Sid C

I am amazed how many posts have to do with this issue. I guess some buyers are content with the standard radio (probaby would rather listen to the engine) and don't want to pay extra, otherwise BMW would include a better standard radio.

My previous 330i had a Logic 7 radio. When I bought the 2006 530i, I had brain-fade and didn't even pay attention to the fact that the car was equipped with the plain old standard radio. It took a few days to figure out something was wrong and why the radio sounded so pathetic. Since both the treble and bass were set at neutral so I turned the bass up all the way. Although it sounded a little better it was definitely no Logic 7.

I remember back when I was a teenager in the 1960s, about the only way to improve the sound of your AM radio or 8 track tape player was to turn the tone control all the way in the bass direction.

A few days ago I was clicking through the IDrive and ended up at the treble and bass control. Noting the bass on max and the treble at neutral I reverted back to 1964 rational and turned the treble as low as it would go. I was amazed at the improvement. I would have thought the treble would have disappeared but instead it seemed to punch up the bass a little more while still providing separation and clarity from the high notes. Although this by no means the ultimate solution, at least I don't think about it every time I crank up a tune.

If you have the plain Jane radio give it a try and see if this works for you.

shiny

So you have the bass to max and the treble to min?

or the bass halfway and the treble to min.

I'll give this a try and let you know how I get on

gorban

Radio and speaker sets are two different things. There's the Business radio and the Proffessional radio. For speakers, there's the standard, Hifi, Logic 7 and DIRAC.

I just got my LCI 520dT with Business Radio and Hifi speakers. The sound is OK but definitely not great. What I miss the most is not bass but more power and clarity in the mid register. I'll try your trick with turning down the treble. If I order a new E61 in three years I will most definitely order at least the logic 7.

One important thing though is that different sound sources give different sound quality. A modern DDD CD gives the best sound. MP3's can be of different quality and sometimes sound very bad. AAC encoded songs on the ipod that I have converted myself in itunes from my own cd's sounds quite good.

Sid C

Yes, Bass on Maximum and treble on minimum

cwohughes

Ha anyone else tried this method. Does this really work?

shurick

What is the difference between Business and Professional version?

gorban

I tried it yesterday. I guess most of us have the habit of turning up the treble and bass controls to the max level. My conclusion is that the treble should be much lower, but maybe not to the far left. It actually sounds better. My bass is set at almost full right. And then increase the volume!

It's fooling yourself when you set the treble to maxium. You hear all the high frequency sounds very clear and think that it sounds great. But you loose in the midle register.

gorban

Before the LCI the Business Radio would not play MP3's but after the LCI upgrade it does. The difference that remain between the Business and Professional Radio is that the Professional have a double tuner and support for TMC traffic information. Soundwise there should be no difference.

Ricracing

Bass max and Treble at max or next to.

I have the Business Radio/CD with bass speakers under the front seats.

shiny

Well I tried it but the sound was "dull" with bass to max and treble to min. So now I have bass and treble at 75% and it sounds better to my ears. I have no idea what sort of stereo/speaker combination I have. There appear to be 4 large speakers (one in each door) a tweeter in the top of each door and one in the centre of the dash.

cheers