door (instead of the door card) provides for a much better baffle to drive from. 

Checkout some of the reference links in my build log (in sig) for other builds and templates.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Nice door builds. Yours is one of the better wood baffle intalls. You got good wood work skills. The addition of the band saw angle cuts makes the difference.

I think I'm in denial in terms of opening up the doors. Common sense would have me cutting them but I cant get my head around the thought of cutting any metal on the M3. Mind you , I'm using 5 1/4 speakers so I'll never be able to achieve the more forward blended soundstage that can be gained with 6.5's and a sub.


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## Old Skewl (May 30, 2011)

NealfromNZ said:


> Nice door builds. Yours is one of the better wood baffle intalls. You got good wood work skills. The addition of the band saw angle cuts makes the difference.
> 
> I think I'm in denial in terms of opening up the doors. Common sense would have me cutting them but I cant get my head around the thought of cutting any metal on the M3. Mind you , I'm using 5 1/4 speakers so I'll never be able to achieve the more forward blended soundstage that can be gained with 6.5's and a sub.


I know what you mean. Everything I have read says that cutting the doors and mounting the sepaker to the door will result in the best midbass. But I don't have the Kahunas to cut my doors. My M3 is an 05 with low mileage and I just can't do it. There is a guy about an hour from me that has done several. I considered taking it to him. At least he knows what he is doing.

BTW, I have 6 1/2's mounted in the door cards and when I turn my sub off, I have next to no bass at all.


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## E46SoundMachine (Mar 3, 2014)

NealfromNZ said:


> Nice door builds. Yours is one of the better wood baffle intalls. You got good wood work skills. The addition of the band saw angle cuts makes the difference.
> 
> I think I'm in denial in terms of opening up the doors. Common sense would have me cutting them but I cant get my head around the thought of cutting any metal on the M3. Mind you , I'm using 5 1/4 speakers so I'll never be able to achieve the more forward blended soundstage that can be gained with 6.5's and a sub.


I was in the same boat as you for about six months. About 3 weeks ago is said f**k it and did it. The difference is NIGHT AND DAY! The bottom end you get from an acoustic guitar is AWESOME! 

I went from a 5.25" mounted on the door card









To a 6.5" driver mounted securely to the door with the door metal cut out.









You owe it to yourself, you're putting in all this work and short changing yourself a lot of midbass and will probably have some extremely annoying vibration sounds etc.

FWIW, I have a sedan. Speaker is 3" deep. I cut 2 3/4" mdf rings(mounting baffles) for each side with a jig saw. Mounted them to the door with screws and construction adhesive to seal them and make them solid. The door was easily cut with a jig saw, cut out the bottom half 1st so you can reach in there and move the wires out of the way to cut the top half out. I took a grinder to my door card and completely removed all the stock speaker mounting plastic and the 3 door pin holders. These door cards are solid without them.


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## E46SoundMachine (Mar 3, 2014)

Old Skewl said:


> I know what you mean. Everything I have read says that cutting the doors and mounting the sepaker to the door will result in the best midbass. But I don't have the Kahunas to cut my doors. My M3 is an 05 with low mileage and I just can't do it. There is a guy about an hour from me that has done several. I considered taking it to him. At least he knows what he is doing.
> 
> BTW, I have 6 1/2's mounted in the door cards and when I turn my sub off, I have next to no bass at all.


YOU CAN DO IT! You'll love it. If you're hesitant and have the money that dude sounds like a good option. Low mileage M3 is all the more reason to do it because your probably going to keep it for a long time, unless it's a track car


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## E46SoundMachine (Mar 3, 2014)

Neal, where are you from? My Parents came up from NZ, all my family's in Christchurch.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Lol E46Soundmachine, your practically a Kiwi ! From Wellington myself (North Island) Hope your NZ family are doing ok after the big Earthquakes of a couple years ago.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Check the sound of the front and rear speakers today without the sub.

Connected the PPi 355cs up an AMC 3100a which is an entry level audiophile home hifi amp (100rms x 2 power wise) and used my netbook with a USB sabre chipset Dac as the source. The combination is a best case scenario for the speakers as I'd expect the AMC amp to offer better clarity than is possible from the Soundstream Stealth amps. The amp was straight through with no lpf , tone controls etc.

The front speakers are new and could do with some more air time , but sounded good off axis in the factory door position. The stage was nice and wide and I experimented with the tweeter crossover settings at 0db and -3db. I'm tending towards -3db put will check again after roughly 30 hours use. 

The mid bass rolled off very quickly which I'd expected but was able to give speakers reasonable volume and so far haven't had door card shake or rattle. 

Switching to the rear mid basses there was a notable difference in the low end response. These vent directly into to the trunk. Got a slight rattle from the left rear trim somewhere at higher volumes.

Put some music on and left the fronts to run for a few hours and rechecked sound. The sound stage had improved further so I put on a few fav tracks and had a more critical listen. (again no sub) I'm thinking I can live without opening up the doors , but will recheck to see how well the mid bass will integrate with the sub.

Finished off listening to Angela's Ashes suite which if you like classical is a good track as it has bits with individual instruments , full orchestra breaks etc. Started to enjoy the music which is a good sign. John Williams - Angela's Ashes | Suite - YouTube

So far the PPI's are a marked step above the factory system.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

3sixty.1 mounting in factory amp space

Equipment rack with amp install mock up



The old telephone module bracket will be used and modified to use the old factory amp location





The equipment was removed and the bracket was bolted into place. The 3sixty.1 mounted on a 45 degree angle to allow room for interconnects at each end









The old bracket was cut up. Rivnuts used to align with amp mounting holes and to mount the 3sixty.1


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## aznbo187 (Jun 21, 2011)

Great thread Neal and thanks for sharing. Also glad to see some other E46's in here! 

