Amplifier blown! Options

[marcusford]

Hi folks

My Carver DSp amp in my 04 Z4 got damaged due to water egress in the boot. The amp was sent away for repair down to Colin in Basingstoke, but despite his efforts the amp is not working.

I am based in Scotland, can any suggest the cheapest way through this problem. Are there any good specialists in Scotland who may be able to undertake a repair\refit?

I am not an audiophile so am not looking for high end solution just a good working sound system. I am also not a techno wizard so am unable to do major surgery - just day surgery options please!

I did see on the forum a suggestion to "At the most basic, you could remove the factory amp and run everything off the head unit (just wire the "in and out" of the amp together so the speakers are tied directly to the head unit)" . Does anyone have thoughts on this and in layman's terms if possible how do I do this?

From what I can see failing this option I will need to replace the whole system, speakers and all! I am assuming this will be around £500 not sure if there is a cheaper option?

Any helps with this much appreciated

Ta

[bcworkz]

You can wire directly to the head unit, you essentially end up with the base 6 speaker system. There are only 4 outputs though. You could wire the tweeters in parallel to the main front speakers, but you should really wire in a high pass filter to avoid feeding the bass portion to the tweeter. Or replace the kick panel speakers with a better coaxial pair and abandon the OEM tweeters. Fitment can be an issue, you may need to get creative. Of course the other issue is the wires are currently in the boot. Either run new wires or extend them back up front.

Pin out data is here: http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=42371
And some speaker specs: http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=41138

You could also find aftermarket amps that work off speaker level outputs. You could drive all OEM speakers but the subs this way. If you really want subs, you'll need to find a more conventional set. Remember you do not necessarily need two subs, you should not be able to distinguish the off balance in a properly set up system. You probably don't want to buy 8 channels worth of amps, so abandoning some speakers would be in order.

Of course, the easiest, most expensive, and least desirable is replace in kind. Perhaps sourced from breakers?

What ever amps you decide to use, if any, mount them on the front boot bulkhead, not with the battery

[mac27040]

http://bit.ly/LiuRUV


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[marcusford]

You can wire directly to the head unit, you essentially end up with the base 6 speaker system. There are only 4 outputs though. You could wire the tweeters in parallel to the main front speakers, but you should really wire in a high pass filter to avoid feeding the bass portion to the tweeter. Or replace the kick panel speakers with a better coaxial pair and abandon the OEM tweeters. Fitment can be an issue, you may need to get creative. Of course the other issue is the wires are currently in the boot. Either run new wires or extend them back up front.

Pin out data is here: http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=42371
And some speaker specs: http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=41138

You could also find aftermarket amps that work off speaker level outputs. You could drive all OEM speakers but the subs this way. If you really want subs, you'll need to find a more conventional set. Remember you do not necessarily need two subs, you should not be able to distinguish the off balance in a properly set up system. You probably don't want to buy 8 channels worth of amps, so abandoning some speakers would be in order.

Of course, the easiest, most expensive, and least desirable is replace in kind. Perhaps sourced from breakers?

What ever amps you decide to use, if any, mount them on the front boot bulkhead, not with the battery

Thanks really helpful, very much appreciated, I'll let you all know how it all ends up, which I hope it will as it's driving me nuts!! Again thanks

[marcusford]

http://bit.ly/LiuRUV


Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk pro

Thanks for that. I'll need to check compatibility etc as no returns being offered on this item! Again thanks

[mac27040]

The eBay link has picture showing part no. 65129125751

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/partxref.do? ... series=E85



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[marcusford]

You can wire directly to the head unit, you essentially end up with the base 6 speaker system. There are only 4 outputs though. You could wire the tweeters in parallel to the main front speakers, but you should really wire in a high pass filter to avoid feeding the bass portion to the tweeter. Or replace the kick panel speakers with a better coaxial pair and abandon the OEM tweeters. Fitment can be an issue, you may need to get creative. Of course the other issue is the wires are currently in the boot. Either run new wires or extend them back up front.

Pin out data is here: http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=42371
And some speaker specs: http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=41138

You could also find aftermarket amps that work off speaker level outputs. You could drive all OEM speakers but the subs this way. If you really want subs, you'll need to find a more conventional set. Remember you do not necessarily need two subs, you should not be able to distinguish the off balance in a properly set up system. You probably don't want to buy 8 channels worth of amps, so abandoning some speakers would be in order.

Of course, the easiest, most expensive, and least desirable is replace in kind. Perhaps sourced from breakers?

