[JustAWhisper]

I finally took the plunge on upgrading my M2's speaker system.

Since Eton's have become difficult to find, I bought the Audiotec Fischer MATCH UP speakers that recently became available instead. I saw some examples where people were very impressed with these in other car marques, and they were about the same price as Etons were before they became hard to find, so hopefully they work well. I'm just doing fronts for now. I might do the cheaper coax version in the rear if this turns out well.

Anyways, the box arrived this week and I'm preparing to do the install, however I have a couple of questions because I've never done this before and the instructions that come in the box are very light on details.

1. The box comes with a couple of soft circular pads with adhesive backing that match the outer diameter of the mid-range drivers. I assume that these are supposed to applied to the door around the hole where the speakers goes? The Bavsound video I'm using for door panel removal instructions mentions needing to isolate the speakers, so it makes sense.

2. The box comes with a couple of plastic brackets for the tweeters. I assume they are for a different vehicle application, because the video shows the tweeters fitting pretty snugly inside the sail. Just sanity checking, I suppose.

3. The kit comes with a couple crossovers that appear to be required based on the way the kit is designed. The instructions state as much, but they also indicate that there are two different configurations. One is for the OE radio and the other is for use with a DSP amplifer. Changing config requires opening the crossover's cover and moving a jumper. The confusing part to me is I thought the HK system has a DSP amplifer? Do I need to move the jumper to the DSP config or should I leave it in the OE radio config? The instructions say nothing about HK specifically.

4. Finally, any recommendations on where/how to secure the crossover?

Thanks.

[MarcoZandrini]

1. I think those pads are used at the back of speakers' magnets. Do they have a sticky surface? If not see if they'll hit whatever is behind the speakers.

2. Since you can came with the HK option, the tweeters should fit in the "sails" that have the Harmon Kardon label. You may have to do some mod to the the sails for the tweeters to fit.

3. The HK systems does not have any DSP functionality. So configure the crossover for a standard system.

4. How well sealed are the crossovers? Obviously, AF wants you to mount them in the door as the doors get full spectrum sound. And, the interior of the door is exposed to the elements. As I remember, the door card (interior panel) or the door itself has some sound deadening foam. You could mount the crossovers there.

[JustAWhisper]

Originally Posted by MarcoZandrini

1. I think those pads are used at the back of speakers' magnets. Do they have a sticky surface? If not see if they'll hit whatever is behind the speakers.

2. Since you can came with the HK option, the tweeters should fit in the "sails" that have the Harmon Kardon label. You may have to do some mod to the the sails for the tweeters to fit.

3. The HK systems does not have any DSP functionality. So configure the crossover for a standard system.

4. How well sealed are the crossovers? Obviously, AF wants you to mount them in the door as the doors get full spectrum sound. And, the interior of the door is exposed to the elements. As I remember, the door card (interior panel) or the door itself has some sound deadening foam. You could mount the crossovers there.

Thanks for the response.

1. Yes, I think you're right. They are adhesive backed and match the diameter of the speakers. I suppose I can either put them on the door around the speaker hole or on the back of speaker itself.

2. Yeah, I'll just have to see when I get the sails off.

3. That makes more sense. I read something somewhere else that got me confused.

4. They are not sealed. You can easily pop the plastic cover off and see the electronics inside. Obviously the weather issue is a good point. If I mount them in the door I'll have to line the cover seam in electrical tape or something. After rereading the instructions AF recommends mounting to the inside of the door card with adhesive. I might try some black silicone to mount the crossover as that's weather resistant but not so adhesive that I'll never be able to remove it.

[JustAWhisper]

I got the driver side done this afternoon. AF didn't provide much cabling for the crossover, so the only place I could find to put it was to jam it between the the door handle light and the rib right above the speaker. I think it's squeezing the wiring harness a little bit in that spot, but I managed to get the door card completely back on with no gap showing.

Interesting issue. When I tested the system, I heard a small pop coming from either the driver or tweeter or both. It recurred several times until I closed the door and sat in the car to try and isolate which speaker was popping... and it went away. Further attempts to replicate the issue were inconclusive. It did later pop one more time when turning the car on (but not turning ignition on), but couldn't be replicated again after that.

Needless to say, the electronics on these modern cars can be infuriating. I'll go ahead and install the passenger side at some point this week and see if I get issues there, too. But I'd love to hear if anyone has any ideas on what that's about.

[JustAWhisper]

Quick update. So it turns out the HK audio DOES have a DSP. Switching the crossover to DSP configuration fixed the popping.

[MarcoZandrini]

Hmmm, I didn't think that the F22/23 series cars have DSP. Keep the old amp as you'll have to re-install it for the dealer to do any software updates.

[Encanto]

Originally Posted by JustAWhisper

Quick update. So it turns out the HK audio DOES have a DSP. Switching the crossover to DSP configuration fixed the popping.

The crossover switch changes crossover inputs from 7v to 12V max. It was popping because the input level exceeded 7V.