please can anybody help on decision whether premium sound or should i go with after market sound new speakers sub and amp. i heard the premium sound and it was just ok for me. please give your suggestions and input. i am wondering what other e60 owners opinions are. thanks

 

I have the Std 10 speaker US system which is know as HiFi in the UK at extra cost and I love it. Surely if you can opt for Logic 7 or premium sound there's no point taking you car to bits to add an after market system. I hear L7 owners say its a fine piece of kit.

 

If you like good sound, the Logic 7 is a no-brainer! Simulated surround sound, 13-speakers including two subwoofers, 6 CD-changer and 7-band equalizer all neatly integrated and controlled with iDrive (something you won't get with aftermarket).

To do a meaningful comparison of the Logic 7 and the standard system, play a few tracks of your favorite CD(s) on each. Let your ears decide if the Logic 7 is worth the extra money.

Martin

 

Get the Logic7. It's excellent. Aftermarket sound is a very difficult proposition in an E60 what with idrive and all. You won't touch Logic7 performance in the aftermarket for less than twice the OEM cost.

 

Is there any advice to set/tune the equalizer to maximize the sound?

 

I had a chat with my local car hifi dealer on the e60 before I decided the final spec on my car. Basically its a lot of work and expense to get a decent after market system installed and it requires opening up many parts of the car, something which he didnt recommend. I decided to take his advice and went for the best manufacturer fitted system I could get ie L7 and it really is very good. Crystal clear and very loud with decent bass. Only downside is that the bass can get a touch bloated (more of a rumble than impactful) on occasion but overall its superb.

If you do want to go with an aftermarket system then you will need to start with something like an Alpine clean sweep, at least replace the front speakers with decent comps, add amplification and for low bass get a subwoofer in the boot firing through the centre armrest. According to my dealer you can get the basic controls ie tone, fader, balance, volume etc to still work via the idrive. All of this means a lot of expense and opening up of your new e60. I decided against it.

 

L7 is great, its all integrated as part of the car. Sound processor gives some good effects.

 

L7 will give you excellent sound picture which is great stuff for car (due to the central speaker and DSP of course). Older or imperfect recordings or bad FM reception can sound a bit enoying while DSP is trying to find way out; so in that cases sound is travelling around front speakers. Sound is also great even DSP get it soften a bit but great. I would take it again.

530i, 2005, SMG, M sport package, silver grey, grey dakota, comfort seats, L7, adaptive xenons ...

 

I have the Hi-Fi system. It's an option were I live and I live it. It's 10 speakers compared to the standard with just 6. I really like my sound system. I recommend it.

 

I tend to set the curve in something of a wide-U shape to increase the bass a little and to emphasize the highs some as road noise will tend to interfere with them. I leave the equalizer set the same for all types of music which is not necessarily the best strategey.