[Misturrtinnie]

I've been researching and trying to read as much as possible on how to upgrade my logic 7 system in my 07 AW E92. I love the sound, but I want a navi so bad that I'm willing to spend the money for it. (Hopefully it won't be too outrageous)

So basically on what I read, I will need to relocate the oem HU to the trunk, wire that up for the chimes and no error. I will need 2 amps to power the speakers, and subs under the seats (a 6 channel, and a 2 channel), add the aftermarket double din with a metra kit. Now the only thing I'm missing is the harnesses, which ones will I need to have my steering wheel controls working? I really don't care about the SOS since we all own a cell phone.

Is there anything else that I am missing? And anything I need to tell the installer so I can get everything right? And I really don't want anything too loud, I just want it to work. I was looking at the JL line amps (G6600, and a G2250) would these power the oem speakers and subs? They seem a bit overpowering to me.

I'm trying to get everything straight before I start this project over the summer, I will keep everyone updated on everything.

[fdriller9]

First question I have to ask is...do you like the way the L7 system sounds? Personally, I like it but the mids can be improved and the low end sucks, thus why I added a trunk sub. However the trunk sub now overpowers the system. So I need to either turn my sub down (which I don't really want to do since it is only pushing about 1/3 of it's power handling right now), amp my stock speakers, or get new speakers and amp them. New speakers and amps are my last solution. I'm in college and money is tight. Because I like the highs in the L7 system, I think I might just get MB quart 8" for midbass drivers and amp them. Not sure what model, I need to do more searching. Right now, I have the center channel disconnected, the L7 "surround sound off", and the trunk sub. Sounds much better than before but still lacking midbass.


As far as nav goes...are you just looking for the nav itself? or the other features an aftermarket HU provides? Have you looked into the Kuda mount?

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...ght=kuda+mount

Also, while some people (namely, Lee Rambler) have been driving the stock L7 speakers with more power with no ill effects, some advise against it. My car is leased so I can't afford to blow the stock speakers. The underseats are arounf 400 each, new.

Lastly, If you do completely swap out the audio system you'll need to do one of the following to achieve the best sound.

1) Recode the HU to allow analog outputs.
2) Clean up the signal by using a BitOne. While this works well, You're still getting signals after the stock amp. Whereas in the first option, you get a clean signal from the HU.
3) If you like the factory crossover points, then you can just use a bunch of LOCs to get signals to the aftermarket amps.

I don't mind the factory crossover points, however I would love to use either 1 or 2. Because money is tight....I might have to settle for option 3.

[Misturrtinnie]

No I'm not wanting the double din just for the navi, I love everything about a double din including the extra features (DVD, better Bluetooth, bigger size, etc etc.)

My plan was to basically ditch the whole oem HU and use the double din to send out the audio signal to the amps which will be rewired to every single speakers in the logic 7 system. Basically it's a whole new rewired system.

Is this the hardest way to go about this? Or is there an easier way?

[AW335TT]

Originally Posted by *********

First question I have to ask is...do you like the way the L7 system sounds? Personally, I like it but the mids can be improved and the low end sucks, thus why I added a trunk sub. However the trunk sub now overpowers the system. So I need to either turn my sub down (which I don't really want to do since it is only pushing about 1/3 of it's power handling right now), amp my stock speakers, or get new speakers and amp them. New speakers and amps are my last solution. I'm in college and money is tight. Because I like the highs in the L7 system, I think I might just get MB quart 8" for midbass drivers and amp them. Not sure what model, I need to do more searching. Right now, I have the center channel disconnected, the L7 "surround sound off", and the trunk sub. Sounds much better than before but still lacking midbass.


As far as nav goes...are you just looking for the nav itself? or the other features an aftermarket HU provides? Have you looked into the Kuda mount?

