[Kaitain]

The quick and easy for the ADD people like myself is the 14 speaker HK upgrade was well worth the money spent! The highs are not as bright and fatiguing, the mid's are smoother and more robust, and the overall sound stage to me is better. I bought the sound deadening material they offer, and thought it was one of the best purchases I have made. With the sound deadening material, I no longer have door rattles and the mid-bass is prominent now. The voices are also clearer in my opinion. By the other review, it sounds like the HiFi system suffers a lot more then the HK system does. All of the reviews on the HiFi stock system say it distorts. I do not think the HK stock system distorts as much as your ears bleed from it. I am very happy with the upgrade, and noticed a difference in the music immediately. I also adjusted the equalizer and was able to fine tune it better with a smoother sound that wasn't harsh especially at higher levels. I utilized BAVSOUND's tool-kit and it was worth every penny spent. Between the speakers and the material, you can tell a huge difference in the quality and craftsmanship of the BAVSOUND speakers to the stock HK speakers. Now my next thing to do is to take the sound deadening material (I have a lot leftover from what they sent me) and put it around and under the stock subwoofers to see if I can get the rocker panels to stop vibrating when the bass hits. In a nutshell, I am very happy with the purchase and the quality/craftsmanship of the BSW system is superb. I would highly recommend anyone who wants to upgrade their system, but does not want to add additional amps and cut speakers out to do this simple upgrade. Everything in the box installed directly into the car and I used 1 adapter that is supplied with the kit to fit the center channel. The video they have explains everything perfectly on how to install the system:



http://www.bavsound.com/product/728/...-Sedan-12-F30/

http://www.bavariansoundwerks.com/pr...-Sedan-12-F30/ is the link to the HK Stage One upgrade from BAVSOUND / BSW.

Hopefully the ADD people like me are still barely reading. BAVSOUND / BSW gave me a discount in exchange for writing a review of my thoughts on their speakers and installation and everything I write are my own words. To be exact, I got a 50% discount, as this was offered to the general forum, and lucky me jumped on the deal. So, for those that were skeptical, thank you for letting me get lucky. Now, on to the full review with pictures from when I got the speakers through installing them.

From the day I ordered the BSW upgrade it took 5 days to receive the package. I opted for the ground delivery, hence 5 days. If I wanted it faster, they have the option, but for an increase in delivery price of course. This was pretty fast since I live on the west coast near San Francisco, CA. I thought the stock HK system was an overall good system, so I didn't see a reason to pay more for the shipping, but if you are in a hurry, as I said before, the option is there. Everything came in a single larger box, with multiple smaller boxes inside. The packaging was very good, and the speakers inside the smaller boxes were also packaged well and protected. I took a couple of pictures to show you how it all came, and what it looks like inside the smaller boxes.

I have the Harmon Kardon stock upgrade as said earlier. I felt this was one of the better stereo systems I have had in a car. Overall, I think there could be some improvements, but for the money spent it is good. The bad about the HK system in my mind is the highs, and the vibrations put out through the vehicle. Now, I love hearing highs, as I listen to a lot of EDM music, but this system actually fatigued me ears, as it was very piercing, and I actually had to adjust the equalizer in the negative area above 2kHz. I feel this is due to the metal dome tweeters. I also felt the mid's were not as smooth and pronounced as they could be. Then there was the mid-bass and bass. This made the doors rattle where it was annoying. I actually took my car into BMW twice for them to stop the door from vibrating to the point it was irritating me. They temporarily fixed it only for it to come back. I feel this is due to the way the speakers are set in the doors/floor without anything to stop the vibration and is simply not something BMW can fix for customers like me that turn up their music and enjoy it.

