w8pmc

I found out yesterday that my rear right speaker is distorting at certain frequencies, being most noticable when i'm on the phone, so my dealer has ordered a replacement which should arrive in a week or so.

This got me thinking that although my car has the Hi-Fi Loudspeaker option (not Logic7) can i improve the overall sound of the stereo by replacing the OEM speakers for some hopefully better quality component speakers??

I'm not sure how many speakers my car has fitted as standard, but i'm sure the more heavy duty ones could be upgraded to improve the overall performance. I'm not looking at Max Powering the ICE, so no intent on getting bass bins or subs installed, just an upgrade is possible/practical.

Any advice is gratefully received

w8pmc

Can no-one help me out here??

If i can upgrade the speakers to a better quality set-up, i want to pop down to my local audio shop this week.

jksanford

Over the last couple of years, there have been quite a few threads on this. Try searching on speaker upgrade. That being said, I haven't seen anything that made me go "Dang, I need to do that". I don't think there has been a single easy answer to this.

If there was, and I missed it, would you let me know? I wouldn't mind spending $1k or so to improve the sound system as long as I wasn't making any major modifications to the interior. I don't want a box or anything like that either.

james

w8pmc

James,

I've searched & nothing showing. One person did ask the same question back in 2004, but got no firm answers, the other threads that come up all refer to Logic7.

TexaZ3

Well, as long as amplifiers in your car are powerfull enough to power aftermarket speakers, and you can find the speakers that will fit by size and resistanse (Ohms) you should be able just swap the OEM ones with new ones. The problem is: I believe most BMW speakers are 2 Ohm, whether all aftermarket speakers are 4 Ohm. In this case you will need to replace amplifiers, possibly wiring, and this is where it becomes really complicated and expensive.

w8pmc

I've spoken to my local Car Audio Specialist & they reckon on 3 different options.

1st & the simplest is to replace the standard speakers with higher quality kit. Not too expensive & fairly straight forward.

2nd is to as above, replace the speakers but also add a couple of good quality amplifiers along with some subtle sub-woofers (hidden away) which will provide a marked improvement over the current set-up. This option is of course more expensive & would involve much more work (wiring).

3rd & somewhat surprising, is they can install a much better head unit, but not fit the case (DIN), just have a control unit for the new head unit in the armrest & it would be worked into the current audio set-up, thus still retaining i-drive functionality. Then have the 2nd option worked in for an awesome system, but this option could work out to be very expensive. I'm taking the car in on Friday or Saturday for them to have a good look & run me through the options, however i think option 2 will be the way forward, as option 3 sounds a little bit scary.

subterFUSE

I would not suggest changing the factory speakers without adding new amplfiers.


A stereo is like a chain... only as strong as the weakest link. Good quality components work well when they are matched with the system. Adding good speakers while keeping a poor quality amp is not a recipe for success. Chances are, you will not get great results... and possibly even damage the new, higher-end speakers. Most of the aftermarket car audio speakers for sale these days are designed to be run with good quality amps.

gIzzE

One option I would look at is changing the component speakers up front, and I would look at a brand called Rainbow, they take to factory head units really well and have a really, really nice detailed sound that is very smooth, so you can drive them hard and they never sound harsh, which is a good thing when keeping the factory amps.

I am not sure what the standard head unit outputs, whether there is a line level out on it? I know there is in the Audis in case you choose the bose set up, so I presume there would be with the BMW in case you choose L7.
if there is then add a small 2 channel amp to drive your new front speakers.
Then if you really need to add some Rainbow coaxials in the back for rear fill instead of the stock speakers.

I made sure I found a car with the standard set up and not Logic7 as upgraded systems always sound bad to me and are a pain in the arse to upgrade again. When I say sound bad, I really mean they just aren't my sort of sound, seems to have lots of sharp top end, and then loads of muddy upper bass.

my530i

Wrong. BMW speakers are around 3 ohms which is categorized as 4-ohm load.
I am in the process upgrading my Hi-Fi sound system AKA US standard 10-speaker sound system.
First, I bought MB Quart RVF-210 component speakers (4" mid, 0.75" tweeter) and replaced the existing BMW speakers. OEM head cannot drive MB Quart as hard as OEM speaker. I meant the sound is not as lout as OEM ones. The sound is lower significantly. Now, I know that the BMW sound output is a wimp.
I then bought a 6-channel Infinity amp (model 5761a) with speaker level inputs. It's RMS power is 50Wx4 and 107Wx2 (sub). I found this would suit best for my current OEM sound system setup - 2 front, 2 rear, 2 subs under seat.
It took more than 100ft of speaker wires to make it happen. Here are the break down. You're wondering why?
I need to grab speaker level input for front left and right from MAS-K => 2 pairs of wire go from MAS-K to the trunk as speaker level to the amp
2 pairs speaker wires to the front left and right crossover + wires to mid+ tweaters from amp in the trunk/boot.
2 pairs of speaker wire for two subs from amp in the trunk/boot.
2 pairs of speaker wire for rear left and right speaker line as speaker level input to the amp
2 pairs of speaker wire to the rear left and right crossover + wires to mid + tweeters from amp

It took me endless time to do the wiring. Make sure the you run the speaker wire on the left hand side where there is no power cable running from battery to the front. This make wiring front right speaker a real pain in the arse/ass.

The sound quality is greatly improved. It's more crisp and clear compared to OEM speaker, but lack of bass because I have not tap the bass signal from OEM amp input to the Infinity amp. I'm going to do it tonight and hopefully I can complete it

Any question, please let me know.

Best Regards,
My530i

w8pmc

Cheers All,

I'll be popping into my car audio shop on Friday for a consultation & hopefully make a decision as to what we're doing.

I like gIzze's idea & i think that will be the limit, for me & this car, but i will possibly get a subtle hidden sub in the back somewhere to expand the bass a little.