[Ifraz]

Hi
Newbie to the forum so I hope I get this right.
Need some help please.

I started a DIY upgrade on the F10 it has the base set up.. no amp or tweeters. Just door speakers, underseat subs and rear shelf speakers without tweeters

I went for Focals in the front and back with vibe subs. To keep the original connections I bought harnesses which connected to the car and speakers all great so far. Much better depth at a higher volume.

So I went to install an amp Was suggested to go with Vibe Powerbox 65.4 a 4 channel amp that can be connected with a ISO T harness to the back of the stereo so is amplifies the output from the stereo and returns an amplified sound to the speakers.l with out rca. Great

Here is the problem the amp only works on the rear speakers and not the front. It did work and sounded great.

Anyone have any experience with this set up? Or have I gone mad by doing it!

I am waiting for vibe tech support to test the amp for me.

Could it be the underseat subs which are powered with the front speakers so this had 4 wires and I joined the positives and negatives to the sub which works fine with the front speakers?

Looking for some technical help on what I can test and how.

Many thanks in advance.

[ECR33]

Hi,

Newbie on this forum as well.
Does the front door speakers and subwoofers not play at all with the amplifier hooked up?
Or is the rear speakers simply playing louder than the fronts now?

I would disassemble again and check all connections are good. Then unhook the
amplifier and check if the fronts/subs are working as normal without the amplifier.
If there's no sound at all from the front with amplifier hooked up and connections
are good, definitely have Vibe look at/replace the unit.

In regards to anyone having experience with an ISO amplifier: No. I have always
steered away from those as the gains are always limited by the wire size in the
original loom going to the amplifier.
My thoughts: An ISO amplifier will not have enough power to serve the subwoofers
or Focal speakers justice. Especially since the subwoofer and doorspeaker is connected
in series. Meaning 1 channel is both powering the subwoofer and doorspeaker.

Have had several VIBE products though, good value for money IMO.

[Ifraz]

Originally Posted by ECR33

Hi,

Newbie on this forum as well.
Does the front door speakers and subwoofers not play at all with the amplifier hooked up?
Or is the rear speakers simply playing louder than the fronts now?

I would disassemble again and check all connections are good. Then unhook the
amplifier and check if the fronts/subs are working as normal without the amplifier.
If there's no sound at all from the front with amplifier hooked up and connections
are good, definitely have Vibe look at/replace the unit.

In regards to anyone having experience with an ISO amplifier: No. I have always
steered away from those as the gains are always limited by the wire size in the
original loom going to the amplifier.
My thoughts: An ISO amplifier will not have enough power to serve the subwoofers
or Focal speakers justice. Especially since the subwoofer and doorspeaker is connected
in series. Meaning 1 channel is both powering the subwoofer and doorspeaker.

Have had several VIBE products though, good value for money IMO.

Thanks for the reply.

When the speakers are connected without the amp all work fine. So not an issue with wiring in the car.

When connected via amp only the rear ones work. No sound at all from the front. So I changed the iso wiring loom 3 times and all the same. So leaves me to think it is the amp, now waiting for a reply on returning it for testing.
I did a continuity test with a multi meter and all wires show a continued flow. so not the looms.

But the amount of volume is low from the back and as I understand it that’s how the stereo is set up and needs a dsp to programme. Not sure about this!

The only other test I think I can do is to only connect the amp to the subs and not amp but this involves cutting wires which I want to avoid.

I agree the iso amp might not give huge amounts of power to the front as the front amp channel is sending power to doors and subs. But I’m fine with the increase will get as when the amp worked it sounded good.

Will post an update when I eventually get it sorted

[ECR33]

Great. Yup, sounds like next step is the amplifier itself. Another possibility
would be to install the amplifier in another car.

Hopefully it's a faulty amplifier and you'll be shipped a new one!

[Ifraz]

Originally Posted by ECR33

Great. Yup, sounds like next step is the amplifier itself. Another possibility
would be to install the amplifier in another car.

Hopefully it's a faulty amplifier and you'll be shipped a new one!

Yes it was a faulty amp! Returned it to vibe they tested it and sent a new one. Thanks to all the help from the wonderful people at Autogear247 eBay seller. Really helped with sorting this out.

Now for the install.

[ECR33]

Good to hear!
Hope you will be happy with the end result.
Please do tell how much of a difference it makes with your Focals installed

[Ifraz]

Originally Posted by ECR33

Good to hear!
Hope you will be happy with the end result.
Please do tell how much of a difference it makes with your Focals installed

Hi

Even without the amp there is a notable difference with the Focals and vibe subs. More louder sound and deeper bass. Now with the amp installed and working it is a much better sound and bass at lower volumes. Happy I did it.

[pierreye]

Good sharing. Looking at the specs, I'll always upgrade the amp first for Base and HIFI version as the power is too low to drive aftermarket speakers properly with low distortion.

[donplayer813]

Been looking to do the same would you mind letting me know where you got the harnesses, and which focals did you go with?

Thx bro

[Dc71]

Originally Posted by donplayer813

Been looking to do the same would you mind letting me know where you got the harnesses, and which focals did you go with?

Thx bro

I found the harness on ebay. I'm new to this site and hoping that someone on here knows the correct harness I found before buying it.

[donplayer813]

Sorry bud you confused me, so you did find the harness?

[Dc71]

Originally Posted by donplayer813

Sorry bud you confused me, so you did find the harness?

Yes on ebay, but the seller wasn't sure on the correct harness I need. He has 3 different types for BMW

[lsturbointeg]

hey guys...here's the link to technic harness for the F10.
http://technicpnp.com/product-catego...s-f07-f10-f11/

honestly if i were you guys i went a different route which to me is the best route for straight plug n play features as far as amps go. i went with the MatchUp 7BMW. comes with the supplied harness.



just remove your factory hifi amp


install the new MatchUp 7BMW with supplied amp bracket


reinstall it and boom your done! so easy a cave man can do it


i do highly recommend upgrading your speakers tho. i got a chance to listen to the OEM speakers with the new amp and it was much louder but the clarity sucked. so i went with the Gladen Alphas

[davehills77]

Hi Fella,

I have recently been looking into this powerbox amp and wondered if it was easy enough to fit, was there decent space behind the dash? did it make a big difference even just to the standard 4 speakers and did you disconnect the battery when doing it?

Thanks in advance

Dave

Originally Posted by Ifraz

Hi
Newbie to the forum so I hope I get this right.
Need some help please.

I started a DIY upgrade on the F10 it has the base set up.. no amp or tweeters. Just door speakers, underseat subs and rear shelf speakers without tweeters

I went for Focals in the front and back with vibe subs. To keep the original connections I bought harnesses which connected to the car and speakers all great so far. Much better depth at a higher volume.

So I went to install an amp Was suggested to go with Vibe Powerbox 65.4 a 4 channel amp that can be connected with a ISO T harness to the back of the stereo so is amplifies the output from the stereo and returns an amplified sound to the speakers.l with out rca. Great

Here is the problem the amp only works on the rear speakers and not the front. It did work and sounded great.

Anyone have any experience with this set up? Or have I gone mad by doing it!

I am waiting for vibe tech support to test the amp for me.

Could it be the underseat subs which are powered with the front speakers so this had 4 wires and I joined the positives and negatives to the sub which works fine with the front speakers?

Looking for some technical help on what I can test and how.

Many thanks in advance.