[Vansflyer]

Following on from the Alpine upgrade I needed more bass so I have invested in a set of Logic 7 / Hk underseat subs.... In a word ... WOW! Originally I tried a set from Tom but they wouldnt fit in the latest under floor housings and the original speakers are now bonded in to housing so you screw them up trying to get them out...
With the "proper" housings (which fwiw are a lot deeper than the standard) and Hk/ Logic 7 speakers (all available on one part number) the car sounds amazing, a real deep bass that would shame a 19 year old in a Corsa
Thanks to Paul in the spares department at Cotswold BMW for helping me get through the many options available. An expensive but highly recommended upgrade if you like your sounds & anyone who wants a listen in the Midlands area is welcome to come & have an audition.
Part number...b65.13.9.143.135. And the other side ends in 136
Atb

[Mambo]

Had the Alpine kit and the L7 underseat subs fitted today at Darren Wood and it's a HUGE improvement on the standard system - massive amounts of bass and very clear mid and high range from the new door speakers.

Everyone should get this upgrade

[makkan00]

Originally Posted by gIzzE

Waste of time doing rear speakers.

The rear speakers are crossed over at 125hz and continue to run off the head unit, changing them adds nothing!!

The Alpine kit is worth doing, it adds a lot. If you want to change subs though buy a different amp and do it properly.

You need to code your HU to hi-fi which bypasses the high frequency setup on rears.
(mentioned by Technics on state side + personal experience)

[Vansflyer]

Oh yes... weeks in & still really happy with the system now... my car is complete

[AdrianSi]

Just a bit of pre-alpine install prep... Was there a definative outcome on the alpine crossover issue with incorrect labeling of the connector plugs between, Pro nav, Business and Base? Im sure there was an issue? I have the later Kit from what i can work out as the amp is not printed with the input/outputs.

[1 AKY]

Hi folks
Own a 05 55 e90

Before I proceed, i'm not an audiophile so want to weigh up the benefits versus the costs (both time & money).

Having had a quick look around the car and to go with the Professional head unit (no idrive), I've got a speaker on the rear shelf, one underneath the front seat and one in the front doorcard (on both sides of the car). Is this what you'd expect? I.e none in the rear doorcard?

I've also just purchased some L7 front tweeters from Tom (tomekt1981) for which i need to get the front door trims. Does anyone have part numbers for these please? Do I also need to get foam inserts?

The killer question is, is it also worth replacing the front door speakers (mid?) and rear parcel shelf speakers with L7 ones? Or is there no meaningful improvement? What about the ones underneath the seat?

Thanks in advance - Aky

[makkan00]

Originally Posted by 1 AKY

Hi folks
Own a 05 55 e90

Before I proceed, i'm not an audiophile so want to weigh up the benefits versus the costs (both time & money).

Having had a quick look around the car and to go with the Professional head unit (no idrive), I've got a speaker on the rear shelf, one underneath the front seat and one in the front doorcard (on both sides of the car). Is this what you'd expect? I.e none in the rear doorcard?

I've also just purchased some L7 front tweeters from Tom (tomekt1981) for which i need to get the front door trims. Does anyone have part numbers for these please? Do I also need to get foam inserts?

The killer question is, is it also worth replacing the front door speakers (mid?) and rear parcel shelf speakers with L7 ones? Or is there no meaningful improvement? What about the ones underneath the seat?

Thanks in advance - Aky

Not discouraging you, but you need to sit and study different sound systems on E90.

You have basic setup which is
Head unit (HU)
And 6 drivers.
-2 front door speakers
-2 rear shelf speakers
-2 Under seat subs

If you wanted to upgrade to Alpine kit, you should have bought the complete kit which comes with;
Front speakers
Front tweeters
amplifier
and harness
and you could have added just L7 subs into it to have punchy bass.

Since you mentioned you have L7 tweeters and subs, so you would require;
Alpine amp
Alpine mids
Front door trims
Harness to connect these

Now our killer questions is, who will sell amplifier, harness and mids to you without rest of the kit.

People would buy complete kit, upgrade the system and when it comes to selling the car, they sell complete kit.


