skrelnik

Hi Gents (and ladies if you are on here) - I have an E60 with the HiFi audio system and this audio system is not up to par with this the rest of this high quality machine. After searching high and low through various BMW and DIY audio forums, my audio upgrade was finally completed over the weekend by a couple of E90/Bimmerfest forum members who I will mention later on in the post.

My story went something like this. I was like "I can do this audio upgrade myself as I used to do this stuff in my teenage years back in the 90's"...but that was in my beaters which I didn't care about, and I do not want to mess up this BMW.

First off I wanted Sirius. I am a tech nerd so I know cheaper ways of doing things, but I wanted this car to be done right, not some round about way to save me a $100 bucks. I was led to Patryk at BimmerTech, he helped me figure out the right Sirius module and hardware I needed, and then I bought that on-line and was able to drop that in using a DIY on one of the forums. Patryk did the coding for me and I got a year free subscription from him. All-in was $200 for the module (from a junkyard) and I think about $250 for BimmerTech. This was all done in less than a week.

Next up I needed more juice in the audio system. I read and read and read. Use Musiccar NW to help out, or use the Bavsound set-up, but further reading told me that BavSound is hardly an upgrade over stock, they do easily fit, but the sound is ehhh at best. After speaking with Musiccar NW they were out of my price range for what you get from them.

Then on the E90 forums I came across a company called Jehnert, with a full kit for our car. Jehnert is small German company that makes direct replacements for our car. There is only one distributer in the US, and go figure, he is one of the forum members I mentioned above. 6spdcoupe (E90 forums) helped guide me to what I think is the perfect set-up for me, which is a quality sound so you can enjoy many varieties of music without trying to gain attention from people on the road (hey look at me, I play my bass super loud). I turn up the bass and close the windows and enjoy the sounds. Another forum member, Mathematics, who works alongside 6spdcoupe was also helpful in this process. So after speaking to them this is what I ended up with.

Amp upgrade: We used the Match PP82DSP which is an 8 channel amp. The HiFi system has 8 speakers so that made sense to me. It puts out 55 watts/channel, which is plenty, and even more so considering this is not one of those cheap amps that put out 500 watts of garbage. Quality over quantity in my book. While installing this 6spcoupe and his team removed the factory crossovers and wired the system into a fully-active system - woo-hoo!!!

Jehnert Flatline kit. This kit replaces your 6 front speakers, tweeters and mids in the doors, as well as your underseat woofers. They present the music in a much clearer form, it's such a treat to turn on the toons now.

For the rear deck 6spdcoupe recommended a pair of 11-inch Focal woofers. My mouth hit the floor when I heard these things pound, and keep in mind they are running on a 55 watt amp and thier RMS is 50 - 150 watts. I can't imagine what they would produce if we add a dedicated amp to power them, which we can do. These woofers pound and are clear.

While I could have had any audio shop do this install, I stuck with 6spdcoupe because he knows his stuff and is a guy you want to do business with. He's a good dude. He is also about 1.5 - 2 hours away from me and was well worth the trip. So if any of you are looking for an upgrade, and live in the northeast, this is the guy you want upgrading your audio.

Thanks for reading!

Nyulak

Good to hear (oops, pun) that your setup came out well. I went with the Jehnert setup a couple of years ago and am very pleased with the results myself. I recommend them highly.

Boost7

too much text...pictures will be nice

skrelnik

This wasn't a DIY post, this was to let others know about an audio upgrade that works well with our cars, and an installer that is trustworthy and not looking to oversell you on stuff you don't need. I spent about 6 months researching the best route to take, and without knocking any vendors, this was the best route in my opinion.

If there is anything specific you would like to see just let me know and I can take a picture.

I am also a member of the jeep forums, and from my experiences on both forums, there are a lot of members that may not have your best interest in mind, as they are friends with vendors and state false information to get other forum members to waste money on low-end products. I did a lot of research before diving into this project and thought I would share that.

Boost7

I"m just messing with you..hahahaa, but yea, I'm glad to hear the research paid off and that the upgrade was worth it and you're happy with the results.

skrelnik

Ha, it's Friday and my brain is shot. Thanks Boost7.

E60535i2010

Where did you get the work done in the northeast? I actually have a very low budget no more than couple hundred bucks. I wanted to know if I can simply swap the logic 7 amp to the Hifi amp and just get a little better sound ?

skrelnik

Don at Unexpected Creations is the best around.

Unexpected Creations – Only the finest in high-end mobile and home audio

stel_i79

+++1000
i travel from the cape cod to have him work on my car //amazing job

Dark Vader

I would have liked to have seen the subwoofer install... pics?

I hope this thread isn't too old