Neal, if you are still around, I know that the factory tweeter location isn't the most sought after and tends to accentuate the highs more than one desires at times. What are your thoughts on your current setup? Did the -3db cut remedy it, or did you have to further EQ it?

I'm doing an active setup and I'm in the process of choosing a tweeter. Just not exactly sure if I'm looking for a good on-axis tweeter or a good off-axis tweeter. Would love to see some updates on your progress and some impressions!


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Thanks aznbo187. Ended up getting busy with house maintenance / work / family and any other excuse so haven't put much time on progressing the build. 

In terms of the factory location for the tweeters I'm still undecided but can't go off more than the test using a home audio amp at this stage. When I ran the front PPI's in an e36 I had them on axis and in the dash corners. To me the stage sounded slightly better but suspect it comes down to the tweeters sounding better on axis than off.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Made some progress on the build. On the weekend built a simple rack for the car pc ( netbook based) location is under trunk 









And just need to cover lid


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Decided to redo the factory tuner rca mods and add a remote on wire.

Added RCA sockets to the rear panel. Just need to add grommet to remote wire


Remote wire added to Pin 13 on Bm53 tuner . This pin is powered by a fet which feeds BMW aerial system and factory amp. Spec sheet for fet rates output a 600 milliamps with 1.5 amp max startup. 

Was going to use it to trigger the two amps and 3sixty but to be safe I'll use the remote to trigger a relay instead (60-100 milliamps rather than 180-300 millamps). Not sure how much current the aerial amp requires.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Finished of the remote on circuitry today. Powered on the 3sixty.1 , but it came up with the red flashing light of death. Tried a few resets but no go. 

Took the unit apart and inspected the circuit board, but no obvious component damage.
Return to base would mean shipping to the USA and back plus repair so probably better to replace rather than repair.

Looks like I'll need to find a dsp to replace it that has and aux input. Budget is limited so will have a close look at the PPI-88r since the speakers are PPI and the amps are entry level Soundstreams.

Anyone tried a DSP-88r ?


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## WhereAmEye? (Jun 17, 2013)

Did Microsoft make the 3sixty.1??

But REGULARCAB was using a DSP-88r and I think he still is. His build log is up top on the list at the moment.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Thanks. If Microsoft made I'd probably have a reasonable chance of fixing it. But in all fairness to RF the unit was bought second hand so who knows what had happened on its previous install. Either that or its the well published Bluetooth stage dying.

Will check the build logs.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Ordered a PPI DSP- 88r on Monday, however, vendor doesn't ship item directly to Nz.
Used a freight forwarding address , but the vendor (who advertises on here) is mucking around as address doesn't match my credit card details. Annoying thing is that there is a hold on my credit card for the amount for almost a week now so I'm carrying the risk.

Do any of you sellers here ship PPI gear to New Zealand ? If so you can have my DSP order ?


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

PPI DSP-88r sorted and ordered.

Pulled the factory equipment rack out which will give the opportunity to tidy factory wiring.

The factory tuner / mixer rcas are going to be tight space wise. Looking like RCA angle adaptors will the way to go rather than my thoughts of using stubby RCA plugs. Hopefully the angle adaptors wont work loose through with movement of the odd track day.

Added grounds for amps , netbook power supply , relays & processor







Next will be to tidy up factory wiring looms where modules have been changed or added such as basic telephone module to Bluetooth Ulf retrofit, reverse camera etc. 





RCA gap between tuner module and rack look close but will fit with angled RCA adaptors.




Equipment rack and DC laptop charger


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

With the replacement processor I needed to move the laptop power supply .

The PPI DSP-88r was mounted to the factory navigation rack where the factory amp normally sits. Added Molex connector for power / ground / remote on and remote out connections.

Factory turner / sourcing switching module ( BM53) will connect on RCA's rather than doing high level. Should give a cleaner sound for cd stacker , radio , navy , telephone hands free module.




Added power distribution point for low current devices such a remote , laptop power supply , processor etc. Turns on via relay that runs from factory amp / aerial output from factory tuner.




Fuse box mounting holes lined up nicely with pre existing holes in trunk frame.




Wiring now complete for processor , amps , pc rack and factory hands free kit. All factory wiring remains stock and unaltered to revert back to factory should the car be sold.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

A simple distribution block was added to battery area . Uses short 0 gauge in , and out to 4 gauge x2. 

A second connection is added to the factory distribution terminal to feed remote on fuse box.





Next stage will be basic processor tune and audio level setups.


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## aznbo187 (Jun 21, 2011)

Love it! Really like the details in retaining an OE like fit.

I'm currently running the Pioneer 80PRS headunit, but have always been looking at the Precision Power unit, but there was not a lot of info on it on the tuning side. 

How do you like it so far? Is there a remote display to control the unit, or do you have to hook up a laptop to it for any adjustments?


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Cheers Aznbo187

So far I've only drilled one M5 sized hole in car body and added two rivnuts to amp rack. 
Brought s/hand trunk tray and speaker boxes so I can revert car to stock system quickly if needed.

I need to run the PPI remote into the interior for volume and source switch ( using three inputs for factory system, car pc and iphone) . 

Not sure if to mount in ashtray or in telephone eject box / console area at this stage

I'll connect the PPI USB processor cable into the car pc USB hub so I can tune at any time if required.

