Originally Posted by ukwildcat

I did not evaluate the stock system carefully, but..

I have to admit, I am underwhelmed by this "Premium" system.

I had the Mark Levinson system in my Lexus GX470. It was very, very nice. I'm a little biased, in that I have Mark Levinson at home as well and it really (subjectively) doesn't get any better than that. (I also use Lexicon in my home theater and Arcam in a living room system)

If they offered the LOGIC7 system on the X5, it would be perfect, but I think they only offer this on the 5 and 7 series, which is really a shame.

This is one system where I'm going to have to sit down and fiddle with the equalizer a bit, and I don't like to have to do that - it should sound nice and clean right out of the box. It is not as dead and lifeless as many other car audio systems, but for a $1900 option, I feel a little cheated, sorry to say.

From what little I heard from the stock system, however, it's still an improvement. I'm not sure it's $1900 better, but you pays your money and you takes your chances.

I was actually very surprised at how reasonably priced most of the options are on this vehicle, compared to other makers (both luxury and otherwise). To be honest, though, this one is a little overpriced. For that kind of money, I want my CD changer back.