[davethefish]

Originally Posted by d4springer

This is going to be a great mod, good luck, hope the weather stays fine and you have plenty of beer to hand!

it's also going to be a slow one too, as i'm time poor atm...

[Thackers]

Originally Posted by d4springer

This is going to be a great mod, good luck, hope the weather stays fine and you have plenty of beer to hand!

^^
+1

Sounds like some serious homework..

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by davethefish

an improvement to the standard base audio or HIFI
i wouldn't necessarily say better than HK, just different.
better bass woofers and door mids, but less speakers.

depends on you view of sound stage...

yes definitely doors to be deadened, probably the rears too,
even though i'm not replacing those speakers.
i think the f30 lacks deadening throughout the whole car....
you get some deadening with the kit but i've also ordered some 'Silent Coat' vibrodamping for the doors and other areas...

As more of a home hi-fi audiophile I'm not really taken in with all this talk of 16 speakers nonsense, so would probably be happier with your set up! Totally agree with your thoughts on the F30 noise levels, hence my interest in the sound deadening... I will be very interested to hear how much it reduces road noise as well as improves the sound! Until that happens I can't see any value to do anything to the HK system.

[teaston]

Originally Posted by Tengocity

As more of a home hi-fi audiophile I'm not really taken in with all this talk of 16 speakers nonsense, so would probably be happier with your set up! Totally agree with your thoughts on the F30 noise levels, hence my interest in the sound deadening... I will be very interested to hear how much it reduces road noise as well as improves the sound! Until that happens I can't see any value to do anything to the HK system.

I think the only thing you could improve on the HK is the tweeters, being aluminium dome ones they are inferior to silk dome tweeters.

But whether silk tweeters would work with the HK amp/setup is another matter entirely!

[davethefish]

Originally Posted by Tengocity

As more of a home hi-fi audiophile I'm not really taken in with all this talk of 16 speakers nonsense, so would probably be happier with your set up! Totally agree with your thoughts on the F30 noise levels, hence my interest in the sound deadening... I will be very interested to hear how much it reduces road noise as well as improves the sound! Until that happens I can't see any value to do anything to the HK system.

i'm actually not massively fussy about audio quality... i can appreciate it though...
i'm quite happy listening to music through a run of the mill 1000w samsung home cinema with tall boy speakers, which is surprisingly good.

if i'd had the hifi or HK version in my current F30 i wouldn't be doing this upgrade,
it's only the fact that the base system is so substandard by 21st century standards.
even a £5 CD-radio from argos has a tweeter, but not apparently a £30,000 plus BMW.

the problem is BMW made 3 completely different Audio systems that share no components or wiring, so upgrading is quite difficult, expensive, or in some cases nigh on impossible.
it would have been so much simpler and resulted in higher quality sound if they had installed a common loom, 10 speakers (4 doors mids plus 4 tweeters and 2 subs)
and then let you spec from a range the quality of the speakers subs and amp.
all easily upgradable after the fact for little labour charge, and no coding issues... so easily done by BMW themselves.


i've noticed that some of the bigger engined F30's have extra sound damping like the front door cavity behind the wing.
and i can hear a lot of the road noise resonating from the door area.
i'd also like to get the wheel arch liners out and deaden the panels behind there, just to cut down some of the tyre roar.

[davethefish]

Originally Posted by Thackers

^^
+1

Sounds like some serious homework..

yeah, my missus is a google widow

[davethefish]

this is unashamedly pinched from a thread on E90 post,
but i would imagine the F30 base stereo to have a similar equaliser curve.
one of the reasons for needing to attenuate or flatten the curve for the tweeter.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...ighlight=graph

[teaston]

Originally Posted by davethefish

this is unashamedly pinched from a thread on E90 post,
but i would imagine the F30 base stereo to have a similar equaliser curve.
one of the reasons for needing to attenuate or flatten the curve for the tweeter.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...ighlight=graph

Yep flattening the eq curve is a must on UK base audio! I had a JL Audio cleansweep in my E90 to do it. Even better that your amp has that built in!

[davethefish]

phase 1 Wiring


what a doddle....

not fitted any speakers or the amp yet,
and maybe the more difficult parts are yet to come, but i've wired the whole car tonight after work.
i had planned on splitting the wiring work over a week of evenings, slowly moving along removing and replacing trim panels.
but all that work took 3 hours tonight, and at least an hour of that was stopping and piddling about taking pictures...

removed dash panels and wired the loom from the quadlock at the HU to the amp space in the boot.
power and earth lines wired, speaker wires to the subs.
trim comes out a doddle, easier then my E90...
back seat took all of 2 mins, it's only held in with 2 torx bolts.
you'd think the car was made out of lego it was so easy...

yesterday i made an mdf mounting board for the amp in the L/H corner of the boot under the trim.
primed and painted it, then tonight i fitted to the boot floor with a few dabs of bond seal.

lots of pics that will have to wait, too late now...

