325 tweeter install

[jfdublyu]

so i got some used 325 tweeters for the side mirror panels. after i got the stock panels off i did find the factory pre-wired harness and hooked them up, but the speakers don't work. is there somewhere else i need to connect some wires? are there some wires i need to fish out behind the head unit, maybe? if anyone else has installed these i would appreciate a little help, thanks.

[M42boy]

so i got some used 325 tweeters for the side mirror panels. after i got the stock panels off i did find the factory pre-wired harness and hooked them up, but the speakers don't work. is there somewhere else i need to connect some wires? are there some wires i need to fish out behind the head unit, maybe? if anyone else has installed these i would appreciate a little help, thanks.

Let me know what you find.  I don't think my car was pre-wired for some reason.  I need to find another car with the seperates and yank out the wiring, although people say mine "should" have everything I need.

The problem you are having is you need the kick panel speakers that go along with it.  You can't simply install the tweeters.  They are component seperates.  Once you have the front kick panel speakers for the same car, you will see where there is a wire for the top plug.  I think that speaker has a passive crossover built into it to seperate out the high frequency to go to the tweeter, while the low and mid will stay for the speakers.  YOU NEED THIS to make it work.

Let me know what you find and please take pictures of how you hooked it up, what wires you found in your kick panel, and if you had to get new connectors.  I must be a moron, because I can't figure it out, but I've been busy with other issues and haven't taken the time to study wiring diagrams.  

I've got both the upgrade speakers and tweeters for my car sitting in the basement though, so would like to get them in the car and working soon!

[jfdublyu]

so i just need to put a high-frequency crossover on + tweeter connection to make them work?

the wires that were pre-wired were kinda hidden along the metal door frame above the side-mirror. they were'nt coming up from below, they were up top on the perimeter of the frame. I will go pull out my 5 1/4 Sonys and look around. You say that the tweeter wires are just spliced off of the wires going to the 5 1/4's?

[M42boy]

so i just need to put a high-frequency crossover on + tweeter connection to make them work?

the wires that were pre-wired were kinda hidden along the metal door frame above the side-mirror. they were'nt coming up from below, they were up top on the perimeter of the frame. I will go pull out my 5 1/4 Sonys and look around. You say that the tweeter wires are just spliced off of the wires going to the 5 1/4's?

Hmm, you could probably wire a passive crossover in-line somehow and keep using the Sonys, but might just be easier to pull a pair of the kick panel speakers from a local yard that may have some late model E30's.  These have the cross-over built into them.

See below:  I believe where I'm pointing is the connection point where the tweeter lead wire is supposed to connect to the kick panel speaker.



Let me know if I've missed something.

[jfdublyu]

hmmm. i like the sony's so maybe on a nice day i will break everything down and check out all the wiring and play around some. i've read where premium sound system owners change their 5 1/4" and tweeters to aftermarket and they still work

[M42boy]

hmmm. i like the sony's so maybe on a nice day i will break everything down and check out all the wiring and play around some. i've read where premium sound system owners change their 5 1/4" and tweeters to aftermarket and they still work

You can do that, but then you have to put in your own passive crossover network.  If you just want to get yours working, finding a pair of OEM kick panel speakers like this is definately going to be cheapest route and you can just use the factory wiring already in place.

[jfdublyu]

i'll see what i can do and if it doesn't work then i'll get the oem speakers. if the crossovers will work then that's a cheap solution, they are only like $10 at the Wal-Mart or other electronics store

[Royalratch]

You need a crossover.

The OEM speakers had crossovers built-in and the wiring was continued behind them to upto the door pillar. But in non-premium audio cars, the wiring in the door pillar goes nowhere.

So you have to feed fresh tweeter wiring through the door cable grommet to the footwell where you can place some crossovers.

Common places for crossovers are:

1) Under Dash Steering Panel
2) Behind the Centre Console/Ashtray on non AC cars.
3) Inside the glovebox rood blanking plate
4) behind the speakers themselves if they're not too big.
5) In the Doors themselves.

This is what you have to find space for x 2:

[Cobra Jet]

Just curious - since the factory BMW kick panel 5 1/4" speaker had the crossovers soldered to the + & - terminals, could'nt one just remove that crossover & reinstall (solder) it to an aftermarket 5 1/4" component set and still have the same "effect" instead of having to install the aftermarket crossover "box"?  

I surely know the aftermarket crossover will be a much better component as far as sound quality (as I have MB Quart components in my vehicles), but I'm just thinking aloud here and wondering if someone say picked up a component set w/o crossovers (or even just new 5 1/4" mids to replace the factory mids), if using the factory crossover on the new mids, if this would still work as an inexpensive alternative mod?

[Royalratch]

Of course it would.

A crossover is a simple device anyway and you could 'package' it anyway you want - though I wouldn't hack my $200 crossovers to make them fot in the footwell!