[Matei2112]

Hello everyone

Another base audio upgrade thread - wanted to get some opinions and advice so please feel free to comment.

I bought a 4 series GC and wanted to upgrade the sound system as the base audio wasn't cutting it for me - however I wanted to stick to a budget so the Idea was to stick to plug and play as much as possible and try and delay adding in an amp as much as possible.

I am aware of the limited output of this build as the main limiting factor is the headunit and no amp. I am not expecting to have the equivalent of a Bowers and Wilkins sound system from the 7 series but I want to improve the sound in my car step by step - my hesitation to add a MATCHUP BMW aftermarket is cabling as I am not a great fan of it.

I swapped out the base 4 inch drivers with HK speakers and added FOCAL ES100K tweeters in the front doors - literally changed the HK tweeter with the FOCAL one and it was plug and play. This made a huge difference - the HK performs hugely better than base audio speaker and the tweeter takes really good care of the highs. For comparison - I found the HK tweeter to have decent quality but have a metallic/tin sound compared to the FOCAL Kevlar tweeters which sound just right to me.

Future steps is upgrading the subwoofers and I am aware that the lack of power from the (not existing) amp will not unlock the full potential of the subwoofers. I want to go for a low impedance (2 ohm), high sensitivity (90dB) subwoofer pair from MATCHUP 8BMW-S/D. My question is the S/D variant - The S stands for the Slim version and I am wondering which one I should choose/ happy for other recommendations and would be grateful for your input.

In addition, I know that the wiring for the subwoofers can be a bit tricky due to the subwoofer and front midrange being wired in parallel so I will create my own subwoofer harnesses that will plug into the new subs so the car's harness stays intact. Could do with an actual wiring diagram of the sound system.

I am also aware of modifying the VO to HIFI from base audio - some people say it is worth it as it sounds different - what are the risks to doing this? Is this as simple as going to ESYS and changing the VO? Can it be reversed if I'm not happy?

Hopefully there are some other people who are looking to swap out the drivers and leave the amp to the last and could use all the info on this.

Thanks!

[NealfromNZ]

On coding it’s FDL coding for changing NTB from base audio to other versions. So a number of tools can do that. So it’s just config change rather than any flashing of the NBT unit.

If you’re confident with esys then it’s straight forward but if your a first time user you do have the potential to brick your car. You need to be make sure that you follow someone else guide and read and re-read the steps.

Otherwise BimmerCode can make easy work out of it and it quite safe. But if you’re planning on aftermarket CarPlay coding BimmerCode becomes unusable as I found out. It won’t even let you do FDL coding. But very straight forward UI and makes easy work of coding hifi.

Bimmer utility is quite good. It can either work in standalone mode or work with esys. This is what I’ve used for changing many NBT options and it has some nice options for general coding.

I started out with base audio and have the focal es100k comps front and rear. You could probably take the HK & K2 tweeters one step further and look for Billfitz crossover design which can be found on here. Although the K2s can be closed at a 3500hz if you want to go lower.

On the Match underseats dombi runs these in his X series so no doubt could offer an opinion. He’s also done extensive tuning on the Match platform so maybe able to offer some insight on tuning them for match only.

Other wise other models to consider depending on your budget are the Earthquake SWS with their low sub bass range, Morel BMW ( I run these and find them really articulate ) or the new quite well priced helix ci5 8 inch with universal mount rings for BMW. These options all have 2 ohm variants to maximum the output for Match DSP high powered channels .

[Matei2112]

Originally Posted by NealfromNZ

On coding it’s FDL coding for changing NTB from base audio to other versions. So a number of tools can do that. So it’s just config change rather than any flashing of the NBT unit.

If you’re confident with esys then it’s straight forward but if your a first time user you do have the potential to brick your car. You need to be make sure that you follow someone else guide and read and re-read the steps.

Otherwise BimmerCode can make easy work out of it and it quite safe. But if you’re planning on aftermarket CarPlay coding BimmerCode becomes unusable as I found out. It won’t even let you do FDL coding. But very straight forward UI and makes easy work of coding hifi.

Bimmer utility is quite good. It can either work in standalone mode or work with esys. This is what I’ve used for changing many NBT options and it has some nice options for general coding.

