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      12-04-2016, 05:37 PM   #23
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GeertB View Post
Just to be sure: do we know which sound system the topic starter has? Stereo or HK? (or base? but that's not likely in the USA)
Sticker states AM FM CD MP3 player audio station with HD radio. That's all...
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      12-05-2016, 05:02 AM   #24
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Do you have seperate tweeters in your rear doors? Yes: HK, No: Hifi
(I'm not taking the base stereo into account now)
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      12-05-2016, 08:10 AM   #25
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Originally Posted by GeertB View Post
Do you have seperate tweeters in your rear doors? Yes: HK, No: Hifi
(I'm not taking the base stereo into account now)
No, I do not...
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      12-05-2016, 08:18 AM   #26
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try upgrading your speakers. BAVSOUND stage 1, $500
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      12-05-2016, 11:09 AM   #27
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NewOwner View Post
No, I do not...
You do have a center speaker behind the I drive screen?
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      12-05-2016, 03:56 PM   #28
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Originally Posted by GeertB View Post
You do have a center speaker behind the I drive screen?
Yes!
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      12-06-2016, 11:11 AM   #29
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I work in the consumer audio industry for a company that sells primarily high end 2 channel systems. Sound quality is very important to me. Because of where we sit relative to the speakers in the car (very close to them, not out in front of us and not equidistant) it will never sound as good in the car as it does at home. This took me a long time to wrap my head around and get over. That said, I bought my F30 with the HiFi system (essentially the base or standard system in the US) and was grossly disappointed. I upgraded my speakers to the Bavsound and my amp to the Bimmertech. Both are designed to be plug and play, so even if you're not comfortable doing it yourself, there's no major modification required so the install cost won't be great. There was a hugely noticeable difference over stock. If you get the amp, you download software and connect your computer via USB to the amp. There is a huge range of settings you can tweak to your liking. You can also check out this page http://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho....php?t=1182351 for premade tunes that you can download based on your equipment. I'm still wrapping my head around the finer points of how the software works but what an improvement over the stock HiFi (what you have). Hope this helps!
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      12-07-2016, 01:05 PM   #30
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Originally Posted by Billfitz View Post
It may. Some people even think Bose sounds good.

My system is bone stock, it sounds OK. I have no plans to mod it in any way. Oh, and I'm a professional acoustical engineer. But I don't care about having a concert hall experience in my car. For that I have my living room. Besides, I know that once you start fiddling with your audio it becomes a bottomless money pit, so I'm not going to fall into that trap this time around.
Thanks for that! I came from several Caddies ('12 CTS Premium and '13 XTS Premium) and the Blose was the worst UPGRADED sound system I ever had. It makes this "Hi-Fi" system sound like a concert!

Yes, the Hi-Fi system needs a bit of tweaking for sure but it's not as bad as many are making it out to be!
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      12-07-2016, 01:07 PM   #31
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt338 View Post
I work in the consumer audio industry for a company that sells primarily high end 2 channel systems. Sound quality is very important to me. Because of where we sit relative to the speakers in the car (very close to them, not out in front of us and not equidistant) it will never sound as good in the car as it does at home. This took me a long time to wrap my head around and get over. That said, I bought my F30 with the HiFi system (essentially the base or standard system in the US) and was grossly disappointed. I upgraded my speakers to the Bavsound and my amp to the Bimmertech. Both are designed to be plug and play, so even if you're not comfortable doing it yourself, there's no major modification required so the install cost won't be great. There was a hugely noticeable difference over stock. If you get the amp, you download software and connect your computer via USB to the amp. There is a huge range of settings you can tweak to your liking. You can also check out this page http://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho....php?t=1182351 for premade tunes that you can download based on your equipment. I'm still wrapping my head around the finer points of how the software works but what an improvement over the stock HiFi (what you have). Hope this helps!
Tempting mate....might pull the trigger here
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      12-07-2016, 04:15 PM   #32
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FWIW, I pulled the control panel off my stock radio to wrap the trim, which exposes the head unit. It's made by Harmon.
I think I might look into upgrading the tweeters, but haven't bothered to do a diagnostic on them yet to see if it would be worthwhile. I'll make sure that they're broken before I try to fix them. Out of curiosity I've looked at the speaker upgrade packages from Alpine, MB Quart and Focal. The prices are insane. The Focal, for instance, is $500 for two midbasses and two tweeters. It might be worth $200. I guess they figure if you own a BMW you're both rich and stupid.
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      12-08-2016, 09:21 AM   #33
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I just did a complete overhaul in my f30 the other day. I was in the same boat. Regular Hi-Fi system no HK. I just changed all the door speakers and added a couple amps woth 2 subs in the back and it sounds better than the HK system IMO
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      12-08-2016, 10:01 AM   #34
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rikashh View Post
I just did a complete overhaul in my f30 the other day. I was in the same boat. Regular Hi-Fi system no HK. I just changed all the door speakers and added a couple amps woth 2 subs in the back and it sounds better than the HK system IMO
I'm starting with the door speakers then moving onto the subs. Just thinking how I want to do the subs...under the seats like the OEM or in the trunk as I am accustomed to. Yeah, I found the HK system to be okay but not something I would pay for so I opted out.
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      12-08-2016, 10:38 AM   #35
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Jeff,

