Just To Share My ICE Setup on E90....Part-1

Grisson

Active Member
Hi,

Just sharing my humble ICE setup in my E90 which were all transferred from my previous ride.....started the work since Sunday until now (12noon till midnight daily), and today its about 80% complete. A total of 3 manpower working fulltime on it. Am showing the progressive process of the whole setup with picture illustrations....hoping that if any bros or sis out there who may be considering an ICE setup in your E90, you can use this as a reference....I am no way related to the audioshop who did this setup for me...:shakehea: , just a satisfied customer (at least until now) with their works and dedication....:goodup:

1) Work at the boot area

1a) : Custom-made board for the amplifiers and cap

Boot-1.jpg


1b) : Custom-made board ready

Boot-2.jpg


1c) : Hiding of Alpine 701 Digital Sound Processor and a baby-amp in the left-hand side of the boot

Boot-3.jpg


1d) : Soundproofing and preparation of woofer box mould

Boot-5.jpg


Boot-6.jpg


1e) : Application of pre-mould resin at the woofer area to form the shape of the woofer box

Boot-7.jpg


1f) : Completion of woofer mould box

Wooferbox-1.jpg


Woofer-2.jpg


1g) : Custom-made box for the CD changer

CDChanger.jpg


1h) : Completion of my custom-board for the amplifiers and cap

boot-8.jpg


boot-9.jpg


2) Works at the door area

2a) : Cutting of door panel to fit in my low-mid...*sob sob*:verysad: :verysad: :verysad:

Door-1.jpg


Door-2.jpg


2b) : Custom-made board holder

Door-3.jpg


2c) : Soundproofing to the 2 front doors

Door-4.jpg


2d) : Custom-made mould for the speaker panel

Door-5.jpg


2e) Semi-finished speaker mould wrapped and fitted

door-6.jpg


door-7.jpg


3) : Front Speakers at the A-pillars

3a) : Fixing of speaker cups for the tweeter and high-mid

Front-1.jpg


3b) : Spray matt-black of the speaker cup holders (don't want them to be too shining and loud....:oops: )
Front-2.jpg


Front-3.jpg


To be continued....
 
Re: Just To Share My ICE Setup on E90....Part-1

Boomz Boomz man..........


cheers
 
Re: Just To Share My ICE Setup on E90....Part-1

Nice Grisson (dont know why image of CSI comes to my mind when i say this...hehe)
May i know why u mount the high-mids at the A pillar...and not at the stock speaker mount in your door? Thanks.
 
Re: Just To Share My ICE Setup on E90....Part-1

Siew, no horse run. Keep the pics coming
 
Re: Just To Share My ICE Setup on E90....Part-1

longhorn;487277 said:
Nice Grisson (dont know why image of CSI comes to my mind when i say this...hehe)
May i know why u mount the high-mids at the A pillar...and not at the stock speaker mount in your door? Thanks.

Hi longhorn,

Yup....me a big fan of CSI too !!! Maybe that gave me the idea of how I can share it this way.... ;)

2 reasons that I opted this way :

1) Nicer that way to place 2 speakers (tweeter and high-mid) together on the A-pillar...

2) Tuning of sound and time alignment will be quite difficult (almost impossible) if the high-mid is placed at the original speaker position at the door panel....

:)
 
Re: Just To Share My ICE Setup on E90....Part-1

Tribeca;487282 said:
Siew, no horse run. Keep the pics coming

Thanks bro. No problem. Will post some more pics (Part 2) tonite showing the final product....;)
 
Re: Just To Share My ICE Setup on E90....Part-1

Grisson

Brings back memories of my setup in my E46 days! Great to see your mod!

A few questions on your setup:

1) Why did you go for the fibre glass (?) mould for your subwoofer? I did this once in my hatchback ago (for obvious reasons naturally).

Did you consider the (normal) alternative of getting your sub mounted on the rear backboard? Believe you will still get very good bass so long as the rear backboard is custom and does not flex.

2) Are you changing the head unit? From my experience this is normally the limiting factor even after upgrading amps, speakers and cables.

3) Considering a front centre channel? Makes a difference (based on my current and past setups) and brings the soundstage nicely centred.

Many thanks and looking forward to your pics.
 
Re: Just To Share My ICE Setup on E90....Part-1

Jiunn Siong;487548 said:
Grisson

Brings back memories of my setup in my E46 days! Great to see your mod!

A few questions on your setup:

1) Why did you go for the fibre glass (?) mould for your subwoofer? I did this once in my hatchback ago (for obvious reasons naturally).

Did you consider the (normal) alternative of getting your sub mounted on the rear backboard? Believe you will still get very good bass so long as the rear backboard is custom and does not flex.

2) Are you changing the head unit? From my experience this is normally the limiting factor even after upgrading amps, speakers and cables.

3) Considering a front centre channel? Makes a difference (based on my current and past setups) and brings the soundstage nicely centred.

Many thanks and looking forward to your pics.

Hi Jiunn Siong,

Thanks for the kind feedback !

1) I did not go for the woofer at the rear backboard as I wanna keep the current as original as possible ;), as it will involve cutting a bigger piece of the metal from the backboard which I didn't want it :( . I've seen very impressive customed backboard with woofer mounted, but the downward protruding woofer magnet will take up a little space in the boot and block the boot entrance a little too, as quite frequently I'll need ample space in the boot for storing my carton boxes (office's goods) when making delivery. The woofer in the floor compartment is just nice to conceal the woofer without taking up that space I need, and it flushes nicely. I'm trying to get back as much space as possible with all the items installed at the boot for my practical reason ;).....