Now onto what you guys want to hear, the upgrade to the BSW system. First, I ordered the HK upgrade and I also ordered their toolkit as well as the sound deadening material they sell. When I received the package, I opened it up and quickly opened the toolkit to see if it was worth the money or not. I am pleased to say the first impression of this toolkit made a lasting one on me. It was very well constructed, had everything in it needed to do the job of changing the speakers out, and had a couple of extra things that can be used as well. This made me very happy as a customer to see how much BSW cares about there customers, and the ease at which they want to make this. I feel with watching the video they have showing you in intricate detail and the help of the toolkit, everyone can do this, which will save you money from having a car stereo shop do it for you. Next I checked out their sound deadening material and was equally impressed. The sheet was more then I needed for the speakers being upgraded. I was very happy about this. Next I opened up all of the speaker boxes to see everything wrapped and protected. Upon taking the speakers out of their boxes and plastic wrapping, it was quite obvious these speakers where very well constructed. They even had magnet covers installed over the mid's, which is quite impressive. I of course snapped some pictures of the speakers with comparison of them next to the HK speakers. The construction material and the size of the magnets as you can see is quite a difference between the two.

I took everything out to my garage where I opened up all the doors and started removing the door panels and the speaker covers as the video shows that BSW made for the F30. The video lays everything out perfect for following and shows you how to do everything needed to do this by yourself in the garage. After taking all the panels and covers off using the tools in the toolkit BSW sells, I then removed the speakers using the same toolkit. Now, most of you might have most of the tools you need to do this, but 1 tool you might not have is the minnie right angle ratchet they have. When removing the speakers in the center of the dash and the rear deck, I am not sure if I would have been able to get the screws out without this. At the very minimum, it took a hard and long job down to easy and quick. The time saved with this tool alone paid for the entire toolkit in my book.

Once the speakers were out, I took a few snaps of them side by side. It is pretty obvious not all speakers are created equal. The magnets on the BSW speakers are huge when compared side by side to the stock HK speakers. Magnets are important, as they help control the movement of the speaker, which is important to replicate the sounds properly. The BSW speakers also come with magnet covers on them. I have had quite a few stereo systems in my car over the years, and very few of them came with magnet covers. I am very happy to see BSW includes them as part of the price of the speaker, a very nice and welcome addition. Once I looked at them side by side and took a picture, it was time to start preparing everything to be installed.

I took the sound deadening material, and followed the videos instructions. I found that cutting 1 sheet off at the fold was the perfect size. I laid it in place and pressed it to the door when I had it where I wanted it. This gave me a slight impression of where I needed to cut so it fit the area. After cutting it out, I laid it in place and took the back of the tool and pressed it into the door, and circled around where the speaker would go. I made sure to not cover the hole where the door panel screws into. I did cover up where the push pins attached to the door panel go. Once flattened, I took the pick that came in the toolkit and pushed it through the holes to make pushing the pins and screwing the screws easier. I then took a sharp knife (a razor blade works also) and cut out where the speaker go. It cut very easy, but be careful when you push the leftover pieces back into the speaker hole, as it is made out of aluminum and can cut you. I did this at all 4 doors with ease and as I said earlier, the video shows you quite well, but I did take pictures also. Next I followed the video to put the tweeters in place. Once in place I ran the connecting speaker cable appropriately so I could connect it to the speaker connector on the mid range speaker. The front doors and rear doors are slightly different, but very easy, especially when following the video they made. Next I ran the speaker wire through the hole for the mid, then pushed the connectors out as it is show in the video. This was very easy to do, and once through the hole, I connected the tweeter to the mid using the supplied crossover cable and then connected the stock speaker wire to the mid. Everything fit perfectly, it could not have been easier. One thing to note before putting the speaker and wires into the door is to make sure you remove the gasket off the speaker front and put it in the rear so it helps seal when you screw the speaker back into place. Also make sure you add the included padding that goes on the front of the mid speaker.

Once you complete both front and rear doors, turn the stereo on to make sure you have sound, as once you put the door panel on, you do not want to have to take it back off if you forgot to connect something. Again, make sure to also use the supplied crossover when connecting the mid range speakers to the tweeters in the doors. If you connected everything, you will get sound out of the speakers, and you will smile. Now, if you want to do a quick comparison, make sure the L7 is on, so you can get close to the center speaker, then move to one of the front door speakers. I am sure you can already hear how the tweeters are not as harsh, in my opinion they are definitely smoother. You will probably also hear the mid's have a fuller sound and the door does not rattle if you opted for the sound deadening material like I did. I had a nice smile on my face at this point, and quickly got to work on the center speakers and the rear deck speakers.

