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Do you have a link or a search query for the 8in woofer adapter and spacer?
I made my own using pvc trim board and a router with a flush trim bit. I remade them later from hdpe. I actually bought some cheap cutting boards on Amazon and cut them to shape. There may be some on eBay or Amazon premade. There are some guys on the DIY mobile audio forum that make them as well.
I purchased the additional 1/2" spacer on Amazon, however it is from the same seller I believe and they could probably be found in the seller's store (pvcspeakeradapters79).
Also for what it's worth, the seller reached out after my purchase to let me know they were also about to offer adapters for the 4" midrange location on our vehicles as well, so an adapter from the 3 bolt pattern to a more universal 4 bolt pattern I'd assume. Something to consider if someone wants to use different speakers from "BMW-specific" options there and doesn't want to make their own of course.
I'm trying to upgrade my woofer speakers for each of my doors, and I currently have the base PCM audio along with an aftermarket amp installed. Is Morel the only way to go, or are there other alternatives to get some big bass without breaking the bank? Is this just a matter of getting 8" woofers in the front doors, 6" woofers in the rear doors and getting proper mounting adapters?
If you’re looking for big bass I would add a subwoofer. The 8” in the doors will give you great mid bass but not the deep bass you would get from a subwoofer If you just want to change out the woofers in the doors. There are lots of options other than morel that might be less expensive
If you’re looking for big bass I would add a subwoofer. The 8” in the doors will give you great mid bass but not the deep bass you would get from a subwoofer If you just want to change out the woofers in the doors. There are lots of options other than morel that might be less expensive
Is there a better site to use than Crutchfield? Their site literally gives me only Morels as an option for the lower door speakers.
Try shopping on crutchfield without selecting your vehicle. Other brands would be focal, Steven’s audio , stereo integrity, Blam, audison.
You can find some on parts express.
sonic electronics is another online retailer
Or go to a car audio shop in your area and see what they have.
If you’re looking for big bass I would add a subwoofer. The 8” in the doors will give you great mid bass but not the deep bass you would get from a subwoofer If you just want to change out the woofers in the doors. There are lots of options other than morel that might be less expensive
You have a previous post saying you can do without a sub because of your door woofers. I'm not trying to achieve an obnoxious amount of bass; just enough to be more than let's say the stock Bose woofer system, which I read is sufficient for most. It's hard to compare our personal preferences, but I do just want a good full sound, with some extra oomph since I listen to lots hip-hop/R&B/soul.
Would just one big (maybe 8 to 10 inch?) powerful woofer with its own amp in the back sufficiently fill the car with enough bass or are quality subs in each door necessary to complement a not as big sub (6 to 8 inch) for a more immersive experience? This is what I'm having trouble deciding on. Sorry I suck at car audio, hence the questions. Also, I have a 958.2 E-Hybrid, so space is limited for me since the spare tire compartment is occupied by the battery. This leaves just the driver-side trunk panel to my my spot to put a sub.
A stand alone subwoofer in the hatch area with its own amplifier would definitely give you plenty of bass. The door woofers are good, but won’t do what a sub will do. Especially for R&B and hip hop. I run a 10” sub in the back of mine for the really deep bass.
Is there a better site to use than Crutchfield? Their site literally gives me only Morels as an option for the lower door speakers.
For the lower door speakers, you have a lot more room than Crutchfield thinks. The best thing about Crutchfield can also be their downside, they're only going to show you things that they generally have adapters they sell to make fit. You have about 4" of total depth to work with in the lower door position including speaker excursion (so pretend your max depth is more like 3.5"). So just look for 8" or 9" midbass speakers that have a flush mounting depth of around 3-3.5" or less, and you should be able to make something fit with a 1.5" tall speaker adapter.
Also to expand on Flygts's comments: the main reasons you're not going to get deep bass from the lower doors is that they aren't a very controlled volume, more of an infinite baffle type of enclosure. On top of that, 8" and 9" shallow woofers just aren't going to be able to move enough air at low frequencies. Their bread and butter is really the 60-100Hz range which is great at adding depth to most music, but also are more ideal for giving power to more violent sounds like the attack of a kick drum. Even though my Audiofrogs can extend down to 25-26Hz, they aren't moving enough air to really be providing any serious substance. 10" subs bridge that gap and get down significantly lower, and a 12" will be even better at getting down low. The amount of air and volume the woofer can produce at the sub bass frequencies increases exponentially with larger diameters. So regardless of how much bass you're wanting to add, you're going to be better off attacking the problem at the subwoofer over anything else. Especially once you consider that upgrading the lower door speakers to get additional bass would also require you to be increasing power with a new amp, wiring, etc. which then turns into upgrading everything in the vehicle! Slippery slope
The next phase of my system upgrade is complete with the addition of a 3rd Audiofrog GS8ND2 subwoofer in the original Bose enclosure. I wired this to the subwoofer channel on the mObridge amp which is providing it 250W RMS @ 4ohms since I wired the dual voice coils in series, the same way I did the doors. I'm going to play around with how I want to actually power each of the 3 GS8 woofers. They are an incredibly versatile speaker to be able to be a genuine midbass or a genuine subwoofer. I can absolutely use the fronts as a dedicated midbass as part of the 3 way front stage still... or I can run the front doors as additional subwoofers now too since they're also getting 150W RMS each. This is how I'm playing around with it at the moment to see which I enjoy overall more.
So at the moment, I am running the doors and rear all as subwoofers bandpassed from 27-80Hz with -12dB/oct slopes and have brought the Morel Hybrid midrange crossover down to around 100Hz with -24dB/oct slope.
