[beanbaguk]

Just over a month ago I started a thread looking into decent audio upgrade options for my F31 320d M Sport with the absolutely crappy base stereo install.

This would be no amplifier, no tweeters and four crappy speakers installed into the doors.

After a lot of thought, I decided to purchase the BSW Stage 1 upgrade kit. There was a lot of mixed reviews for this kit, however after several very lengthy chats with the guys at Bavsound (specifically Cory), I took the plunge and invested US$560 and ordered my speakers.

The ordering process was smooth and simple and I also purchased a toolkit (which is highly recommended!!!). It saved my bacon several times and made installing the speakers much easier.

Delivery of the speakers however took an absolute age. I had the speakers delivered to Gibraltar where I work. For those that don't know Gibraltar, it's a 400m high rock on the very Southern tip of Spain and is part of the United Kingdom.

The result of delivering it here was a HUGE wait for customs. The door trims arrived first, and a week later, the speakers arrived. It took a total of four weeks for everything to arrive.

When I got the speakers home, I immediately took it upon myself to install them in the car. I've installed speakers in an E87 before having installed the Alpine Audio upgrade to my last car so the process was fairly similar.

First things first....

RTFM!!!

I can't iterate that enough.

Also open all the boxes and check everything is available.

I began by installing the front speakers first. Removing the door handle trim was easy enough. Just be very careful and take things slow to avoid bending or breaking anything. I unscrewed the door panel and used the trim removal tool to gently unclip the first door clip. I then used my hand to unclip the rest of the door.

Once lose, I pried out the window button panel. This is quite tricky and I ended up breaking the retaining clip. The panel does go back in ok, but is now a little lose. I'll try and fix that later. I then removed the cable from the unit and put that to one side.

Using the metal prong tool, I then removed the cable retainer for the window controls and then very very very carefully detached the door handle cable. After this was complete, the door panel came off completely.

The next step was to remove the door frame trim. This was easy to do but open your window before you do this. It makes it much easier to re-attach the new trim.

I clipped in the new tweeter unit, and re-installed the trim into the door frame. Be very careful all the rubbers re-align and sit in the correct place otherwise it won't hold in place properly.

The next step was to install the door speaker. As I mentioned earlier.....RTFM!!!! I stupidly installed the rear speakers in the front to begin with and it meant I had to completely redo all the work twice!!!

One set of speakers contains built in filters for the front speakers, while the other set contains a set for the rear. It wasted about an hour of my time so just check everything first!

Cabling the speakers was nice and easy. I had to pry back the insulation slightly as the BSW speakers contain the connectors on the back of the drivers, whereas the BMW original ones contain connectors on the front. Make sure there is no slack on the cables otherwise it could catch on the windows but don't pull it tight or you'll risk damaging the connections.

Once you manage to draw the cables through the insulation, add the tweeter filters, plug in all the cables (there only one way so it's fool-proof), and clip everything together. I then used cable ties to make everything nice and tidy.

The next step was to add sound deadening material to the door itself. This helps improve the sound by adding density to the door and reduces rattles. You don't need a HUGE amount. Just surround the speakers but make sure you don't interfere with the door panel clips.

Once everything is nice and tidy, I double checked all the connections, tighten the screws on the speakers and did a quick sound test. When everything worked, I reattached the door panels. This unfortunately wasn't so straight forward.

The nylon nut fell off behind inside the door and I ended up having to remove a lot of the foam insulation to find the nylon bolt at the bottom of the door. I found it had cracked slightly, so a little super-glue and some very careful alignment, I managed to re-attach it again.

I was very careful putting the door screws back on, and I recommend you do the same to avoid the same thing happening to you!

Some top tips when re-attaching the door card. Make sure the door handle is closed when putting the clip back on. Be careful when putting the cables back in the door and carefully align the door-clips before giving them a good knock into place again!

I then reattached the door handle trim and the front drivers was done.

After repeating the same on the passenger side, I worked on the rear doors.

These were HORRIFIC to remove!!! The door cards were very stubborn and I was incredibly lucky not to break any clips!

The procedure was much the same, but it was a little trickier putting the wires in place. I managed it after a little patience and again, I cable-tied any lose cable in place. I also used a little sound dampening material to secure the cables in place.

After installing the rear speakers I was done!