Not looking forward to removing part of the interior again to run remote cable


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

aznbo187 said:


> Love it! Really like the details in retaining an OE like fit.
> 
> I'm currently running the Pioneer 80PRS headunit, but have always been looking at the Precision Power unit, but there was not a lot of info on it on the tuning side.
> 
> How do you like it so far? Is there a remote display to control the unit, or do you have to hook up a laptop to it for any adjustments?


Just realised where I've seen your userid before. You should post up your impressive front door baffles. Best I've seen posted for a e46 !


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## Icely_slo (Apr 15, 2012)

NealfromNZ said:


>


Where did you run the cable to your amplifiers? I see they are going down.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Amp wiring runs to back of car then up over bumper mounts under trim. It then drops to the trunk floor , goes back above bumper mounts and drops down again to left side storage tray.

Excuse the photos , but you'll get the drift.

View along battery to rear of car.



Removed the top black trim to run cables



Cable runs at bottom of trim panel across floor





It then routes above bumper bolts and enters storage tray




Tray. Its reinforced with angle alloy on underside of tray.



Added brackets to amps and bolted amps together



So amps bolt into tray.


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## All-Or-Nothing (Apr 16, 2013)

I had a question about your sub set-up. 

Are the seat backs metal so the subs both fire thru the armrest or do they fire thru the armrest and the seat backs are just foam so they allow some bass directly thru the seats?

I'm trying to go IB in a 6 Series Vert and I am wondering if the metal plate will turn the baffled subs into some type of poorly tuned bandpass set-up firing into the armrest. Hopefully the bass will just get funneled directly into the cabin?


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Penny has just dropped for me. 

Seats are metal , really solid things. The baffle I've created creates a reasonable seal between the trunk and the cabin. Majority of the bass will vent via the 9x13 inch ski pass.
Was planning on leaving arm rest down.

As you've pointed out I might of ended up creating a bandpass. Not sure about how to model the response with single sub plus passive radiator .

Guess I'll find out when I've finished the amp wire up and given the system a basic tune.


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## All-Or-Nothing (Apr 16, 2013)

I am crossing my fingers for you. Plus if it goes well for you I should be safe.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Btw , I did run IB setups in an e21,e30 & e36 BMW that I've own. All were a single 12 inch. All were firing through the rear seat cushion. ( none had armrest )

The e30 & e36 had about 1.5 inches of mdf between the ski port knock out and the sub. About 30 % of the speaker was obscured by the shape of the ski port , but the bass sounded fine. 
The issue I did have on the e36 was the destiny of the foam in the back seat knocking roughly 7-10 db off the output.


I think you'd be fine with your 3x8 inch ib setup with your armrest down.


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## All-Or-Nothing (Apr 16, 2013)

NealfromNZ said:


> Btw , I did run IB setups in an e21,e30 & e36 BMW that I've own. All were a single 12 inch. All were firing through the rear seat cushion. ( none had armrest )
> 
> The e30 & e36 had about 1.5 inches of mdf between the ski port knock out and the sub. About 30 % of the speaker was obscured by the shape of the ski port , but the bass sounded fine.
> The issue I did have on the e36 was the destiny of the foam in the back seat knocking roughly 7-10 db off the output.
> ...




Thanks....I'm gonna give it a try.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Finished amp power wiring . All ready to setup output levels using multimeter.

Remote on signal not present from power on relay. Disconnect dsp-88r remote on signal from relay and replace with 12 volt . Amps power up.

Get multi meter and measure voltage on remote out signal . Reads 0.01 volts. 
Pull out nav rack and all equipment . Double check the douboius ppi connector , plugged in solid with no movement. Double check all wiring to and from unit.

Power reset the Dsp-88r a couple of times. Briefing see .5 volts and then drops to zero.
Basically no output from the power on wire. Once last thing to try as for some reason the dsp-88r has two remote in wires . Will try next weekend. 

Have support email into ppi but they must be busy as no reply since Saturday. May have to get up at 4 am and call the support line instead to gain a response due to USA / NZ Timezone differences.


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## SQLnovice (Jul 22, 2014)

I've emailed ppi in the past with no reply. Your build is coming along nicely. I hope you get a reply from them. Try contacting Ryan on here. I think that his name. He might be able to get you some help. I'll try to find his email when I get home late.


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## All-Or-Nothing (Apr 16, 2013)

Sorry about your issues. I have an 88r on the way so I hope my install goes well.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Cheers guys.

Judging by rallysharks thread and a number of people having issues I'd say they'd released / rebranded to the market to soon.

I've also not been able to get satisfactory output levels from the bmw tuner with RCA mods via the factory / high level inputs. This is balanced audio with s 4.2 volt rail so should be enough. Have one more option that should bring it up to 9 volt balanced.

Will try through ppi for support first before dealing with Sonic.

Won't have time this Saturday as the car club is having a dyno day.
Hoping to see 300 hp at the wheels !


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## Jonnynel (Aug 8, 2010)

Where did you source the small power distribution fuse block in post # 54? The one you used for the remote? I have been looking for one with the status lights like that one has.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Got the fuse box via jaycar nz.10 Way Blade Fuse Block with LED Indicators - Jaycar Electronics

Have seen them on ebay as well. Search on fuse box led and you'll find a few variations.


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## Jonnynel (Aug 8, 2010)

Thanks I see a bunch on ebay now!


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Spent more time troubleshooting ppi-88r amp power on issue.

Added 12 volt supply to second remote in and measured voltage at PPI-88r remote out.
Measured 0.05 volts. Reset power to processor again. Roughly two minutes on, bingo, remote on produces 11.46 volts. Apply to relay, voltage across 85/86 terminals drops back to zero after a couple of faint clicks.

