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2Addicts | BMW 2-Series forum Technical Topics Navigation, iDrive, Audio, Video, Bluetooth, Phone, Cameras, Electronics M235i HK HiFi Center Channel Delete Pro Tips/Review

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      02-03-2020, 12:19 AM   #1
OldCrow7xx
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M235i HK HiFi Center Channel Delete Pro Tips/Review

Hey everyone I just wanted to review this process and leave some pointers for anyone who tries to do this at home. I feel like a lot of folks on here are either very experienced or have big egos and like to say difficult/complicated things are not.

This was MUCH more difficult than I expected for several reasons not seemingly mentioned in the other posts:

-The location of the speakers in relation to the mirror and windshield. Unless you are a very small dude its a very tight fit with minimal visibility due to the awkward angles you are working from.
-The screws are star pointed, so you will need special bits.
-There is no space between the screws and the windshield for a traditional screwdriver, so you will need a snake screwdriver or a ratchet set with low clearance to stay under the windshield.
-The screws are so tight from the factory they destroyed my cheap snake kit just trying to get them to start turning.

Now for the good news, the car sounds a million percent better once you get the center channel speakers removed. I have worked in AV since college, been employed my numerous companies for AV and IT work and personally collect lossless digital audio and playback devices for fun. This upgrade is undeniably worth the hassle.

Some other things to keep in mind, the dome tweeter is wired in series to the cone driver, so once you unplug the the first item the second item is dead too. Some cars may not even have the tweeter but my car did. The wire leads are not raw screw on connections, so you don't have to worry about the leads touching each other inside the dash once you disconnected them. However because of this there will be two very hard to press down on blue clips on the edge of the speaker to fuss and fight with little give on the wire length to release the speaker fully. Once its out you are good to go with a newly found crater in your dashboard. The grate cover is easy to take off if you have a kit with those little plastic triangles for taking apart phones etc.

It is absolutely mind boggling to me why BMW would not choose to include the software needed to intelligently apply a center channel OR not include a center channel at all in these cars without the Logic7 DSP system. Either way, this mod is definitely worth it and immediately restores vocal clarity and starts to build a nice sound stage.
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      02-03-2020, 02:29 PM   #2
Aspen235
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Interesting write up.
My M240i with HIFI only had the super cheap full range driver, no tweeter.
I agree that this speaker is a waste, mostly just a reason to stick a grill in the center to impress potential buyers. Now the super cheap amp only has to work at supplying 6 channels.

I used a small ratchet with a torx bit to get the screws loose. I also have hands like a 12 year old girl, so it wasn't difficult to reach.
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