[GeertB]

So on with the installation:

amp bracket with the ASD:





The grey connector from the ASD doesn't fit into the harness (look at the tabs), and the black connector from the harness doesn't fit in the ASD.



You have to change the grey connector from the ASD with the black one from the harness and then it works. Very easily done. Just press a small tab on the side and you can slide the connectors out:



Front doors:
I didn't remove the door panels. Just put them on a box of the right height and it works fine.



Crappy base speakers:


Sound deadening:


BAVsound speaker and tweeter:



Don't forget the foam ring around the speakers:


And the other door:

[GeertB]

Sub install:



Difference between base subs and BAV ghosts:




Also don't forget to install the jumpers in the old base sub connectors.

After this point I removed all the panels that needed to be removed to run the wires to the subs and the center channel (after the installation of the center channel I had the wires tucked away behind the steering wheel, above the drivers feet)

I ran the center channel wire and left sub woofer wire simply along the left side of the car in the door sills along with other wires that run there.

The wire for the right sub woofer is not very long. There was only one route that worked good: From the amp location, to the trunk, and the make the crossing from left to right in the trunk, close to the rear seats and then to the right door sills:





When I was sure that all the wires were good, I zip tied them at some points:


Then I ran the ground and power cable for the amp. I took the ground point left above the amp bracket. I ran the power cable behind the plastic trim piece at the back of the trunk.





Then I installed the speakers in the rear doors. Getting the rear door panels off, was much more difficult than the front door panels. I had to pull real hard to get them off. But it worked without damaging anything.

Sound deadeding on the rear doors:


With speaker:



And of course:
loading up the .apfx file for the F36 with BAVsound speakers (got it from a post from bimmertech on the forum here)

[GeertB]

And then the result:

Big difference! The sound is much more divided in the car and much, much richer.
All the gongs and stuff are normal. No problems there.
I have only listened to 2-3 songs in the parking garage, so I haven't got a real experience yet.

Only thing I wonder about: I think the small harness bypasses the ASD and just picks up the signals there. I'm not sure, but I don't notice any engine sounds coming through the speakers any more. Maybe I'm imagining things
I will ask bimmertech if the harness bypasses ASD or not. They should know

[GeertB]

Have been testing with the dip switches:
from what I understood:
#2: +2dB on all channels
#4: +2dB on center and subs

I first tried turning them both on, but that was too loud. The volume button halfway was already pretty loud. So unnecessary.
Now I have only #4 on: gives a little more base. So far I like this setting the best. It only has been one day, so we will see.

[marc5000]

Hi guys - sorry to butt in! This is a great thread.. kudos for the topic!
I wonder if I could get some advice..?

I have an F36 as well, which had the base sound system.
Just after I bought the car I took it to my local car audio "specialist" who advised I get the Alpine Kit installed (warranty), which added the amp, two mids and the much needed tweeters.

Anyway.. after a few minor hiccups (L/R swapped over the wrong way ha), the Alpine Kit was up and running. I can ONLY assume they coded the car correctly for hifi - as I understand this is needed in order to not have an askew EQ curve as compared to the base speaker setup. I'll have to get ESYS running to take a look at some point..

As a PMC studio user, this kit did help, certainly over the base (hell yeah..) but obviously has no game on PMC's

Verdict of the Alpine Kit; I do like the sound - speakers stay relatively true to the material being fed (iPhone USB connector / Spotify on 'Extreme' audio playback). Though there is detail; it's not an insane amount - but I can't be too picky coming from a pro-studio environment. Bearing in mind however, that the subs haven't been touched - so I don't get the low-end extension I'm still after. This brings me nicely onto my questions..

I can now look at actually upgrading the subwoofers(!) - and I see on here that 'HiFi' subwoofer enclosures were purchased. Is this because the base subwoofers are only 6.5" - and the 8" enclosures are needed? I've been looking everywhere for this info...!

My second question is regarding amplification for the subs. As I now have the Alpine Kit, does this therefore add amplification to the 'base' subwoofers anyway - if so, this is great and I can comfortably ensure any new subs will be sufficiently powered?

Thanks in advance!