Measure relay resistance , comes in at 70 ohms. Quick calculation is it draws 170 milliamps. Read somewhere that the ppi-88r is good for 130 milliamps on remote out.
Looks like its very sensitive to type of relay used. 

Next steps. Find a relay that is closer to 130 ohms or look at solid state and try again.


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## All-Or-Nothing (Apr 16, 2013)

Why use a relay? Mine is ran directly from the cigarette lighter 12v. No problems.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Idea for the relay is for the processor to power on the two amps. The relay was to lessen the load on the remote out circuit from the processor. 

Ironically I made a poor choice by using a generic automotive relay. The ppi-88r remote on output function is looking borderline if used with a standard Bosch style relay.

Not sure about your use of the cig lighter output which is always on to power the remote input on the amps. The amps would be on and would kill the battery when the car is parked up.

Am I missing something ?


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## All-Or-Nothing (Apr 16, 2013)

NealfromNZ said:


> Idea for the relay is for the processor to power on the two amps. The relay was to lessen the load on the remote out circuit from the processor.
> 
> Ironically I made a poor choice by using a generic automotive relay. The ppi-88r remote on output function is looking borderline if used with a standard Bosch style relay.
> 
> ...



I have a 645 Vert and it is switched power. 

I go straight to both 12v remote wires in on the 88r...remote out to first amp remote in....amp remote out to second amp remote in.......amp remote out to next amp remote in


Works like a charm.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Makes sense. 

On the BMW the cig is always on. Must really cater for the smoker !

In my install, Power to processor is switched on via head unit aerial / remote out feed. This turns on a direct battery feed via relay controlled fuse box.

Fuse box feeds processor REM in x 2 on processor so similar to you cig feed. My amps don't have a remote out for the next amp in series. This would mean the processor remote out would need to activate the power on for two amps. I suspect mine are relay based which in parallel would exceed the 130 milliamps available. I'll give it a try before looking at solid state alternatives. (local electronics store has 5 milliamp 12 volt relay kits)


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## All-Or-Nothing (Apr 16, 2013)

NealfromNZ said:


> Makes sense.
> 
> On the BMW the cig is always on. Must really cater for the smoker !
> 
> ...



The cig is not always on in my car. It only comes on with the ignition.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Sorry, a bit slow on picking up the on 645 switched 12 volt. Lack of sleep .......

Will I'll be damned ..... Connect the ppi-88r remote output to remote in on both Stream Stealth Series amps ........ And up comes the power LEDs on both amps. Both amps must have solid state power on&#55357;&#56836;

Next step is to get more output from the factory tuner balanced outputs. The rca mod gives a single positive output of 4.2 volts. The auctual audio signal seems quite a bit less. Not quite enough for the hi level inputs. 
Will run front / rear mode
Bmw tuner on high level input
iPhone 6 on rca aux
CarPC on to toslink


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## All-Or-Nothing (Apr 16, 2013)

Woo Hoo.......I'm glad it worked for you. I don't think I have ever used a relay when hooking up remote power.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Cheers ! 

Serves me right for not doing any major audio diy for a decade. It's all getting easier.
Old days one needed relays everywhere &#55357;&#56883;


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## All-Or-Nothing (Apr 16, 2013)

So any updates?


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

So shortly after (Sunday evening) I started taking work calls so didn't achieve much more.


Added second remote in to Molex connector and tidied up the 12 volt cabling into the processor with Tesa tape to match factory loom. 

Factory tuner wasn't producing enough output with ppi-88r high level input set to maximum gain. Popped the top of the factory tuner to change RCA output modification. Had to call it quits for the night as calls ramped up. The joys of working in IT 

Will tap into a different part of the circuit board to up the preamp output voltage rather than the single rail at the opamp output capacitors to suit the PPI high level inputs.

Moment of jubilation ...... we have power



Tidy processor wiring loom





BMW bm53 nav sat tuner , need to tap balanced outputs via RCA cables.


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## All-Or-Nothing (Apr 16, 2013)

Coming along nicely


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Cheers for that

Finished off the BMW tuner output taps and ended up getting enough output to drive the high level inputs on the PPi-88r (CD Input). Used the FL/FR/RL/RR + and FL/FR/RL/RR - audio outputs from the Tuner. Not quite as clean sounding as directly off the Opamp output capacitors, as before, but will be fine for radio/nav/stacker/telephone audio.

Connected up an auxiliary amp and listened via headphones. Set all inputs via ear as don't have oscilloscope these days. Connected Iphone 6 via AUX and adjusted gain. Audio is sounding reasonably clean via RCA. Connected CarPC via USB Sabre Dac using toslink. getting very clean sound via PPI-88R Dac. 

So it looks like you can use all three audio inputs on the PPI-88R. 

Tomorrow will set amp gains via multimeter and connect speakers.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Set gains and put amps into position.

Configured the processor for basic LP/HPF and made a series of maps that attenuate the rear speakers, filled each of the 10 slots on the processor with the maps do positions 1 has front components plus sub thought to slot 10 where it's 50/50 split between front and rears plus sub.

Sound quality across the three sources is different with factory head being ok, iPhone 6 via RCA being good and carpc via digital to toslink to be excellent.

Front components which where new need some air time compared to rears which had about a year of running. 

Spg555 plus passive radiator sound nice via ski hatch.

Will leave system for a week before tuning further.


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## swest1970 (Oct 23, 2014)

Where did you source the carpet for your trunk sub box ? - it matches the OEM carpet very well. I can't seem to locate any that is even close to the BMW factory grey.

