[Technic]

Originally Posted by Imperator

...except you have to run wiring for everything back under the sills, through the doors, find a suitable place to mount the tweeters without damaging the door panels, hide the amp, etc. It's do-able, but really not desired on a leased car. My goal is to get the dealership to take care of the Alpine system; if not, then I'll look into adding my own components but it doesn't sound easy.

On the other hand, this base audio system should make for a nice platform to start if you have aftermarket components in mind. This sounds like it's easier to work with than the previous Hi-Fi cars.

You do not have to run any wiring through the doors, and you will be running wiring for everything under the sills regardless of the sound system that you install as there's no audio wiring in the trunk.

So at the end, it is the same effort.

[gIzzE]

The Alpine upgrade is useless if you want to upgrade the subs, the SWS8 subs are a lot less sensative than the mids, and you do not have any control over the gains on teh Alpine amp, so you can't get the subs loud enough to blend.

The best thing about the Alpine upgrade for novices is the instructions, use them to fit a better amp and your subs.

[joelc73]

Originally Posted by Orient330iNYC

nope, there are blank plates. had to order replacement trim with grilles, 30 per side

Mine are blank as well.

Is it worth putting coax speakers in to avoid dealing with running wire for the tweeters?

Thanks

[gIzzE]

Just buy the L7 tweeters, they plug straight in.

There is not much wrong with the stock speaker imho, when driven well they saound alright.

I have had the stock mids running off a Gensis Series 3 ST100 and they sung, seriously sweet sounding.

You would need to buy something like a Morel Hybrid Ovation II to hear a worthwhile upgrade, but make sure you have an amp decent enough to make them actually make a difference.

I swapped the stock speaker over for a pair of DLS R4s in my last E91 and they actually sounded worse, then some 4" Diamond Hexs at £300 and they were better, but not really much better than the stock one, in fact a bit brighter which I don't like.

[joelc73]

I'm pretty much settled on SWS8's and a Zapco DC360.4. I'm still not sure about the front speakers though. Should I go with the Morel Dotech Ovation 4's or MB Quart RUA 213's.

[VP Electricity]

Since I am not an impartial commentator, I'd ask mineo77

jalisco has also heard mineo77's car, and he isn't the owner, so you might ping him too.

[joelc73]

Should I be using 4 ohm or 2 ohm versions of the SWS8's?

I'm assuming I should use two channels in stereo of the Zapco to run the Fronts and subs (together) and two channels in stereo to run the backs speakers.

Not sure what the resulting impedence is though on each side of the fronts with the sub, door mids, and tweeter each on one channel.

Is that the right approach?

Thanks,

[Yardley]

Originally Posted by joelc73

Just got my 2010 E90 yesterday and, boy, is that sound system bad!

Subscribing to this thread to see what develops.

Has anyone done an upgrade on there 2010 yet?

I got a 2010 e92 recently with the stock sound system and it is pretty pathetic.

[rkm3]

Well, I did the Alpine retrofit in my 2010. At first I had the switch set at position 2 and the treble was a little muffled, but not too bad. After reading this post today, I switched the amp switch to position 1. The treble is very clear and loud. It is very bright. Way too much for me.

I also put in a pair of Logic 7 subs while I did the upgrade. I have the bass turned almost off in the tone settings at this point as it was too much. There may not be any crossover in the amp, the subs may be playing full range.

At this point kind of wish I hadn't bothered spending the money. Before I had no highs, now they are way too bright. Any suggestions?

By the way, this is the 'Old" Alpine kit

[Lee Rambler]

we'll take care of it ryan, no worries...

[gIzzE]

I think the standard system has a cap on the subs to limit the bass, where as the L7 ones won't have as the amp is crossed over so not needed.

You need to put a cap in line to limit everything above 120hz.

[Technic]

Originally Posted by rkm3

Well, I did the Alpine retrofit in my 2010. At first I had the switch set at position 2 and the treble was a little muffled, but not too bad. After reading this post today, I switched the amp switch to position 1. The treble is very clear and loud. It is very bright. Way too much for me.

