BrianC

?2.5K seems awfully expensive for just that amount of kit if the amp only costs ?300, are they doing fully custom door cards for that so you can get bigger speakers in or are you still stuck with the 4"ers?

I've priced up the following:

1*4 channel i-sotec amps = ?155
1*2 channel i-sotec amp (bridged for the sub) = ?135
12" sub with custom enclosure = ?400
2 * 4" Focal 100v Slim Components = 2*?235 = ?470
2 days labour to build and fit = 2*?200=?400
Total=?1560

pgilc1

I think the pricing is about right, as i was quoted around ?3K to do pretty much the same thing only with fully rebuilt door cards to accomodate decent sized speakers.

Its a lot of money for sound though - given there is no visual change. Last time i spent that on audio in a car i had a flip out DVD screen etc, so at least you could 'see' a difference too. My real stumbling block is that the car won't be worth a bean more with all this fitted. I only plan on keeping the car until its three years old, so it would cost me ?1200 a year, or ?100 a month just to have better sound. Which seems a lot.

pgilc1

In my quote the amp side of things was coming it at around ?700, plus the labour rate was higher, then ?500 for the two door card builds.

zimguy

BrianC - I agree with you mate, the pricing is a bit steep but...It does include custom front door mounts. BTW It is the cleansweep module which is ?300 not the AMP. The AMP which was spec' into the system was ?700. In your config how would you interface the BMW headunit/output to your aftermarket system ?

Pgilc1 - Sounds like we have pretty much been given the same spec/suggestions by our Audio fitters, I guess this in itself is re-assuring but bang goes my idea of shopping around for a cheaper price . 1 big thing I have to say is that whilst I own my car I will not be keeping it for longer than 4 years so I guess I have the same challenge as you regarding justification etc....however....I would argue that because all this kit is aftermarket you could remove it, reinstall the BMW stuff and hand the car back to your leasing company..sure it is more expense but it means you then have the kit to either sell privately or to use as the basis of a system for your next car.

Now...there are ways of chipping away at the pricing I have been given and still getting a half decent system....i want to stay with JL kit throughout but i can

- get slightly lower spec front speakers for 350 instead of the 600 quoted
- get a ?450 AMP rather than the ?700 one.

Also, if I choose to mount bass speakers in the holes under the seat (despite not having ears in my arse) then I can further reduce the spec & cost of the front speakers and then by not having to stick larger speakers in the front doors I then dont have to spend the ?400 on custom door mounts/cards.

At the end of the day..I cant justify spending a huge amount of money on the sound...but I HAVE to spend something as I cant live with the problematic system I currently have.

pgilc1

Yeah i take your point about pulling the most of the stuff out, though then you're paying a labour charge to pull it out and refit the previous setup. Plus TBH i have a boxful of old amps, crossovers, wiring, etc from the last time i pulled a system out. Second hand kit makes next to no money as by then the market has moved on.

Bass isnt going to be your problem at the front, its going to be decent mid range and treble from a 4 inch mount, which i'd be very wary of.

Like yourself i'd love to have better sound from the car, but i resent paying ?2000 - ?3000 to make that happen.

Its hard to know what to do isnt it?

BrianC

The amps I'm looking at plug directly into the BMW system so apart from the right wiring loom I don't need anything else to get them to work. Granted they aren't going to be as good as your ?700 amp + ?300 clean sweep but I think the head unit is going to be the limiting factor regardless of what amps/speakers you put in the car. Quite frankly I think the BMW unit is very poor but I'm not going to go about replacing it nor am I going to put in top of the line gear as I see this as a waste with the BMW head unit. I'm certainly not saying that you won't get an improvement, if you put some expensive B&W speakers on a AWIA mini system you'll get an improvement but nowhere near the same improvement as you'd get replacing the same AWIA speakers on an Arcam system.

I don't think your price is that bad if you are getting custom door cards (these should be costing around ?300 to ?500 for a pair) and bigger speakers, although I'd be happy using the stock locations under the seat for mid/sub woofers as the bass isn't directional. The only other thing I'd suggest is getting the tweeters moved from the stock location in the dash to the A pillar as I've always had good results doing just that.

Of course this all depends on what sort of music you like, I'm not that bothered about mid bass but I am bothered about the top end as I mostly listen to classical music. Having said that I'm also happy that a decent 12" sub in a quality enclosure can be fast enough musically with smaller speakers - I have the same AV set-up at home - bookshelf speakers and a 12" sub with large amp/enclosure (its a SVS "dustbin") and it works very well up to reference level.

zimguy

What you are saying makes perfect sense..and to be honest I had not thought about it in as much detail as you seem to have.

The price, as you say, seems ok. However I also dont look forward to spending that amount of money and still being limited by the headunit.

What do you mean by B&W, AWIA and Arcam?

I definately need to re-think my audio.

My taste in music is quite eclectic so I am just looking for something that is a "good all rounder" I guess.

(good point on the tweeter locations, I will chat to my audio guy again and see how much this will increase the price by)

BrianC

I used B&W and Arcams excellent and Awia's awful home hifi kit as an example to contrast what you'd be doing by leaving the BMW head unit in the car and sticking in a set of speakers worth ~?700.

Having sat in my car again I've had a rethink on the stock locations for the tweeters as they are quite high and face the driver as they are in the inside of the wing mirror housing rather than the dash where I thought they where for some reason. Its still a quite small location to mount tweeters and for the money you are looking at spending on speakers you will probably get better results sticking them high on the A pillar.

Personally I'd look to add two 8"s in the front, one under each seat (thats where BMW put the speakers as part of Logic 7), then some decent 4"s in the stock location in the doors, with tweeters as discussed. No need for any custom mount points and you'll get roughly the same quality of sound. See if you can get your BMW dealer to give you a demo of the Logic 7 setup as yours should have a similar sound stage if the sound quality isn't as good.

In the back I would rely on the stock locations and the sub in the boot, not sure if you was doing that anyway? If you've a pair of 8"s in the front either a pair of 12"s or a single 15" would be an amazing addition if you can get a big enough enclosure for them.

Must admit it feels to be good getting back into the saddle of ICE. My last few cars have been company cars so I've had to put up with the best that the OEM offers and its a big let down from my old rig that I'd moved from car to car. Your ?3.5K doesn't look that bad when I consider that I spent that on two amps and the head unit ten years ago.

nelson29

i installed the hub on my 530. heres the thread. i also did a full custom system.
http://forums.e60.net/index.php?showtopic=37889&hl=

here the pics of the rest of the system

http://forums.e60.net/index.php?showtopic=42242&hl=

nelson29

Dont go with the 4" focal. i had them before i went with the current set up and wasnt sastified with the output at all.
the 8'' speaker thats under the seat is to shallow. as far as i know only the Earthquake sws-8 will fit there. i wouldnt go that route. hru this ordeal

Me, KU530 and Rjcastr went thru this ordeal heres a thread

http://forums.e60.net/index.php?showtopic=39814&hl=

you will find out a lot of information in there.