I am running a Pioneer HU that has the 50x4 mosfet power pre-amp built in. I would prefer to not run a separate amp in the car for the front speakers.

I want to run a good set of components in the fronts.

Im looking at Boston Acoustic, MB Quart and Polk Audio.

Since the output to each speaker set is 50 watts, should I get a set of components rated at 50w.

Example: im looking at

~a set of Boston Acoustic S50 (http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-1751-2978-71/1?AID=5463217&PID=2518995&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fcgi.ebay.com%2FBOSTON-ACOUSTICS-S50-5-25-CAR-STEREO-COMPONENT-SPEAKER_W0QQitemZ280207105476QQihZ018QQcategoryZ32 818QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem) components that are rated at 55 RMS

~or~

~a set of MB Quart ESA-213 (http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-1751-2978-71/1?AID=5463217&PID=2518995&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fcgi.ebay.com%2Fws%2FeBayISAPI.dll %3FViewItem%26rd%3D1%26item%3D140213824086%26ssPag eName%3DSTRK%3AMEWA%3AIT%26ih%3D004) components that are rated at 30 - 80w RMS

Am I going in the right direction here?

The proprietary speaker size of the midrange makes it difficult, but if you are only going to put in 2 ways and the factory amp has built in crossovers, that's the only way to do it, really.

plenty of info here already

I doubt that the Pioneer HU will put out 50W RMS - MAYBE peak - but not RMS. Get a cheap amp off eBay or online and drive your new components. It will sound 10 times better. Or buy a used amp off one of the car audio forums.

A 75 - 100W RMS 2 channel amp should do the trick and still be inexpensive. It will give much cleaner sound to the speakers and will play lots louder. You can ususally drive good (like MB Quart or BA) speakers above what they are rated.

Hi, your head-unit doesn't directly power the speakers in your car, it just sends an audio signal to your OEM amplifier which is located either behind the rear seat (in your cabrio) or behind the carpet on the left side of your trunk. This is true unless you've already bypassed the oem amplifier or plan on by-passing it. The OEM amplifier is a 10 channel unit that sends an internally crossed over signal to each speaker, so you basically have a single channel for each speaker giving that speaker only the frequencies it can reproduce. In addition to this your ohm loads on the oem system is not standardized, so your mid-bass channels are designed to run at 2 or 3 ohms depending on if you have the HK system, the mid-range is 4 or 8 ohms, and the tweeter is 4 or 8 ohms. So as you can see simply replacing the head-unit won't allow you to add "off the shelf" after-market component speakers, you would also have to by-pass the oem amplifier or find speaker that match the oem amplifier specifications. We offer a simple solution that will allow you to still use your factory amplifier, all while greatly improving your sound.

(Begin shameless plug :) )
We offer a Stage 1 speaker upgrade for your car, which is completely plug and play with your oem harnesses and mounting locations. The Stage 1 upgrade is designed to work perfectly with your factory amplifier and at the same time improves the clarity and mid-bass response significantly. This upgrade will replace tweeter and mid-bass with speakers built by Rainbow to our specs, and will replace your mid-range with our own 2.5" upgrade.

There are two different versions of our Stage 1, the standard Stage 1 comes with a Dream Line .75" tweeter, a BSW mid-range, and a Dream Line mid-bass, which will provide rich smooth sound. The upgraded Stage 1 comes with a IQ line 1" tweeter, a BSW mid-range, and an upgraded Rainbow mid-bass driver, which will be very precise and clear, and are capable of running off of an after-market amplifier with up to 70 watts of rms power, should you ever want to upgrade your stock amplifier. The IQ line tweeter will come with it's own black housing because it is too large to fit inside the stock tweeter housing. Here's a link to our Stage 1 speaker upgrade.
Stage 1 Speaker Upgrade E36
(http://www.bavariansoundwerks.com/product/463/174/BMW-Speakers-Upgrade-Kit-E36-3-Series-M3-Coupe-Sedan/)If you are price conscious then you might want to consider upgrading the mid-range and tweeter and wait to replace the mid-bass. This will greatly improve the upper frequency response of the audio system.
Here's a direct link.
E36 mid-range and tweeter upgrade. (http://www.bavariansoundwerks.com/product/489/323/BSW-2.5-quot--Front-Midrange-Replacement---Upgrade-Speakers-for-BMW-3-Series---M3-92-99--E36-/)

There are many other speaker options out there, but none are designed to work perfectly with your car as ours are. On top of this the Stage 1 is not a slapped together system, we've put a lot of research into making this system and have used very high grade components, all to give our customers a great sounding BMW.

Hope this helps with your decision and if you have any other questions feel free to PM/email me.

