E38 BMW DSP Audio Sound Deck - Easy Fix? 

+Possibly Awesome I have a 2000 e38 and neither of my rear deck speakers are working either. I personally think the whole audio system in this car sucks so I will be replacing everything entirely (all speakers, tweeters, and even that crappy head unit). I already have 4 Cadence cvl-6k 6.5 comps (1 blown) but only will use two for the front doors. I also have a set of Cadence cvl-5k comps that I will be using for the rear doors. I will then be purchasing 2 sets of Cadence qrs65 6.5 coaxial speakers for the rear deck. As for tweeters, maybe a set of Lanzar titanium domes or 4 of Cadence's best silk dome tweeters for the front stage. This will all be powered by a Skar Audio sk-125.4 amp (204w x 4 @ 2 ohms, 130w x4 @ 4 ohms) which will be more than enough but I gotta have all that power:) Factory stereo will be replaced with a nice Pioneer 7.1 touchscreen HU. This will be a major upgrade and will blow away the garbage factory system I have in my car now by giving me all the right mids, highs, and mid bass that I want and then some:) I will however go with my two old school 10" Rockford Fosgate power series subs with the PSI upgraded recones for my lowend bass. BTW Bro, your vid was very helpful and love the interior in your 7er.

***** You got it. I will definitely post a vid of it's new audio system when I get around to it

+Possibly Awesome you could replace all the deck speakers (5.25 inch)and amp the 'subwoofers' with some deeper stronger speakers , by converting the signal from the amp using a line out and running the extra power to the speaker, and if need be you could make spacer brackets out of abs. lots of guys in the e46 community do this but with 6x9 for a stealthy install and to not get in the way of our almost required rear strut bars.

I believe they are 5.52" speakers, but finding replacements is tough. There is a vendor who makes 'Monsoon DSP Speakers' for this by retrofitting better equipment that will drop right into the original frame.

This is definitely something I'd like to be able to do down the road. I know mine have only gotten worse over the past 6 months, there's a lot of crackling coming from the low end now. I imagine the shipping to/from Canada is quite expensive, but within the US should be very reasonable.

Go to speakerworks.com to repair your deteriorated foam on your rear 740il speakers: Order this: 5 1/4 inch Speaker Repair Kit Angled or Flat Attach with 1 Foam Surround - SWK525: $5.97 per speaker. Instructions included on how to replace the outer cone foam. Easy to do....don't need to send the speakers off. After snapping speaker grill off (lift front up first with small ply tool) and remove 4 phillips head screws on each speaker (takes a little work with these as BMW placed silicone glue on each screw head). Lift each speaker out and place to the side. Then you will need to un-solder the speaker wires to completely remove each speaker.

Good idea! We're going to have to overhaul ours, at least 3 of the speakers have started to fall apart.

There's also someone doing DIY replacement subwoofer kits on one of the E38 forums/Facebook groups. It's one of the few interior projects we have, but if we can budget it in after the maintenance stuff, we're definitely going to do it!

Mine have fallen apart significantly since I shot this video. 3 of them have now lost some of their cone. I know someone is building new units on one of the BMW forums, but I can't justify the cost based on the value of the car. I'm going to try to find a new DSP bar in better condition than mine and try it out.

@@PRNTestDrive www.bavsound.com/BMW-Underseat-Subwoofer-Upgrades

It probably just flashed on like the other indicator lights on startup. I forget what was going through my head when I filmed this!

Normally it would work but it seems that these are pretty specific sizes, there is an E38 enthusiast who retrofits new equipment into this housing.

@@PRNTestDrive it'll be fine just get the same size speakers, holes will be little off just screw in new holes. Speakers will still cover opening.

This is probably the easiest approach for most owners considering how difficult replacement/aftermarket parts are for the original system.

Already didn't that, two amps and replace original amp. Also new speaker mids and highs on doors also

At first it felt that way, but once you know which bolts need to be removed and the process it ends up taking a lot less time. I know when I did this the second time around it was 20 minutes from start to completely removed. I'm going to have to do it again at some point, most of those DSP speakers in my video have started to flake apart.

PRN where are you located?

We're in Ontario, Canada.

PRN ooo,okay. i am Usa. Cincinnati Ohio.

No kidding. Someone does offer a replacement service for this rear sound bar, basically you order a new one, he sends off an OEM housing with new speakers and you send back your broken one. One day I'd like to do that with ours!