Super easy upgrade to do since I've already got the mObridge amp and the leads were pre-wired. However, I must caution anyone that uses a Mr12Volt system for CarPlay/Android Auto (which I do because the sound quality it provides is very important to me), YOU MUST KEEP THE BOSE AMPLIFIER WIRED AND PLUGGED IN. I have the channel turned off in the DSP so that it never gets audio signal at least, and the subwoofer leads are capped off and sealed to prevent shorts. I don't know if all CarPlay retrofits operate like this, but the Mr12Volt requires some sort of signal from both your standard speaker amp (Bose/Burmester/mObridge) but also your factory subwoofer amp. There are three wires (yellow, purple, and white) in addition to the power and ground going to the Bose subwoofer amp, and I do not know which one is needed to close the loop with the PCM and keep the Mr12Volt and PCM functional. When the Mr12Volt becomes nonfunctional due to missing amplifier signal, the entire PCM is unusable not just CarPlay disappearing. The source still shows up on the screen as P2000 CarPlay like normal and allows inputs, but sources, menus, etc cannot be changed. So until there's a way around that signal requirement, the Bose amp gets reinstalled and receiving power but no audio.
Impressions though... it provides some serious punch for such a small little subwoofer and extends lower cleanly than some of the 12" subwoofers I had in vehicles in college (Infinity Kappa, Alpine Type-S, nothing crazy high end). It doesn't have a lot of cone surface area to work with so it's not extending down low at a volume that's going to be winning any competitions, but it'll play 27 Hz cleanly and without the sort of "flapping" you'd hear out of a subwoofer that's trying to extend down further than it wants to. If I recall correctly, 30Hz was around where the Alpine Type-S would start it's flapping, and the Kappa somewhere closer to 28Hz. Very impressive little speaker, though perhaps it should be since each Audiofrog GS8ND2 costs more than both of those subwoofers together. The biggest takeaway is that I didn't realize how harsh and annoying the factory Bose subwoofer was. I thought it was alright and just a little tougher to work with, but no. It was an issue that I did not realize the size of until it had been upgraded. I wouldn't be surprised if most decent drop-in subwoofers provide a notable SQ improvement. Even without feeding it a lot more power, the improved clarity and removal of all the boominess of the stock subwoofer is worth any effort you care to give it.
Enjoy some comparison pictures and, more importantly, enjoy your music!
Audiofrog GS8ND2 in the factory Bose Subwoofer enclosure Audiofrog left, Bose right Audiofrog left, Bose right
Is the Bose sub u upgrade in the driver side panel of the back hatch area? It looks a lot like the bose sub enclosure of my previous 958.1 hybrid.
I just got a 2015 CTT last mth with the Burmeister system. While it's better sounding than my 958.1 stock Bose system, it's still lack the deepest bass and airy open highs I'm used to with custom installations.
It seems like the bass is all comjng from the lower front door panels.
You mentioned above that the Burmeister has a 10 sub vs the Bose 8. Is that in the door panel or in the back hatch side ? I don't think I have any bass coming out of the rear area, so wondering if the 10s are door mounted?
If there is a sub in the back and I can upgrade the speaker to audiofrog and get a true low bass, thst would be ideal. I don't need sound off level bass volume, just solid true low end vs mid range.bump.
I'm considering adding a custom built 4 inch high by 12 deep by 30 inch wide downfiring enclosure holding the amp and 2 10s to span the back behind the rear seats to get the kind of low bass response I get in my E55 custom built trunk mounted 2 x 10 sub. It's loud enough and the bass is very low and.very fast.
But if I could get close with modifying a side panel single 10 sub, and keep my hatch space free, that might be a good trade off.
I kind of don't want to mess with the spare tire area.
Its a daily and long distance driver so who knows.when I might need to use the spare
Is the Bose sub u upgrade in the driver side panel of the back hatch area? It looks a lot like the bose sub enclosure of my previous 958.1 hybrid.
I just got a 2015 CTT last mth with the Burmeister system. While it's better sounding than my 958.1 stock Bose system, it's still lack the deepest bass and airy open highs I'm used to with custom installations.
It seems like the bass is all comjng from the lower front door panels.
You mentioned above that the Burmeister has a 10 sub vs the Bose 8. Is that in the door panel or in the back hatch side ? I don't think I have any bass coming out of the rear area, so wondering if the 10s are door mounted?
If there is a sub in the back and I can upgrade the speaker to audiofrog and get a true low bass, thst would be ideal. I don't need sound off level bass volume, just solid true low end vs mid range.bump.
I'm considering adding a custom built 4 inch high by 12 deep by 30 inch wide downfiring enclosure holding the amp and 2 10s to span the back behind the rear seats to get the kind of low bass response I get in my E55 custom built trunk mounted 2 x 10 sub. It's loud enough and the bass is very low and.very fast.
But if I could get close with modifying a side panel single 10 sub, and keep my hatch space free, that might be a good trade off.
I kind of don't want to mess with the spare tire area.
Its a daily and long distance driver so who knows.when I might need to use the spare
The diesels and hybrids have the subwoofer in the left side of the cargo area, all other gasoline models will have the subwoofer under the spare tire. Your front doors will still have 8" midbass woofers like Bose, just a higher quality speaker comparatively.
01-20-2024, 01:16 PM
The biggest takeaway is that I didn't realize how harsh and annoying the factory Bose subwoofer was. I thought it was alright and just a little tougher to work with, but no. It was an issue that I did not realize the size of until it had been upgraded. I wouldn't be surprised if most decent drop-in subwoofers provide a notable SQ improvement. Even without feeding it a lot more power, the improved clarity and removal of all the boominess of the stock subwoofer is worth any effort you care to give it.