The center channel is easy to get to, and even easier to remove if you have BSW's toolkit. Remove the mid and tweeter and disconnect the wires. Now, this is important and something I missed while watching the video at first. So, I am going to save you some time and frustration if you missed it on the video like I did. Remove the magnet cover on the mid range speaker. If you do not remove it, you will wrestle with it, only to think it does not fit, and BSW made an error. The error was me, and after watching the video 2 more times, I saw it. They said it and showed it, but I missed it. So, I then removed the magnet cover, connected the speaker connectors and dropped the center mid into place using the supplied spacer. I hope this saves you the 10 to 15 minutes I wasted. :-)

Go to the back of the car and slide the plastic tool under the speaker cover and remove it just like you did on the center cover. Take your little ratchet and again remove the screws holding the mid and tweeter in place. Once done, drop the tweeter in place, then connect it to the mid, and again connect the other connector from the mid to the stock stereo connector. Put your speaker covers back on and enjoy the fact that you are finished and everything appears to be stock to the untrained eye. Now, you and I will know it is not stock by looking at the tweeters and seeing the center is not silver, but with the perfect integration BSW did with the speakers, that is the only way you will be able to tell just by looking. Now, listening, you will quickly hear the difference!

I am not sure how much easier BSW could have made this. I have never had this much plug and play components using aftermarket speakers and I was a bit skeptical when they advertised it. I am now a true believer for sure. I cannot believe how easy everything was to install and how quickly it went into place. Every piece fit into the stock place like it was a stock speaker, but obviously by the construction, size and sound the speakers are definitely aftermarket.

Now, my suggestion would be to reset your equalizer using the reset button, put your favorite music in, and adjust everything to your liking. Once I fine tuned it, the difference between the stock system and the BSW speaker upgrade is quite noticeable. The tweeters are smoother, and do not fatigue my ears as the HK tweeters did. The mid's are also smoother and also more robust. I am not sure if the sound deadening material played a large or small role with the mid's sound as I did not want to install everything without it, then install with it and compare. This would have been too much, since I already know that the door rattles and vibrations are now gone. That is proof enough for me. As I said earlier, I have extra sound deadening material leftover from what they supplied, and my plan is to remove the 2 stock subs and add this material to where they sit. I am very optimistic that this will help stop some of the rattles that can be heard outside of the car with the windows up that come from these speakers vibrating the rocker panels and surrounding area. Once I have the time to do this, I will report back so I can help others if they are wondering if it will work.

So, to summarize this, I feel the BSW upgrade is well worth it. The sound is definitely better with the new speakers and I am now a new happy customer of theirs. The installation was amazingly easy and the video they made is easy to follow. Short of them coming to your house and installing it for you, it does not get any easier then this. I hope this review is not too long, but I wanted to give a real and fair assessment of this upgrade so others on the forum could make a decision themselves. My only complaint at all is the fact that they do not have a sub ready for our car yet. With an aftermarket sub I feel this would round out the system perfectly for those like me that like a little more bass. For those that do not like a lot of bass, I think this upgrade is perfect to make the sound smoother, bolder and more robust.

[Kaitain]

First few pictures are of the package the way it came after I opened it and only removed the packing paper on top.

The next pictures are of the speakers in the boxes they came in.

Then I laid everything out in my garage to get ready for installing them.

Then I took pictures comparing the HK to the BSW speakers front and back. Very noticeable difference in quality and craftsmanship.

Next I took a picture of the BAVSOUND / BSW mid with the magnet cover on with the magnet cover I removed from the cent speaker sitting on top of it.

Last I took pictures of the front and rear speakers installed with the sound deadening material I bought from them.

[bri1042]

I'm glad your pictures turned out better than mine did. That little ratchet is brilliant, isn't it?

