subterFUSE

It is very true that car audio installation is most important aspect.... As long as you are dealing with high-end audio, the components you use are somewhat less important. I have found this over many years of experience with different brands.

Obviously I have my personal preferences for particular brands, but I won't get into all that now.

I think your installer has made a wise suggestion with leaving the factory headunit.... particularly since you're leasing. I don't know how much BMW is going to like you cutting the rear deck on a lease car, though.

$9000 for a car audio system installed is not unheard of.... although it sounds awfully expensive to me considering the simplicity of the system. The system in my Acura was about $15,000, and the system in my Lexus was probably closer to $20,000 after everything was said and done. But both of those systems were complete competition setups with a ton of gear, and installs with custom fiberglassing, plexiglass windows for amps and processors, neon lighting, etc....

The Lexus system was similar to an E60, because I could not remove the factory headunit. On the Lexus I had, the AC controls were on the radio panel.. so we couldn't remove it. So, what we did was to remove the entire center console, and build a custom console from fiberglass. We installed a 6 CD changer in the armrest area, and an Alpine CVA 1005 TV headunit for the NAV and audio control. Unfortunately, removing the center console in my E60 is not possible... due to the SMG shift knob. So, in the Lexus, I actually had 2 stereos. The factory system was left intact, and my aftermarket system was built around it. I could actually play both systems.... haha.

Merzbow

We changed it today... now they're going to cut a hole instead behind the rear seats. The hole will be hidden by that bit of leather that's held up by velcro behind the rear console. The bigger worry is that I'm letting them cut two holes in the front doors (lower-front corners of each), which are somewhat expensive to replace. They'll color match the grills, and the hope is that BMW won't notice when I turn in the car. If they do I'll just buy the darned car I suppose. Maybe I can save the pieces of material they cut out and get it spliced back in somehow...?

Uh oh...

I still think it's reasonable given the items being installed, but I'm willing to be convinced otherwise. Let's look at the invoice more closely.

First, I think we can agree that the brands they've chosen are worthy of a high-end system. Although some may prefer one over another, it seems unanimous on all the car audio boards I've read that Arc amps and subs and Morel Elates are some of the best.

Now onto price. First, the physical items:

1. About $1100 for wires, dynamat, box (all custom-built), and Soundgate items. To my unexperienced eye this doesn't look unreasonable offhand. If I scrounged online, maybe I could save $200?

2. About $3200 for two pairs of Elate 6's and two pairs of Elate 5's. Some Russian site has these for about 15% less, but this is without shipping and probably without a warranty. Maybe I could get $500 less.

3. About $2200 for the Arc 4150-XXK, 2100-XXK, and 1500-XXK. Not available online anywhere, but one site lists MSRPs for them that total to $1750. So perhaps I could save $450 here.

4. Three Arc 10" subs for maybe $600 total (not sure since we changed our brand choice after the invoice was made). Again not available online, maybe I could save $100.

So the physical items run to $7100. Sales tax is 8.25% here, so total is $7685. Assume I could get the max savings mentioned above, then the figures would be $5850 and $6332. So the most I could save on these would be around $1300.

Labor is listed as $1500. For five days of work by experienced installers, this doesn't seem inflated to me. If they were going to rip me off here they would keep it two days and charge $1500, right? They look like they've got enough business that it wouldn't be in their best interests to have a car taking up a slot in the bay while nothing's being done to it.

So the total is $8600. If I found all those items above online or at other dealers for less, then it seems I could theoretically knock $1300 off that - 15%. So they're building in profit here, but not excessive (by my standards at least). Am I on the mark here?

That's awesome... have you seen those freaky photos from the Japanese E60 site where people are doing insane things in the cockpit with multiple extra video screens and other bizarre crap? Damned if I can remember the URL of that site now...

