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BMW 3-Series (E90 E92) Forum > BMW E90/E92/E93 3-series General Forums > Regional Forums > UK > UK Technical Forum > Help with speaker upgrade please



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      09-26-2008, 02:37 PM   #1
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Help with speaker upgrade please

Hi,

I have just bought a 57 plate 318d M Sport E90 and love it, except for the quality of sound from the speakers.

I've been reading loads of things about upgrading the speakers on here, but I can't tell what recommendations will definately fit my car without any modifications!

It has the BMW Professional Audio in it at the moment, with just the 2 door speakers, subs under front seats, and 2 rear speakers in the parcel shelf. There are no tweeters.

Can someone please give me a definitive answer as to what I can do to make it sound nicer by using all the existing speaker spaces?!?!?!

Cheers!
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      09-26-2008, 05:34 PM   #2
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http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=172668

MOB has explained the best way and which parts are needed for tweeter upgrade.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=136594

And Gizze explains the amp and fitting of amp plus info on replacement subs and speakers.
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      09-26-2008, 05:44 PM   #3
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Also BMW are now offering an Alpine amp and speaker upgrade, all plug and play as far as I know, costs £250 for a 4 channel amp, cables and front speakers.
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      09-26-2008, 06:23 PM   #4
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Sounds good! I'll give the dealer a call tomorrow and see what they say, I may just see if they will sell me the tweeters or if the price difference isn't that great then just go for that 250 quid option. Thanks!
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      10-01-2008, 06:26 PM   #5
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Right, spoke to the dealer today...

Apparently, tweeters cannot be retrofitted and check this out for price...

The new BMW Alpine amp and front speaker kit costs £225, but the total price including fitting is £590!!!!!!!!!!!

We are so ripped off in the UK!
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      10-01-2008, 06:33 PM   #6
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Dealer knows jacks shit, why did you even ask him? Loads of people on here have done it.


Buy the Alpine kit and fit it yourself, install time is quoted at 2 hours, so it will take an hour at most. It is all plug and play.
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      10-01-2008, 08:37 PM   #7
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Gizze, have you done it? Is it really that simple? He was also going on about having to buy new trim panels to fit the alpine speakers and stuff?!?!
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      10-02-2008, 03:38 AM   #8
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Just spoke to a audio shop about fitting the mobridge unit for my iphone (450 quid, ouch). Asked about an audio upgrade and he said to see any real difference I need to spend around 1k-1.5k. Jesus!

Has anyone done this alpine upgrade? (this guy didnt know it existed, so guess you buy it from a dealership)
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      10-02-2008, 05:23 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sandford6016 View Post
Gizze, have you done it? Is it really that simple? He was also going on about having to buy new trim panels to fit the alpine speakers and stuff?!?!
You need to buy the grilles that sit behind the rear view mirror, at £15 a side, that's all.


I fitted the Blaupunkt one, same thing.

I put some DLS speakers in that were not plug and play and even they only took an hour.
I reckon I could put those speakers in the car in no longer than 10 mins a side.

The amp would take 1h30mins at the very most. It took me under 30 mins to put the blaupunkt amp in my car, there is a thread, search for 'blaupunkt' in the search bar at the top.
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      10-02-2008, 05:47 AM   #10
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Holy shitballs! Just got the email from the dealer:

Alpine upgrade, cost 790 squid (inc. vat and fitting).

USB interface: 740 squid (inc vat and fitting). "Also need coding to the vehicle so I have included in the price".

Chrrrrrrrrrrrrrist.

Sod that. Gizze, I'll go through your posts and see what the best solution is.
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      10-02-2008, 06:05 AM   #11
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Does anybody know if the Alpine kit is much better than stock + Blaupunkt?

Thanks
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      10-02-2008, 06:35 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by trixman View Post
Holy shitballs! Just got the email from the dealer:

Alpine upgrade, cost 790 squid (inc. vat and fitting).
Robbing b'stards!!

You can buy the following for less than that price, and fit it all yourself;

Blaupunkt THA555 amp & cable
2x Earthquake SWS-8 subs
2x Logic 7 tweeters
2x logic 7 midranges

The ONLY difficult part being cramming the additional cabling behind the head unit
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      10-02-2008, 07:01 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MOB View Post
Robbing b'stards!!