Nice work on the install - btw.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

It was a line of speaker carpet that jaycar electronics New Zealand used to carry. The colour Match is almost the same but the quality is average. It doesn't have any branding in the packaging so can't tell where it was sourced.

If you do a search on "light grey speaker box carpet" on eBay you will see similar carpet and colour


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

So first week of running system. The PPI-88R is largely behaving. In about 20 trips in the car I have had only one instance of the unit not putting out any sound out. Only needed to turn the ignition off / on and sound restored. The DSP maps are holding settings which was the main concern. 

Impressions
The front NOS PPI 355 speaker are sounding good. They have had about 15 hours of use now and the sound stage is improving. The tweeters are now close to the rears which have had and 18 months of running. 

The tweeter location in the factory door position does work. Not quite as good as my pervious build where they in the dash and on axis but the sound stage is wider.




The front mid bass lacks bottom end. There is a bit of a mid bass hole. I'm running steep 48 db /octave roll off so will experiment a bit and may drop them to 70hz. I haven't cut holes into the door to allow the speaker to breathe more , really don't want cut the M3 doors.

The rears sound good, uses the trunk to vent. Mid bass good for a 5 1/4 driver. When sitting in the rear the tweeters in the side panels is interesting , gives a very wide stereo pan. I don't have rear passengers often so the speakers are turn right down or off. 



The Boston Acoustic SPG555 / TRG combo works real well. Plenty of detail and slam. Using this combination in the recommended 1 cubic foot enclosure gives a good response. I'm running the default weight in the passive radiator . Very good lower register detail on string bass, hits hard on hip hop . 

Sound via the ski hatch was worked better than I thought. This is the first time I've had no bass rattles in a car near full output of the 600 watt amp. 

Next stage is to work on centre console / ppi controller mounting.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Few weeks of running now. Replace car battery as it wasn't holding charge. Amps going into proctection mode and the PPI-88R DSP was really playing up.

Replaced battery and AMPS now good. The DSP-88R would run , but rather erratically.
Ended up getting close to 1000 watts of system noise after one start up. Almost blew me out of the car !

Couple of discoveries. The BMW drops most of the AUX electrics when starting the car. What this meant was that the DSP would start up on Pos 1 ignition. You'd start the car (Pos 2) and the Remote in drops which restarts the DSP. The DSP will randomly lock up at this point with remote lights and volume indication looking ok. Just no sound output. 

The DSP needs the voltage dropped / raised again and it then may restart ok.

Seconded discovery is that it pays to init the DSP if you drop the main power to the unit. Seems to start up correctly more frequently now. (Rallysharks DSP thread mentions a return to base factory re-flash is needed to remove the start up issue)

I added so time delay to the front drivers speaker and the image is more centred now.

Also dropped the midbass rolloff from 48 db/oct to 28 db/oct and lowered the rolloff point to 70 hz. Bass has come forward, not perfect but good for a 5 1/4 inch midbass.

Will need to do an RTA and apply the optimum curve at a later date.

In terms of the console install, no progress as yet. I'm going to work with a guy that has made a 3d printed BMW Iphone ashtray insert. I'm wanting analogue 3.5mm RCA added to the dock for the Iphone 6.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Have the 3d printed iphone 6 holder ashtray insert. Fits nicely into ashtray. 

The dsp-88r power on if giving my system plenty of grief . With two amps connected the remote on voltage is on the low side and triggers the low voltage protection on the amps from time to time ( its putting out around 10 volts when the input is closer to 13 volts) Will try a low current relay to amp on. 

The other issue is the unit will lock up if the power is interrupted whilst starting the car. My BMW has a starting unloader where aux power is shut off whilst start motor is engaged. Its roughly 2 seconds where the power is dropped to he DSP. About 50% of the time the unit locks up ( volume display works but no audio output) I then have to power off the car and restart the car for the unit to reset and continue.

I think the answer to my two issues is first to try a super low current relay between the dip-88r and the amps. The second is a hold timer on the BMW tuner remote on which feeds the remote power into the DSP to stop the car starting lockups.

As the dsp is at the back of my factory rack all the gear will need to come out again.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Bypassed the DSP power on . Unit seems to behave with no clicks or pops.


Finished the trunk off today. I'll leave the amps exposed so they have plenty of ventilation.








Purchased 3d printed iphone 6 ashtray dock. Looks like good fit. Sanded ready for painting


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## Old Skewl (May 30, 2011)

What amps are those? They appear long and narrow. Looks good!


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

They are Soundstream Stealth Series from the late 2000s. The larger one is a 640 a/b class which is 108 rms x 4. the smaller is a 600d class d and is 600 rms x 1 into 2 ohm. The clarity on these amps is surprisingly good considering size and price point.


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## Kazuhiro (Apr 28, 2015)

Nice build mate, let us know how the tuning progress is going. I am also from NZ, in Hamilton. I do not enjoy waiting sometimes up to a month just to get a part from the states. I have NZPost youshop to thank for half my gear.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

So its been a long time between posts.

System is running well and the dsp-88r has been behaving since removing amp power on duties. I'm loving the bass from the spg555 and passive radiator setup. Very clean with plenty of presence.

I've decided on a new car pc media centre build.

This will be Raspberry pi based running Kodi media centre.
Specs include 128gig thumb drive, bluray player for ripping CDs and the odd DVD. integration board (pibus) for BMWs ibus system.
Audio will be via USB sabre Dac (24/96k) into dip-88r. 

This will be mounted into an old BMW cd stackers and fit within the factory rack system.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Stripped stacker of old mechanism.





Bluray portable drive was too deep for chassis. Took it out of its plastic case and found the device was a standard laptop sata blu ray player. 

