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BMW 3-Series and 4-Series Forum (F30 / F32) | F30POST > Technical Forums > Navigation, iDrive, Audio, Video, Bluetooth, Phone, Cameras, Electronics > F30 sound upgrade
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      04-01-2015, 04:10 PM   #1
_bdiddyb_
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F30 sound upgrade

My latest project for the car.

Humble beginning, parts and installation…

- MB Quart QM200.3 for fronts, rears, and under seat woofers
- MB Quart 100 for center
- 2 x JL 10w3v3 subs in a sealed .7 cubic ft. (ea) enclosure
- 1 x JL XD800v2 amp
- 2 x JX500 amp
- AudioControl DQDX dsp
- Technic’s harness

The mids were a direct fit, but tweeters in the sail had to be retrofitted.
The center location was 4" but a shallow 4", doesn't fit the standard 4" speaker. I had to fabricate a ring to fit. Sorry, no pix.

[IMG][/IMG]

Sound dampened the woofer enclosure.

[IMG][/IMG]

Plugged some holes to deaden vibration on the side skirts

[IMG][/IMG]

Woofers were a drop-in replacement

[IMG][/IMG]

Tweeters cutout for the rears. There’s a tool for this. Don’t try it with a jig saw or circular bit, you’ll end up spending an additional 500 bucks to replace the door panel.

[IMG][/IMG]

Amps behind the sub box

[IMG][/IMG]

The DQDX was installed in the same location where the OEM amp used to be. The JL amps went into the rack behind the sub enclosure.

Afterthought: The amp rack behind the sub box was cool looking, but not practical. Too many wires had to be unplugged to get to the fuse box underneath the trunk liner. The DQDX was lacking fine tuning capabilities and added a noticeable hiss to the noise floor. I was not able to tune the sound at all after 2 weeks fussing with it.

Seeing how SIS did their F30 installation, I just had to re-do mine.

So - out goes the DQDX in goes the Helix DSP

[IMG][/IMG]

Cleanliness is next to godliness. I fabricated an amp rack for the boot trunk. The 2 JX500’s are below the XD800

[IMG][/IMG]

Custom cover on top!

[IMG][/IMG]

Plenty of room left in the trunk

[IMG][/IMG]

Sounding results? -- Superb… After 2 days of mucking around with the Helix. The F30 seems to have resonance issues with peaks at 50Hz and 125Hz but I tuned them down sufficiently. Time alignment and additional fine adjustment of 31-bands per outputs made such a big difference in sound quality. The mid-range and mid-bass are punchy, and the sub-bass is smooth. The Helix came with free RTA software too! You gotta have it to do it right.

Last edited by _bdiddyb_; 04-04-2015 at 12:18 PM..
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      04-01-2015, 05:13 PM   #2
mcleod52
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Maybe just me, but I see no pics ...
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      04-01-2015, 06:38 PM   #3
cornpop
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Very nice! I am assuming you upgraded from the HK system? Or did you add tweeters to the rear?

Thanks!
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      04-01-2015, 11:13 PM   #4
_bdiddyb_
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@mcleod52, pix are there
@cornpop, I'd be screwed if I had the HK system. This was upgraded from HiFi system, yes - I added the tweeters to the rear.
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      04-02-2015, 01:20 AM   #5
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Very nicely done!

How do you like the MBQ underseats? Do you feel they are significantly better than the OEM underseats?

And I'm especially curious about your trunk subs.... whats your opinion on their performance thus far? I know that subs are more meant to be felt than heard, but some folks have written that they have to put down their ski door in order to get the full benefits of their trunk sub. So i'm still on the fence on doing a trunk sub. There's something about two trunk subs pointing away from the interior, and sealed off from the interior cabin by a dividing "wall" that make me think there are going to be some inefficiencies. Curious about your input there...

Thanks!
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      04-02-2015, 11:27 AM   #6
_bdiddyb_
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@squidlyboy, the MBQ underseats are not that much better than the OEM. I use them really to fill in the midbass where the puny 4 inchers in the door panels couldn't handle. With sufficient power and proper bandpass, the OEM woofers will do just fine, but don't expect them to go low though.

Low frequencies will pass right thru the ski door/rear seat - no problem. Just crank up the decibel a bit. In previous cars, I've had trunk subs pointing into the back seat (free air), away into the corners (ported), to the sides (bazookas), but I found them to sound best pointing directly away from the rear seat; at least 2 of them. The JL's sound great and allows for smaller enclosure. I wish there is a way to locate the two 10" inside the cabin without sacrificing seating space. The sub will definite add depth to all your favorite tracks. Have a look at your local shops or car shows. An "upgraded" audio system without subs is like a BMW 335 with stock muffler.
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      04-03-2015, 11:07 AM   #7
3onDubs
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@_bdiddyb_ - super clean...been wanting to do something similar. Had some questions:

1. Did you do all this yourself?
2. Do you have nav? (not sure if that's relevant to the install)
3. How did you tap into the signal for the amps (from the trunk)?
4. How much did all this run you?
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      04-03-2015, 07:27 PM   #8
_bdiddyb_
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@3onDubs,

1. Yes - I did it all myself. I have tools.... lots of tools....
2. yes, I have CIC nav
3. There's a dude in this forum named "Technic". He designed a plug-n-play harness for the HiFi system. Saved me at least 10 hours of research and development on my own.
4. umm.... not including time... just parts and miscellaneous stuff ... $3800

You in the OC?

Last edited by _bdiddyb_; 04-04-2015 at 12:20 PM..
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      04-06-2015, 01:14 PM   #9
3onDubs
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Quote:
Originally Posted by _bdiddyb_ View Post
@3onDubs,

1. Yes - I did it all myself. I have tools.... lots of tools....
2. yes, I have CIC nav
3. There's a dude in this forum named "Technic". He designed a plug-n-play harness for the HiFi system. Saved me at least 10 hours of research and development on my own.
4. umm.... not including time... just parts and miscellaneous stuff ... $3800

You in the OC?
Yea, I'm in Tustin. Thanks for the info. I've done a few of my own installs in the past (e46), but they've always turned out messy and nowhere near as clean as yours.
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