Hamann5

Well mine was alot cheaper... the equiptment rean me about $1000..the installation ran me $500.. that includes wires box installtion and a ported hole on the back deck...I dunno urs seems a little pricey but then again you are getting dyno matt which when adding alot of layers will acot u around $200-$300 plus your getting more speaker cut outs.. that includes more wireing more labor and such ...So I do think it should be a little cheaper its still in the ball park

subterFUSE

The equipment in my Lexus was about $8000-9000 before installation... if my memory is correct. For that amount, here is what I got:


Alpine CVA-1005 headunit
Alpine 6 CD changer
Alpine Navigation system
1 set of Dynaudio System 220 MKII 5.25" component speakers
1 set of Dynaudio System 240 MKII 7" component speakers
3 JL Audio 10W6 subwoofers
Precision Power PowerClass amp (1400 watts x 1, for the subs)
Precision Power PowerClass amp (4 x 100 watts, for the Dynaudios)
Precision Power PAR-245 parametric EQ / preamp
2 Precision Power DEQ-230 1/3 octave EQs (30 bands each)
Precision Power FRX-456 active crossover
Precision Power Phase Shift controller
AlumaPro CAP 15 farad capacitor
Optima YellowTop Battery


Installation was at least another $8000, however. We spent a week doing Dynamat, Foam filling, and spraying of the body to prepare. Then ran wires for everything. We did a lot of custom fiberglassing for the sub enclosure, amp rack, and the custom center console, and the custom kickpods for the Dynaudio speakers. Install took forever, because I did it at a shop where my friend worked... and I insisted on helping out with it. So we had to work when I had time available. I think the whole job took about 6 months.... but I had lost track.

Hamann5

Well there is my friends S500...
http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/275735
He has:
3 Phoenix Gold Amps
4 Phoenix Gold Xmax 10" Subs
Phoenix Gold Capicitor
Phoenix Gold EQ
Phoenix Gold Electronic LCD Voltage Reading
2 Poineer 7" Flip Down TV's
1 Pioneer Motorized In-Dash 7" TV
1 Pioneer Navigation System
1 Pioneer 12 Disc DVD/CD changer
Cliff Design Interior Speakers

He had alot of customized stuff done to this car...swade motorized amp rack with spare 20" ...this setup cost him about $60g's for everything (not including exterior) this took about 6 months as well

This stuff can sometimes get ridiclous

Merzbow

Sixy large ones? That is sicker than a hospital full of Ebola patients. And my friends think I'm nuts for spending nine grand on audio. But one of the friends who tells me that has a habit of regularly losing four grand every time he sits down at the poker table, so to each his own I guess.

Merzbow

Kick pods, hmm. Perhaps it might be possible to put the 6" Morel in a kick pod that attaches to the door instead of cutting the door? I'll ask tomorrow.

subterFUSE

Kick pods don't attach to the doors. They go in the footwell, to the outside. They are called kickpods because they are right next to where you feet rest.

Kickpods are common in sound quality competition systems that use speakers instead of compression horns. The reason is.... the driver and passenger don't sit in the middle of the car. The driver is closer to the driver side speakers than the passenger side, and vice versa.

By moving the speakers to the kickpanels, the distance from each speaker to the driver & passenger becomes more equal. This helps put the listeners more in the sweet spot.

However, you have to consider a few things before having kickpods built.

1. You will lose some legroom. On the driver side, you'll have to remove the dead pedal. Most people won't like the comfort factor.

2. Some cars install computer gear in the kickpanels, and speakers have magnets. You don't want to put a speaker in the kickpanel if there is a computer behind there... because the magnet will mess the computer up. This is a common problem in Honda cars, because they traditionally put the car computer in the passenger kick panel.

Merzbow

Called today... not possible to mount the woofers on top of the door panel because it would stick out too far, so I'll have to cut. Oh well. Also decided to use two 12's instead of three 10's for various reasons. Having the bass port to an invisible hole cut behind the rear-seat pulldown instead of above the rears is a great solution... I'll get the highest volume only with it pulled down, but I never crank the bass with three rear passengers anyways.