[teaston]

Originally Posted by davethefish

phase 1 Wiring


what a doddle....

not fitted any speakers or the amp yet,
and maybe the more difficult parts are yet to come, but i've wired the whole car tonight after work.
i had planned on splitting the wiring work over a week of evenings, slowly moving along removing and replacing trim panels.
but all that work took 3 hours tonight, and at least an hour of that was stopping and piddling about taking pictures...

removed dash panels and wired the loom from the quadlock at the HU to the amp space in the boot.
power and earth lines wired, speaker wires to the subs.
trim comes out a doddle, easier then my E90...
back seat took all of 2 mins, it's only held in with 2 torx bolts.
you'd think the car was made out of lego it was so easy...

yesterday i made an mdf mounting board for the amp in the L/H corner of the boot under the trim.
primed and painted it, then tonight i fitted to the boot floor with a few dabs of bond seal.

lots of pics that will have to wait, too late now...

Good work mate, you're saving yourself a fortune in labour charges!

[davethefish]

Originally Posted by teaston

Good work mate, you're saving yourself a fortune in labour charges!

i've also identified a squeaky rattle that i've had since day 1, and rectified it.

it's actually quite enjoyable so far with the good weather we're having.
it was a nice few hours fiddling with the car in the sun after work

[jessat]

Looks like a good upgrade. I think any upgrade over the base system will sound better with the addition of amp and tweeters. Mine has improved, but i am interested in the sound proofing. The road noise in this car is not great, so if what your doing to the doors improves it i may follow. Interested to see where you put the sound proofing material.

[Tengocity]

Good work Dave! Always full of admiration for folk who do these things themselves... personally I'm always too lazy, impatient and inept!

Whilst you've been there what have you seen in the car in the way of sound proofing?

This thread had me looking in to general sound proofing options, and found this company:

http://www.nkgroup.co.uk/product-category/vehicles/

Anyone know of anyone who has tried something like this. There are a few places selling various parts and supplies for doing this yourself, but not that many places that will do it all for you.

[nas80]

that silent coat is only good for reducing resonance,

if you want to block road noise there is more to it, you need to make a sandwich of closed cell foam and then on top of that you need to fit an unbroken layer of mass loaded vinyl. its a pain in the ass doing sound deadening and it adds a fair load of weight.

im trying to find some reviews for the gladen speakers. how are the mid range / bass drivers? im lacking mid range bass in my e21 and im not after a focal system as they sound a bit bright, I want a warmer sound if you know what I mean

[teaston]

Originally Posted by nas80

that silent coat is only good for reducing resonance,

if you want to block road noise there is more to it, you need to make a sandwich of closed cell foam and then on top of that you need to fit an unbroken layer of mass loaded vinyl. its a pain in the ass doing sound deadening and it adds a fair load of weight.

im trying to find some reviews for the gladen speakers. how are the mid range / bass drivers? im lacking mid range bass in my e21 and im not after a focal system as they sound a bit bright, I want a warmer sound if you know what I mean

I was thinking this too, pretty sure you're right that the sound deadening for audio systems will not affect road noise etc.

[Tengocity]

I've no doubts you're both correct, but the NK group do products for sound deadening rather than audio enhancement, and they can do the fitting.

I may be prepared to accept the weight gain and cost if someone has some experience that it actually helps! I can't imagine it weighs anymore than having a person in your car and I've never felt that having an extra person in my car has made that much difference to the handling!

[nas80]

Yea sorry for the off track.

[nas80]

@ OP - sorry if I am taking it off topic!

[davethefish]

whoa what happened here?

[davethefish]

i've just finished the whole installation and set up and.....

HOLY MOTHER OF GOD!!!


IS IT LOUD OR WHAT!!!

i've just downloaded and installed the (.gas) amplifier configuration file i got from edd @ monster audio design via the laptop software to the amp.

to say i'm impressed with the output is an understatement...i'm still smiling and the neighbours have only just stopped looking out of their windows

not only is it loud but the sound is so crisp and sharp, really powerful deep bass and the treble from the tweeters is stunning.
all in all it took three evenings last week about 2-3 hrs each, and most of yesterday, though quite a bit of that was spent sorting some instruction confusion and figuring out how to fix the crossovers in the doors.
but all in all it went pretty smoothly.

i've got shed loads of pictures to upload and sort,
so i'll add them and some installation tips when i get time.

[teaston]

Originally Posted by davethefish

i've just finished the whole installation and set up and.....

HOLY MOTHER OF GOD!!!


IS IT LOUD OR WHAT!!!

i've just downloaded and installed the (.gas) amplifier configuration file i got from edd @ monster audio design via the laptop software to the amp.

to say i'm impressed with the output is an understatement...i'm still smiling and the neighbours have only just stopped looking out of their windows

not only is it loud but the sound is so crisp and sharp, really powerful deep bass and the treble from the tweeters is stunning.
all in all it took three evenings last week about 2-3 hrs each, and most of yesterday, though quite a bit of that was spent sorting some instruction confusion and figuring out how to fix the crossovers in the doors.
but all in all it went pretty smoothly.

i've got shed loads of pictures to upload and sort,
so i'll add them and some installation tips when i get time.

Awesome mate!

And it should sound even better once it's run in!

[Thackers]

All sounds mint...
Wish I had the time..

What do you reckon an audio installer would have charged?