[VP Electricity]

We recently had the chance to work on a client's 3rd 3-Series! He started with an E90 with base Stereo, went with a 328i with 676 HiFi, and just picked up a 340i. He's a pretty activist audio aficionado - he knows more than most about what's available for these cars, and what the word on the street is.

We pulled the gear out of the 328i F30, and when the 340i arrived, we used it all - but not in the same architecture. This included an Alpine H800 and C800 controller, the JL 8-channel amp, a MATCH 500W sub amp, and a JL sub in our OE-Look enclosure. We had used the 800/8 in staggered 6-channel mode, to get more power to his underseat woofers.

Well, we'd been reading some of Andy Wehmeyer's recent posts about two-seat stereo and how to properly tune an upmixer-equipped system. The Logic 7 and HK systems in the F30 have an upmixer, but I've never liked the results. What the results SHOULD be are good stereo imaging from either front seat.

Well, the H800 has Dolby Pro Logic II for Music built in. (Side note - only works with a Toslink digital input). So we used a Mobridge DA1 MOST-to-Toslink "digital preamp" to provide a Toslink SPDIF stream with volume control into the H800. The H800 and the DA1 went in the upper, OEM-amp location:



The C800 went in the glove box. It's not used for anything, but the H800 won't work if it isn't present.



Then we used the H800 to do parametric EQ, crossover filtering, and basic time delay for the sub (left/right time delay isn't used with an upmixing system). From what I've read, PL II has more stereo width than a Logic 7 system, and that's been one of my criticisms of Logic 7.

The two amps went in the Musicar lower amp rack, and the passive crossover went forward of them. That crossover space isn't available on all F3x, by the way.



The left and right speakers were HAT Legatia L4 Carbon mids in our special mounting adapters, paired with Morel MT-220 28mm silk-dome tweeters and a Morel passive crossover (we tested four models to find the one that worked with this pairing).



The underseats were the Jehnert XE200 paper-pulp woofers.

The sub was a JL 10W3.





We added a Morel Hybrid Integra 402 point-source speaker for the center channel, and we powered it with 2 channels of the 800/8. Didn't get a pic, but here's the speaker we used:



We also installed a subwoofer level knob with a BMW knob cover, to make it look stock:





We used the stock rears. With PL II, the rears play a modified L-R signal, and they don't get much energy to handle.


I have to tell you, it was easier to tune than I expected, and it was darned good from either seat. I've never been one to sacrifice driver-seat stereo performance for the sake of the passenger. I didn't feel this system had that problem at all. It did a great job from either seat. The client tells us he is very happy, and doesn't feel that he lost anything compared to his prior one-seat car.

We literally start another one of these tomorrow!

[carlr]

Hi,

Nice write up of the install!

[bri1042]

VP is a Wizard.

[wdeerfield]

very nice job. i like the use of the bmw knob to tie it all in. that rear sub doesnt take up any space at all and looks factory. Very clean work!