Your door speakers are 4" drivers. You won't find any that can play down to trunk sub frequencies. You need the 8" under-seats to bridge the gap.
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      12-20-2016, 03:05 PM   #36
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jeffc83 View Post
I'm starting with the door speakers then moving onto the subs. Just thinking how I want to do the subs...under the seats like the OEM or in the trunk as I am accustomed to. Yeah, I found the HK system to be okay but not something I would pay for so I opted out.
A friend of mines did the bavsound upgrade and he put one 12" Alpine Type R in a 1.5 cubic foot ported box in the trunk and it sounds amazing. Better than mine tbh. I went with the Kicker KS 4" cause they had the best upgrade at 75w vs Alpine Type S at 45w. So either bavsound or kicker is what I'd recommend. If you don't mind putting money into it then FOCAL makes some really nice component sets for our cars.
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      12-21-2016, 09:01 AM   #37
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Never thought it would be this difficult to choose but I'm leaning towards bavsound with my old ported box (know the sub can handle 1000w RMS) for the lows
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      12-21-2016, 09:08 AM   #38
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bri1042 View Post
Jeff,

Your door speakers are 4" drivers. You won't find any that can play down to trunk sub frequencies. You need the 8" under-seats to bridge the gap.
I should've been a bit clearer; looking to set it up this way:

Bavsound amp and speaker upgrade (main speaker system)
Not sure about under seat subs yet but will upgrade (what's the best option?)
Leaning towards installing a second amp for 12" sub in trunk
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      12-21-2016, 12:40 PM   #39
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jeffc83 View Post
I should've been a bit clearer; looking to set it up this way:

Bavsound amp and speaker upgrade (main speaker system)
Not sure about under seat subs yet but will upgrade (what's the best option?)
Leaning towards installing a second amp for 12" sub in trunk
This is exactly what i did. Bavsound S-1 and amp upgrade for main speaker system. Separate/additional amp for the trunk subs. The sound is pretty much perfect for my tastes at this point. But ...

... as Bill astutely pointed out earlier, the #1 Universal Theorum in car audio: that upgraded sound can be a bottomless money pit (which it is turning out for me). So therefore, i must upgrade the underseats at some point too

Mid-bass seems to be the thing that everyone here harps on as being a deficiency. I looked into the Earthquake SWS-8's, Jehnerts SE200, and Bavsound Ghosts for filling in that gap. Without having heard anything personally myself, this is my take based on what i've read other people say so far..
  • The Earthquakes seem to be more true subwoofers and are missing that mid-bass. They are the best in price at ~$200/pair. If not putting in a trunk sub, this is the next best thing. But it will never provide true low-bass like a trunk sub will.
    .
  • The Jehnerts on paper seem to fit the bill perfect SQ-wise, hitting the sweet spot for mid-bass - i.e. tight, punchy, and clean. However, one forum member ended up dumping his Jehnerts because there was something missing from it, when he found that the Ghosts were much better in filling in that "gap".
    .
  • As far as the Ghosts go, he said it filled that mid-bass gap much better, and then some. It provided a better integration from the high/mids down to the lowest lows. Both the Jehnerts and Ghosts run close to $500, which i'm not willing to pay (my entire dual trunk sub setup and 500w amp was not much more than that, and it pounds)

So at this point, i'm leaning towards the Ghosts, but i'm in no rush. I'm just waiting for someone to dump theirs at a good price.
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      12-21-2016, 03:29 PM   #40
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Quote:
Originally Posted by squidlyboy View Post
This is exactly what i did. Bavsound S-1 and amp upgrade for main speaker system. Separate/additional amp for the trunk subs. The sound is pretty much perfect for my tastes at this point. But ...