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...ght=kuda+mount

Also, while some people (namely, Lee Rambler) have been driving the stock L7 speakers with more power with no ill effects, some advise against it. My car is leased so I can't afford to blow the stock speakers. The underseats are arounf 400 each, new.
Lastly, If you do completely swap out the audio system you'll need to do one of the following to achieve the best sound.

1) Recode the HU to allow analog outputs.
2) Clean up the signal by using a BitOne. While this works well, You're still getting signals after the stock amp. Whereas in the first option, you get a clean signal from the HU.
3) If you like the factory crossover points, then you can just use a bunch of LOCs to get signals to the aftermarket amps.

I don't mind the factory crossover points, however I would love to use either 1 or 2. Because money is tight....I might have to settle for option 3.

Who gave you that price? I called the dealer 2 days ago the underseats are $191 each, the one in the dash is $118, the ones in the doors were like $75 each and tweeters were $65 each.

[Lee Rambler]

you can always replace the underseats with the dayton thin 8's from parts express for ~$100 each too, I seriously doubt they would have any clue you did that when you turn the car in off lease... before I spent almost $200 apiece on L7 woofers, I'd get some morels

[fdriller9]

Originally Posted by AW335TT

Who gave you that price? I called the dealer 2 days ago the underseats are $191 each, the one in the dash is $118, the ones in the doors were like $75 each and tweeters were $65 each.

Real OEM.com....I guess that's MSRP.

[fdriller9]

Originally Posted by Misturrtinnie

No I'm not wanting the double din just for the navi, I love everything about a double din including the extra features (DVD, better Bluetooth, bigger size, etc etc.)

My plan was to basically ditch the whole oem HU and use the double din to send out the audio signal to the amps which will be rewired to every single speakers in the logic 7 system. Basically it's a whole new rewired system.

Is this the hardest way to go about this? Or is there an easier way?

Nope that sounds about right. It's a PITA but it is doable. Good Luck!

[Misturrtinnie]

Has anyone else done this? Or will I be the first to do a logic 7 upgrade? I would love to get some more insight before I pull the trigger.

[kaigoss69]

Originally Posted by Misturrtinnie

Has anyone else done this? Or will I be the first to do a logic 7 upgrade? I would love to get some more insight before I pull the trigger.

I did my upgrade in stages and there was a short period of time when I was amping the L7 front door speakers. From what I remember, they sounded better with more power but nowhere near the capabilities of a set of good aftermarket component speakers. The underseat woofers however, transformed into respectable midbass drivers, with about 100 - 150 watts each and highpassed at about 60Hz.

[fdriller9]

Originally Posted by kaigoss69

I did my upgrade in stages and there was a short period of time when I was amping the L7 front door speakers. From what I remember, they sounded better with more power but nowhere near the capabilities of a set of good aftermarket component speakers. The underseat woofers however, transformed into respectable midbass drivers, with about 100 - 150 watts each and highpassed at about 60Hz.

This is exactly the type of feedback I am looking for....I was thinking about amping my L7 front speakers, underseat woofers, and rear deck speakers with 2 Alpine MRP-F300s. However some said they could handle the power and some said they couldn't. I have an Alpine Type-R in the trunk and it overpowers my stock L7 system so I just wanted to amp the stock speakers to keep up. However, I don't want them to blow. They are expensive and I would rather not have to replace them.

One Alpine F300 would be pushing 75W x 4 @ 2ohms to the speakers and the other would be pushing 150W bridged x 2 @ 4ohms to the underseat woofers. The rear door speakers would be kept on the L7 amp and my center channel is disconnected...no L7 "surround sound."

How much power were you pushing to your front speakers? How long did you run them for? Any reason why you stopped amping them (besides better alternatives)? Ill effects? What was your slope set at for the high-pass on the underseat woofers?

Thanks.

