A few weeks ago, I noticed that i had some vibration comming from behind my passenger seat. It took me a while to get annoyed enought to track it down, and I first attributed it to my sub speaker going out. The same one was already replaced under warrenty a few years ago, so I thought it was very odd that the same speaker would be going bad again. I called the BMW dealership today to order a new sub, and the $217 price tag gave me pause-- I decided that I should probably take it to the dealer for them to look at it before I shell out $217 for a speaker when there might be a different problem causing the speaker to go bad. Today while cleaning my car with the music on, I noticed that my passenger tweeter is very distored, and sounds much different that my driver side tweeter. I had the cover off to my sub, and was looking to pin point the cause of the vibration, and I found that if I applied a little pressure to the sub speaker with my fingers to dampen it's movement, it stops vibrating. It's almost like it's moving too far back and forward and that's what's causing the annoying vibration. Could the blown tweeter be causing more power to go to the sub speaker and increase the amplitude enough that it vibrates? BTW, my EQ settings are right in the middle on the Bass and the Trebble, and I had the DSP off. I took the tweeter's plastic moding off of the door, and it looks to me like one of the clips was a little mashed up, and someone had obviously previously removed the wiring for the tweeter. So I guess I'll have to order a new molding for the speaker since the clip is integral to the molding. There's also some white stuff used to hold the speaker and wires in place--looks like caulking. What is this stuff? If I do it myself, can I get this from the BMW dealer too? Any thoughts and comments are appreciated! Thanks! Drew
Since the car is now off warranty and you like fiddling with stuff yourself, its worth while browsing Crutchfield.com and BavarianSoundwerks.com. Car speakers are one of the last frontiers of DIY upgrades. There is lots out there better than factory. Sad to hear things are breaking up; something is suspiciously wrong (... your high volume levels?????), but with no warranty you're now on your own. Bavarian Soundwerks is a Roundel advertizer; Crutchfield an excellent on-line / mail-order audio supply store. If you give them a call, they will know lots of options for you from straight replacement to over-the-top upgrades.
Subwofer Vibration Problem Solved I checked for upgrading my sound system, but none of the web sites that I was looking at really seemed to give specific details about the tweeters for my car or the plastic molding that the speaker attatches to. I consulted the BMW parts department at VOB. They said that a replacement tweeter already comes with the plastic moulding in a set for ~$71. They agreed with my theory that the blown tweeter could be causing the sub to malfunction. I Installed the BMW OEM replacement part today--it was really easy--and the sub isn't making the annoying vibrations anymore! It sounds great! I thought $71 was a bit pricy, but it beats having to replace the $217 sub. I just wanted to post this update in case this helps someone else narrow down a problem with their speakers. If i wasn't playing with the fade and balance, I probably would have never noticed that the tweeter and sub were sharing a common signal.
