[bsw] PnP Speaker Upgrade Kit for BMW X5 SAV 07+ (E70)

[calix5fan]

is the $649 for only 4 speakers as pictured? Thanks

[Halston Pitman]

Originally Posted by calix5fan

is the $649 for only 4 speakers as pictured? Thanks

It will be for all the speakers in your car. Logic7 may be slightly more since it does have more speakers

Originally Posted by linh811

IMHO the base amp is the weakest link, not the drivers.

I thought this too. In my 99 M3 we just put in the stage 1 and I was more than impressed. A great gain can be had using what power is available.

[DJJ]

looking great as always guys!

[Halston Pitman]

Thank you

[Kasyd]

Also interested! Any upgrade that is specifically designed for the E70 is great news. I listened to all the BMW X5 audio options before ordering my X5 and none really impressed me at all, so I chose to stay with the standard sound system with the intention of upgrading it myself at a later stage. This is a good start.

[digiteye]

Originally Posted by Kasyd

.... I listened to all the BMW X5 audio options before ordering my X5 and none really impressed me at all, so I chose to stay with the standard sound system with the intention of upgrading it myself at a later stage. ...

This is exactly what I did.

[jamesboags]

Originally Posted by Kasyd

Also interested! Any upgrade that is specifically designed for the E70 is great news. I listened to all the BMW X5 audio options before ordering my X5 and none really impressed me at all, so I chose to stay with the standard sound system with the intention of upgrading it myself at a later stage. This is a good start.

Benefit is the existing cutouts for the upgrade as well as the amp which may well suffice.. I have the upgraded system at the moment and find it lacking ...

[Halston Pitman]

More Detailed Info:

The big issues with the stock system (I'm going to refer to the Logic7 system since that's what most of you have) are as follows:

VERY "choppy," non-linear midrange response
The factory midrange drivers do not have a curvilinear cone surface and are aluminum cones. Furthermore, they are being run full-range from 150Hz or so and up, leading to VERY, non-linear frequency response, especially in the midrange frequency band. There's what's called a lot of breakup.

Our midrange drivers instead use a fiberglass cone and a curvilinear cone surface. This means that you get most of the rigidity advantages of aluminum (excellent transient response), but MUCH smoother, more linear frequency response in the upper midrange.

In addition, we run the midrange drivers using a low-pass crossover, insuring that they never operate in a frequency range that's not ideal. We can do this because our tweeter plays much lower than the factory tweeter can, again giving smoother, more natural sound (more on this later).

For those of you for whom the above sounds like gobbledy-gook, basically the gist is this: right now, if you listen to your music carefully, you'll notice there's a harshness and "choppiness" to the way it sounds, especially voices, guitars, anything that falls in the midrange band. This is because of the way the stock speakers are designed. Our new speakers "smooth out" all of those frequencies so that individual sounds and instruments are more defined and detailed at all volumes, and listening to the system at higher volumes isn't so tiring.

Our tweeters have a MUCH bigger frequency response range.
The factory tweeters are aluminum, too. BMW (or HK) set them up to play from about 4Khz and up, meaning that most midrange is coming from the midbass drivers and is terribly broken up by that point due to their poor design (not to mention there's a big overlap above that where the midranges are playing into the same range the tweeters are). And, because the tweeters are aluminum, you have the same "tinny" and harsh sound that you get with the midranges.

Furthermore, they only play up to about 12Khz, leaving a whole range from 12Khz to 16Khz of music more or less completely out of the picture. This makes the car sound sort of simultaneously harsh and muted. Very weird combination.

Anyway, with our tweeters, they'll play from around 2Khz and up (WITHOUT overlapping with the midrange drivers) and actually reach 16Hkz. This does a few key things:

- You get much better imaging. By "moving" the sound that was coming from the midranges up to where the tweeters are playing, you are effectively "raising" the soundstage to a higher plane. So if you close your eyes, the musician seems like he/she is at eye level instead of your waist. This creates a much more realistic listening experience.

- You get much smoother midrange response. Because we're not asking a driver that should ideally be producing some midbass and lower midrange frequencies to reproduce our most critical frequency response, upper midrange, and instead having our tweeter do it, we get a much more natural, linear frequency response.

- You can actually hear music from 12Khz to 16Khz! There's a lot going on up there that we're just flat out missing from the stock system. With our tweeters, because they can play much higher, you get to hear the subtle upper frequency parts of the recording. This leads to a "livelier" sound.

- You get much more realistic sound reproduction. Our tweeters just sound better. They're silk, not aluminum, giving them a warmer, richer sound. The difference is night and day, like listening to an acoustic guitar made of coke cans vs. one made of the finest wood.

Overall, the big advantages of our Stage 1 are MUCH, MUCH more smooth, accurate frequency response (even-ness of volume of all sounds), and a more natural, clean, warm sound.

Hope that helps answer your questions!

[jimsaq]

I thought logic7 was a Lexicon audio processor, hk just use it - like bmw

[jamesboags]

Originally Posted by jimsaq

I thought logic7 was a Lexicon audio processor, hk just use it - like bmw

Yep you are right.. the E70 catalogues do not use Logic7 wording .. could well be Logic7.. pity about the speakers, I'll be getting the BSW upgrade when it comes out ..!