[Lancelot]

Originally Posted by marc5000

I can now look at actually upgrading the subwoofers(!) - and I see on here that 'HiFi' subwoofer enclosures were purchased. Is this because the base subwoofers are only 6.5" - and the 8" enclosures are needed? I've been looking everywhere for this info...!

My second question is regarding amplification for the subs. As I now have the Alpine Kit, does this therefore add amplification to the 'base' subwoofers anyway - if so, this is great and I can comfortably ensure any new subs will be sufficiently powered?

Thanks in advance!

The enclosures are fine as far as size is concerned, however my speakers were glued to the enclosure, so it was a bit messy to remove them. Easier/cleaner to purchase enclosures if you can.

Regarding the amplification, the subs are on the same line as the otjer speakers by default, so the front left and front right first go through subs then door speakers.

What we did with the bimmertech amp is power the subs from an independent line, i'm not sure the alpine amp has the ability to do that.

[GeertB]

Just want to add, that you have to take the impedance (ohm) of the speakers into account. The base subs are 4 Ohm, hifi subs are 2 Ohm. Reason: what Lancelot said: "so the front left and front right first go through subs then door speakers."

I think you can order ghost subs in the correct impedance for your situation

[TePee]

With the Alpine kit the wiring is changed and the underseat-woofers are powered independently. The Alpine amp has 6-channels: 2x front mids/tweeters, 2x woofers, 2x rears.

This means your 6,5" OEM underseats already get more & direct power, I think 2x 55W.

You could of course try the 8" HiFi woofers. They are 2 Ohm and thus they should draw more power from the amp. I'm only not sure whether the Alpine amp is 2 Ohm stable, but most of the aftermarket amps should be.

But you should be aware of that the Alpine amp has sound processing (DSP) inside, which is tuned for the Alpine loudspeakers and the OEM 6,5" woofers. Not sure it fits the 8" woofers, but you can give it a try.

[marc5000]

Originally Posted by TePee

With the Alpine kit the wiring is changed and the underseat-woofers are powered independently. The Alpine amp has 6-channels: 2x front mids/tweeters, 2x woofers, 2x rears.

This means your 6,5" OEM underseats already get more & direct power, I think 2x 55W.

Thanks for the responses!

Okay, so this is where I'm getting confused. First off, I have the new Alpine Kit installed:



As you can see, no direct plugs to the subs from the amp (which the old kit showed) - or am I wrong and these are actually included with the loom adapters?

TePee - you then mention 6.5" subs; are you sure or were all subs upgraded to 8". The pics above seem to be the same 8" OEM sub vs. the BAVsound

The next question is, 4ohm or 2ohm - but I may just ping BAVsound an email to see - I guess this now means my system acts as the 'HiFi'? Perhaps not.

[Lancelot]

Underseats are all 8" regardless of level.

Looking at how the alpine kit is wired in the bmw document, i'm quite certain the subs are on their own channel as TePee mentionned.

[GeertB]

Hmm, I'm not sure. In a base system there are 2 wires for each side going from your HU to the subs and from the subs to your midrange speakers in the front. With the Alpine kit, the front midrange speakers are driven directly by the Alpine amp. So the HU still powers the subs I would think.

Also I think base subs are 6,5". You can see it if you look closely at my picture that shows the base sub and the ghost sub. See at where the connection is. With the base sub it sits more to the center, so smaller sub.

[Lancelot]

My thinking was, per guide here
http://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/att...0&d=1388227396, page 6, if you look at connectors noted A7-A8, it does a round trip from the HU to the amp and back, to the subs.

My base subs were replaced directly with 8" subs in the same enclosure, so I assume these were 8" too, I could be wrong but they fit in the same space at least.

[TePee]

Base Stereo system has just 6,5" / 4 Ohm woofers - I won't say subs

In case of the Alpine kit they are connected at their own amp channel. They use the OEM cable. The mids/tweeters get new direct cable from the Alpine amp.

[GeertB]

Ah, I didn't know the Alpine amp connected at the back of the HU. Then it makes sense that the subs have their own amp channel. So now you have to figure out of the Alpine amp can handle 2 ohm subs. If not, just order 2 ohm ghost subs.

[marc5000]

Originally Posted by Lancelot

My thinking was, per guide here
http://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/att...0&d=1388227396, page 6, if you look at connectors noted A7-A8, it does a round trip from the HU to the amp and back, to the subs.

