[f32458]

I have a 11 E90 M3 with Harmon Kardon L7 and iDrive. What are the most clean and best efficient way to upgrade this system? I am going to buy two 8" SWS as everyone here claimed it helps. How about my mids and tweeters? Or even a sub. I don't really want to sacrifice weight and space but it is okay if my system sounds good. Any special harness required? Please PM me.
I mainly listen to Pop, R&B, electronic, and hip hop. Oh this M3 is in Taiwan. It doesn't have EPS or HiFi.

Thanks in advance!

Technic recommend these:

- XD500/3
- 10" sub with custom enclosure
- Rainbow X-Plain W-200 midbass woofers

[kaigoss69]

In addition to Technic's recommendations, I would recommend the addition of a JBL MS-8 sound processor. It'll make your L7 speakers sound terrific!

[VP Electricity]

Actually, not everyone claims it helps. It depends on what you're doing

I wasn't aware that you could get an M3 with harman/kardon unless it was special order? I thought that the Top HiFi system for the M3 was Enhanced Premium?

At any rate, we have some packages for that car - if you're interested, check out our web site and shoot us a message and we will send you a lot of info on the car, and the systems we do.

Regards,

Ken

[Technic]

Originally Posted by VP Electricity

Actually, not everyone claims it helps. It depends on what you're doing

I wasn't aware that you could get an M3 with harman/kardon unless it was special order? I thought that the Top HiFi system for the M3 was Enhanced Premium?

At any rate, we have some packages for that car - if you're interested, check out our web site and shoot us a message and we will send you a lot of info on the car, and the systems we do.

Regards,

Ken

That is an M3 in Taiwan.

[VP Electricity]

And here I thought that it was in Santa Monica

[Technic]

Originally Posted by VP Electricity

And here I thought that it was in Santa Monica

I got confused the first time as well... that's the reason he's posting the Taiwan location in the post body now.

[f32458]

Originally Posted by VP Electricity

And here I thought that it was in Santa Monica

PM send!

[f32458]

Originally Posted by Technic

.

Sorry for all the confusion LOL. The M3 is in Taiwan.

Technic and VP. All I know my Harmon Kardon sounds better than the HiFi I heard on E92 M3. I will find out this week. As my local tuner has one equipped with EPS in his E92 M3.

[kaigoss69]

Originally Posted by VP Electricity

Actually, not everyone claims it helps. It depends on what you're doing

Are you referring to the addition of the MS-8? - I've installed the MS-8 in two cars with L7 system and the sound improvement using the OEM 2 ohm speakers was tremendous. I would like to suggest that if someone did not like the way the L7 speakers sounded after adding the MS-8, then a) they did not like the way L7 sounded to begin with, or b) they did something terribly wrong.

[bmw530dGT]

Are the oem bmw spkrs 2 or 4 ohm ?

[kmarei]

Originally Posted by kaigoss69

Are you referring to the addition of the MS-8? - I've installed the MS-8 in two cars with L7 system and the sound improvement using the OEM 2 ohm speakers was tremendous. I would like to suggest that if someone did not like the way the L7 speakers sounded after adding the MS-8, then a) they did not like the way L7 sounded to begin with, or b) they did something terribly wrong.

+1
l7 speakers are pretty good when used with aftermarket amps
Ms-8 is a bit lacking in the watts department
I was powering my l7 speakers with 50w rms and they sounded pretty good

[kaigoss69]

Originally Posted by kmarei

+1
l7 speakers are pretty good when used with aftermarket amps
Ms-8 is a bit lacking in the watts department
I was powering my l7 speakers with 50w rms and they sounded pretty good

If you consider the fact that each 4" and 1" gets 30W and that Logic7 utilizes the output of the rear speakers in the FRONT stage, then suddenly you have 30W x 3 (front) + 30W x 2 (rear) = ~ 150W just for the mid and upper frequencies. Combined with the efficiency of the OEM speakers, that is enough to make your ears bleed.

[kmarei]

Originally Posted by kaigoss69

If you consider the fact that each 4" and 1" gets 30W and that Logic7 utilizes the output of the rear speakers in the FRONT stage, then suddenly you have 30W x 3 (front) + 30W x 2 (rear) = ~ 150W just for the mid and upper frequencies. Combined with the efficiency of the OEM speakers, that is enough to make your ears bleed.

Well I doubt the 30w

Per ms-8 manual
Maximum current draw is 16 amps
And the processing alone uses 1A, I know as that's how I was using it, and I measured it.
Which leaves 15A for 8 channels
Which comes to 22.5w per channel
So you're talking aftermarket head unit type power
Good, but not great
And the louder you listen, the worse it sounds as it's powering 8 channels
So it runs out of power quickly

All I know is the minute I went with an aftermarket amp
My entire system sounded soooo much better
Maybe it's the extra headroom
And my amp was 4x50w, so not exactly a high power amp

If you power the front left, front right, and subs with a XD500/3
And use the ms-8 for the rest it would be much better

[kaigoss69]

Originally Posted by kmarei

Well I doubt the 30w

Per ms-8 manual
Maximum current draw is 16 amps
And the processing alone uses 1A, I know as that's how I was using it, and I measured it.
Which leaves 15A for 8 channels
Which comes to 22.5w per channel
So you're talking aftermarket head unit type power
Good, but not great
And the louder you listen, the worse it sounds as it's powering 8 channels
So it runs out of power quickly

All I know is the minute I went with an aftermarket amp
My entire system sounded soooo much better
Maybe it's the extra headroom
And my amp was 4x50w, so not exactly a high power amp

If you power the front left, front right, and subs with a XD500/3
And use the ms-8 for the rest it would be much better

You can only ask the MS-8 to do so much. 5 channels of 30W RMS is roughly 12.5 amps total. Hook up the underseats and the sub-channel to aftermarket amps, and you're golden, with a couple of amps of MS-8 power to spare. Anyone with stock L7 system on a budget should go with this configuration first, it gives the best bang for your buck. Afterwards, you want to upgrade the power, and the speakers.

[f32458]

Originally Posted by kaigoss69

Yo

Thank you kaigoss69 MS-8 looks like a very smart upgrade for me. I assume this works with my system? It's harmon kardon L7 system. ( factory claims 13 speakers ) Is it a unit which replaces the stock amp and uses MS-8 amp. But why do I need calibration?

[greenjeans420]

is the ms-8 equivilent to the audiocontrol lc8i ??