[335alive]

hey all,

so long story short, i was driving a JB '07 335i E90 that had Logic 7. the car was about to turn 130k so i just traded it in for a Monaco Blue '08 with only 50k on it.

unfortunately the new car does not have Logic 7, which kind of sucks cause I listen to a lot of music in my car and without the Logic 7, i don't even want to bother. sound quality just isn't the same, and the bass is pretty much gone.

so the gist is, i want my bass back, so i want to get a couple of aftermarket subs and an amp to put in the trunk.

my main question for you fine people is this: i know there's a few people on here with aftermarket audio in their cars, but I have always been apprehensive about screwing with the factory wiring on a BMW. is it possible to wire in aftermarket stuff to the OEM BMW Professional head-unit? i don't want to replace the head-unit and mess up my dash/have it look non-factory.

if so, does anyone have a good, trusted audio shop that would be capable of doing this for me?

any help/suggestions are greatly appreciated!

[Marc R]

Why don't you just upgrade with the alpine individual package?

It's kinda cheap and offers a good sound quality.

[PHR]

Yes you can tap into the OEM wiring without any problems. If u look on the forum, there are a couple of DIY to install aftermarket sub and amp. I did mine myself following the DIY i found on the forum

Its fairly simple, nothing to complicating, just a little time consuming, to hide all the wires and put the trunk lineing back together.

You can also check out audiohaven in brampton. they do amazing work as well

[335alive]

i know of audiohaven...didn't think of them.

might make a trip to see them. thanks guys!

[kaypops]

Asides Car Audio Haven (Brampton), is there any other audio shop so i can compare

[PHR]

Theres audio 2 go in Mississauga or check out Hi-Tech audio on steels avenue in Brampton

[kaypops]

Originally Posted by PHR

Theres audio 2 go in Mississauga or check out Hi-Tech audio on steels avenue in Brampton

Thanks PHR, I will check out all 3 and go with who makes the most sense. Really having a hard time deciding on how to upgrade my 2009 E90 sound system

[PHR]

What are you having trouble with? Maybe I can fill you in

[gunda]

check out ultra auto sound here in mississauga, its around dundas and dixie. They sponsor ertefa and do all of the audio work for bimmersport.

[kaypops]

Originally Posted by PHR

What are you having trouble with? Maybe I can fill you in

My car (2009 328i E90) has stock hifi speakers and came with the bmw professional radio head unit. I want to make the sound system sound better. I plan to add the JL XD600/6 6 channel amp, use Audiocontrol center 6 Ch line converter to link the OEM amp to the new Amp. I will be using a 4G amp kit and RCA. Do I need the Technic harness ? is this the solution?
Can I directly replace the factory AMP using the technic harness? since I may not have the optical fiber wiring in my car.

[PHR]

Originally Posted by kaypops

My car (2009 328i E90) has stock hifi speakers and came with the bmw professional radio head unit. I want to make the sound system sound better. I plan to add the JL XD600/6 6 channel amp, use Audiocontrol center 6 Ch line converter to link the OEM amp to the new Amp. I will be using a 4G amp kit and RCA. Do I need the Technic harness ? is this the solution?
Can I directly replace the factory AMP using the technic harness? since I may not have the optical fiber wiring in my car.

What exactly is it that you are trying to do? do you want to add the 6 channel amp so that your oem speakers to receive more output? or do you want to add a sub to your current oem setup?

[kaypops]

Originally Posted by PHR

What exactly is it that you are trying to do? do you want to add the 6 channel amp so that your oem speakers to receive more output? or do you want to add a sub to your current oem setup?

I want to add the 6 channel amp so that your oem speakers to receive more output? if possible replace the OEM AMP to a JL XD600/6 C Ch amp.

[PHR]

Originally Posted by kaypops

I want to add the 6 channel amp so that your oem speakers to receive more output? if possible replace the OEM AMP to a JL XD600/6 C Ch amp.

changing the OEM amp may not do what you want it to. The OEM speakers give fairly decent quality, without distortion. If you do not wish to change the speakers as well, it may not be much of a difference.

you will just have a really good amp, with the same quality, maybe just a tad bit better.

What i did in mine was, i added a 12" sub to the OEM setup. I do not have Logic 7, its just the base BMW sound that it comes with. My speakers in the car are amazing, they produce really good quality, and no distortion what so ever, bass is amazing!!

If you do wish to change your amp anyways, I am pretty sure you will need the technic harness. I do not think a line out on its own would be good enough.

sorry if i wasn't much help, hopefully someone else can chime in, and give their input.