I started out with base audio and have the focal es100k comps front and rear. You could probably take the HK & K2 tweeters one step further and look for Billfitz crossover design which can be found on here. Although the K2s can be closed at a 3500hz if you want to go lower.

On the Match underseats dombi runs these in his X series so no doubt could offer an opinion. He’s also done extensive tuning on the Match platform so maybe able to offer some insight on tuning them for match only.

Other wise other models to consider depending on your budget are the Earthquake SWS with their low sub bass range, Morel BMW ( I run these and find them really articulate ) or the new quite well priced helix ci5 8 inch with universal mount rings for BMW. These options all have 2 ohm variants to maximum the output for Match DSP high powered channels .

Thanks, Neal - I started to familiarise myself on coding with esys. Coding from esys to change base audio to hifi - what will this do more exactly in terms of hardware, speakers, etc?

If dombi could step in and let me know what subwoofers he is using from Audiotec Fischer that would be great!

Thanks!

[dombi]

NealfromNZ

I got the Match Up W8BMW-S Woofers for my car, which are 2 Ohm Woofers.

I think the factory Woofers are 8 Ohm.
So I am not sure if the Woofers can be just swapped out.

For me the installation was done by someone else. They checked everything for me. I only did the tuning with help of some really helpful and smart guys.

The Match Up Amp can drive the 2 Ohm Match Woofers easily under the seats.

With the Match Up 10 I was able to tune the Woofers to play between 40-100Hz. They can get really loud. And the bass is actually pretty good (definitely better than before with the 8 Ohm factory Woofers).

But their response starts dropping really fast above 100Hz. I wish they played up a little higher.

I think the Morels you have Neal are probably better.

I also think that the DSP is a must, to make the system sound good.

With the DSP, and Harman speakers tuned in my car, the sound is pretty incredible.
My dad has just bought new 5 Series with Bowers, but the B&W sound doesn’t come anywhere close to my car.

The Match DSP will allow you to time align, and tune the speakers correctly.

Just swapping speakers will not result in the same, as you won’t be able to time align everything, nor to control the response of the speakers.

Installing the Match DSP is actually not that difficult, and they sell wiring harnesses for the different systems.
Not sure if they have the wiring for the Base system though. That can be checked on their site.


Long story short, with the Amp, the Woofers can sound pretty amazing.
I ended up adding an Audison 10” active sub to the system, which makes it even better. The Sub could be connected to the Amp easily, as it had a dedicated Line out for it.

[NealfromNZ]

Originally Posted by Matei2112

Thanks, Neal - I started to familiarise myself on coding with esys. Coding from esys to change base audio to hifi - what will this do more exactly in terms of hardware, speakers, etc?

If dombi could step in and let me know what subwoofers he is using from Audiotec Fischer that would be great!

Thanks!

Hifi profile will cut back the boosted bass that’s in the base audio profile. You don’t really want that when going to 8 inch underseat woofers when adding aftermarket AMP : DSP. Suspect the treble was also boosted but didn’t measure it on mine in enough detail to confirm.

Looks like your comfortable with esys the .
You have two choices, you can either go code the car for hifi or you can go into the NBT ecu and code the amp for hifi.

Look for amp_variant and code to external. You’ll also need to think about running cables from NBT to new amp/dsp.
Also will need cable from amp to underseats and doors. Look at Technic PNP for options .

[phc77]

Perhaps you'll find some similar things to the G26 here.

https://www.audiokit.fi/kirjoitus/bm...-audio-upgrade

[Matei2112]

Subs have arrived - not overall impressed with the build quality of the Match subs but they sound decent. I have made custom made low pass filters and looking to code the car. I was hoping someone could provide a tutorial/ instructions on how to code the hu to change the sound profile as it would be the first time coding with esys and I am not too comfortable doing this.

Thanks !

[NealfromNZ]

Would suggest for parameter / FDL coding using an easier coding tool like BimmerUtility which has good menus in expert mode for doing this kind of thing.

You could also use BimmerCode as well. But the app stops working on the idrive as soon as any non BMW oem certs are used such as maps or CarPlay.

Esys whilst very powerful it’s easier to get into a lot of trouble and potentially brick ecus / car and a lot more steps involved to do basic coding than other tools.