I presumed that since he is running an aftermarket HU - he was not using the factory amp and wants to drive his components from the HU.

BBking9, your correct.

If I run separates...2 Piece w/ an amp, with the mid bass at your feet, do you loose alot in the sound? or does it reflect back up to your ears?

From my experience, the tweeters will usually overwhelm the mid-bass quite a bit due to the imaging. I would recommend getting a set of components that have a -3db, or even a -6db, adjustment for the tweeters on the crossover network, unless you like really bright highs (which some people do). I would definitely recommend running a true amplifier to power the component set, even though the rms power matches the head-units output the mid-bass will typically be fairly weak on lower wattages. By the way the RMS rating for your pioneer is going to be about 17w-22w depending on the series, newer series having the 22w. I hope this helps and feel free to contact me if you have any other audio questions.

Vintage - if I was you - install your components without an aftermarket amp. As Paul said - try components that allow a little adjust of the tweeter level. Some may have a switch on the Xover that say 0db - 3db, others may have an even wider range -3db to +3db, you get the idea.

Run them off you HU for a few weeks and see how they sound - the HU power may just be enough for you. If not - you can always add an amp later.

But you are right on track with the BA, MBQ or Polk all are good. I reecntly installed some components in my daughters 1998 Jeep Cherokee. I wanted to go cheapo and the Phoenix Gold RSDs got great reviews on several of the car audio forums. Plus they are only $80 !! I did add an aftermarket amp - but it was only 50W per channel RMS. SOUNDS GREAT. The Phoenix Gold RSDs are great components for the money.

I understand your concern of having the midranges down so low and tweeters up high - but the ability to drop the level on the tweeters at the Xover will help a lot.

Good luck.

I think it'd be a mistake to run any decent components off a head unit. Not enough power to get the best from the components. Could actually ruin them due to lack of power.

Jay

+1

always, always, always use a dedicated amp for an aftermarket component system. if you want to use the head unit's power, buy a pair of coaxial speakers and be done with it. you will get better staging that way anyway.

First lesson to learn ....don't believe anything Pioneer says ...they have been know to inflate specs for MANY years.

Second ...an external amp will always sound better than a internal amp in a HU. I had rather have a 30wpc external amp than a 50wpc HU.

>^..^<

I agree with the others above - an external amp will sound better. But sounds like you dont want to go to the trouble, dont know how to do it or dont want to spend the money - whatever the reason - I seriously doubt you will do any damage to components by running them on HU power. Hell - the factory amp in my 525i only puts out 17-22W RMS.

Again, hook em up - you can always add an amp after you have tried the HU power.

Just my $.02

Thanks for all the input.

I believe in the makes of Polk/BA and MB quart. The sound quality is extrodinary.

I dont mind adding an amp in line. My problem, if I do, then that means I have to build some nice racks in the trunk for them to mount on. :) which means more work :)

I have done audio installs before, but that was many years ago so im trying to maximize my efforts w/ less work.

What I dont want is to have to revist what I did because I messed up the new components installed.

I want clear and quality. Some some, Pioneer isnt the way to go, but I have to keep within a budget to keep it realistic to the 'other half'.

I did some research on line, and I have been looking at smaller wattage amps for the components (pioneer to match), a new set of dual components (Q series MB Quart), a Med amp for a sub (pioneer to match) and then an 8" sub (polk/momo) built into my ski hole for some lower dB hits to capture the full sound of my music.

How does that read?

I figure; after its all said and done, $450 to $500 after its all installed.

Sounds good to me.

I know that I'm running 100W RMS to 4 Channels. Polk MOMO MMC5250s in the front and Polk db691s I believe in the rear. It's extremely loud. Extremely. There is no way that you would need to run something this loud if you're just looking to be able to crank some tunes here and there.

From what I have heard I would say that a 40W RMS x 2channels to 75W RMS x 2channels sounds about what you would want. And a decently easy way to run this (the way I did) was to use the factory wiring. I installed the crossovers in the trunk and just cut the front speaker wires (from the head unit to the amp) and cut the output wires (to the tweeter, and woofers for the front) and connected them to the crossovers. I also used a line output converter.

Basically you should get a component set that is set to run about 50 WRMS and then an amp that is either that or tad bit stronger.

I am also selling a set of components made by Memphis that I had in my e36 for about a week. The guy told me that they could go 100 WRMS and I took his word, but when I found out I immediately took them out because I didn't want to blow them.

Here's the link, they really are great speaker, but maybe a little out of your price range: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=957952

The Memphis Components are 40 WRMS which would be really great for what you're looking for. And not to mention, I have the factory tweeter mounts cut out already and I'll give them to you with those speakers.