530iii

In the E60 do we have the Harmon Kardon sound system, is it better or worse than the E46's Harmon Kardon system?

wolverine

I had the Bose upgrade in my Audi 2.7T and the difference is incredible. The Bose hurt my wife's ears with the highs and had bass that just boomed through the cabin. "all highs, no lows, must be Bose" is not a bad charachterization. The Logic 7 is by my and quite a few others estimation the best OEM sound system you can buy.

subterFUSE

Bose car audio is among the worst there is..... simply look at the specs sometime. What Bose does well is marketing. They have done an excellent job at using advertisement to make people THINK they are high-quality, when they are far from it.

Bose is among the few companies left in car audio using foam surrounds on speakers, for example. (Most high quality speakers and subwoofers use rubber surrounds)

Bose also uses irregular components which must all match... (ie 1/2 ohm speakers which require Bose amps to run) Standard car audio speakers are 4 ohm.

Bose uses the low impedance setups for 2 reasons.

1. Lower impedance levels effectively increase amplifier output. (for example, if you have a 50 watt amplifier @ 4 ohm, then drop the impendance level to2 ohms, the effective output doubles to 100 Watts) Bose uses this to make small speakers with small amps sound louder. An unfortunate side effect of lower impedance is increased strain on amplifiers, and this leads to distortion.... especially in low and high frequency ranges. This is why your wife's ears hurt. Bose sound may be loud, but it isn't clear. (In my last car, I had 1800 watts between the two amps.... but the system was not the loudest I ever owned... but it was ultra-clear sounding because of all the headroom I had. Rather than running the amps at full tilt, I ran bigger amps at moderate levels to achieve better quality. Bose does the opposite. Use small amps but run them extra hard.)

2. By using strange impedance loads, you are prevented from using components other than Bose. Few companies build speakers or amplifiers which can operate at such low impedance levels. Only competition "cheater" amps run so low.... and they are not typically designed for high-end sound quality, but for pure loudness (aka Sound Pressure Level, SPL) So.... if you have a Bose stereo and you blow a speaker, you have to buy a Bose replacement.

Bose used this technique to limit competition from other companies. For example, I had an Acura Legend some years ago with a Bose factory stereo. The Headunit in this car was a tape deck with CD changer controls. If you broke the tape deck, which was quite likely with a tape player of any brand.... then you had 2 choices. Either buy a Bose replacement from Acura, for $3,600. Or you could install a whole new stereo, speakers amps and all. This was most likely the cheaper route. And certainly the higher-quality route. But many people would sooner trust the Acura dealer to an aftermarket stereo shop, so many Bose headunit replacements were sold like this.

Jimbo

subterFUSe,

Comparing your high sound system to Bose or Logic 7 is like comparing a Ferrari(any one) to the E60.

heezy545i

Do you feel the different logic7 settings affect tonality at all?

If concert setting is the second setting, I use to leave it there all the time, but have since turned it off. I don't have the best ear, but the center channel comes less into play which takes away from the imaging, but I prefer the sound, at least on some songs.

Hayat

Good point warranty void and all...

300TTto545

I still remember my pro/con list of 545 vs S4. ...

You guessed it. ok stereo vs great stereo. I was looking at Bose upgrade vs Logic 7 - not the basic systems. Lets just say it was comparable to the category for rear seat leg room ... and for that matter resale value.... Now that I am on a roll ... real navigation .... quiet interior ... gas mileage ... ahh comfort seats ...


I agree that Bose sounds very good under basic conditions. I've been impressed with their surround systems. But in their car audio, if you pump the volume it is going to hurt.

I can't believe they are still pulling that impedance crap. My 1990 300 ZX was exactly the same way. And you could still beat the stock system for <$500 - headunit et al.

niktee

BINGO! That's exactly my point!

04r1belgium

Hamann,

Starting on my own install of my RF 1051S (1119W RMS) and Boston Acoustics Pro 12.5LF soon. Can you send me any more details on how you hooked up your system ? Where did you take the ground ? What wire did you use for remote ? Where did you tap into the signal ? Where are all the wires/what colors... etc... etc...

Any help you can give me appreciated.

subterFUSE

I just worry about what will happen to the iDrive if you add the extra current load of amplifiers. If the voltage level to that computer gear drops even slightly, it can cause problems.... and on a car like this, I want the warranty intact.

It's too bad, because I feel this car has a reasonably good interior acoustically. You could easily fit some Image Dynamics horns under the dash, and the trunk is quite large.

But.... for me.... I do all or nothing. Either I change out the entire system, or I don't do anything. Keeping factory speakers and adding subs is not something I would ever consider. It would all have to go.