It had a sata to USB board which simply unplugged. With the board remove it fitting within the chassis. Have order a slimline sata extension cable and will relocate the USB board.





Bluray eject tray was too wide for the stackers door so was trimmed a few millimetres on each side. Used an old pc drive bay to mount the bluray on.






A 7 port hub was stripped. This will power the bluray player , possibly a ssd hard disk and 4g WiFi hotspot, and a sabre dac with optical out.

The bluray USB board will be mounted above hub as will the raspberry pi and pibus BMW integration board (plugs into cd stackers harness and connects to BMW TV module.


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## carlr (Feb 27, 2011)

This looks very promising!


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## SQLnovice (Jul 22, 2014)

Amazing skills. Watching for future updates.


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## 1FinalInstall (Oct 13, 2013)

NealfromNZ said:


> Basic door build
> 
> The M3 had the standard 10 speaker hifi system. This consists of a 1 inch tweeter , 2 inch midrange and a 160mm woofer in the doors. Rear passenger trim has 2 inch mid range the rear parcel shelve has 160mm woofers with an IB enclosure that vents directly into the trunk.
> 
> ...



Nice work, very clean.


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## Kazuhiro (Apr 28, 2015)

Are those your PPI's i saw on for sale?


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Kazuhiro said:


> Are those your PPI's i saw on for sale?



No not mine. I'm still happy with them..... Or was, lost hearing a couple of weeks back which is hasn't returned in one ear yet. Hopefully it recovers otherwise the gear will be up for sale .


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Attack eagle (Nov 18, 2006)

Hope things have gotten better. As the owner of an e46 touring with nav I've been super interested in what you've been doing.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Thanks for that, Health has improved and able to listen to music again. 

Does your touring have the TV tuner module ? Allows video in aux and camera in , hence an easy way to plug in a carpc




Haven't progressed much , but have gave the pi some more thought. I understand the design of the pibus daughter card for the PI far better now. The USB stage of the pi is a bit marginal power wise.

Brought 12v-5v regulated power supply and a logic controlled relay. The designer of the pibus suggested using one of the PI Gpio pins to tigger the relay. This will in turn power on for a USB hub which has 7 ports. This will insure that anything plugged into the hub will be powered up or down in sync with the PI. The PI in turn wakes and sleeps depending on signal (or lack of) from the BMW ibus.

Mock up of pi and hub in stackers chassis 



Next was to get an extension cable between the bluray sata drive and its sata to USB board. The will plug into the powered hub.





The audio from the PI will have two options. 

The first is via the pibus audio stage which is designed to connect back to the BMW factory bm53 tuner. Whilst the pibus has an audiophile grade output stage the sound quality is limited to the output stage of the BM53 tuner. 

The second audio option is to use a USB DAC with an optical output. This will connect to the dsp88r

The USB DAC is a sabre hifimediy DAC its small and runs off USB power. The music quality of these little devices is superb. I removed the stacker audio board and there is enough room to install it at the connectivity module that sits on the back.


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## Attack eagle (Nov 18, 2006)

Timely question! Late reply, I have been watching the New Zealand forum version of your build, instead of here, lol. Mines going to be more a fun personal entertainment build than an audiophile grade build, but if I can simply fit better speakers and a better amp w DSP I'll be very content, without going overboard on equipment. Tourings have far less room to hide stuff. 
I'm actually waiting still ( after almost a month) for the tv tuner retrofit harness to arrive.
The module itself arrived last week, already made up a reverse camera input and a video input as I plan to put an appletv in the trunk so I can do AirTunes/AirPlay and not run two BT devices at once or have to deal with leads which would be awkward now that I'm used to everything being wireless in home and in car.
Currently I have the TCU for calls and a streaming adapter to aux in for music. It causes issues with the navs ability to connect and disconnect from phone (possibly because I also have the watch so that is 3 BT connections with 3 profiles at once) and I have to manually Connect and disconnect in a certain order for functionality. In short, it's a PITA. Going to AirPlay will resolve this. 
Being analog and EU spec, the tv tuners are now otherwise worthless and thus relatively cheap now. The retrofit harness on the other hand... Ouch. But I like factory integration. 

I do have a question for you? 
With your RCA mod on the bm53, do you lose the systems ability to control volume and have to rely on DSP to control volume, or lose any factory nav/phone audio? 
If no, then I think I have just found a solution that doesn't involve summing everything back to split it all apart again which makes my plans possible.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

So question first and a suggestion for your build

The RCA mod is post the BM53 dsp chip so volume and fader still work from factory controls. The improvement in sound by avoiding the final differential output stage is noticeably better. But the catch is I was seeing raw DC at +4.2 after the caps with the RCA mod. I'm not sure if when I soldered the leads on I might have managed to bridge the smd caps with solder. I don't think so but they are very small components.

Anyway, id be inclined to use a loc on the output just to be safe.

What I did do in the end was to use the differential outputs and feed them into the speaker level inputs on the DSP-88r

So with an iphone I believe you'll get better results by using its three microphones and noise cancelling capabilities than using the cars built in microphone and Bluetooth for hands free.

With my iphone I've got a hdmi adaptor. Later on I will connect it to the TV module aux input via a HDMI cable and HDMI to composite / analog audio video adaptor. Similar outcome to an appletv solution but all the iphone apps will appear on the navy screen such as Google maps.


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## Attack eagle (Nov 18, 2006)

I've found info on where to solder the positive leads, but no mention of the negative side. 
Would you happen to have additional details?


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Zoom the picture and solder to the top of the caps where the arrows are pointing.

