[Luke_Enderle]

I have an 08 e90 with the HiFi system. I have no idea where to start and have read lots but am still very confused as to what I should do to upgrade. I want a much punchier and more powerful bass. Would just upgrading the under seats do it? Or a trunk sub or two? Would a new amp be needed. Please help me with this. Thanks Luke

[1QuikWS6]

By your description of what you want - you are not going to get it by simply upgrading the underseats.

Adding in a true sub will get you what you want - it will need to have it's own separate amp, and you should get a Technic PnP wiring harness for EZ install with no cutting.

You can really get involved & spend some $$ depending on what you do.

I'm using the ever popular JL Audio XD600/6 Amp to power my front door mid/tweets, rear panel mids/tweets, underseat SWS8 (soon to be Jehnert), and CDT StageFront Upstage fill-in tweets (installed in center dash speaker mount-angled to crossfire at windshield).

For my sub/bass I'm using the JL 10W3v3-2 with a JL JX500 Amp. I need to have the use of my trunk space, so I'm going with a custom trunk sub enclosure that installs on PS trunk over top of battery cover, blending in to wheel well. It's currently under construction from a forum member that makes these. His are hi quality & less $$ than the way overpriced WickedCAS versions.

All this tied together by custom Technic PnP Wiring Harness - he offers great product, hi quality, and makes installs uber EZ with no cutting of factory wires

I'm also using Technic underseat SWS8 Spacer Kit & PnP underseat wiring pigtails.


Best thing to do is Search & read heavily in this section to see who has done what your are exactly looking for & what is involved. I think just about every possible combination has been done @ one time or another, from simple/cheap, to complicated/expensive, and in between - just depends on your budget...

[ctuna]

Technic Hi Fi Harness
Jl xd 600/6 amp
Speakers from the audio upgrade
list according to what will fit and you budget
Speaker adapters and Power Kit and Factory connectors.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=641323

If you have the money you can get this all in a MusicarNW Kit.

Common High End Speakers known to give really good results
Morel , Jehnert ,Focal
Next Level
Diamond Audio , Cdt , Earthquake, Gladen Audio , audio systems

Why these names that you probably haven't heard off
fitment mostly .

The Hi Fi system has a weak amp and weak speakers =
a weak system . If you add only a subwoofer to it you will
get a weak system + overwhelming bass from 0 to 50 hz

[Ksusha]

I've had JL Audio speakers & tweeters, as well as Hertz and Hybrid Audio Imagine, all powered by a JL Audio amp that I've carried for almost a decade. By far, JL Audio provided the most crisp sound, followed by Hybrid Audio. I've had various subwoofers, too, including W7s, powered either by Alpine or JL Audio amps. I prefer a crisp sound, so simply adding a subwoofer generally just does not do it for me. Might as well just go all out and make it worth it!

[cdgatti]

1quickws - how do you like the upstage tweets in the center dash? Would you recommend? Can you describe what they do for your soundstage?

[1QuikWS6]

Originally Posted by cdgatti

1quickws - how do you like the upstage tweets in the center dash? Would you recommend? Can you describe what they do for your soundstage?

After the install I found there was still something lacking in the front end sound. I decided not to install the usual center channel speaker in the center dash location & add an MS8 to my system - mostly due to the crappy reliability of the MS8 & hit or miss whether even a new unit is functional

> The door tweets didn't seem to be doing much even with the new amp. So I took Technic's lead & tried the CDT system. I went with the Upstage 2200i system as the 222Up that Technic used is no longer available.

> Installed them with velcro in the area of the center dash mount where OEM center speaker would normally be - right side tweet angled up & left pointing at windshield/left side up & right at windshield (CDT recommends installing these on the windshield pillars, but I didn't want them seen). This way they would use the windshield to 'bounce' the sound back in to the cabin.

> When I contacted Technic about my custom harness, I asked for the CDT option - it included all the cables for CDT Crossovers to Amp & long runs from Crossovers to the front of car, with nice modular connectors that can only be plugged in one way, so even a dumb engineer like me could connect with no problems

Note: when this option is supplied with the harness - you can still hook up the amp as normal & bypass the CDT install in case you don't have the components yet - & then add in the CDT at a later date. So if anyone is even remotely thinking of doing the CDT - just buy the option, then make up your mind at a later date, or if you don't like the sound with CDT you can take them out of system & wiring will still connect rest of system.

> The HiFi harness was modified to use the front speakers inputs and outputs as the Upstage inputs and outputs. So, the XD600/6 front channel outputs are actually powering (6) speakers via the Upstage Crossover modules.

> The Upstage modules (one/tweeter) have (30) different manual settings that changes the crossover point, and output level of these tweeters. For this install I selected the lowest crossover point with the highest tweeter output level. So the OEM tweeters become more like filling tweeters and not the main tweeters -that will be the purpose of the Upstage tweeters. The Upstage modules do not affect midbass, only the tweeter frequencies above 3KHz or so.

