[Kernel Kurtz]

Originally Posted by Poochie

I no longer have a BMW, so I don't have a dog in this fight.

However, if disconnecting the center channel speaker floats your boats, then more power to you!

BMWs run on a "CanBUS" network, any disconnected or faulty hardware within its pre-programming mapping factually triggers a 'shadow fault', within the system.

Believe me, don't believe, I'll still get my full 9 hours of sleep. It was merely just some friendly advice for those that actually cares about such potential issues..


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I coded ASD to deactivated with Bimmercode and am glad to have it gone. Do you think it will still care if I disconnect the center?

[Poochie]

Originally Posted by Kernel Kurtz

I coded ASD to deactivated with Bimmercode and am glad to have it gone. Do you think it will still care if I disconnect the center?

You should be fine.

You won't see any obvious errors on the main iDrive 'check control' display, nor will this be detrimental to the overall music system but the AMP will detect and report that a that a speaker is missing or defective and relay this to the central computer, as it is designed to do, which might alter how the system sounds.

The best I can explain it is when HK designed the system for BMW, the audio stage is depended on each speaker, including the center speaker, to work together in creating a unison sound. One missing speaker and the audio system would go into a 'fail safe' profile, where it will still function with some audio but not at its intended potential, since it is detecting missing equipment required to complete its main task it was programmed to accomplish.

It's a very intricate audio system, engineered to work as a team, not some makeshift audio speakers connected a boombox, pushing a monotone sound.

If you or other members are contented with how the system sounds without the center channel, then so be it but factually, a disconnected speaker will throw a 'shadow fault' that could be detected with an intricate dealer-level code reader such as ISTA-P or Bimmerlink, indicating a missing speaker.

Below is a photo example of an fault displayed of when my under seat speaker went bad. I didn't even realized there was an issue until I had ran a deep drive with ISTA-P, which indicted that the seat speaker was defective (or open circuit), even though the rest of the audio was still pumping music.

However, after the dealer confirmed the fault and replaced the bad speaker, the shadow fault disappeared and the system sounded tenfold better, with way more dynamism, which confirmed that the missing speaker had compromised how the audio system was suppose to really sound.


https://www.harmankardon.com/bmw.html#

[HootisTigglebits]

Is it possible to just code the center speaker to code the center speaker out?

[Mr. Slowly]

Originally Posted by HootisTigglebits

Is it possible to just code the center speaker to code the center speaker out?

Why would you want to do that when it is so much simpler to just disconnect it? It's literally a 5 minute job.

[HootisTigglebits]

If it can be coded out then that would be the proper way to do it.

[mecheng77]

Does disconnecting the center speaker shut off the ASD (active sound design)?

[freakystyly]

No, you would need to code it off or use a bypass harness as far as I know.

https://www.2addicts.com/forums/show....php?t=1211703

I tried coding it once to experiment and found it too quiet in the cabin. It goes from fake engine noise to almost no engine noise, pick your poison.

[mecheng77]

Originally Posted by freakystyly

No, you would need to code it off or use a bypass harness as far as I know.

https://www.2addicts.com/forums/show....php?t=1211703

I tried coding it once to experiment and found it too quiet in the cabin. It goes from fake engine noise to almost no engine noise, pick your poison.

I don’t find it too loud either, I will keep it

[mecheng77]

Originally Posted by freakystyly

No, you would need to code it off or use a bypass harness as far as I know.

https://www.2addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1211703

I tried coding it once to experiment and found it too quiet in the cabin. It goes from fake engine noise to almost no engine noise, pick your poison.

As an audiophile with Nad, Anthem and Paradigm Studio series, I can say disconnecting the center speaker is an excellent mod. The center overpowers the fronts and removes the stereo imaging. Center speakers are for home theatres, specifically for dialgoue. Someone that understood acoustics came up with this mod. Kudos!

[jv92red]

Originally Posted by mecheng77

Center speakers are for home theatres

If properly implemented, center channel speakers in a car work just fine. It's just that BMW's lazy implementation of it was just a complete failure in these cars. If you read my post #56 of this thread I go over more on why I feel this way.

In my home system, I have a Denon receiver that has Audyssy processing built in, processing for room correction that provides frequency and level corrections, along with time alignment after you set distances of speakers all which comes standard with most if not all home receivers. BMW doesn't think we care about sound and only speaker count and advertising that there is a center channel and that's better than just a left and right in most base sound systems from the past and that's what the common person thinks. Or if we REALLY want great sound we'll pay extra for a Harman Kardon system which we assume will sound even better because they'll be even more speakers with now a separate tweeter high mounted in a sail panel and now it must be processed to "Harman Kardon" standards. Both base and HK sound systems fail in these cars and when compared to what most if not all home receivers nowadays come with their form of room correction software, we see that the two (home vs car) both start out on opposite ends of the spectrum unfortunately.

I would argue that in the car environment, correction at the factory would be much easier than in a home theater environment. At any given home there are always different room dimensions, couches, odd ceiling angles, every room a home system is put in is different and the speaker count and manufacturer are all different. The main listening position at home can be almost anywhere in the room. In our 2 series BMW, we all have the same windshield angle, same speakers, same speaker locations and for the most part same seat/headrest locations. BMW just needs to put a warm body in the driver's seat and run REW and tune the stock system and apply that processing to every 2 series car since they are ALL the same inside. That process either never happened at the factory or that process failed miserably and we're left with what we have.