The signal earths can be connected to the metal bar below the caps. If you end up with a ground loops depending on gear run without signal earths.


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## ewward31 (Jul 5, 2016)

Definitely following


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

So first layer done within Stackers case. 

1: Plastic standoffs added for Raspberry and USB hub
2: USB hub connector removed for power and USB host 
3: 12volt to 5 volt power supply and USB host inputs soldered onto USB hub board
4: hub mounted to standoffs
5: Blue ray sata to USB PCB board mounted on top of USB hub. Holes lined up nicely


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

I wanted to keep the main connectors on the stacker standard so it just plugs in. These will handle audio out , power and BMW ibus signals.

Original alpine board









Next was mounting the pibus raspberry pi daughter board.








Bluray player added. This will be for ripping CDs , playing DVD or Bluray (note, bluray playback might be questionable)


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Finished device.

Added Molex connector for reverse light input (covers reverse cam function whist PI boots) and TV module switch to reverse cam ground signal.

Also added hifimediy async USB ESS sabre DAC. This will pass optical to the DSP-88r at rates up to 96k 24 bit depending on content.


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## 1FinalInstall (Oct 13, 2013)

This is so cool.


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## carlr (Feb 27, 2011)

1FinalInstall said:


> This is so cool.


+1 - I'm not sure what to say - this is indeed really cool :rimshot:


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Next was to give the BMW TV video module. The pi shares the reverse camera input. I need to rearrange the cabling on the input. I'll also take the opportunity to connect the iphone 6 to the aux video input. I'll reuse the old car pc VGA to composite adaptor and use a lightning to VGA adaptor.

The TV module is analogue . NZ went to digital TV a few years back. A guy on e46fanatics developed the pi daughter board and a controller board for the tuner. I ordered both and a dvbt diversity tuner to support nz TV. Use to find TV handy if in the car waiting for wife to finish work. The BMW system turns off the picture above 10kph for obvious safety reasons.

Tuner module conversion is straight forward. ( www.pibus.info for more info )

The kit


PCB out of chassis , tuner on left.



TV module has different connectors than BMWs SMBs on the TV aerials. You can either get adaptors or replace with SMBs. I choose this path as it cuts down on connection losses. Old connectors are gently pried out. 





Peters blue controller board and video module installed.


Tuner module needs a couple of holes drilled for smb connectors, then complete.


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## Attack eagle (Nov 18, 2006)

Very nicely done. Enjoyed reading about you reusing the stacker chassis as your mounting location. 
I was going to buy the pibus for my birthday, or the ptv (or both) but my transmission decided to commit seppuku, and I had to spend all my entertainment/mad money for the next year getting it rebuilt. 
I just converted a $30 DTV box to 5v and plugged that in for now instead... it's mono, but worked fine for the news/Olympics. Maybe next year I can finally get an integrated solution? 
Until then I'll keep reading your thread here and on e46f. Keep running across you there but I used a different username "Onizukachan" so I don't think it ever clicked.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

I couldn't quite match the user id. Makes sense now. I enjoyed that guys thread as his paradigm for quality audio ment he was on the right path to lift it. Seem to take on feed back too and seems happy with his improvements. Others just buy crap and don't take advice and wonder why the work out how connect their stereo player into a 10 channel factory system.

Sorry to hear about your trans . Expensive item to replace .

You'll probably have a laugh at me. So I modify my looms for the PI and reverse cam. Carefully put in the tuner , Nav , tv tuner modules. Pop the battery termal back on. Check for any signs of smoke , fuses etc. check the Ibus for the right kind of activity .All good.

Plug the PI cd in . Powers up can see it coming up on screen. All good . Start running through a few menus . Realise the hub hasn't triggered. Pop the car into reverse , reverse cam works. Then suddenly dash lights go out, fans stop, speedo display completely blank.

At this stage mild panic as I'm thinking I've fried every electronic module on he M3.
Go through the fuse box.!check about 40 fuses, all ok. Work my way to back of car. Check and unplug pi cd. Looking around . Couldn't smell any toasted electronics. Then I checked the battery, ternmal on bit too loose. Tighten terminal and car comes back to life. Huge sigh of relief !

More work to do on the PI but tested the TV ok.


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## Attack eagle (Nov 18, 2006)

Wow, your LCD is in great shape. 
Mine has a few bad areas but isn't nearly as bad as some I've seen that look like polka dots.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

I see the new Sharp banded lcds on eBay from time to time. The dyi guides look straight forward enough. Hopefully your discretionary spending recovers soon.

Got the PI cd working last night. Music via USB toslink direct in processor sounding execellent have a two day road trip so looking forward to hearing some sounds.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

So a couple of months on now. I changed the raspberry pi2 to a pi3 as it had built in Bluetooth and WiFi. Performance difference is noticeable in terms of menu loading and managing 7500 track library.

Being trying a number of openelec / Kofi skins and have settled on the one that cones with the pi bus software. The BMW screen is Sd 16/9 so small fonts can be an issue. The nice thing about the skins is that you can put your own backgrounds in.

Kofi as a media player is very good. You can through virtually any audio format at it and with the associated plug in will play with ease.

Its using the factory BMW navy controls for navigating , track selection etc.

My library is a mix of wma, MP3 apple lossless and flac. 16 & 24 bit at 41khz to 96khz plays well over the optical. I think the dsp-88r will support.192k/24 bits max,

Sound wise going completely digital to the processor is working well. Even at 40db gain (max volume) the DSP and soundstream amps are near silent. Music is very good for the modest components used. Getting good depth and width of soundstage and the sub can move some serious air. Noticing my hair moving with some music content.

