[makkan00]

Originally Posted by raf555

Another Q...

Can u fit a Logic 7 front (centre) dash speaker as part of the alpine retrofit?

Will it enhance the sound in any way!

Would it be plug 'n' play?

Cheers

Dont waste your money on that.
Few things you should consider:
A) Hardware: Speaker, grill and three screws which you will require.
B) Connection: Which channel will you use?
Front R or Front L, and adding another speaker in parallel, you will be reducing impedence to half, thus increasing burden on amplifier.
Also there will be difference in sound level as one side of speaker(s) [including central] will have different impedence and different sound stage to other side.

You will disturb whole sound of your car by just adding one speaker which you don't require if you are going for alpine kit.

However if you are considering L7 retrofitting or adding MS-8 into your system, yes, you will benefit from central speaker.

[AdrianSi]

Heres a few photos of my recent Alpine install with a few added extras It was relatively straightforward if a little daunting with removing most of the interior panels from your car, this coming from somebody used to taking cars apart and modifying (Rover Metros so relatively simple in comparison) It took me about 6 hours total but that was taking it very steady and was successful in not breaking a single clip

One thing that was a complete bitch was the rear seat latches (standard fixed/non-folding). Watched an online video of how to unlatch them... however there was a plastic lever with a hole in that didnt make any sense. This broke and fell out so i resorted to removing the complete latch by taking the couple of bolts out. That made it very easy. What the white bits of plastic does is beyond me... doesnt seem to need it and have installed back into the car perfect. Tamper seal or something maybe?

The retrofit kit:


The retrofit kit + L7 Subwoofers + L7 mids/tweeters:


L7 Subwoofer close up:


Before starting:-


Remove rear seat:-


Remove rear bolts from front seats prior to front bolts (Essential if you have electric seats and need to disconnect the battery!)


Mid way through - Locating current speaker wires:-

Drivers side:-

Located, soldered and heatshrinked rather than butt connectors - personal hate towards these!

Passengers side:-



These are further down the sill than the drivers side. I removed the kick panel on this side to aid access to the wiring. Due to this location it is more difficult to identify the headunit and subwoofer wires. So i cut off the BMW joint and used a multimeter to check continuity between the Sub connector and the now exposed wiring:-


While the seats were tilted, the L7 Subwoofers were installed.

Comparison between standard front and subwoofers with the L7/Alpine items:-


Front Mid speakers installed with the Alpine Crossover units:-

NOTE:- The Blue wires that you see here connect to the current vehicle door wires (i.e. from headunit) and that the relevant yellow pair of wires connects to the tweeters (Base system or Navigation). THIS IS NOT AS THE MANUAL STATES. THE MANUAL IS INCORRECT AND WILL NOT ALLOW THE MIDs TO OPERATE!!!

Install the tweeter into the new tweeter grille window surrounds:-

NOTE:- The standard insulation tweeters fit perfect and accommodates the tweeters.

Amp installed and new loom rooted neatly under rear seat carpet:-



Additional Installation L7 Rear Shelf Mids and Tweeters:-
I managed to source these for the right money (£40) so fitted these to the rear shelf. My car was coded to 'Hi-fi' prior to the install, however there is still an element of high pass filter on the rear channels. This said I tried the L7 vs the base system speaker and the clarity from the L7 mids is clear to hear. The hollowness of the paper cone base speakers is horrendous in comparison. The L7 mid is 2ohm which is matched to the CIC 2ohm outputs. If the high pass output from the rear channels could be by-passed i imagine these would really excel!

I know the rear channels are controversial subject however my personal opinion is that i like some rear fill in my music.


These particular mids and tweeters were taken from an E87 which are the same as the E90 fitment except for the tweeters not having the angled mountings. I was going to manufacture some angled mounts for them, however I found that they sit quite nicely between the speaker grills and the rear shelf, so have left them currently as to fit an angled mount requires a hole cutting through the rear shelf.

Fitted:-


Hope this is of help to people in the future.

[mob17]

A centre speaker should only be added with a processor that has the capability of processing a centre channel.

[wheelie good]

For these Logic 7/HK underseat subs

Part number...b65.13.9.143.135. And the other side ends in 136

I have been quoted a price of £284 each, FFS 570 for two is this correct?

[Silverbmw328]

Originally Posted by AdrianSi

Front Mid speakers installed with the Alpine Crossover units:-

NOTE:- The Blue wires that you see here connect to the current vehicle door wires (i.e. from headunit) and that the relevant yellow pair of wires connects to the tweeters (Base system or Navigation). THIS IS NOT AS THE MANUAL STATES. THE MANUAL IS INCORRECT AND WILL NOT ALLOW THE MIDs TO OPERATE!!!



Hope this is of help to people in the future.

Just a quick question. I see on the door panel that you have two yellow cables and a blue. Is one yellow spare ?

[Frobius]

Yup, one cable goes to the head unit, one to the tweeter, but which of the two non tweeter cables you use depends if you have a professional or business headunit.

[raf555]

Originally Posted by wheelie good

For these Logic 7/HK underseat subs

Part number...b65.13.9.143.135. And the other side ends in 136

I have been quoted a price of £284 each, FFS 570 for two is this correct?