My hands were bleeding slightly and I was sweating like a mofo, but it was job well done!

So, on to the audio review!

First thing first, I reset all audio settings and started with Michael Jackson, Billie Jean.

The audio was crystal clear with fantastic treble and bass. The sound was wonderfully balanced and contained a level of detail impossible previously.

Good start!

Next tune, Dire Straits - Money for Nothing. Once again, a huge level of detail previously unheard, but this is the short-coming on these speakers. Since there is no amp, it wasn't loud enough! I'm hoping in time, a stage 2 will resolve this. However this aside, the sound was wonderful and put a big grin on my face. Even my nosey neighbour gave me a thumbs up!

I then decided a little drum and bass. I love it and used to be in the D&B clubbing scene. A little Pendulum - Tarantula would do the trick here. Bass was very good but perhaps lacking power due to the lack of a good amp, but it was still very impressive. This was all on full volume.

Finally, a little Latino music. I'm half Colombian so this is part of my staple diet of music! The latest track from Carlos Vives - Nota de Amor sounded excellent. Again, more depth, detail and treble just made it very nice on the ear but a little quiet at times.

I really do want to try some classical music but I got hungry and figured I deserved some food and beer for a job well done.

Overall the BSW Stage 1 for the base BMW stereo is an excellent choice as a sound upgrade.

The main con is the lack of punch from the iDrive amplifier so if you're after volume, this is perhaps not for you.

If detail and perfect balance is what you're after, I can't recommend the BSW S1 highly enough. I'll continue to review this as I listen to more music and if you have any questions installing the kit, just let me know. I'll do my best to answer!

[beanbaguk]

[beanbaguk]

The state of my fingers after installing the speakers....pain!

[bri1042]

Nice! For folk about to take off door cards: The clips are really cheap! Stop at your local dealership and buy some before you start in case you are less lucky than the OP and break a couple. Having them on hand is better than driving to the dealership with your door partially disassembled!

[LUV335]

You mentioned front and back mid range speakers are different because of the tweeter filter is built in for the front. I did not have that, the tweeter filter came separately with my order. All four door mid range speakers were the same, i just used the filter harness in the front speakers for the tweeters. Did I do this wrong? Anyone else have this experience?

[mcleod52]

Originally Posted by LUV335

You mentioned front and back mid range speakers are different because of the tweeter filter is built in for the front. I did not have that, the tweeter filter came separately with my order. All four door mid range speakers were the same, i just used the filter harness in the front speakers for the tweeters. Did I do this wrong? Anyone else have this experience?

Mine were just like yours. No difference in speakers, tweeter was separate and had the filer in-line.

[beanbaguk]

Originally Posted by mcleod52

Mine were just like yours. No difference in speakers, tweeter was separate and had the filer in-line.

Mine came with a tweeter filter also, however the front door speakers also came with an additional filter on the main cable.

[vithy]

My front door speakers came with a filter inline, and plus a tweeter filter. Base Stereo cars have both front under seats and mid range on the same channel, therefore low's need to be filtered out so they don't send them to the tweeters.

I asked Jason from BAVSOUND, this was his answer to my email.

"Vithy:

The first filter is for the midrange driver, as it shares a channel on the amplifier with the underseat woofers and needs those lower frequencies filtered..

The second filter, the one between the midrange and tweeter, is to filter out the lower frequencies from the tweeters to keep them protected and focused on the higher frequencies.

Make sense?

—
Jason Seaver"

[vithy]

However my setup is quiet different, as i don't use the Head unit amp. I run separate cables to my under seats and door mid ranges.

I use the output from my Head Unit to MS8 (Speaker Level input) and then use Pre-amp output to my JL 700/6.

MS8 Channels
1 - Front Left (BAV Door Mid range and tweeter)
2 - Font Right (BAV Door Mid range and tweeter)
3 - Underseat Left
4 - Underseat Right
5 - Side Left (BAV Mid range)
6 - Side Right (BAV Mid range)
7 - Sub 1 (Trunk sub L)
8 - Sub 2 (Trunk sub R)

Channels 1-4, 7-8 got to my JL amp. 5 & 6 are powered by my MS8 Amp.

Long story short, I control my xover's via MS8, therefore thinking about removing the inline filter from the front BAV speakers. I might first ask Jason if there's any benefit. I don't want any unwanted frequencies removed by the filter.