[Lee Rambler]

ryan is amping the L7 mids + tweets, and underseat woofers with a JL XD6006. Now that we have the bitone in it sounds pretty good. Until we get around to doing the ski-pass (IB) subs, we have 4 channels of the amp bridged to the underseats. So it's 75watts per channel on the L7 mids + tweets and 200 watts on the 8's. It's set up for 150hz and up on the L7's mid + tweet and 40-150hz on the 8. We tried lower crossover on the 8's, and there wasn't any audible gain so we stuck with 40hz to give a little extra protection on them. We'll be changing to 60hz once the sub is done. waiting to do the eq until the morels go in. The drivers for sure sound better than before, and the 8's sound pretty darn good - new highs will be an improvement for sure though.

[kaigoss69]

Originally Posted by *********

One Alpine F300 would be pushing 75W x 4 @ 2ohms to the speakers and the other would be pushing 150W bridged x 2 @ 4ohms to the underseat woofers. The rear door speakers would be kept on the L7 amp and my center channel is disconnected...no L7 "surround sound."

Don't get too much caught up in amp power ratings. In the end, most speakers will handle much more clean power than what they are rated for. In most cases, it is distortion that kills speakers, not too much power. So a smaller, less powerful amp is more likely to damage your speakers by producing a clipped (distorted) signal at higher volume levels. A larger amp will have plenty of "headroom" for transients and also have more control over the cone's movement, keeping it linear and within its mechanical limits.

Originally Posted by *********

How much power were you pushing to your front speakers? How long did you run them for? Any reason why you stopped amping them (besides better alternatives)? Ill effects? What was your slope set at for the high-pass on the underseat woofers?

The amp is rated at 150W per channel. I have no idea how much I was "pushing", but at the highest volume level I can comfortably tolerate, it was probably only a fraction of the 150W. I believe my initial x-over settings were around 175Hz and 60 Hz.

No ill effects I could tell, but one thing I did notice was an ugly resonance from the left door mid during some female vocals. I only heard it once or twice, but it convinced me to bite the bullet and rip the door panels off and install the Focal 100KRS set.

I am back to square one now as I just bought an '08 335i yesterday. Now I have to rip everything out of the 330i and carefully rethink exactly what L7 upgrade I want to do on my new car.

[fdriller9]

Thanks! I think the resonance has to do with the metallic cones the L7 speakers have. I hear it sometimes with my stock setup.

[kaigoss69]

Originally Posted by *********

Thanks! I think the resonance has to do with the metallic cones the L7 speakers have. I hear it sometimes with my stock setup.

That was my thought as well. Non-metal cone drivers will also sound more natural and "warm".

[VP Electricity]

Originally Posted by kaigoss69

In most cases, it is distortion that kills speakers, not too much power.

I used to think this too. I lost the argument

If you do the math, and you look at how far into clip an amp can go before it runs into a wall and can't increase the voltage swing, clipped or not, you will see that you can't melt a voice coil just with distortion. If a 100W speaker blows on a 25W source, it wasn't really a 100W speaker. And that lie is far more common.

Excursion-related power handling is a different beast, but the right high-pass xovers usually take care of that.

[Misturrtinnie]

I talked to my audio installer and he said it was doable. And I told him that I'll be bringing all the components needed. So now I need help on the list. I'm mostly gonna be missing the harnesses which I need help on.

So far I have.

Pioneer AVIC double din
Metra mount
2 amps (not final in my mind yet on which ones)
Harness extension for the oem hu to the trunk.

What else would I need to have my steering wheel controls to still work? And if I'm missing anything else please chime in. Thank you.

[fdriller9]

Read through this:

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=248564

[Misturrtinnie]

I'm almost ready to start this process. And decided to change up the set up a bit. Instead of using 2 amps, I'm just gonna use a 5-channel amp. And for the steering control functions I decided to test out the new Metra ASWC. I confirmed with the sales rep that it will work with most pioneer headunits, and will retain my controls except for the recirculation button. (Which I never use anyways.)

This will be a wiring mess! haha anyone have any more suggestions before I go and tackle this task? And has anyone relocated their OEM HU to the trunk that can give me the simple way to do it? Or walk me through? I will be relaying this to my installer also.