[eku1s]

I have a horrible suspicion that BMW don't sell this kit anymore, as I can't find anywhere online which has any stock, which is a massive pain because there are none on eBay UK at the moment and I really wanted to do this upgrade.

I could try and buy all the parts separately but finding the wiring harness is the most difficult bit and I have no idea how to make up my own.

Does anyone have a kit they'd be willing to sell?

Thanks, Luke

[sfarisminhas]

Originally Posted by eku1s

I have a horrible suspicion that BMW don't sell this kit anymore, as I can't find anywhere online which has any stock, which is a massive pain because there are none on eBay UK at the moment and I really wanted to do this upgrade.

I could try and buy all the parts separately but finding the wiring harness is the most difficult bit and I have no idea how to make up my own.

Does anyone have a kit they'd be willing to sell?

Thanks, Luke

Hi mate. Can I ask why this particular kit? There are other superior aftermarket kits IMHO.

[Sayek]

The last time I saw that kit was £500.

IMO its not all that..just upgrading the front door speaker and adding a tweeter.
Then you wont be happy with the bass and be looking for some subs.

If you do find used kit they normally ask for silly money and they used 10+ years by now. If the amp fails its bin the complete system.

[sfarisminhas]

Originally Posted by Sayek

The last time I saw that kit was £500.

IMO its not all that..just upgrading the front door speaker and adding a tweeter.
Then you wont be happy with the bass and be looking for some subs.

If you do find used kit they normally ask for silly money and they used 10+ years by now. If the amp fails its bin the complete system.

I would agree here. There are plenty of superior kits on eBay that are placed at that price mark which include a 4 channel amplifier and the underseat woofers. I would avoid the alpine kit and try something like the helix or mbquarts which will fit into a budget price point if that is what you want?

[hmmmkoi]

I did a budget audio upgrade this time last year. Originally looked at doing the Alpine upgrade but BMW were no longer selling and the used kits on eBay were extortionate.

My audio system was the base unit with no amp so the worst system possible. After months of research I decided to go with an Axton 590 DSP (4 channel with good RMS output), MB Quart speakers and subs. You can get a plug and play cable for the Axton DSP so it is an easy install!
Another good feature of the Axton 590 is that you get wireless Bluetooth functionality.

In total it cost sub £500 for everything listed above and the audio is great! Much better than the alpine system.

Check on eBay. That's where I got the amp. It came from Germany.

Hope this helps.

[HennessyLV]

Originally Posted by eku1s

I have a horrible suspicion that BMW don't sell this kit anymore, as I can't find anywhere online which has any stock, which is a massive pain because there are none on eBay UK at the moment and I really wanted to do this upgrade.

I could try and buy all the parts separately but finding the wiring harness is the most difficult bit and I have no idea how to make up my own.

Does anyone have a kit they'd be willing to sell?

Thanks, Luke

I had base system in my e92 and it's absolute garbage... was looking at many options myself and ended up picking up a logic 7 amp with all the speakers, subs and even grills for 340 quid off an 2012 M3.
With very little work and some extra speaker cable it's pretty much plug and play..
I honestly don't know where all the hate comes towards Logic 7/Harman Kardon but imo it's great... sound brilliant and clear and more than enough low end, plus it's a system that's oem.
I'd suggest you look around on the bay as they can be picked up for quite cheap these days and will surely be miles better than Alpine.

[ptpending]

i'm selling used alpine kit in buy and sell section of the forum

[eku1s]

Thanks folks. The main reason for wanting the Alpine is that it's an OEM upgrade and seems to be fairly easy to fit. Also, at the time, these were fairly reasonably priced and seemed like a good idea.

I'm not quite ready to buy yet, but appreciate the pointer to the one you're selling, ptpending. If you've still got it in a month or so I might drop you a message. Would you ship to the UK?

Logic7 is an interesting idea - I quite like the challenge of retrofitting that. My biggest concern with these is the wiring harness - a lot of the time these are quite hard to find and I wouldn't know where to start if it came to building my own.

The other two concerns I have with the Logic7 - the rear tweeters and the centre speaker. The tweeters seem quite difficult to fit and I don't feel confident making gashes in the leather trim to allow for these. The centre speaker looks like a dash-out job and probably new bits of trim that again might be hard to come by.

I guess I could skip the rear tweeters but the centre speaker seems to be something that might impact the overall audio quality.

Does anyone have any advice on wiring looms or Logic7 retrofit?

Thanks, Luke

[KFC_KID]

Hi Luke, I’m in the process of a Logic 7 install.
The dash speaker requires a insert and cover to suit and the rear tweeters are not that difficult. On the rear of the door panel you can see where the plastic bracket is and where you need to cut. I cut the panel inside and it exposed the foam. Used and very sharp craft knife and removed that and then carefully cut the leather the same way. Was a lot easier than I anticipated.

You are correct tho, the loom is harder to find and any that do come complete are silly money.

[HennessyLV]

Originally Posted by eku1s

Thanks folks. The main reason for wanting the Alpine is that it's an OEM upgrade and seems to be fairly easy to fit. Also, at the time, these were fairly reasonably priced and seemed like a good idea.

I'm not quite ready to buy yet, but appreciate the pointer to the one you're selling, ptpending. If you've still got it in a month or so I might drop you a message. Would you ship to the UK?

Logic7 is an interesting idea - I quite like the challenge of retrofitting that. My biggest concern with these is the wiring harness - a lot of the time these are quite hard to find and I wouldn't know where to start if it came to building my own.