2) I am not changing the original head unit at the moment, as I wouldn't want to disrupt the current console's appearance, and disable the computer's info screen (as the original head unit also displays the car's computer info)....instead I'm using a so-call "signal convertor", hooking up to the original head unit so as to deliver flat signals to the processor before the amplification, and I can still utilise all the steering buttons too. I'm trying out this way, and maybe consider to fit back my Alpine 9887 if the sound's isn't so good, but that'll be a mental challenge for me haha... ;)

3) Yup have heard of very good centre-staging if using a good center speaker with the 701 processor....but so far am quite satisfied with the center-stage performance of my current Elate 3-way, so will give the center speaker a miss ;).....

Will be posting the pictures soon after the completion.... ;)
 
Re: Just To Share My ICE Setup on E90....Part-1

Grisson

Understand your comment about losing boot space. I had a 10" subwoofer (didn't think I needed a 12") on my rear board and I was reduced to one large suitcase instead of two! I've now got two subs, one under each of my seats from the Logic 7 setup.

For imaging, try Norah Jones' Don't Know Why (from her first album).

It's looking gr8...keep the pics coming :) :yummie: :cloud9:
 
Re: Just To Share My ICE Setup on E90....Part-1

Jiunn Siong;487587 said:
Grisson

Understand your comment about losing boot space. I had a 10" subwoofer (didn't think I needed a 12") on my rear board and I was reduced to one large suitcase instead of two! I've now got two subs, one under each of my seats from the Logic 7 setup.

For imaging, try Norah Jones' Don't Know Why (from her first album).

It's looking gr8...keep the pics coming :) :yummie: :cloud9:

Hi Jiunn Siong,

Yup that's what I thought so too if I can't have enough luggage space.... ;)

Ok thanks...Norah Jones...haven't actually hear her songs though...but I believe it'll definitely be good for tuning....I leave it to my audioshop tuner to tune up my system, but he's always using Cai Qin and some other songs from his tuning CD....actually, I also didn't really come across Cai Qin's songs too back then, until 2 years back I came across his CD when he tuned my previous ride, and my oh my, it has been a real pleasure listening to Cai Qin's songs man haha.... ;)
 
Re: Just To Share My ICE Setup on E90....Part-1

Also try John Mayer's The Village Sessions...nice guitars. Good luck doing the final tuning
 
Re: Just To Share My ICE Setup on E90....Part-1

hey hey...getting nicer and nicer

Grisson;487575 said:
Hi Jiunn Siong,
...... The woofer in the floor compartment is just nice to conceal the woofer without taking up that space I need, and it flushes nicely.....
i m keen to get your feedback abt the sub woofer. cos fr my experience, sub inside the boot not able to deliver bass into the cabin. i think the bmw boot too well insulated. so pls share ur experience.

also pls share pic of completed front door. thx!!

Grisson;487589 said:
Hi Jiunn Siong,
...I leave it to my audioshop tuner to tune up my system, but he's always using Cai Qin .... ;)
cai qin? hey... that's MY kind of tuner!! woohoo.
 
Re: Just To Share My ICE Setup on E90....Part-1

nice setup, Bro!
hey, just wana check: where did you mount/place your control unit for your 701? (the 1din faceplate size device to do your tuning n stuff) cos i'm setting mine up this weekend, and stil hv not decided on where to place mine... Thanks!
 
Re: Just To Share My ICE Setup on E90....Part-1

longhorn;487687 said:
i m keen to get your feedback abt the sub woofer. cos fr my experience, sub inside the boot not able to deliver bass into the cabin. i think the bmw boot too well insulated. so pls share ur experience.

Yup, am anticipating that the bass may not be able to move to the front so well...maybe a 70% or 80% at max...unless I'll put 2pcs of 12" haha....but I can still live with that if the bass' not so refine at the front... ;) The tuning will be starting tonight...will update....

longhorn;487687 said:
also pls share pic of completed front door. thx!!

yup will be posting up some pics tonight... ;)
 
Re: Just To Share My ICE Setup on E90....Part-1

richlee7;487744 said:
nice setup, Bro!
hey, just wana check: where did you mount/place your control unit for your 701? (the 1din faceplate size device to do your tuning n stuff) cos i'm setting mine up this weekend, and stil hv not decided on where to place mine... Thanks!

Hi Rich,

I've also pondered quite a while on where and how to mount this control unit....I'm fixing it at the top right-hand corner of the windscreen, using the Apexi metal bracket as the back support for the unit. Only double-side tape will be used, no drilling required, and the cable will be concealed inside the roof board. The only disadvantage is that when you're using the overhead vanity board to block the sun, you won't be able to access to the unit...but I've no problem for this as I've sun-screen shield on my windscreen ;)....

Hope this helps....;)
 
Re: Just To Share My ICE Setup on E90....Part-1

Grisson;487879 said:
Hi Rich,

I've also pondered quite a while on where and how to mount this control unit....I'm fixing it at the top right-hand corner of the windscreen, using the Apexi metal bracket as the back support for the unit. Only double-side tape will be used, no drilling required, and the cable will be concealed inside the roof board. The only disadvantage is that when you're using the overhead vanity board to block the sun, you won't be able to access to the unit...but I've no problem for this as I've sun-screen shield on my windscreen ;)....

Hope this helps....;)
ah... never thot of puttin it UP... okie, will experiment n see if i'll follow your path ;)
appreciate the feedback n sharing.
 
Re: Just To Share My ICE Setup on E90....Part-1

richlee7;487987 said:
ah... never thot of puttin it UP... okie, will experiment n see if i'll follow your path ;)
appreciate the feedback n sharing.

No prob bro, my pleasure to share... ;)
 
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