[kaypops]

Originally Posted by PHR

changing the OEM amp may not do what you want it to. The OEM speakers give fairly decent quality, without distortion. If you do not wish to change the speakers as well, it may not be much of a difference.

you will just have a really good amp, with the same quality, maybe just a tad bit better.

What i did in mine was, i added a 12" sub to the OEM setup. I do not have Logic 7, its just the base BMW sound that it comes with. My speakers in the car are amazing, they produce really good quality, and no distortion what so ever, bass is amazing!!

If you do wish to change your amp anyways, I am pretty sure you will need the technic harness. I do not think a line out on its own would be good enough.

sorry if i wasn't much help, hopefully someone else can chime in, and give their input.

I will be changing my midrange and tweeters, underseat subwoofers as well but my main concern is AMP...if I can sort out the AMP issue then the rest I pretty straight forward. I just want to make sure that I do not need to run speakers and do any wiring not needed. Your inputs have been help thanks. The Amp I will be using is the JL XD600/6 which is pretty good.

[jwise36]

say no more, go to frankie at 20hz audio in mississauga. he did my system tell him jordan sent you and im sure he can work out a nice price.

he did 2 crazy installations in my 3 series that you can checkout on my cardomain http://www.cardomain.com/ride/390699...dan-4d/page-2/ pages

[surendrant]

It is possible to wire in aftermarket stuff with your OEM head unit. Technic's harness definitely make stuff easier but there are other options out there. The MTX ReQ 5 and the JL Cleansweep are two I can think of off the top of my head (there are some cheaper options but these are better). These units are designed to take the high level output from your factory amp and convert them to a low level RCA output for your aftermarket amp. There have been people who have changed out all their speakers, added an aftermarket center channel speaker, and swapped out their factory subs under their seat. The whole setup is then powered with a two channel amp for the subs and a surround sound processing amp like the JL Ms-8 to run all the other speakers.

It's not recommended to run an aftermarket high output amp to your OEM speakers. Your risk blowing your speakers.

[kaypops]

Originally Posted by surendrant

It is possible to wire in aftermarket stuff with your OEM head unit. Technic's harness definitely make stuff easier but there are other options out there. The MTX ReQ 5 and the JL Cleansweep are two I can think of off the top of my head (there are some cheaper options but these are better). These units are designed to take the high level output from your factory amp and convert them to a low level RCA output for your aftermarket amp. There have been people who have changed out all their speakers, added an aftermarket center channel speaker, and swapped out their factory subs under their seat. The whole setup is then powered with a two channel amp for the subs and a surround sound processing amp like the JL Ms-8 to run all the other speakers.

It's not recommended to run an aftermarket high output amp to your OEM speakers. Your risk blowing your speakers.

thanks Surendrant, I will be changing the OEM speakers as well. I just intend to replace the factory amp first because this is the difficult part,

[surendrant]

Yea you'll be fine as long as you take it to someone who knows what they're doing. As long as you keep the gains low on the amp you should be okay. As far as speakers go I don't know if you've heard of Bavarian sound weeks. They do drop in speaker replacements for bimmers as clearance is always an issue with our cars.

[Jason_e92]

I have a JL HD 750/1 and JL 10W7 with the Logic 7. Sounds amazing. I had to get a module between to run OEM head unit though, so yes it is possible. I got the Focal line converter to run amps using the OEM head unit. Its pretty pricey but it worth it, after all you want it to sound clean and you do own a Bimmer lol

I also have a drycell in the trunk wired to my OEM battery to lessen strain on my alternator and avoid dimming on my lights. Did some warrantee work and they didn't say a thing.

I got it installed at Ultra Auto Sound in Mississauga, they have experience with BMWs and did a very neat job and stand by their work. You can connect with Joe or Syed. Let them know I sent you (White on Red 335i with W7 HO box) and they will hook you up with a good price. Let me know if you have any other questions, kinda went over board in car audio in the past so I will be happy to help you out.

[Jason_e92]

Originally Posted by kaypops

thanks Surendrant, I will be changing the OEM speakers as well. I just intend to replace the factory amp first because this is the difficult part,

I left my factory subs and amp in and it sounds fine, plus you will get mid bass from them so it compliments quite well. You will just end up spending more money on labour for no reason if you remove them.

[kaypops]

Originally Posted by Jason_e92

I left my factory subs and amp in and it sounds fine, plus you will get mid bass from them so it compliments quite well. You will just end up spending more money on labour for no reason if you remove them.

Hi Jason,

You mean you are ok with the sound output of your factory AMP and speakers?

[Jason_e92]

Hello,

Ya, the sound output for speakers/amp not the subs. I have the Logic 7, and it ample for one 10W7 in a HO box which is pretty loud for the factory set up. If you want you can take a listen, just let me know.