You can buy the following for less than that price, and fit it all yourself;

Blaupunkt THA555 amp & cable
2x Earthquake SWS-8 subs
2x Logic 7 tweeters
2x logic 7 midranges

The ONLY difficult part being cramming the additional cabling behind the head unit
Dont forget, mines a bog standard system so I'd need all the gubbins to fit the tweeters too.

I wouldn't bother with the logic 7's either, might as well get better one's if fitting yourself eh.

Still though, bit weary about fitting them myself. Gone are the days of old (did do a full install once, even made my own box to hold 2x15" jbls) but playing with a nearly new bmw with all it's electronic trickery does seem a little.... risky.
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      10-02-2008, 07:17 AM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by trixman View Post
Dont forget, mines a bog standard system so I'd need all the gubbins to fit the tweeters too.

I wouldn't bother with the logic 7's either, might as well get better one's if fitting yourself eh.

Still though, bit weary about fitting them myself. Gone are the days of old (did do a full install once, even made my own box to hold 2x15" jbls) but playing with a nearly new bmw with all it's electronic trickery does seem a little.... risky.
Yep the tweeter mouldings and foam would be needed, but they cost less than £40 all in.

The good thing about going for the L7 stuff is it slots and plugs straight in, and the tweeters are pretty impressive - I was going to buy Focal or Diamond Audio units, but getting decent 4" components is tricky to say the least - you cannot buy those brands online!! And the UK shops that offer those brands were quoting 5 weeks delivery.

I'm glad I went the L7 route
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      10-02-2008, 07:32 AM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MOB View Post
Yep the tweeter mouldings and foam would be needed, but they cost less than £40 all in.

The good thing about going for the L7 stuff is it slots and plugs straight in, and the tweeters are pretty impressive - I was going to buy Focal or Diamond Audio units, but getting decent 4" components is tricky to say the least - you cannot buy those brands online!! And the UK shops that offer those brands were quoting 5 weeks delivery.

I'm glad I went the L7 route
hmmmm. You have a point.

So best to get: Mouldings, logic7 components, L7 tweeters, earthquake SWS subs (what size would fit in mine, think i read they all do but just in case) and .... alpine or blaupunkt amp?
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      10-02-2008, 08:21 AM   #16
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Dont bother with the L7 midrange to begin with - just the L7 tweeters makes a big difference - you can add the midrange later if you want to (saves £100 or so if you dont!)

the SWS-8 subs are 8 inch (boggo ones are 6.5" I think) - you have to modify the 2 enclosures under the seats slightly - have a search on here.

Cant comment on the Alpine amp, but the Blaupunkt is a good one!

One thing I didnt say - if you are going to change the subs to SWS-8, you have to drive them directly from the amp instead of using the stock cables, which share the front speaker inputs - but thats a simplish job of routing cables from the new amp in the boot to under the seats.

If you are planning to do it a bit at a time, do the tweeters, then the amp, then the subs, then the door midranges.

If you are going to go for SWS-8's, you can only usually get them from the US - I found some on a UK ebay site and bought them, but he actually had no stock - but they are currently held at customs............

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/?_from=R40&_t...313&_nkw=sws-8
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      10-02-2008, 09:13 AM   #17
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Cheers
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      10-02-2008, 09:51 AM   #18
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Or buy the Alpine amp and speakers, also plug and play and let us know how you get on??
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      10-02-2008, 09:58 AM   #19
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yep, will get the price of just the components. Difficult to judge though, never heard either!
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      10-02-2008, 10:07 AM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gIzzE View Post
Or buy the Alpine amp and speakers, also plug and play and let us know how you get on??
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      10-02-2008, 10:16 AM   #21
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Right, think i'll go with the L7 tweets, stick with standard components for now, get the blaupunkt tha-555 amp and run the cables to some earthquake subs.

Being a complete idiot, how much would I get charged installation for that lot?

ETA: cant find e92 on the blaupunkt site, under bmw adaptors. Take it its the same loom as the e90?
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      10-02-2008, 10:19 AM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by trixman View Post
Right, think i'll go with the L7 tweets, stick with standard components for now, get the blaupunkt tha-555 amp and run the cables to some earthquake subs.

Being a complete idiot, how much would I get charged installation for that lot?
thats me i would do the same i would lose my temper and break something lol
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