Doctor Diesel

If the amp is the same as the "hi-fi" option, I'd stick with it as its perfectly adequate, esp if you swap in some efficient new speakers.

Is the space for the subs present in your car?(under the seats)

dd

northernmonkey

yes I have the space + covers.

on the amps question, obviously the dealer wants to sell me a new amp and EQ, knowing a bit about home audio I can see his point. Decision I guess will depend on the quality of the speakers i decide to put in. got to admit this guy did seem to know his stuff and when i asked if the amp was required his reply was "well if you didn't replace the amp i would just stick with what is in the car now as you won't notice any real value for money for the cost of just upgrading the speakers, it will sound a bit better but you will not get the best out of the upgraded speakers using the std. bmw amp."

The "Genesis" one's are very pricey and are a bit audiophile, so not sure I need that kind of quality but I looked at them in the shop and the build quaility and sound quality (on the demo wall at least) was outstanding.....typical, wish i'd not seen them now.

think i will goto another dealer and see what they recommend just to compare.

Doctor Diesel

If I had a Mercedes lardymobile then yes, chucking a fortune at the audio would be worth it as it would relieve the boredom but in my e60, The real fun is in the driving and a soundtrack to that is less important. I'm not cloth-eared, I've an all NAIM system at home and a cyrus system in my study so I know a good sound when I hear it, cars are just so compromised in their acoustics that the money may be better spent elsewhere.

(unless, <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>and I'm sure you're not</span>, one of those guys that thinks a false boot liner with lots of amps and neon strips is a clever thing to do)

DD

northernmonkey

DD, thx for the reply.

dont worry i dont want to max power the E60

The amp was very small/slim and discreet + would be mounted behind a hidden (trimmed) shelf the boot. Would not go for the subs as the bass from the component speakers was more than enough for me.

My confusion/concern was that this guy seemed to be suggesting that upgrading the speakers in the E60 without the amp etc was a waste of time if I was going to stick with BMW's supplied amp.

My original idea was simply to just replace the factory speakers with something from say Sony or Alpine for a few hundred ???, and see how things sounded....this SHOULD be possible right?

Doctor Diesel

Yes it should, I did the same in an e38 728i and with the standard amp, alpine speakers made a huge difference......well worth it

dd

Jimbo

If the standard amp has enough loudness for you, the speakers and EQ would be enough.

I think I've seen DSP (digital sound processing) like the Logic 7 if you do some research.

SueBMW

Just another thought... have you been in to have the latest software installed? I am in the US, but I do not have Logic7 (so I know we're dealing with a different system). The stereo was abismal in our car. It sounded like you were listening to a tape of a tape that someone recorded with background noise on a child's boombox. And you could never turn it up loud enough to hear it without so much distortion it was unbearable. I have never really cared about a stereo system in any of our cars--they have always been adequate. But the system in our 530 was horrid. I complained when it went in for service. I got the "oh, it's normal" excuse. But then, lo and behold, after it had it's major software update, the sound is completely adequate--much more like I would have expected from a $50k car. Of course, no one will admit that the software update changed things, but it made a GIGANTIC improvement. Just a thought, and it could be completely irrelevant in your circumstances.

northernmonkey

SueBMW, what software version did you update to???

Bedford530i

SueBMW, I'd also like to know what version you have.

The standard sound system in my car has no bass to speak of. I actually have to boost the bass levels of the songs before I burn them to a CD just to get some bass.

Also, does anyone know if the equalizer will be made available to non-Logic 7 systems? Should be easy to do since everything is done in software.

SueBMW

I'm sorry, but I really don't know. The dealer won't talk to me since I am suing BMW. It was updated the last week of July 2004.
I thought you could figure it out through iDrive somehow, but apparently not. And that secret menu in iDrive doesn't work for me.