Quote:
Originally Posted by Viffermike
The following is for the Hi-Fi system:
Speakers
Easiest method is to replace the stock drivers with coaxials (two pair: one in the front doors, the other in the rear deck). Models that have proven to fit both locations -- particularly in the front doors, which have a depth restriction of approx. 54mm -- with this adapter on the Bay:
- Focal ISC100
- Morel Maximo 4c
- Hertz Energy 100.5
- JL Audio C2-400x
- JBL GX-402
Components will be more involved because there is no blank stock location for standalone tweeters in the front doors. The solution is to order the sail panels for the HK upgrade and retrofit 1" tweeters into them, while splicing into the wiring inside the door.
Subwoofers
The most important thing to know about the stock subwoofers is that they run at 2 ohms; the rest of the OEM speakers run at 4 ohms. This is done to extract more volume out of the stock amp at a given wattage.
The easiest and least expensive replacements would be the Earthquake Audio SWS-8, which are nearly dop-in replacements when ordered with a BMW-specific mounting bracket. The SWS-8 comes in two versions: 2 ohm (to use with the stock amp) and 4 ohm (to use with an aftermarket amp ONLY). The SWS-8 is a true sub; it's an improvement, but not a huge one because one of the OEM system's sonic weaknesses is mid-bass, which the SWS-8 doesn't do a good job alleviating. Better choices (and more $$$) are the mid-bass woofer by Jehnert (usually sold as an OEM-replacement set for the 3-series, but some resellers will sell these separately) and the Focal IBMW-S, which is a direct replacement (and with a street price of about $380 a piece).
Amplifiers
Easiest is to order a plug-and-play harness from TechnicPnP (about $80, available via email only at this stage) and use a JL Audio 600/6 in the stock location (in the rear left corner of the car, under the carpet in the trunk just ahead of the rear left light assembly). The most important thing regarding an amp is that it need to have differential balanced inputs; most car amplifiers don't have this feature, and the majority of the ones that do are very expensive. JL Audio's amps are the least expensive good-quality amps that have this feature and also have gain controls for each channel, which helps keep the ASD (which cannot be defeated except via coding or another special wiring harness that TechnicPnP sells) at tolerable levels from the rear speakers.
Other options:
- BimmerTech/Match amp (coding required to defeat ASD, but it's an easier install and has DSP via PC software included)
- Alpine PDX series amps (no gain control, IIRC)
- some Audison, Zapco and Arc Audio amps ($$$)
Hope this helps! |
This is terrific post thank you for the summary Mike.
Three questions:
1. I like a warm non-fatiguing sound. I'm new to car audio but I love NAD/Mirage/PSB/Energy speakers and equipment for my home. Which of the 5 speakers below would you suggest?
I can get a great deal on the Focal ISC100s but I'd need to drive down to the USA to pick them up (I'm in Canada). Not sure they are worth the hassle. I can get the Hertz locally for not too much more.
- Focal ISC100
- Morel Maximo 4c
- Hertz Energy 100.5
- JL Audio C2-400x
- JBL GX-402
2. The SWS-8s are about $320 USD shipped to Canada. At that price I'm wondering if I can get the Jehnert but I've scoured the internet and can't find any vendors. Do you have any suggestions on where to get them?
3. I've read that even just upgrading the 4 speakers is a big upgrade over the Hifi system, is the sub upgrade worth it? I love rap, hip hop, house, rock, and pretty much everything but country.