What ever amps you decide to use, if any, mount them on the front boot bulkhead, not with the battery

Again thanks for your expertise with this. BTW BMW quoted me £994.00 not fitted for a replacement amp (they wouldn't tell me the part number surprisingly!).

To summarise one of your suggestions which looks the way for me to go

1.Fit an after market amp that works off speaker level
2.Connected of my OEM head unit (for some reason I was led to believe the OEM head unit wouldn't work with other amps)
3.Run cables forward from the new amp to the speakers (taking on board your tweeter high bypass suggestion)
4. Option to also fit an after market conventional sub.

Does the fact that I have the 6 CD unit fitted have any bearing on this?

These questions may seem very obvious to some, my apologies for that, not my field of expertise!

Cheers

Marcus

[Rich61]

HI there,s a Carver DSP amp on ebay (not mine) for £299 might be an option.

[marcusford]

HI there,s a Carver DSP amp on ebay (not mine) for £299 might be an option.

Hi Rich yes I saw this one just a bit worried about buying expensive items like that on ebay especially as I am not certain it will work with my head unit. I would snap it up at £300 if I knew it would work/be compatible etc.

Thanks anyway Rich

[mac27040]

What is the part number of yours. We can check on realoem if the eBay one is compatible


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[marcusford]

What is the part number of yours. We can check on realoem if the eBay one is compatible


Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk pro

Mine is 65126936952

Many thanks

[mac27040]

According to realoem the one on eBay is a newer version but compatible, see the realoem link I posted earlier


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[bcworkz]

1.Fit an after market amp that works off speaker level
2.Connected of my OEM head unit (for some reason I was led to believe the OEM head unit wouldn't work with other amps)
3.Run cables forward from the new amp to the speakers (taking on board your tweeter high bypass suggestion)
4. Option to also fit an after market conventional sub.

Does the fact that I have the 6 CD unit fitted have any bearing on this?

No, CD changer is input side, you're dealing with the output side.

A 300 quid amp is quite tempting despite the risk of flea bay! In case it doesn't work out and FYI, the OEM head unit will not work to feed conventional line level amps because line level output is digital. Speaker level outputs are analogue, so either speaker level amps or a speaker to line converter with conventional amps is the way to get around the digital feed.

One thing I forgot to mention. I don't know what the OEM speaker impedances are. The amps should be matched to these, though they often can feed a range that the OEM speakers likely fall into. OTOH, most of the OEM speakers are cheap paper, you would do well to replace the main ones even though you don't strictly need to.

[marcusford]

What is the part number of yours. We can check on realoem if the eBay one is compatible

Thanks for checking Rich, I think what I may have to do for now is just wire the speakers directly to the head unit as suggested until I can get brave enough and rich enough to buy one off fleabay

I had thought this morning, the amp had been sent away for repair but returned still not working despite the engineers testing the analog side of the amp which they said was working but they where unable to test the digital signal properly, I wonder if the amp needs re programmed to the car by BMW? Just a thought. I have friend who designs amps for the music industry who says he will have a look at the amp in the next week or so - grabbing at straws but you never know.

I'll let you all know how it all pans out and again I much appreciate the help and support

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[marcusford]

You can wire directly to the head unit, you essentially end up with the base 6 speaker system. There are only 4 outputs though. You could wire the tweeters in parallel to the main front speakers, but you should really wire in a high pass filter to avoid feeding the bass portion to the tweeter. Or replace the kick panel speakers with a better coaxial pair and abandon the OEM tweeters. Fitment can be an issue, you may need to get creative. Of course the other issue is the wires are currently in the boot. Either run new wires or extend them back up front.

Pin out data is here: http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=42371
And some speaker specs: http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=41138

You could also find aftermarket amps that work off speaker level outputs. You could drive all OEM speakers but the subs this way. If you really want subs, you'll need to find a more conventional set. Remember you do not necessarily need two subs, you should not be able to distinguish the off balance in a properly set up system. You probably don't want to buy 8 channels worth of amps, so abandoning some speakers would be in order.

Of course, the easiest, most expensive, and least desirable is replace in kind. Perhaps sourced from breakers?

What ever amps you decide to use, if any, mount them on the front boot bulkhead, not with the battery

I read somewhere on this forum the following...you could remove the factory amp and run everything off the head unit (just wire the "in and out" of the amp together so the speakers are tied directly to the head unit". Is this the same as you had suggested BCworkz? If so would it be best to disconnect the subs to lighten the load (hey I almost sound like I know what i'm talking about )