I have heard Alpine kit on non-coded HU and coded head unit.
Alpine kit is good on non-coded HU and MUST on coded unit.

Now you can buy complete kit from BMW and upgrade your system with L7 subs (and sell tweeters). No offence but looking at your knowledge, this is best route for you.

[1 AKY]

Hi Makkan - thanks for taking the time to reply.

I haven't got L7 subs and was just thinking of adding the front tweeters which would take minimal effort. Are you saying that this is pointless? What about also replacing the existing front door and rear shelf speakers with L7 versions or not worth the outlay?

[makkan00]

Originally Posted by 1 AKY

I haven't got L7 subs and was just thinking of adding the front tweeters which would take minimal effort. Are you saying that this is pointless? What about also replacing the existing front door and rear shelf speakers with L7 versions or not worth the outlay?

You will not get optimal results.

L7 driver (except subs) are 2 ohm, so by decreasing resistance, your output will increase. Practically, sound will be louder but that would be vocals
and nothing else.

Not impressive upgrade TBH.

If you want to start with reasonable upgrade, Alpine kit is the way to go but on Hi-fi Coded HU. Makes so much difference.

Or you can have aftermarket stuff.

I guess we are hijacking this thread, and you can start your own thread to discuss it.

[mob17]

Never fit drivers that have a lower impedance than what the amp can handle. This will cause overheating and could permanently damage the amp.

Your knowledge may be minimal now, but everyone has little or no knowledge at the beginning. Just because you may not know much at the moment doesn't mean its better to get the Alpine upgrade. The key to it is doing your own research and finding out what YOU want vs how much you can afford. A good starting point is the audio sticky in the audio section of the forum.

Everyone's opinion is different. Some are very happy with the Alpine upgrade and some want more and go down the aftermarket route.

[AdrianSi]

Originally Posted by AdrianSi

Just a bit of pre-alpine install prep... Was there a definative outcome on the alpine crossover issue with incorrect labeling of the connector plugs between, Pro nav, Business and Base? Im sure there was an issue? I have the later Kit from what i can work out as the amp is not printed with the input/outputs.

Answering my own question here, the crossovers are indeed labelled up incorrectly from the factory. I connected the crossover up as per the labeling and this turned out to be incorrect! I had tweeter output but nothing from the mids. What you have to do is match the colours up. Blue coded wires go to the original headunit output and then the relevant marked up connector with radio or Nav is the output to the tweeter. You'll notice that the tweeter output wires are yellow the same as the tweeter wiring. I thought this to be strange when initially installing!

What I can 100% confirm is that the L7 subs work fantastic with the alpine amp. If anything it feels as if the alpine amp has too much amplification if you increase the bass control nearer to its maximum. L7 subs are 4 ohm so work great with the 4 ohm alpine output Very happy with the bass improvement. They certainly sound every bit as good as the factory Logic 7 install that my mother has in her 1-series.

[gIzzE]

Originally Posted by makkan00

You need to code your HU to hi-fi which bypasses the high frequency setup on rears.
(mentioned by Technics on state side + personal experience)

But surely most will just get it coded for Alpine?
Which flattens the EQ on the front and reduces the output to match the Alpine amp.

You will need to code it yourself or have dealer willing to mess around and change your vehicle order to say it has had the hifi system fitted, most will not.

[makkan00]

Originally Posted by gIzzE

But surely most will just get it coded for Alpine?
Which flattens the EQ on the front and reduces the output to match the Alpine amp.

You will need to code it yourself or have dealer willing to mess around and change your vehicle order to say it has had the hifi system fitted, most will not.

Vary from dealer to dealer.
If one is not happy, try other.
Print Alpine kit, and take it to them, and ask them to code as per requested in the manual. You can tell them that you are installing yourself/ professionals.


In my case, I have done myself.

I was under the impression that it will convert rears to full spectrum, but I was wrong.
Despite of confirming that my HU is coded to hi-fi, rears are still retaining some part of hi-pass. The only difference I see after coding, is to have some part of mid bass at rear whereas front are always full spectrum.

Upgraded rears, and what a waste of time and money.