[Kaitain]

That little ratchet as I stated in my review was worth every penny of the entire kit! I know I am happy for the opportunity I had for the BSW speakers, and from your review, I see you are also!

I put my Seal best of CD in on the way to work this morning, absolutely stunning! The song Kissed by a Rose sounded awesome! I listen mostly to house music now, which has good vocals also, but I wanted some old school clean music with killer vocals, and thought Seal fit the description perfectly. What old or new music have you tried on your system since installaion?

[bri1042]

I had put a few of the albums I've thrown at it in my review and I've been bouncing from song to song over the last couple of days. Going to the very old side of music, I threw the "Naked" version of the Beatles "Let It Be" album in on the way to work yesterday. I was not disappointed. I have a somewhat bizarre love of Placebo and their new disc was well-served by the system, as well.

So guess that qualifies as the oldest album I've listened to and the newest.

[Kaitain]

[Kaitain]

A few weeks after purchase and everything sounds great. I am inquiring about the add-a-sub from Musicarnw to add some bass, but would replace the under seat woofers if Bavsound comes out with a replacement.

[Kaitain]

I am not sure as I have not heard the upgraded HiFi versus the stock HK, but my friend just came out to visit over New Years. Without telling him, he knew the sound was different in a good way wit my upgrade. When I talked to him about it, he agreed the Bavsound upgrade made a huge difference in the ability to listen without it slowly hurting/grinding on your ear drums. He thought it was much smoother and a better sound stage as well.

I am still very happy with my upgrade, and it has been quite a few months since I changed it outt.

[Serpent720]

Thanks for all the reviews, and did the Bavsound Stage 1 on my base HiFi for a few days. I am very pleased with this upgrade. Good Job Bavsound!

[Ouzzo]

Originally Posted by Serpent720

Thanks for all the reviews, and did the Bavsound Stage 1 on my base HiFi for a few days. I am very pleased with this upgrade. Good Job Bavsound!

+1

[Dippydo]

Whats the cost of this upgrade?

[Ouzzo]

Originally Posted by Dippydo

Whats the cost of this upgrade?

About 800 dollars
http://www.bavsound.com/Stage-One/Buy-Now/
Recommend to get the tool kit and sound deadening material

I installed it myself with no previous audio installation experience

[AgentCircus]

What EQ settings do they recommend using?

[Dog Face Pony Soldier]

$348/pair for tweeter/mid package sounds reasonable considering it includes the vehicle specific installation accessories.

I would definitely advise people to install some damping material (like Dynamat). Damping the doors will provide more of an improvement than you think, and has a great cost/benefit ratio. I'd go so far to say I'd consider installing damping material a nice inexpensive upgrade to a totally stock HK system! Just make sure you buy a roller so you can make sure the damping material is bonded really well.

[949]

Originally Posted by bri1042

I'm glad your pictures turned out better than mine did. That little ratchet is brilliant, isn't it?

Originally Posted by Kaitain

That little ratchet as I stated in my review was worth every penny of the entire kit! I know I am happy for the opportunity I had for the BSW speakers, and from your review, I see you are also!

I put my Seal best of CD in on the way to work this morning, absolutely stunning! The song Kissed by a Rose sounded awesome! I listen mostly to house music now, which has good vocals also, but I wanted some old school clean music with killer vocals, and thought Seal fit the description perfectly. What old or new music have you tried on your system since installaion?

post up pics of the ratchet. now im curious what it looks like.

[Ouzzo]

Originally Posted by AgentCircus

What EQ settings do they recommend using?

I just put the bass up one notch , treble on neutral
Balance and fade on neutral. But sometimes I change the soundstage to one notch right and one notch rear. That is Hifi system.

HK had EQ maybe the OP can reply how his is set

[Kaitain]

http://www.bavsound.com/Stage-One/

Click the Installation hotkey, and it shows you a picture of their tool kit. Right below the blue pry tool is the mini ratchet. The thing is amazing for the center and rear speakers because of the glass and angle.