[LUV335]

Originally Posted by vithy

My front door speakers came with a filter inline, and plus a tweeter filter. Base Stereo cars have both front under seats and mid range on the same channel, therefore low's need to be filtered out so they don't send them to the tweeters.

I asked Jason from BAVSOUND, this was his answer to my email.

"Vithy:

The first filter is for the midrange driver, as it shares a channel on the amplifier with the underseat woofers and needs those lower frequencies filtered..

The second filter, the one between the midrange and tweeter, is to filter out the lower frequencies from the tweeters to keep them protected and focused on the higher frequencies.

Make sense?

—
Jason Seaver"

Ahh, you have the base stereo and not HiFi? That might be the difference? HiFi is standard in the US for 335i.

[LUV335]

Ok just went to BSW site. The base stereo comes with an integrated filter for the front speakers, the hifi does not. Phew!! I was hoping I don't have to open up my doors again!!! I don't have to... BSW Hifi speaker replacements have the same front and back mid range..

[beanbaguk]

Originally Posted by LUV335

Ok just went to BSW site. The base stereo comes with an integrated filter for the front speakers, the hifi does not. Phew!! I was hoping I don't have to open up my doors again!!! I don't have to... BSW Hifi speaker replacements have the same front and back mid range..

This is really interesting. While I'm very happy with my BSW Stage 1 kit, I'd like to add more punch to the whole system.

I don't feel as though I'm getting enough depth with my subs and I think it's purely down to the HU amp being crap.

The next step on my audio upgrade would therefore be an amp but I've no idea what to get at this stage. I still need to contact BSW but the question I'm coming to is would I need to remove the filter on the front speaker if I were to upgrade my amp?

(Just to add, I also plan to eventually upgrade the subwoofers if I'm not satisfied with the bass on that - planned upgrade would be a pair of Focal Subs).

[overkill1125]

Removing the door trim was a bitch. Broken clips and even cracked one out of 4 trims. I guess I'm not grasping the removal properly even though I watched the install video 10k times. If there was a more detailed way on how to remove those stubborn door handle trim would be much appreciated.

[vithy]

With a proper DSP and AMP (more power) your under seats produce much better response. If i were you, i would upgrade AMP/DSP and give the under seat a listen. I was impressed with it.

I use the underseat's between 80hz-160hz everything else passed to door midrange/tweeter. Everything under 80hz goes to my trunk sub.

Originally Posted by beanbaguk

This is really interesting. While I'm very happy with my BSW Stage 1 kit, I'd like to add more punch to the whole system.

I don't feel as though I'm getting enough depth with my subs and I think it's purely down to the HU amp being crap.

The next step on my audio upgrade would therefore be an amp but I've no idea what to get at this stage. I still need to contact BSW but the question I'm coming to is would I need to remove the filter on the front speaker if I were to upgrade my amp?

(Just to add, I also plan to eventually upgrade the subwoofers if I'm not satisfied with the bass on that - planned upgrade would be a pair of Focal Subs).

[vithy]

I think your setup is fine. In Canada and parts of Europe, base audio is Stereo. In US it's Hifi.

As far as i can see. BSW speakers are all the same, except for stereo they have added a inline filter to cut off all the low's from the front midrange.

Originally Posted by LUV335

Ok just went to BSW site. The base stereo comes with an integrated filter for the front speakers, the hifi does not. Phew!! I was hoping I don't have to open up my doors again!!! I don't have to... BSW Hifi speaker replacements have the same front and back mid range..

[beanbaguk]

Originally Posted by vithy

With a proper DSP and AMP (more power) your under seats produce much better response. If i were you, i would upgrade AMP/DSP and give the under seat a listen. I was impressed with it.

I use the underseat's between 80hz-160hz everything else passed to door midrange/tweeter. Everything under 80hz goes to my trunk sub.

Can you recommend a DSP / Amp for my setup?

Remember I have a base stereo system (without an amp), and a BSW Stage 1.

[vithy]

I would ask an expert in audio. There are lots of options out there.

I use a JBL MS8. I know it's an old hardware, however it works for me. However Amp portion of this processor is a little under powered. You might want to get an external amp.

Originally Posted by beanbaguk

Can you recommend a DSP / Amp for my setup?

Remember I have a base stereo system (without an amp), and a BSW Stage 1.