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expressly forbidden and a violation of international copyright law.  Any violation will result in prosecution to the full extent available under 

the law! 

 

© 2006 Bavarian Soundwerks, LLC.

 

2195 Defoor Hills Rd., Suite D, Atlanta, GA 30318 

P: 404.963.8857 | 

www.bavsound.com

  

 

Let’s address each bullet point: 
 

 

No Sound from Speaker

One of three things is most likely happening, and they are listed in order of most common 
occurrence: 

1.  Wiring on plug-n-play connector is misaligned.  

Here we want to check for alignment of wires from their factory plug through the BSW 
connector.    

Do they line up?

 If so, was the factory speaker working prior to replacing the speaker? 

Go ahead and plug the factory speaker back in to confirm operation. If the factory speaker 
works, and the wires in the plug are aligned, the speaker is defective. We need to get you 
a new speaker!  

If not, let us guide you to the proper connections.

 Remember, on our wires, the Red 

Stripe is positive, while the solid black is negative, while on the BMW side of the plug that 
following holds true: 

 

Black Stripes, Red Stripes, White Stripes, Purple Stripes are Positive. 

 

Solid wires are negative, as are wires with Brown Stripes or Grey Stripes. 

2.  Check to make sure that no speaker terminal is touching metal. This can cause the 

speaker to not function, as it is effectively grounded (shorted) out. This is very common, 
especially in E46 vehicles front mid bass installations. 
If you find that this was the case, place electrical tape over the terminals to prevent future 
mishaps. If the entire system has no sound after the installation of new speakers, we 
almost know for sure that there is a speaker whose terminals are grounded out. Let’s 
check the most likely culprits, (E46 mid bass drivers) by disconnecting each speaker until 
the music comes back on and we’ve isolated the problem speaker. 
 

3.  The Factory Speaker did not work either. If this was the case, and you were trying to fix 

the problem by purchasing new speakers, we may need to look at the factory amplifier, as 
it is most likely the culprit. Is the entire side (left front, right rear, right front, left rear) not 
working, or is it a particular speaker that was not working. Most likely it was a single 
speaker. If an entire side is not working, make sure, especially on the tweeters that you 
just installed, that neither the positive or negative terminals are touching metal. This can 
contribute to an entire side (channel) not working properly.  
 

 

Distorted Sound coming from new Speaker 

Again, a few things come to mind:

 

1.  Where are the bass/treble settings on the radio/EQ? Flatten out the settings to ensure 

no pre-amp distortion is the cause of the problem. If you’re using the radio to test the 
speakers, go ahead and use a CD or directly connected iPod instead.

 

2.  Speaker terminals may be touching ground (metal). Where is the distortion coming 

from? A single speaker, an entire side (channel), or the entire system? Its best at this 
point to go back and disconnect each speaker until the distortion goes away. The 
most likely culprit is the E46 front midbass connections.

 

3.  The factory speaker was distorted as well. If a single speaker was distorting, the most 

likely culprit is the amplifier. We may need to explore replacing/repairing your factory 
amplifier. 

 

 

Lack of Bass Response:  

A common occurrence when a mid bass speaker is wired “out of phase”. This means that the 
positive (+) and negative (-) are backwards on the plug and play connections. Here we’ll want 
to check alignment of the connectors as they come together between the speaker and the 

Summary of Contents for E46 Convertible

Page 1: ... mind that we generally recommend keeping them both very close to center as large adjustments introduce distortion into the audio signal and will lower performance of your system Perform the installation one door at a time Since there are many small parts that you ll remove when completing the project limiting the work you re doing to one door will prevent you from confusing which parts go with wh...

Page 2: ... at the bottom of the handle and one more towards the rear These three bolts are Torx T20 Remove them by turning them counter clockwise and placing them in a safe place where you won t lose them 3 Locate the airbag plug towards the rear center of the door panel Remove this using your panel popper Pry from the top and bottom very carefully This will reveal another Torx T20 4 Now look behind the chr...

Page 3: ...ur hands as this will decrease the chances of anything becoming scratched continue pulling outward around the bottom and side edges of the door Leave the top part attached as we will release this edge of the door panel last 8 Carefully pull outward and upward from the rear of the door along the top edge 9 Be careful of the lock mechanism because the door can be released now but you aren t quite fi...

Page 4: ...ace them with the other Torx bolts which you have already put aside in a safe place haven t you Reattach the new midbass driver to the door panel using the original factory hardware If your factory speaker had a foam baffle around it remove it and reuse it on the new BSW midbass driver Tweeter Midrange Assembly Removal Installation You ll first want to remove the entire tweeter midrange assembly b...

Page 5: ...to your new speaker into the factory plugs that you removed from the factory speakers Here are a few photos to illustrate the process Driver Door Blue w White Stripe Red Blue w Brown Stripe Connects to Black Passenger Door Blue w Red Stripe Red Blue w Brown Stripe Connects to Black Rear Speaker Removal Installation 1 First look underneath the armrests on the side panels on either side of the vehic...

Page 6: ...he side panels Simply lift upward and the seat will free itself Figure 14 4 Unhook the leather flap that attaches the cushion to the back portion of the backseat and remove the seat bottom 5 Now look back to the area uncovered by the side panels You will see three 7mm bolts along the bottom edge of the top panel We will only remove the front and rear bolts Leave the center one in place Figure 16 6...

Page 7: ...ith the front midbass drivers Use the chart below to match wire colors Driver Side Yellow Red Negative Connects to Black Passenger Side Blue Red Brown Connects to Black 9 Install the new midbass drivers in the factory locations using the supplied long fine thread screw washer combination Rear Tweeter Installation 1 Before beginning this step plug in your hot glue gun so that it will be ready by th...

Page 8: ...Allow 2 3 minutes for the glue to dry then reinstall the front portion of the assembly back through the panel and tighten the ring back into place Plug the tweeter back in and reinstall the panel Now enjoy your new audio system go for a drive with the top down Stage 1 Speaker Upgrade Troubleshooting Guide If you re experiencing an issue with your new speakers please carefully read through this gui...

Page 9: ...e almost know for sure that there is a speaker whose terminals are grounded out Let s check the most likely culprits E46 mid bass drivers by disconnecting each speaker until the music comes back on and we ve isolated the problem speaker 3 The Factory Speaker did not work either If this was the case and you were trying to fix the problem by purchasing new speakers we may need to look at the factory...

Page 10: ... heat shrink wrapped piece 2 long inline with the tweeters and midranges Alternatively another indicator of the 8ohm midrange is presence of a white dot on the speaker basket directly below the terminals If you don t have the resistors or see the dot you were most likely sent the wrong speakers and we need to get the appropriate speakers to you A speaker is physically defective as in defective fro...

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