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2010 2011 BMW 5 Series Forum F10 F10 Technical Topics Navigation, iDrive, Audio, Video, Bluetooth, Phone, Coding Rear Install FOCAL IFBMW-S 2014 528i (part 2)
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      05-03-2015, 10:40 PM   #1
Jazzman528
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Talking Rear Install FOCAL IFBMW-S 2014 528i (part 2)



INSTALL PART DUX

This is part two of my multi-stage, audio system upgrade to a 2014 BMW 528i. My initial post http://f10.5post.com/forums/showthread.php?p=17763533 covers the installation of a pair of Focal IFBMW integration speakers in the doors. This time around, I wanted to cover the installation of the same speakers in the rear of the car. Along for the ride is my good, photographer friend, Kennebrew, who shot some of these install photos with a CANON 5D Mark II.



To begin with, these IFBMW series speakers DO NOT FIT the factory space in the rear of the car. Although the factory woofers are 4” in diameter in the rear, they are made differently than the door woofers. I was assuming that since the FOCAL door speakers fit so well (plug & play), another set of them would drop right in to replace the rears. Not so! If you look closely (below), you can see about half of an inch of extra plastic border that outlines the edge of the FOCAL speakers. The factory set does not have this border, so the FOCALs must be modified to fit.




Notice the difference in craftsmanship between the cheap, factory speakers and the FOCALS. The magnets are light years apart in size (see photo). SHAME ON BMW!!




THE MOD

The shop where I got them said that they could modify the FOCALs to fit. But I was afraid that moding them would void the speaker warranty. FOCALs are expensive! However, when the FOCAL factory rep assured us that moding would not void the warranty at all, I figured “go for it” – I have nothing to lose.

The shop put blue painters tape on the woofers to protect the cones and magnet from scrapes, and then machine-ground down the sides to fit the rear space. They then created a small, oval mount for the tweeters and soldered them into place at an angle. (see photos). This way, the tweeters would point into the cabin instead of straight up toward the back window. The modification results were AMAZING!!!! They look factory-done.





INSTALLING THE SPEAKERS

Turn off the car. Take the plastic prying tool that Focal supplies and carefully remove the grill cover. Gently pry up the corners and use your thumbs to push the grill off. The grill is connected by several tabs that hang down like teeth, so be careful not to break them off.






Next, use the FOCAL-provided torx wrench to remove the screws holding the speakers in. There are 3 screws on the 4” woofer and 2 on the tweeter. You can then pull the 4” woofer directly out of the hole and pop off the blue plastic connectors attached to the bottom. You have to pull firmly on the blue connectors to get them off. Use elbow grease confidently, but gently. Then, just pull the factory tweeter out of its hole with the cable still attached to it.




Next, attach the blue plastic connector that came off of the factory woofer to the wire harness provided by FOCAL.




Then connect the two wires from this harness to the posts on the FOCAL. One tip is much smaller than the other, so you can’t mess up which wire goes on which post. Fool-proof!




Thread the final wire (white plastic tip) coming from the FOCAL wire harness back through the hole where the factor tweeter wire used to be. This will soon be connected to the FOCAL tweeter.

Drop the 4” FOCAL woofer into the hole and secure it with the 3 screws that were removed earlier. You have to gently bend the stiff, black section of the wire harness to fit inside the hole. Remember to leave the wire with the white plastic tip hanging out of the hole where the tweeter will go.




Next, connect the white plastic tip wire to the wire coming from the FOCAL tweeter. Drop the tweeter into place and secure it with the 2 remaining screws.



Turn on the car and play some music. Use the TONE (Balance) controls to play the rear speakers only. Make sure that you are hearing the highs and lows of the signal. This means that the woofer and tweeter are both producing sound.

Finally, line up the tabs (teeth) of the grill cover and gently push it back into place. I find that aligning the back tabs first works best. Then the grill close like a garbage can lid.




THE SOUND?

Greatly improved sound over the factory speakers, however, they are rather dark sounding overall. I think this is because they are new (not broken in yet) and the DSP in the factory head unit is tuned differently for the rear speakers. I believe that once I bypass the factory amp/DSP and install a processor (bit 1?), these rear speakers will sound at least twice as good as they do right now. Maybe more!



Could I have gotten some cheaper alternative for the rears and been ok? Yep. The FOCALs are probably a bit overkill for rears. But I wanted to match the rears to the fronts - which are amazing sounding even with the factory head. Also, I tend to like a little sound coming from the back of the cabin, so I set the balance about ¾ of the way to the rear so that it doesn’t sound like all the sound is coming from the front. I do not subscribe to the car audio philosophy - “the band is coming from the stage in front of me.” I see this argument posted on so many forums, but I am a professional musician and have performed all over the world. When I play on stage, the sound is all around me. This is how I prefer to hear music! I AM in the band. (Smile)

Another reason to go FOCAL all the way around is that I also wanted matched impedance and frequency response all across the board for any amp that I add. Right now, I am pretty sure that the amp will be a JL XD 600/6 or ARC 1200.6.
I also think that I will be adding the Jehnert XE200s (40-4000HZ) for under-seat woofers. My only concern is that there won’t be enough power for these 7ohm oddities. I considered the FOCAL IFBMW-SUBS (which match these 4” components), but am unimpressed with the frequency range (20-200HZ) and price ($800 a pair!!!). I want to hear more mid bass from my underseats and do not expect to hear true sub lows out of 8” woofers in such a tight space. Unrealistic. In speaking with install shops, the extra $300 cost of the FOCALS over the Jehnerts is not warranted at all. And the Jehnerts will play higher in the frequency spectrum. Will update as that decision develops. For now, I am very pleased that I was able to get FOCALs in the rear. BTW, I have disconnected the center channel up front and the stereo image is so much more natural and musical than with it. Plan to leave it disconnected. If anyone has any suggestions or experience, I am wide open to comments and suggestions. Cheers and bless yo’ ears!


Last edited by Jazzman528; 05-07-2015 at 08:05 PM..
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      06-11-2015, 08:16 PM   #2
BigHurmJr
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Nice write up and thanks for sharing. I've often thought about switching out my stock speakers. i think they sound pretty good for stock but I used to do car audio years ago and that makes me want to do something sweet but still factory like in setup.

I'd love to hear what you decide for the subs... I'll more than likely follow suit. I'd love to throw some JL's in my car though.
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      06-12-2015, 09:13 PM   #3
fung0001
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Where is the ghost subwoofer from Bavsound? I think the project has been put on shelf....
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      06-13-2015, 12:59 PM   #4
lsturbointeg
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Awesome writeup!
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      06-25-2016, 09:35 AM   #5
sonnenschein3000
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Looks amazing, good work!

I know you got a shop to do it, but would it not have been easier for a DIY'er to use the IFBMW-C coaxial speakers for the rear shelf instead of the IFBMW-S ones? That way there is no issue with the tweeter brackets etc. and they seem the same spec on paper

Is coaxial IFBMW-C the same sound quality as IFBMW-S component speakers? I know theres a difference in the front doors due to the physical position of the tweeters, but for the rear shelf and centre speaker does it matter?
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