[Neon01]

Recently bought a used 2010 135i with base stereo (I'm posting here simply because that forum gets zero traffic and for stereo, E8X/E9X are essentially the same) which had some upgraded gear. Came with a set of MB Quart RUA 213 comps in the doors, stock speakers in the rear deck, SWS-8X underseat, and a couple of Alpine amps driving it with LOCs up in the dash along with Technics base stereo harness to capture the signal.

Unfortunately, there was a LOT wrong with the system when I got it: the underseat subs were totally blown (showed no conductivity & infinte resistance and I could feel a LOT of resistance when I lightly pressed the cone), the 4ch amp was defective and not outputting anything from the driver's front speaker, the passenger rear deck speaker was blown, and the LOCs weren't functioning properly. Crazy...

So I got rid of the crappy Alpine amps, picked up a JL Audio Cleansweep and XD600/6 amp, along with two new SWS-8Xi (2ohm for 100w each from the 600/6) subs. I also ran the speaker outputs to the back instead of converting them in the dash, since I needed to run them to the cleansweep in the trunk.

Got it all in and I'm pretty disappointed. There seems to be a pretty large gap in the sub/midbass range. I will confirm tonight with a SPL meter and my cleansweep test tone disc. The bass is also very...directional. I wired the subs in stereo on recommendations, but as a result, I'm really hearing the bass emanating from the driver's side. I know the gap is my fault - I had read the experts say that the SWS are more subs than midbass, but most people said they did a decent job complementing a set of 4" components, so I thought for sure I would get pretty good spectrum coverage with a set of 5.25" comps. I'm pretty surprised at how little extension the 5.25" comps have into the midbass range.

I'm still trying to get it dialed in, but I have no 1/3 oct EQ, and the cleansweep is not user adjustable, so all I can really play with is the gain on the subs relative to the fronts/rears, and the single band x-overs on the 600/6. I currently have the Earthquakes low-passed at about 150hz and fronts high-passed around 80hz. I was hoping the overlap there would help with the midbass somewhat.

Overall, the SWS' just seem to be pretty sloppy, and I'm surprised they don't go lower than they do. It could be a byproduct of the quasi-ported enclosure (I'm accustomed to dealing with sealed on all but the lowest octave subs - my home sub is a custom 10 ft^3 15" ported to 17Hz and low-passed at 40hz).

Any suggestions are appreciated. I'm willing to throw a bit more money at this (maybe a EQ or processor to try to take care of my freq nulls), but not much. I know the right way to do this is probably with the Jehnerts, but they're pricey and hard to find. Are there any auto-eq'ing products like the JBL MS-8 that don't add processor lag to the signal (Bluetooth problem)?