Still a couple more areas to work on. Iphone 7 drops he headphone just so need to sort out some kind of audio/ video /charge thing. I did hook up a lightning to VGA to composite adaptor but it looked a bit nah in portrait mode. Needs thinking through again.

KODI media player


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## robolop (Mar 10, 2008)

Respect dude.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

robolop said:


> Respect dude.


Cheers, I feel honoured to have ultimate e46 builder to stop by !


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## Attack eagle (Nov 18, 2006)

Thanks for the updated pics of Kodi/PiBus.
I've done naught all on the entertainment side of things, but I did retrofit city lights, rear camera, rear fogs, and a rear facing infant seat and baby girl. 

FYI: The free beta version of NavCoder will work over a standard obd2 cable, and it will code off the 10kph video speed limit if you wanted a little news&weather in traffic.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Attack eagle said:


> Thanks for the updated pics of Kodi/PiBus.
> I've done naught all on the entertainment side of things, but I did retrofit city lights, rear camera, rear fogs, and a rear facing infant seat and baby girl.
> 
> FYI: The free beta version of NavCoder will work over a standard obd2 cable, and it will code off the 10kph video speed limit if you wanted a little news&weather in traffic.


Thanks Attack Eagle. Sounds like your in a similar to when I stated this project. Sub box designed to accommodate room the daughters stroller. The m3 lacked isofix top teathers which I finally fitted last year. Daughter loves going in the car although I'm a bit over hearing the standard "Moana soundtrack" music request.

The Pibus piggybacks the camera input . When you select CDC the Pibus applies a ground signal to the camera input. This gives Kodi screen regardless of speed and I've set a relay to switch to camera on reverse ( although the Pibus will do this anyway)

This left the video input free which I connected my iPhone lightning to vga adapter to and used the old car pc VGA to video adaptor plugged into the video in on the BMW. Was great in theory but looked naf as the iPhone would mainly display portrait I replaced the phone 6 with a 7 which meant changing to hdmi adaptor for audio and video duties. I just ended up getting a lightning to audio adapter and mounted in a 3D printed ashtray doc.

Navcoder is great. In the trunk I have two USB cables. One is to the dsp and the other one goes to a resiler USB to Ibus adapter. I use my old netbook car pc for navcoder and dsp running duties. Used it to configure TV on the go and the ulf module for Siri duties. ( press steering wheel call button to activate Siri)


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

E46 iPhone 3D printed dock 
E46 iPhone Ashtray Holder / Charger - For Sale - bimmersport.co.nz

Added lightning audio adaptor 




In car


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Well, photobucket wants money to display pictures and diymobileaudio want money for me to edit this thread. Was fun while it lasted but I guess the advertising banners on photo and threads don't pay the owners enough for me to post for free. Not willing to pay $450 per year between the two.

I may redo the build on bimmersport.co.nz and host pics there. Bye for now. NealfromNZ


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## diy.phil (May 23, 2011)

oh. you too huh? Looks like it hit several of us here at the same time! (photobucket ransomware and extortion)


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## chrisb33 (May 13, 2010)

Hi NealfromNZ,

i have a 325i e46 which i recently upgraded the sound system. I was wondering if you encountered engine whine after you upgraded yours. 

how were you able to resolve this. im using a denon head unit, 5 channel amp, a stand alone processor, and 2 way speakers. 

head unit, amp, and processor are all properly grounded. ive done some reseach and i think engine whine is common with e46's and so far ive read nothing that solved the problem. 

thanks in advance.


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

I got alternator whine from two different sources and both were intermittent.

1st was running my phone 6 running 3.5mm RCA input into DSP. At the time I had it also charging via lightning cable. Alternator whine would come and go. I got an iPhone 7 which meant no 3.5mm analogue output. I no longer charge the phone and just use a lightning to analogue accessory. Since I've had no alternator whine .

2nd was digital source into DSP . Back left speaker would get alternator whine. Turned out to be RR RCA solder joint on the earth signal went bad. Easy fix once found.

On my car, the amps , DSP and all the factory audio sources share the same grounding point.

Edit .... did you run your Denon rcas on the left side of the car which is well away from the power cables on the rhs of your car ?


Other than those two issues I can put the system at full volume and not hear any noise interference.

Not sure if anything here helps you.


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## chrisb33 (May 13, 2010)

Hi NealfromNZ,

yes all the wires are routed opposite side of the power cable. 

all my audio equipment is grounded to a single point, and for good measure, added another ground wire close to the equipment. 

one thing i want to try though is to run the denon's power straight to the battery and not tap it to the car's accessory system. this way, all equipment wont pass through the car's OEM system. 

thanks!

chris b



NealfromNZ said:


> I got alternator whine from two different sources and both were intermittent.
> 
> 1st was running my phone 6 running 3.5mm RCA input into DSP. At the time I had it also charging via lightning cable. Alternator whine would come and go. I got an iPhone 7 which meant no 3.5mm analogue output. I no longer charge the phone and just use a lightning to analogue accessory. Since I've had no alternator whine .
> 
> ...


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

Sold the M3 after many years of car audio and driving fun.

Overall this budget system went well and once I’d worked around the ppi dsp power in issue the system was sounding good with the bonus of having 5 or so dsp maps. Good sound needs of the music genre or how many passengers in the car.



I’ve replaced the e46 m3 with an F80 M3 so looking forward to another audio project as budget allows.The F80 has a base audio system and it’s audio abilities aren’t great. Will look to do another integration of BMW factory system and will ask for advice hear again.


Pitty about photobucket pics in this old thread. I’ve closed that account due to the price for hosting.


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