[Rob55]

Can you guys please advise on how to upgrade the sounds in my E90 saloon. I have professional CD and standard sound system.

I have researched a few threads and seen a few different options, and the combination that looks best value for money to me would be:

- L7 front tweeters for improved high end sounds
- Blaupunkt THA series amp to increase the overall volume of the standard system
- Earthquake SWS-8 subs to increase bass

However I am not sure how many speakers my car runs as standard, and whether it has any standard subs?

Any help or advice would be much appreciated Thanks

[AlanQS]

Have you considered the Alpine upgrade? It could well be the easiest to do.

If you have the BMW Professional head unit then you currently have 4 x 15w into 4 speakers, one per door. The front speaker connections also branch off to the 6" under-seat sub-woofers.

The Alpine upgrade adds L7 tweeters in the front mirror triangles - you also need to buy new surrounds for the tweeters. The front door speakers are upgraded to more powerful versions and a 4 channel amplifier is also included. This runs 2 channels to the two front doors and tweeters and two separate channels to the existing sub-woofers which obviously improves the bass greatly.

As you can see, the amplification for the rear speakers remain from the head-unit so the sound stage moves significantly to the front. Some people think this is an improvement - I've never formed an opinion on that.

The Blaupunkt route will probably cost more if you go for the five channel amp and upgrade to SW8 subs - which have their own adaptor problem to get a good seal in the space provided. The amps also have a bit of a reputation for running very hot and dying quickly.

The Alpine upgrade is pretty close to the BMW Business system available to specify on new cars whilst the powerful version of the Blaupunkt would probably challenge the Harman Kardon option - albeit with less speakers.

You pays your money...

[Rob55]

Ok, so I have a 6 speaker system as standard (4 speakers and 2 subs)? Next question then is that if the standard subs are 6", why does everyone seem to fit the 8" Earthquakes?

I have seen the Alpine upgrade and to be honest the price put me off slightly. I was thinking the right combination of aftermarket bits might work out better bang for buck than the official BMW Alpine upgrade, which seems a bit pricey for just an amp and front speakers. Feel free though to add your thoughts on this!

[parapaul]

It's not just an amp and speakers - it's all the wiring looms and OE integration too.

The 8" SWS sub upgrade gives you not only more power, but a slightly improved frequency response - it will hit lower frequencies than the stock 6".

From what I understand, be aware if you want to just add the L7 tweeters, that the EQ settings in the factory HU are heavily treble-biased to compensate for the lack of standard tweeters - you may have to turn the treble right down to make it sound acceptable.

[sniffer]

Depends what you want and what is acceptable to you:

I did:

Vibe Litebox 4 amp = 4 x 125W RMS

SWS-8s

Logic 7 front tweeters and mids.

Sounds absolutely awesome, better than a logic 7 car I heard and leagues ahead of hi-fi / Alpine.

Search for my threads.