[russellsdad]

I got my Bavsound Stage one speakers yesterday and went ahead and did the install on the same day. So far I am very pleased with the new sound. Thought I would share some impressions I had after install.

First of all, I have to say that Kaitain's review is 100% spot on. I agree with his assessment of sound quality as well as the install process.

Installation

My impressions with the install was that it was relatively straightforward, though it did take me longer than I anticipated. Might be because I did the entire install by myself with no one helping me (didn't think I really needed any help). I have had experience with car audio installs before which included head unit replacements, speaker re-routing, amp and subwoofer installs, etc. So I feel comfortable with doing this kind of DIY project especially with Bavsound's install videos.

I started with front of the car meaning front doors and center channel. Hardest part for me was getting the window switch out on driver's door. They made that part look pretty easy in the video, but I really struggled with driver's door window switch. It is very tight and I did not want to scratch it or damage the plastic which seemed like it might crack. Also the removal of the harness plug on driver side window switches is not the same as on passenger front door. the plug has a grey lever that has to be rotated down to release the plug. Would have been better for Bavsound video to show driver's door in the video IMO. Rest of the door panel removal though was actually pretty easy.

Once door panel was removed, the actual speaker replacement part was very straightforward. However, I can imagine that someone who was not experienced with audio systems and such would be overwhelmed at this point. But I thought that the actual speaker install was the easy part. Installing the sound deadening was definitely easy, just need a pair of scissors to cut the material to shape and something like an Xacto blade to cut out the speaker opening. I did end up using all of the material they sent. But there was definitely more than enough for the full install. All the components were included for the job, though my kit did not have any zip cable ties which the video stated would be included. No biggie though since I always have cable ties around. Re-install wasn't too difficult either. But I will say that getting the door handle trim on right the first time was not easy. It took a few tries to get it back on right. Once I got the hang of it though, the other door handle trims did not pose much of an issue on re-install.

As was stated in earlier reviews. If you are doing this install yourself, do yourself a favor and get the Bavsound tool kit. Nowhere was this more apparent than when installing center channel speaker. To say that the space is tight at the base of the windshield is an understatement. But not a problem with the small ratchet wrench included with the tool kit. You DO have to be VERY careful not to drop a screw inside the dash. Luckily I was careful and did not lose any screws . Other than squeezing all the harnesses and such into the tight space under the midrange, the center channel was otherwise pretty easy.

Fronts done, hardest part I thought was finished. Now to work on rear doors and rear deck speakers. Rear doors IMO was easier to remove than the fronts. Also I did not even bother removing the window switches or door lock handles since there was enough slack on the other wires after disconnecting original tweeters and upper wiring harness to do the removal and install of the midranges. HK Tweeters popped out easily enough. But trying to push in the Bavsound tweeters in its place also proved to be much more difficult than I anticipated. Seems you have to angle it just right to be able to push it in. My advice is to study which sides of the tweeter housing tabs has bendable tab and which tabs are more hardset in the tweeter frame. You want to seat the tweeter in the hardset tab first and then push in on the bendable tab sides. Otherwise midrange install was equally easy as the fronts. By then removing and replacing door panels was becoming very easy for me which was good when I had to remove the driver-side rear door panel again when I forgot to put the foam surround on the midrange.

The rear deck speakers were ridiculously easy to replace. Grill pops out with hardly any effort and there is ample space to work with to remove old speakers and such. No concerns about losing any screws either as the rear deck speakers are apparently in their own little sealed boxes. My only advice here was to lower the seatbacks down to get the headrests out of the way. Nice that I left the easiest part for last.

Sound

I admit that I was testing each speaker along the way to make sure they were working right. So during each step of the install, at first to me the sound was not earth-shatteringly different than before with HK speakers. Clearly though I expected more immediate improvement especially when you see the construction differences between HK and Bavsound (the midrange magnets on HK were puny sorry looking things). But when I was done with everything and then tested the entire system, the very first thing I noticed was that the sound stage was very noticably wider. This was very evident. It just feels like the speakers are much farther apart now than they really were whereas with HK speakers the sound stage sounded exactly like where the speakers were located.

