[M5 F90 (2018)]

Nice and keep us posted

[Hugrov]

Originally Posted by 335D Xdrive (2015)

Nice and keep us posted

Will do, am looking forward to doing the mod but won't be back in UK until around 3rd week of April.

[realcam]

I ordered the alpine upgrade and it should arrive within a day or two.
Was €590 for an amp with 2 speaker replacements plus tweeters for the front. Also included fitting door trims with 'alpine' logo. Its from the BMW parts list checking out for my VIN and from having a preview at the installation manual it seems to cover RHD cars. I gonna fit it myself, I'll let ye know how I get on.

[Abzynthe]

Mines being fitted next Wednesday. I have also got hold of some Hi-fi underseat subs to replace the base system underseat speakers. Hopefully, I should see a good improvement.

[ColinDuff68]

Originally Posted by Dyl

I added HK tweeters and changed the mids to HK in my base system. You won't see a bigger jump in improvement in sound quality other than doing this. If you believe the sound is okay in the base system without tweeters I urge you to go and sit in a car that has them. It's night and day.

It's a simple upgrade with a big result.

As for bass, yes, it could be better but I've not changed mine because I believe the sub housing is sealed shut and not that easy to get at on base audio cars. Not worth the time, money and effort for me.

Where did you get the tweeters and speakers from?

[Adriank]

I asked that, they were from a salvage M4

Where did you get the Hifi subs do they have a BMW part number? How much better are they?

[Abzynthe]

Originally Posted by Adriank

I asked that, they were from a salvage M4

Where did you get the Hifi subs do they have a BMW part number? How much better are they?

I got them on ebay for a bargain price of £45 from a breakers I think. I havent installed them yet, but I had the Hi-fi system in my old F01 and it was way better than the base system.

The part numbers are:
65139210149
65139210150

The HK subs are:
65139210151
65139210152

And, just for reference, the base system ones are:
65139210147
65139210148

[realcam]

And are they going to fit? Same size? Same connectors?

[Abzynthe]

Originally Posted by realcam

And are they going to fit? Same size? Same connectors?

I hope so! lol.
RealOEM only show one wiring loom so they should have the same connectors.

[realcam]

My alpine kit arrived today. Very nice quality looking pieces of hardware. I'm looking forward to fitting it. Although, just as well I downloaded the installation instructions 'cos they're not included.

Was half tempted to get going immediately but contained myself and will do it on Saturday in comfort.

[Welsh springer]

Hi realcam

I am thinking about purchasing the alpine kit for my f32 lci, where did you download the instructions from. I have sesrched everywhere but not anything.
Can you post the link please.

[realcam]

No problem, here it is. It's on this forum.

I have a slightly newer version even, referring to the new part number 65 41 2 413 270, but its in German. Not sure if thats any good to you. It's more or less the same anyway.

[Abzynthe]

Thanks for that. Im sure I wont need them, but good to have a read through

[realcam]

I installed the speakers and door trims tonight.

You would definitely want one of those plastic tools for peace of mind. Even with those I still had to be careful.

Door trims came off easy enough, but I had done this on my previous E39 so I knew those clips don't really break, just need a little bit of convincing. Same with step one, the door grip trims. Just had to pay attention that none of the clips or latches were bend and will go back on exactly they way they came off.

Changing the door frames wasn't too difficult either. Just need to pay attention how they slip into the rubber seals. They were the Harman Kardon with replacement stickers. Tweeter fitting was obvious too once I spotted the mark on the tweeter.

Can't wait to put the amp in but its already a noticeable improvement.

[Abzynthe]

Looking at those instructions, the wiring only goes to the mids and tweeters, but I thought the under seat subs were powered by it too?

[realcam]

I'd say the wiring loom and 'harness' connects into the original head unit and wiring so that for the subwoofers the original wiring is used. Same for the rear speakers I imagine. It is a 6 channel amp.

I must have a look at wiring diagram at the bottom of the document.

[Hugrov]

Hi all, just a quick update as promised regarding the base stereo upgrade. I fitted the Focal IMBMW-S (mids and tweeters) kit a couple of days ago and I have to say I'm impressed with it, IMO the sound quality is so much better, you can really feel the mids pushing a lot more air around and the tweeters really do add to the quality and detail, £248 all-in including the door mouldings to house the tweeters. Door cards came off without any issues, only slight problem was the new door speakers (mids) are a bit deeper than the originals and touched the window glass slightly as the window went down, this was resolved by adding 2 washers behind each speaker mounting screw to space the speaker out. The wiring harness connected straight to the OEM connector and was completely plug and play.

[M5 F90 (2018)]

Thanks for the update. Did you change the amp?

From a scale of 1 - 10, where would you rate the base system and now with your upgraded mids and tweeters?

[Hugrov]

No, I didn't install an amp, I specifically wanted to avoid that tbh. For me personally, the sound quality is now enhanced sufficiently and I won't be doing anything further to it. It's very difficult to rate the system as my appreciation of how "good" something sounds is going to differ from somebody else but as I said, I'm more than happy with it now so won't be doing anything further to it.

[andrew.webber]

Originally Posted by Hugrov

No, I didn't install an amp, I specifically wanted to avoid that tbh. For me personally, the sound quality is now enhanced sufficiently and I won't be doing anything further to it. It's very difficult to rate the system as my appreciation of how "good" something sounds is going to differ from somebody else but as I said, I'm more than happy with it now so won't be doing anything further to it.

I did a similar thing and just added a set of rainbow component mids and tweeters to the front doors and the improvement was very significant - to me anyway. I was looking at adding an amp as well but the improvement is good enough for me, not being an audiophile (but knowing what sounds good to me).

[Hugrov]

Yeah I'm exactly the same as you Andrew, I'm happy enough with the improvement just by changing the Mids and adding tweeters, my untrained ears are noticing a good improvement

[ColinDuff68]

Originally Posted by Hugrov

Yeah I'm exactly the same as you Andrew, I'm happy enough with the improvement just by changing the Mids and adding tweeters, my untrained ears are noticing a good improvement

I have just done the same and it has made a big difference for me anyway compared to the basic set up.