Da_Meister_22

besides BSW is there any other brand that would allow me to upgrade my sound by swapping the speakers and replacing the factory amp? I just dont wanna put one of those boxes subs in my trunk.

jgalvin

My understanding is that BSW speakers are designed to work with the OEM kit, so are only useful if you only want to change the speakers and nothing else.
I find my sound flat, too. (2008 520d Euro model) After not a little research, I've specced upgraded Earthquake 8" subs, upgraded fronts and rears (also
Earthquake) and front tweeters. The amp is a 5 channel Hertz - based on the supplier's recommendation. I have an installer locally, who will do the work
and it will hopefully be carried out the week after next.
I have a video system in the car, based on a HD media player and feeding the iDrive screen, so sound is important. I'll post again once the system
is installed.
I considered the BSW speakers but because I wanted to go farther, I felt they weren't the right solution for me.

levq21

I got it installed all by myself about 3 months ago. BSW is a better speaker, but don't expect night and day, my 2005 maxima still has better sound. Over all the sound quality has increase 60%. The speakers work great if you play really good Good hip hop CD. But a regular cd sound is o.k. not great.

Kryptus

Il give my take on the BSW upgrade...

I had the standard US speaker setup, not logic7.

I definately notice more clarity and a greater range of sound then with the stock speakers. I notice little subtle sounds that werent there before with the old speakers. My installer also noticed the improvement. He mentioned right away that he was impressed with how good the speakers sound considering thier small size. Now to be honest, I don't think the price is worth the improvement you get. One thing that dissapointed me was that my music could not go any louder then it would before. BMW is the first car brand where I noticed they don't let you blast the stereo. The max volume is relatively soft IMO. I thought changing the speakers out might help, but not so much. I do have better sounding music, but I still cant "blast" the stereo. Most times I have my volume set to max when driving around listening to music. And thats with the windows all closed! Its not so bad, but still an annoyance that I have never had with any "cheap" car brand. I suppose it does save you form blowing your stock speakers. Now I mentioned the improvement in sound is not worth the price, but that is not all you get with BSW. You must realise that you are paying a premium for "plug n play" fitment. If you have the time and are skilled enough to rewire your entire system to work with new amps and aftermarket speakers then I suggest you do that. But for what I wanted, which was hassle free sound improvement, BSW is the way to go. I'm sure they make a pretty good penny from each set sold. Bruce Miranda may be able to give a good assesment of how much thier "plug n play" wiring costs them to do. If the price was around $100 cheaper then I would have an easier time saying its a great buy.

NavarroOne

I so agree. I had a Subaru Legacy GT with a MacIntosh 14-speaker system a couple years ago and I got completely spoiled by that stock sound system; nothing stock in any pedestrian Audi or BMW have sounded good since and I need to upgrade my system - not to have Tone Loc blow the lid off my trunk with pumping bass but simply to have reasonable sound levels with crystal clarity and a full sound; it is SOOO dissapointing that a car of this quality and price can be so awful when it comes to the sound system.

response_surface

here are the results of my upgrade.

this is the standard 10 spkr set, not L7

i didn't want to spend 600 bucks for the bsw, i needed a project to work on, and for some strange reason i wanted german made speakers in my german car, so i just built my own from new old stock never used mb quart qm100's and rtc19's. got the whole lot of mids, tweeters, x-overs for about 200 bucks on ebay.

it sounds so great compared to the oem units. not quite as loud, but much better quality.

i got my sws subs installed this weekend, they are being powered by the oem sub amp for now until my arc audio mini arrives. the mini will fit exactly in the same location as the stock amp...of course i need to fab a new bracket for it since i want a totally stealth install. the bass is too low right now, since i went with the 4 ohm sws8's, stockers are 2 ohm.

next month i may get an arc audio mini 4 channel and power the highs and mids as well. i think the mb's are less efficient and need some more power than the HU can provide.

could call it the poor man's bsw upgrade, although i'm not poor at all, just a cheap b#$%trd.

i am anxious to see the bsw pnp amp, and very curious how they will crack into the system....fiber optic, or just get the speaker levels from the HU. either way, if its for the non L7 system, there will be some very long wire runs to be made! i may consider that amp instead of the 4 ch mini when i see how it mounts up and integrates. they say it will fit in the stock location but it seems like that may only refer to the L7, since there is no room in the non L7 unless you buy a new trunk trim panel. i've sent a few inquires to bsw and they have been nice enough to reply, but the answers are vague.

nborgix

Hi,

Great brico with thoes speaker support plates
Were did you place the crossovers?

Can someone give me the speaker enclosure dimensions (depth, with) or eventually the standard speaker dimensions?
(I want to choose some aftermarket speakers but need to know if they will fit)

Thanks

tuffluck

so is there standard audio, hi-fi audio, and L7, or is hi-fi the same as standard?

typically if you want better sound, you have to change everything, not just speakers. the amp and the deck really drive so much of the quality.

i don't have logic 7, and i thought i had hi-fi (which could just be standard?), but i don't think it sounds that bad. this coming from a guy that had a custom 1,500 watt sound system in his old car that was LOUD and sounded great. sound is so subjective too. my friend has a 2007 650i and has the L7 and i really can't tell much of a difference between our sound systems except more bass in his, and the HD radio sounds great, but that's probably more due to the HD radio than the speaker setup.

JohnC

Part of the problem is BMW's decision to only use 4" drivers. If they went with a 5-1/2 or 6", you would have much better range. I was hoping to upgrade mine, but was disappointed to find the 4" speakers. The 8" subs have potential to upgrade for my music tastes, but the system really lacks the mid bass range. One of the reasons that this was so disappointing was the fact that I was coming from a 2002 A6 Avant w/bose that sounded better. When we bought the car, they also had a 530xi with nav and L7, but it was not worth the price difference IMHO.

nborgix

Yes. There are:
- standard (business radio + 10 speakers)
- Hi-Fi (Professional Radio + better sub amp + 10 Speakers)
- Logic 7 (Prof radio + multi ch amp + 13 speakers)
- Individual (Prof radio + better multi ch amp + 13 Speakers?) - AKA Dirac

I think that speaker size is always the same (as applicable) but their quality differs from L7 on-wards.

Anyone with the mids 4" fitting dimensions?