I also put in a pair of Logic 7 subs while I did the upgrade. I have the bass turned almost off in the tone settings at this point as it was too much. There may not be any crossover in the amp, the subs may be playing full range.

At this point kind of wish I hadn't bothered spending the money. Before I had no highs, now they are way too bright. Any suggestions?

By the way, this is the 'Old" Alpine kit

I think that somewhere something was done/wired incorrectly.

- there are two switch settings for this amp, 1 and 2: position 1 is for the Business CD and position 2 is for the Professional and Business iDrive and Profesional HU. No Business class is available in the USA.

After reading again all three Alpine installation documents now I finally understand the purpose of the switch.

- there are two wire configurations for the tweeter: for Business and for Professional. Your installer needs to check that the correct wire is plugged into the tweeter (Professional).

- the amp should have a built in low pass as now the front components and the woofers are bi-amped. The OEM cap between the woofers and the old mid/full range -if any- is irrelevant now, as there's no longer a parallel connection between the new OEM Logic7 components and the woofers. The new OEM Logic7 components have their own cap/filter between the tweeter and the mid. That's the filter with two different tweeter outputs mentioned above.

[Imperator]

..and in that case, does it mean you could drop in the 8" woofers from a L7 car and get increased bass output, as they match the amplifier (2-ohm) and are low-passed from the Alpine amplifier?

What do you think about the install? The latest document quotes 2.5 hours... do you think that's appropriate? I've never pulled a panel from my car but want something unobtrusive that fits like a glove. I'm thinking I'll have a lot more work to wire up and hide a 4-channel amp with a component set in the doors and SWS-8s in the floor.

[Technic]

Originally Posted by Imperator

..and in that case, does it mean you could drop in the 8" woofers from a L7 car and get increased bass output, as they match the amplifier (2-ohm) and are low-passed from the Alpine amplifier?

What do you think about the install? The latest document quotes 2.5 hours... do you think that's appropriate? I've never pulled a panel from my car but want something unobtrusive that fits like a glove. I'm thinking I'll have a lot more work to wire up and hide a 4-channel amp with a component set in the doors and SWS-8s in the floor.

The L7 woofers are 4 ohms.

[rkm3]

So I should have the switch in position 2?

[Technic]

Originally Posted by rkm3

So I should have the switch in position 2?

Position 2 for SA 606, SA 609, SA 663

SA 663 = BMW Professional radio

[rkm3]

I have iDrive with Nav. So I have SA609 correct? So I need position 2 on the amp?

[Technic]

Originally Posted by rkm3

I have iDrive with Nav. So I have SA609 correct? So I need position 2 on the amp?

Yes.

[VP Electricity]

I'm unclear... I know the output of the Professional HU in 2010 base model cars has an equalized response with a high-frequency boost.

So why is it a good idea to add tweeters and an amplifier to that signal? Or is the dealer recoding the HU? If so, I've missed that.

And as far as running woofers full range under there, it thickens the voices pretty badly, doesn't it?

[rkm3]

The kit appeared to be plug and play, but I didn't know the signal from the 2010 U.S. cars was equalized with increased high frequency response. i'm looking into options, probably need a cap on the underseat woofers and maybe a reprogram of the HU.

I think I'm kind of a beta tester for this kit here in the U.S.

[Imperator]

I'd say so, and I'm very concerned about the EQ'd output from the HU... and what it takes to recode it, if I can find someone in my area.

How did the install go on your car? What portions were PnP and what parts required pulling wires and/or re-pinning connectors? Was the manual's 2.5-hour quote sufficient?

[Orient330iNYC]

Originally Posted by rkm3

The kit appeared to be plug and play, but I didn't know the signal from the 2010 U.S. cars was equalized with increased high frequency response. i'm looking into options, probably need a cap on the underseat woofers and maybe a reprogram of the HU.

I think I'm kind of a beta tester for this kit here in the U.S.

i'll be doing it too at the end of this week.

did you connect the tweeters to the correct output of the filters? there are two outputs depending on which HU you have.