... as Bill astutely pointed out earlier, the #1 Universal Theorum in car audio: that upgraded sound can be a bottomless money pit (which it is turning out for me). So therefore, i must upgrade the underseats at some point too

Mid-bass seems to be the thing that everyone here harps on as being a deficiency. I looked into the Earthquake SWS-8's, Jehnerts SE200, and Bavsound Ghosts for filling in that gap. Without having heard anything personally myself, this is my take based on what i've read other people say so far..
  • The Earthquakes seem to be more true subwoofers and are missing that mid-bass. They are the best in price at ~$200/pair. If not putting in a trunk sub, this is the next best thing. But it will never provide true low-bass like a trunk sub will.
    .
  • The Jehnerts on paper seem to fit the bill perfect SQ-wise, hitting the sweet spot for mid-bass - i.e. tight, punchy, and clean. However, one forum member ended up dumping his Jehnerts because there was something missing from it, when he found that the Ghosts were much better in filling in that "gap".
    .
  • As far as the Ghosts go, he said it filled that mid-bass gap much better, and then some. It provided a better integration from the high/mids down to the lowest lows. Both the Jehnerts and Ghosts run close to $500, which i'm not willing to pay (my entire dual trunk sub setup and 500w amp was not much more than that, and it pounds)

So at this point, i'm leaning towards the Ghosts, but i'm in no rush. I'm just waiting for someone to dump theirs at a good price.
Interesting; so it seems like the under seat subs is where I will need to get me mid-ranges from then so I might hold off on them until I'm ready to spring for the Ghosts. (I've heard nothing but praises on them) I'll order the AMP tomorrow for the "car system" but am thinking of replacing my old 800w Pioneer AMP before I move onto the speakers and subs. (it's getting up there in age, haha) The bandpass box has gone through it's fair share of subs but I should be good with the current setup. (just a kicker, blew the JL out)

Yeah, I've found the car audio systems to be bottomless pits too, which is the main reason why I got out of "video/home theater" setups, lol. Now this car in general has me spending money left and right on it. Compared to the Caddy, I might have spent 1k in 3 years then 1500 on the Caddy before that. (XTS and CTS) On this car, I have thousands of dollars in accessories "bookmarked", haha. I do recommend the LCI upgrade if you are into lighting at all. It really makes the radio/climate area pop at night and during the day, it's nice and glossy! They also got me for the lighted sill plates!
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      12-21-2016, 04:57 PM   #41
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The Jehnerts are best used with a trunk sub. I've been running them for a couple of years to fill the gap between my trunk sub and my Hybrid Audio Legatia SE Carbon 4" Mids. Very, very satisfied but the system only works well because all the components mesh well (and were tuned by someone very good at his job).

Toss the Jehnerts in with no trunk sub, or with poor tuning that fails to bring everything together and the results won't be fun.
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      12-21-2016, 07:21 PM   #42
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I have a match pp82dsp for sale. If you have Hi-Fi, than this amp upgrade is great solution.
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      12-23-2016, 02:46 AM   #43
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I'm guessing you have HiFi audio in the car?

If so, while I've heard amazing things about the integral audio set-up (I spoke to the owner for some time about it too), I think the easier and most straightforward option for you would be to install the Bimmertech Premium Audio amplifier.

It's very plug and play if you have a hifi set-up and you could be up and running within an hour.

If either you or your husband is very technical, then maybe the Integral kit could be for you but you will have to remove all your door cards, install cable harnesses and more.

It's all down to how much time and money you want to invest, but for simplicities sake, the Bimmertech option gives great value and ease of installation.
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      02-27-2017, 09:04 AM   #44
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Integral Audio is the answer!

I am thrilled with my stereo now!!! Once I found an installer, got past the Christmas rush of remote start installations and the grief of learning the installer skipped a critical step at the end... I thought I would never be satisfied. Thankfully Integral Audio went above and beyond to make sure I was able to correct the issue and now, FINALLY, I can say I love my sound system. I highly recommend IA if you are seeking an upgrade!

https://integralaudio.com
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