My base subs were replaced directly with 8" subs in the same enclosure, so I assume these were 8" too, I could be wrong but they fit in the same space at least.

First off.. Happy New Year (from Europe)!

Thanks everyone for all the replies - this info is super helpful.

So I'm going to assume then that Alpine were clever to loop through the HU connectors and address the subs (thanks Lancelot!) . It makes sense as the Alpine amp is 6 channel with 4x 25w and 2x 55w. Interesting to see they also included a selector switch on the side of the amp - but only document two positions, 2 and 5? I wonder if the other positions are programmed with other tune settings - guess I'll have to test unless anyone knows?

Secondly I'm going to assume that the Alpine retrofit is tuned with 4 ohm subs in mind, so I'm going to do a direct replacement and not bother with the 2 ohm (unless I should check anyway?). I also wont bother with new housing as the base housing (I'm going by speaker radius here) looks similar. I think I'll need a heat gun.. from what I've heard they can be a little tricky to remove - also, perhaps some deadening material around the lower floor area too.

Thirdly, well.. I now need to decide what subs to actually get;

a) BAVsound (never really heard of them)
b) Focal IFBMW Sub.V2
c) Earthquake SWS-8X + housing mod kit.

All have similar price range, which is a good start.

[GeertB]

Bavsound are the ghost subs. You can see them in my post with the install pics. Happy newyear indeed!

[GeertB]

I have been playing with the DSP settings. First of all: if you use a Windows 10 laptop, like I do, Windows sets the text height standard on 150%. This is a screen setting. (same menu where you change your resolution). Atf DSP pc tool 2.93 isn't affected by this, but 3.40 is. All the text enlarges and you can't read it anymore because the text is larger then the box it is supposed to fit in... So you have to set the text height at 100% in your Windows screen settings. And then log off and log on before the changes take effect.

I had the F36 tune loaded for all bavsound speakers and ghost subs. I had dip switch 4 on and 2 off. Bass was ok but not enough in my opinion. In a F30 tune file I had, I saw there was a 7-8 dB difference between the speakers and the subs. In the F36 tune file this was only 5db (maybe because of the ghost subs). Speakers on gain 0, subs +5. Now I run speakers on -3 and subs on +4. Treble and bass settings in Idrive menu both on 0. And now dip switch 2 is on.
This is what I have changed so far. I like it so far.

[GeertB]

I now have adjusted the center speaker at -4. Other speakers -3db and subs +4.

[Soul_Glo]

Originally Posted by beanbaguk

Following the HiFi thread for the Bimmer-Tech, I'd like to start one for the base stereo users such as myself.

I've just placed an order for the Bimmer-Tech Premium Audio kit and I'm very excited to receive it and I'll be working very closely with Bimmer-Tech to set-up an optimal installation in my base stereo car.

While you pay a little more than the standard kit, you also receive everything necessary to install the amplifier to your F3x series including the longer harness, cradle and more.

Keep in mind however, I do have a Bavsound Stage 1, and Bimmer-Tech also recommend upgrading the speakers if you decide to choose a Premium Audio kit.

If you too have a base stereo car and have chosen to install this kit, it would be great to hear about your experiences, hints and tips installing it (especially in an F31 like mine), and it would be great to share DSP set-up files. (Especially if you have a Bavsound Stage 1 kit installed).

Not to thread jack but how many speakers does the base system have? Does it have tweeters? Under seat subs?

The Bav Tech comes with a USB cable. Is that to plug into a laptop so you can tune the system?

Have you found some good settings you recommend?

Thanks

[GeertB]

the base system doesn't have tweeters or a center channel. It has 2 speakers in the front doors, 2 in the rear doors, and 2 underseat subs.
By adding the bimmertech amp, you can add the center channel and the tweeters from bavsound. You should change all the speakers and the subs when you add the bimmertech amp because the impedance of the base speakers isn't the same as the bavsound speakers. (bavsound are made to replace hifi speakers)

[TePee]

Why is the impedance a problem when you use the bimmertech amp?

It can handle different impedances and you can adjust anyway almost everything with it.

[GeertB]

I mean that I don't think it is a good idea to change some speakers, and some not.