Second thing I noticed was that my EQ settings were all wrong with Bavsound speakers. Basically I had to reset the EQ back to flat again. I realize now how much EQ time it took on HK drivers to get the music to sound just right to me. That alone was clear evidence of what a poor job the HK speakers did with factory tuning. With Bavsound, pretty much all my EQ and tone settings could be left more or less flat. This is how the factory sound should have been all along.

Third thing I noticed is that the speakers are definitely less fatiguing on my ears. Even my wife who usually could care less about audio sound quality noticed the difference here. I will say though that at first I thought that the tweeters were still somewhat on the bright side until I realized that I needed to re-EQ everything. Once I set everything back to flat then the brightness was gone. One test material that I used is the horn sections on the Chicago soundtrack (not the movie). They definitely sounded more accurate and with less harshness. There is a real difference between the harshness of metallic dome tweeters from HK and more natural silk materials on Bavsound.

Lastly an unexpected side affect with Bavsound is that I feel like bass quality is also improved. I was lamenting the fact that Bavsound does not have Ghost sub option for F30. But after installing and flattening all EQ and tone settings, there is a very good balance now with the mids/highs and the subs. This is where I think Bavsound has really done a nice job of making sure that the sensitivity levels of their drivers match the existing subs seemingly perfectly. Being able to run the EQ more or less flat seemed to really bring out the best of the existing subs to the point now where I don't really feel the need to do any upgrades there. Even with Miami bass and other hip-hop tracks there was ample bass IMO.

Final impressions

Probably best way to conclude would be asking whether the cost of the Bavsound speakers was worth the money. For me that is an unequivocal yes. As a former DJ, I had previously done aftermarket systems with added subwoofers in my older cars. I was used to dealing with the little problems that use to crop up for no apparent reason with all of my aftermarket installs. But I am at the point now where I want as much stock as possible and don't want to deal with the headaches of aftermarket installs. Plus with the level of integration of car entertainment systems with higher end cars especially, going aftermarket has become less and less a viable option. So I really appreciate that a company like Bavsound who specializes in BMWs exists to really minimize the pitfalls of dealing outside of OEM. When you consider that the system includes 14 drop-in drivers plus all the harnesses, adaptors, connectors, etc. this is a real bargain versus going to other aftermarket solutions which would undoubtedly require some install cost for most folks.

I admittedly have not spent that much time yet really listening to the system. So only time will tell if I continue to be impressed with the setup after more seat time. But I am definitely very excited about re-listening to much of my music collection to get a better impression. So far I am very happy with the Bavsound upgrade.

Final question I have is whether there is a market to sell my old HK speakers. If anyone is interested in buying my HK speakers, I am in SF Bay Area.

[russellsdad]

Originally Posted by russellsdad

I admittedly have not spent that much time yet really listening to the system. So only time will tell if I continue to be impressed with the setup after more seat time. But I am definitely very excited about re-listening to much of my music collection to get a better impression. So far I am very happy with the Bavsound upgrade.

I have now spent a full week with the Bavsound upgrade and thought I would share some more impressions. I remain extremely pleased so far. As a little background about my music taste, I can best describe myself as a little of everything (depends on my mood) but with heavier emphasis on hip-hop and top40. During the past week, I have sampled a wide range of music including lots of hip-hop both recent (A$AP Rocky, Young Jeezy, Tyga) to old skool (N.W.A., Rodney O, Beastie Boys), Top40 (Lorde, Lady Gaga, Rihanna), rock (Linkin Park, Matchbox Twenty, Eagles), Broadway musicals (Chicago, Les Miserable), dance/house (Pitbull, David Guetta), etc. So I feel that I have had ample material to further assess my new speakers.