I'm afraid so

Best source a pair second hand.

[mob17]

Originally Posted by raf555

I'm afraid so

Best source a pair second hand.

Thats shocking. I cant believe those L7 woofers cost £284 each!! Total rip off.

You can buy brand new Jehnert woofers for less than half that price, around £240 for 2 with adaptors. Much better woofers in my opinion, and with the £330 left over, you could easily buy a decent amp. Or you could get Earthquakes SWS woofers for around £300.

[nikkoman]

Do you have this problem with your alpine upgrade ? http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...ghlight=alpine

Nicolas

[makkan00]

I have heard L7 system on E92 and I can say, 'excellent sound system' compared to
-Alpine upgrade
-hi-fi
-after market sound system.

Basically it is louder and crystal clear. Hi-fi and Alpine upgrade are not as loud as L7. moreover on L7 setup, subs are brilliant so bass is pretty good. I would not compare L7 bass to SWS-8s as SWS-8s are way better, however overall L7 system is louder and clear.

[tazg101]

installed the Alpine kit on my 320d LCI model (2010). In total the work took about 3 hours and was very simple. The kit for my model involved unplugging the cable from the subwoover and inserting into the loom. Then a cable from the loon goes in the sub. No splicing off cables needed. Removing door panels and seats was far too easy which you shouldn't worry about.

But I recommend you have your headset coded afterwards, as the bass is far too boomy. With coding the kit is a fantastic and simple to install upgrade to the audio system. I'm very pleased with it.

[mob17]

Originally Posted by makkan00

I have heard L7 system on E92 and I can say, 'excellent sound system' compared to
-Alpine upgrade
-hi-fi
-after market sound system.

Basically it is louder and crystal clear. Hi-fi and Alpine upgrade are not as loud as L7. moreover on L7 setup, subs are brilliant so bass is pretty good. I would not compare L7 bass to SWS-8s as SWS-8s are way better, however overall L7 system is louder and clear.

I think its a bit unfair to say the L7 system is better than all aftermarket systems! It really depends what aftermarket equipment you put in there. Have I misunderstood you?

[Frobius]

Who cares how loud it is?!

If you want loud, get a set of Cerwin Vega washing machines and a couple of 2kw monoblocks and stick em on your back seats!

Sound quality is about soooooooooo much more than volume. In fact one of the things a true audiophile will look for is being able to hear the music at LOW volumes, not just when the system is cranked. And when I say hear the music, I don't just mean being able to go "oh I can hear it", I'm talking about proper avatar style shit, "I see you" kind of hearing the music!

You need to get the idea out of your head that "loud" is directly proportional to "good"!

[shrink]

Great Post Frobius

as a seasoned audiophile, i could barely have said it better!!

[Kannu]

I'm planning to update my base stereo, and was thinking:

- In the Alpine upgrade you drive the subs in "stereo" (channels 3 and 4), so you're putting about 70Ws / channel, am I correct? In this case, is this enough to power aftermarket subs in 4ohm?

- The other way would be the to tap the wires from subs and use a more powerful amp (perhaps a 5 channel) and do this. Does anyone know the voltage HU sends and if this works with any aftermarket amp with high level input?

[vblanche]

Hi,

bought the kit while ago, never installed it, today found the 2 tweeters damaged. Also, swapped the headunit for a pioneer double-din. I have 2 questions:
- can I use the kit on this HU?
- should I get new tweeters? please look at pics.

many thanks,
vince

[Hope]

Originally Posted by vblanche

- should I get new tweeters? please look at pics.

many thanks,
vince

Hell yes

[vblanche]

ok, it's the answer I needed...

[gIzzE]

They are just dust covers, try them first, probably fine.

If using a different head unit use a different (much better) amp.

[Hope]

Originally Posted by gIzzE

They are just dust covers, try them first, probably fine.

If using a different head unit use a different (much better) amp.

I wouldn't use them, have heard tweeters like that in the past and they crackled. Especially if they are new and you can get them exchanged, I would.

[makkan00]

Originally Posted by mob17

I think its a bit unfair to say the L7 system is better than all aftermarket systems! It really depends what aftermarket equipment you put in there. Have I misunderstood you?

Excellent does not mean that it is better mate.
When it comes to aftermarket, it depends on your choice and kit. You can get SQ and SPL far better than L7 depending on your system.

[makkan00]

Originally Posted by Frobius

Who cares how loud it is?!

If you want loud, get a set of Cerwin Vega washing machines and a couple of 2kw monoblocks and stick em on your back seats!

Sound quality is about soooooooooo much more than volume. In fact one of the things a true audiophile will look for is being able to hear the music at LOW volumes, not just when the system is cranked. And when I say hear the music, I don't just mean being able to go "oh I can hear it", I'm talking about proper avatar style shit, "I see you" kind of hearing the music!

You need to get the idea out of your head that "loud" is directly proportional to "good"!

Frob, I Know what you are saying here.

I should have used term SQ rather SPL.
When we say its loud and clear, I am trying to say SQ not referring to SPL.

But then its personal choice. If you prefer SQ, that does not mean at all that everybody should be expected to do so.
We all are different and have our own personal choices. Hope that simple sentence make sense.