stereo advice

[Matt6481@xxxxxxx]

John,
       Your 325is has a total of eight speakers, later 3 series had 10(but
only by virtue of placement). The stock set up is 5 1/4in woofers in the kick
panel, with midrange and tweeters in the doors. In the rear is a 4in
coax(coaxial-tweeter mounted on woofer). MB Quart is a great speaker, arguably
the best if you go Competition series, but big bucks. If you're gonna do the
Quarts, then using the stock amp is a sin. So, I'll run through the optimum
and the affordable set ups front to rear.
            Optimum: Replace head unit with Alpine(the best, no arguement) The
stock head will never give a clean signal to the amp, which will never be
worth using (Blaupunkt + 8 channels= headache) Make sure you get 4V preouts.
Staying away from structural mods, go with your Quart 5 1/4 components in the
kick panel and mount the tweeters in the stock location. Throw out the
midranges(that .25lb weight reduction really improves your 0-60 time) In the
back, 4in is just a cheap size no matter how you look at it. It is also very
difficult to increase, so do a high quality component set of stock size back
there and let your installer be creative with the tweeters. In the rear, out
goes the stock amp, to be replaced with a high quality 5 or more channel
Adcom, Alpine, Kicker, or Rockford Fosgate amp. Power the new speakers with
the first four channels, and bridge the remaining channels across the
sub.(Make sure you get built-in crossovers, because...) Using a bass tube
would be like putting hubcaps on an M3... so get a box built. JL subwoofers
are widely regarded as being the best, althought there are other good brands.
Choose a power rating that will accompany your amp's abilities, as well as a
size and quantity to fit your trunk space. 1 or 2 tens in a bandpass will give
a nice thump, but no range of sound. 2 tens or a twelve in a sealed box will
need more power, but will much better accomodate an audiophile's ears. If you
can't give up the trunk space of even one ten, then JL makes a product called
the Stealthbox will come prefabricated to fit under your rear deck off the
floor.

Now, if your wallet is reeling. here's another solution:
         Replace the head with a low power Kenwood Sony, Alpine, or other
quality brand. Make sure it has an internal amp to power you rear 4in
speakers. upgrade all speakers to something you like (personally, Alpine coaxs
in the rear, with the new JL components up front) and forget about the
midranges. Do a nice 4 channel amp, roughly 40x4 or 50x4, with the front two
channels powering the front components, and the rear two bridged across a sub
designed for roughly 150-200w RMS power. Even the best 4in speakers available
will never need much power, so they'll be fine with 20-25w RMS from the head.
Install a crossover on the sub (again, can't beat JL) with a level control up
by the driver. With this setup, all of the interior speakers sound great, as
does the sub, with barely noticeable difference compared to the megabuck
system. The best part is, if you don't want the thump from the sub, turn down
the level control and the crossover will still send a full signal to your rear
coax speakers, thus maintaining full range sound.

Last option:
          leave the stock head, amp, and changer, and put in new speakers. DO
NOT blow your money on superb speakers, becasue your amp couldn't dream of
cranking out that much power. Just a nice, quality set of low-medium set of
rear coax and front components (although with the reduced power, you might
want to consider coax.)
         I leave you with these two word pieces of advice: 1. Never go to
Crutchfield(ever notice they don't even carry Alpine? Alpine has too much
integrity to deal with those A**holes!) 2. Find an Alpine dealer/installer,
and trust him. Alpine wouldn't have given him the contract if he wasn't good.
Good Luck!!

Matt
92 325is

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