[AdrianSi]

This rear hi-pass really is a nightmare! I did a comparison between the L7 mids Vs Base miss and what is would say is the clarity of the L7s was clear to hear and the sound is less 'hollow'. The tweeters connected into L7 mids obviously boost the high frequencies.

Surely the must be something to flatten the rear channels? On the L7 amp, is the HU output purely through the MOST connector or is there conventional wire channel outputs?

[Frobius]

Originally Posted by makkan00

You will not get optimal results.

L7 driver (except subs) are 2 ohm, so by decreasing resistance, your output will increase

??

That 2 ohms isn't resistance mate, it's impedance. Sensitivity changes the relative volume of the speaker, not the impedance. Changing the impedance from what your amp is designed to handle will overload it mate. If your amp is designed to drive an 8ohm speaker, changing it to a 2 ohm one will mean you amp has to work 4 times harder (it's much more complicated than that, but simply put). So if your amp is rated at 15w to drive an 8 ohm load, changing to 2 ohm L7 drivers would mean the amp is being forced to provide 60w+ to move the cone!! This will probably kill it, if not immediately, after a while.

There's a reason the HiFi system has an offboard amp. It's designed to drive low impedance loads.

[makkan00]

Originally Posted by Frobius

??

That 2 ohms isn't resistance mate, it's impedance. Sensitivity changes the relative volume of the speaker, not the impedance. Changing the impedance from what your amp is designed to handle will overload it mate. If your amp is designed to drive an 8ohm speaker, changing it to a 2 ohm one will mean you amp has to work 4 times harder (it's much more complicated than that, but simply put). So if your amp is rated at 15w to drive an 8 ohm load, changing to 2 ohm L7 drivers would mean the amp is being forced to provide 60w+ to move the cone!! This will probably kill it, if not immediately, after a while.

There's a reason the HiFi system has an offboard amp. It's designed to drive low impedance loads.

Cheers mate. Few things such as impedance are complicate stuff to understand.
Wonders why do amplifier outputs are more for 2ohm impedance drivers compared to 4ohm? Should be other way around as per what you said?

[Frobius]

Yeah, impedance is a weird one. The lower the impedance, the more power the speaker will demand to drive it. Roughly speaking, if you add two 8ohm drivers together in parallel, it halves the impedance to 4ohms - which again, oddly enough means the amp has to work twice as hard to shift.

Impedance is a weird combination of resistance and reactance. Best get googling matey!

[seanblee]

I coded mine to hifi yesterday (by adding $676 to the VO then coding CAPPL, CTUNE, CAUDIO, CHOST, CGATE in Expert Mode using NCS Expert). After switching the amp from position 2 to position 1, I think it does sound better - there's more mid-range and slightly less bass and treble, so it sounds more balanced. No issues with quiet PDC beeps or gongs on mine.

[raf555]

What alpine kit will you need if u have a pre Lci e90 but undergo a cic Nav retrofit?

As by doing the cic retrofit and as part of the coding process u have go change the build date of the car to Lci!!

Pre Lci kit is 65 41 0 445 684
Lci kit is 65 41 2 163 268

[makkan00]

Originally Posted by raf555

What alpine kit will you need if u have a pre Lci e90 but undergo a cic Nav retrofit?

As by doing the cic retrofit and as part of the coding process u have go change the build date of the car to Lci!!

Pre Lci kit is 65 41 0 445 684
Lci kit is 65 41 2 163 268

Forget about CIC as that is retrofitting. If you played with production date, it has nothing to do with the kit.

In Alpine kit, amplifier is same but positioning of amplifier switch is different.
+ I believe that wiring for LCI is different as subs clips have 4 wires, whereas for pre-LCI subs clips have 2 wires.

So looking at physical wiring, you will require pre-LCI kit, but dont hold me liable for that

[raf555]

Originally Posted by makkan00

Forget about CIC as that is retrofitting. If you played with production date, it has nothing to do with the kit.

In Alpine kit, amplifier is same but positioning of amplifier switch is different.
+ I believe that wiring for LCI is different as subs clips have 4 wires, whereas for pre-LCI subs clips have 2 wires.

So looking at physical wiring, you will require pre-LCI kit, but dont hold me liable for that

Thanks for info

[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