Hi guys, I got 535d which is truly fantastic.. great engine, level of comfort is very high and with 40mph ~ 7l/100Km it's the ultimate highway fighter. I've been waiting for it a long time because I wanted ventilated seats with massage feature. Really worth every penny..

Unfortunately, it has the standard audio only. I reckon upgrading to factory Hi-Fi or L7 could be really difficult from what my dealer has told me, do you have any idea and recommendation on how to upgrade to 3rd party same sound quality as L7 or Individual? Any feedback will be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

 

Welcome to the forum.
Did you try the Search function, this topic has been heavily discussed since the E60 was introduced.

 

Will do that now! I hope I find the right answer

 

Seems like it's almost impossible if you don't want to use up to 50% of your boot for subwoofer I wish there was a L7 kit or something..

 

if you want L7, although it can be done...it will be very expensive as it invloves changing rear panels(for new speakers), 13 speakers, and amplifier..
the hifi. no need to change rear door panels, but still 11 speakers and an amplifier, you will also have to get the car reprogramed at the dealer,
as for 3rd party, im not sure, as not many people have changed from the normal 6 speaker setup, as that is unavalible in the us market..

 

Having the standard audio on my 530d was one of the reasons I bought a 535d with individual audio. It had some other gadgets missing aswell, but upgrading the stereo was just too complicated for me. I bought a lot of the components and amplifier but never got further than replacing the parcel shelf speakers and then gave up. Figured it was too much like hard work.

You don't need to put a big sub in your boot, look up the "Earthquake SWS-8" subwoofers. Under the seats of _every_ E60 there are speakers. In the L7, these are decent subwoofers with a decent amp. In the standard stereo, they are crappy speakers. But no matter what you have, the SWS-8 will fit in the hole perfectly. It's not an easy job, but much neater than sticking a huge sub box in your boot, and I would say a better sound too.

If you replace underseat with SWS8, replace the door speakers and parcel shelf speakers with some decent component speakers/crossovers, and power it all with a new amplifier, you'd get a great sound.

 

Dont we first need to find out where hondik is from. He talks about std audio but we all know that std audio in the US is actually the Hi-Fi option in Europe.

If hondik has the European std option then upgrading to any system is more difficult than simply upgrading the amp and subs in the HiFi option. If however you do want to upgrade your EU std system to becoming like a OEM HiFI option then you need to pull line level outputs from the back of the HU send the cables to whereever you place the new amp. Then disconnect and replace the under seat speakers with subs and then send those cables back to the amp as well. Depending on amp position it may not be such a big job but its not your average DIY too.

Upgrading to L7 from any system is much more difficult because the HU drives nothing, its all processed and driven from L7 amp which requires a fiber cable from the HU. Not saying impossible just difficult.

 

Nah, there are enough posts around the board already which give all the detailed information and options ... I was just giving some basic info No point starting yet another thread on something that has been covered many many times before in great depth.

 

All guys thank you for your responses! It's been very helpful and I feel much better about being able to upgrade. I'm from Central Europe so Standard is nowhere near to Hi-Fi I looked up Earthquake SWS-8 and they seem to be a great choice.

Here are some interesting and helpful links which I couldn't find earlier. I hope it also helps others as the Standard Audio has no balls.
http://forums.e60.net/index.php?showtopic=25053
http://forums.e60.net/index.php?showtopic=24860

 

If you are planning on housing the amp under the parcel shelf then you can grab the speaker High inputs from there itself instead of running them back from the under seat subs. In the EU std audio system them the subs are just normal speakers connected in parallel to the front door speakers.