>The results were very noticeable & impressive -the CDT tweets really fills a 'hole' in the dash area that I didn't realize that existed before. The OEM tweeters now simply fill in the sides, while the front of the dash fills the rest of the cabin. Voices are really clear and with a softness that only silk tweeters can reproduce. However, with metallic highs the Upstage still reproduce those with a metallic sound. The OEM tweets never reproduced in this way.

So all in all, I am very happy with this system - I'll have to look, I took some pics of the CDT system during install - I'll post them up...

[cdgatti]

Thanks for that excellent well detailed explanation, definitely hard to find this type of information about using these upstage units in our cars. You maybe one of the very few to do it! I currently run a center dash speaker (morel-xtant coaxial) from a simple analog processor that creates a center channel signal. It helps, but doesn't exactly make the system sing! In my next iteration on my system, I will be adding time delay capability to my front door components, do you think this upstage unit would sound good with the corresponding upstage tweeter delayed with the corresponding side component set? Thanks again.

[chalo_209]

i would recommend getting 2 12" kicker L7s, is what i have on my 325i. they are some of the best you can get and there super loud the only bad side is it will ale almost all your trunk up, you can check my video out where i had them in my other car http://instagram.com/p/a4Ic4nQcDL/
they are the best in my opinion you can here them a mile away.

[Montecristo]

Originally Posted by chalo_209

i would recommend getting 2 12" kicker L7s, is what i have on my 325i. they are some of the best you can get and there super loud the only bad side is it will ale almost all your trunk up, you can check my video out where i had them in my other car http://instagram.com/p/a4Ic4nQcDL/
they are the best in my opinion you can here them a mile away.

L7's are definitely not some of the best you can get.

OP, I made a thread concerning this exact question and it was answered thoroughly and very extensively by an experienced board member. Look at my history and go to the sub thread and I doubt you will have many questions left.

[kaigoss69]

Originally Posted by chalo_209

you can here them a mile away.

Uh, this is exactly what most BMW drivers want to avoid. That's why a lot of us drive 335s, so we can speed away quickly from people like you!

[1QuikWS6]

Originally Posted by cdgatti

Thanks for that excellent well detailed explanation, definitely hard to find this type of information about using these upstage units in our cars. You maybe one of the very few to do it! I currently run a center dash speaker (morel-xtant coaxial) from a simple analog processor that creates a center channel signal. It helps, but doesn't exactly make the system sing! In my next iteration on my system, I will be adding time delay capability to my front door components, do you think this upstage unit would sound good with the corresponding upstage tweeter delayed with the corresponding side component set? Thanks again.

Sorry, don't have the answer to your question - as I never heard of 'Time Delay' or know anything about it, or how it affects speakers

[Luke_Enderle]

Thank you everybody for the help!

[Luke_Enderle]

Originally Posted by 1QuikWS6

By your description of what you want - you are not going to get it by simply upgrading the underseats.

Adding in a true sub will get you what you want - it will need to have it's own separate amp, and you should get a Technic PnP wiring harness for EZ install with no cutting.

You can really get involved & spend some $$ depending on what you do.

I'm using the ever popular JL Audio XD600/6 Amp to power my front door mid/tweets, rear panel mids/tweets, underseat SWS8 (soon to be Jehnert), and CDT StageFront Upstage fill-in tweets (installed in center dash speaker mount-angled to crossfire at windshield).

For my sub/bass I'm using the JL 10W3v3-2 with a JL JX500 Amp. I need to have the use of my trunk space, so I'm going with a custom trunk sub enclosure that installs on PS trunk over top of battery cover, blending in to wheel well. It's currently under construction from a forum member that makes these. His are hi quality & less $$ than the way overpriced WickedCAS versions.

All this tied together by custom Technic PnP Wiring Harness - he offers great product, hi quality, and makes installs uber EZ with no cutting of factory wires

I'm also using Technic underseat SWS8 Spacer Kit & PnP underseat wiring pigtails.


Best thing to do is Search & read heavily in this section to see who has done what your are exactly looking for & what is involved. I think just about every possible combination has been done @ one time or another, from simple/cheap, to complicated/expensive, and in between - just depends on your budget...

So does the JL Audio XD600/6 power your stock speakers? or did you upgrade

[1QuikWS6]

Originally Posted by Luke_Enderle

So does the JL Audio XD600/6 power your stock speakers? or did you upgrade

I actually have replaced the main speakers with kind of a mix:

Front Door Mids - Focals
Front Door Tweets - BSW
Front Underseats - SWS8
Rear Mids - BMW Individual
Rear Tweets - BMW Individual

[Soul_Glo]

The Hi-Fi system is not as bad as it is made out to be. It is a damn sight better than the standard. My suggestion would be to start with a sub first and see how you get on. Like the user above who is having a custom install with a JL10w3v3 2 ohm. I ordered a Technic Harness a while ago. It is a quality harness and I will be installing it next month and post up here. It all depends on your budget and what you want from the system. I had a love affair with underseat woofers a while ago and went through different ones but they never did sound as good as a sub... but if you want 'mid-bass' you can replace your underseats for that or you could tune your sub so it hits mids and some lows. All depends on your budget, ears and taste in music.