My original impressions still stand. I am still impressed by the wider sound stage and smoother sound overall. I can also add that I am equally impressed by the amount of detail that I can now hear as compared with HK. High-hats and horns in particular sound particularly clear. Kick drums also are more pronounced. As I stated originally, I feel that there is ample bass now for just about all types of music. With HK, I felt there were some tracks that had ample bass and some which sounded very lacking in bass. Again seemed the issue with HK was the inherent imbalance between the subs and the mids/tweets. The balance now with all drivers seemed to correct all of that.

I did end up doing some minor tweaks to my EQ, but the truth is I did not have to increase or decrease any bands by more than 1 notch to get the sound exactly how I wanted. Definitely not done with any sort of scientific method, just based on my taste. Below is how I ended up setting my EQ.

100Hz - +1
200Hz - -1
500Hz - 0
1KHz - 0
2KHz - 0
5KHz - +1
10KHz - 0

One negative side effect I did notice which was never an issue before with any car audio system I ever had was that now MP3s sound noticably different than HD radio or SiriusXM. MP3s now sound thinner to me with rather narrow bass. This is not surprising considering MP3 compression. But I never really noticed much difference before with my last Audi with Bose. It might be because I never had HD radio nor did I use Sirius radio much before with my Audi (did not renew after 3 month trial). So I almost exclusively played MP3s or use analog radio. But now I feel HD radio and SiriusXM has much fuller sound with wider bass as compared with my MP3 source material (should note that I always rip with highest quality 320K or download from itunes/Amazon which seem to use 256K). I can fix that though by increasing bass on tone settings while leaving treble alone. But now I have to basically adjust bass each time when I switch back and forth between MP3 and HD/Sirius. Sucks that on F30 you cannot save tone settings with each music source type. At least I am able to pretty much leave EQ as is in either case. But wish that I could have one set and forget setting for all sources.

Also some more negatives, although the highs are noticeably less sharp, I can still sense some harshness from time to time. It is definitely improved over HK, but can still sometimes be tiring on my ears. It just takes longer to get ear exhaustion as compared with HK. I guess what I am trying to convey is that although the speakers sound great I don't think I would go so far as calling them audiophile. My coworker who just bought a 2014 Lexus IS350 with Mark Levinson I feel is closer to audiophile. Also Audi's Bang and Olufson on S4, though somewhat lacking in bass, definitely were easier on my ears.

No matter though. I remain overall very happy with my perceived new audio system. As a whole I feel this is the best audio I have ever had in any cars that I have owned.

One last note. I did not get any discount from Bavsound to write up a review. I actually paid full price (minus 5% discount from ad). Hoping that I can get some post-purchase discount or swag or something (hint, hint )

[Kaitain]

Very nice review, I am glad you are happy. I felt the same way upon installation. Btw, I sold my HK speakers, check out the classifieds. I sold probably lower TNT I could have gotten, but I sold them in a week, so the extra money lowered the price of the Bavsound speakers for me, which is all I really wanted. I am also in the Bay Area, near Vallejo. Nice to see a fellow SF person! Thank you for the kind words on my review!

Robb

[russellsdad]

Originally Posted by Kaitain

Very nice review, I am glad you are happy. I felt the same way upon installation. Btw, I sold my HK speakers, check out the classifieds. I sold probably lower TNT I could have gotten, but I sold them in a week, so the extra money lowered the price of the Bavsound speakers for me, which is all I really wanted. I am also in the Bay Area, near Vallejo. Nice to see a fellow SF person! Thank you for the kind words on my review!

Robb

Hi Robb. Yup, born and raised in SF. Looks like we have similar cars as well.

I decided to hang on to my HK drivers. I figured whenever I decide I want to part ways with my F30 I can always remove the Bavsound and re-install HK again. I am betting I can sell Bavsound set for more than the HK set when the time comes. I did something similar with my previous A3 aftermarket rims. Basically I saved my stock rims and reinstalled them when it was time to sell. Then I sold the aftermarket rims separately.

[Kaitain]

I would agree, but I have 2-3 cars worth of speakers & amps in my garage though, so decided if & when I sell the car the Bavsound speakers will stay for the new lucky owner. :-)