The other two concerns I have with the Logic7 - the rear tweeters and the centre speaker. The tweeters seem quite difficult to fit and I don't feel confident making gashes in the leather trim to allow for these. The centre speaker looks like a dash-out job and probably new bits of trim that again might be hard to come by.

I guess I could skip the rear tweeters but the centre speaker seems to be something that might impact the overall audio quality.

Does anyone have any advice on wiring looms or Logic7 retrofit?

Thanks, Luke

It's much easier than you think.
I'm not sure about the centre speaker on other cars but on the e92 all you need is to remove the blank cover and drop it in and feed the cable behind the radio in that area.
Cutting the rear panel is quick and easy as there are marks on the back that you can drill a pilot hole and cut the leather. Tweeter trim will cover it.
Wiring might seem like a challenge but in reality it's quite straightforward.
What I done was - split the connection under the front seats and extended the wires to the trunk. Rear speakers can be either ran with new wires or cut the old one near the loom and run it to the trunk. (No one will ever want to go back to stock base system anyway)
The amp only requires 12v, ground and fibre connection that's also provided in the trunk if you have an e92 (cd changer pre-wire).
Once you get into the retrofit it's quite easy as all the parts are oem and fit perfectly.

[Riz123]

I've recently completed the harman kardon retrofit in a e92 lci and i would say it's worth doing it is a lot of work but not a bad job at all I managed to complete it in two days working alone and it sounds way better than the alpine kit.

There are 13 speakers in total

Front centre speaker
Front door speaker x2
Front tweeters x2
Underseat subwoofers x2
Rear speakers x2
Rear tweeters x2
Rear shelf speakers x2

You will also need the following-

Amplifier with bracket
Wiring loom including most fibre optic cable (you can make your own loom if you like)
Centre speaker grill (speaker mount is already there)
Front tweeter covers
Rear door cards or drill your own holes that's what I did with a 50mm holesaw
Replacement rear shelf

There is a total of 20 wires two wires go to each speaker and there is one power and earth.

I connected the power directly to the battery with a inline fuse and put the ground on a earthing point near to the amp.

I then ran cables to each speaker location but for the front door speakers I used the underseat connectors and used the existing wiring to save messing with the door connector etc.

Coding was done using the bimmercode app of my phone.

I have pinouts and stuff if you want more info just send me a message.

Total cost to me was just under £500 and in my opinion it was totally worth it for a oem sound system.

[eku1s]

Originally Posted by Riz123

I've recently completed the harman kardon retrofit in a e92 lci and i would say it's worth doing it is a lot of work but not a bad job at all I managed to complete it in two days working alone and it sounds way better than the alpine kit.

There are 13 speakers in total

Front centre speaker
Front door speaker x2
Front tweeters x2
Underseat subwoofers x2
Rear speakers x2
Rear tweeters x2
Rear shelf speakers x2

You will also need the following-

Amplifier with bracket
Wiring loom including most fibre optic cable (you can make your own loom if you like)
Centre speaker grill (speaker mount is already there)
Front tweeter covers
Rear door cards or drill your own holes that's what I did with a 50mm holesaw
Replacement rear shelf

There is a total of 20 wires two wires go to each speaker and there is one power and earth.

I connected the power directly to the battery with a inline fuse and put the ground on a earthing point near to the amp.

I then ran cables to each speaker location but for the front door speakers I used the underseat connectors and used the existing wiring to save messing with the door connector etc.

Coding was done using the bimmercode app of my phone.

I have pinouts and stuff if you want more info just send me a message.

Total cost to me was just under £500 and in my opinion it was totally worth it for a oem sound system.

Thanks a lot - that's useful. I'm weighing up options at the moment. I think there'll be a bit a learning curve for me with the HK as I'll have to learn how to make a wiring loom and work out where everything wires to and from.

Also, it seems that sourcing parts may be difficult - for example, there are no L7 amps on eBay UK at the moment, and when they come up, they're £350+.

Any tips on where I can learn about all the different gagues of wire and connectors etc? I'm competent with 240v house wiring, just not 12v wiring in cars... all these proprietary connectors confuse me! Perhaps it's easier than I'm thinking!

Otherwise I might just source the Alpine kit, possibly from the guy who's selling one on here and just install that as it sounds a lot simpler, or use an aftermarket solution.

[sfarisminhas]

Originally Posted by eku1s

Thanks a lot - that's useful. I'm weighing up options at the moment. I think there'll be a bit a learning curve for me with the HK as I'll have to learn how to make a wiring loom and work out where everything wires to and from.

Also, it seems that sourcing parts may be difficult - for example, there are no L7 amps on eBay UK at the moment, and when they come up, they're £350+.

Any tips on where I can learn about all the different gagues of wire and connectors etc? I'm competent with 240v house wiring, just not 12v wiring in cars... all these proprietary connectors confuse me! Perhaps it's easier than I'm thinking!

Otherwise I might just source the Alpine kit, possibly from the guy who's selling one on here and just install that as it sounds a lot simpler, or use an aftermarket solution.

I would bite the bullet and go aftermarket. I've found it more rewarding.

[RajB]

If you're still looking for a speaker upgrade kit, my nephew is selling a few month old Vibe microamp and 3 way speaker upgrade kit. Comes with all the P&P harness and is basically like new. He's after £300 for it if interested.