Stealth high end audio install in E70 - with a lot of photos

[digiteye]

Originally Posted by brian5

digiteye,

What a tremendous job you've done there!

I can't help feeling just a teensy bit envious. OK, I admit it; I'm more than just a teensy bit envious...

Thanks brian5, I take it as a compliment To make you really envious, I tell you that the money I paid for this system was way less than one would pay for the premium audio... For music I cant see the benefits of the premium - on the other hand if you play DVD-s you need the surround sound of the premium.

In fact installation was much easier than I thought (thanks to BMW for finally using industry standard holes...) - I am sure you can do the same - but to replace your premium audio, you would need 2 sets of Morels and 2 amps (one for the front and another for the rear sound), or a 5 channel amp to drive both. The 3Sixty.2 can handle all your drivers.

I personally prefer stereo and front stage only, so actually my rear door speakers are not even connected anymore.

Despite of the weird location of the woofers under the seats, the bass is pretty surprisingly good, for sure I wont install a subwoofer.

Unfortunately typing in a forum does not allow me to explain how this system sounds. It is f@cking unbelievable.

And the Morels need 50-60 hours run to break in...

[chefwong]

I must ask.......or if you can ask your installer and post the info.

LOVE the cloth wiring loom.
Got a source, etc.

I ended up sourcing mine from Mercedes parts and it was godawful expensive......

Love the install ! Hows the staging due to OEM locations ?

[digiteye]

Originally Posted by chefwong

I must ask.......or if you can ask your installer and post the info.

LOVE the cloth wiring loom.
Got a source, etc.

I ended up sourcing mine from Mercedes parts and it was godawful expensive......
Love the install ! Hows the staging due to OEM locations ?

Errmm...not sure what do you mean by cloth wiring loom..?

Staging is great - sounds unexpectedly good. We worried about the woofer location under the seat, but there is actually a huge space behind the driver, acting as a box, allowing pretty deep basses to sound.

[X5Mod]

Many thanks for your speedy reply !

Yes, OEM wiring is wimpy. The benefit in keeping it is the trade off in not having to re-wire the entire vehicle - how it affects sound may be significant.

Despite the many opinions against the 3Sixty (I'm still not convinced), I'll go with it. Particularly useful (even though you need some bluetooth interface) is the ability to change settings easily while sitting in the "listener's seat". IMHO, when you consider that no matter what you do (audiophile amp, drivers, procesor, wiring, dynamat, etc.), you're still listening inside a metal can on wheels not designed as a listening environment.

I'll let the forum know how I did the interface (including amp, Morels, etc.). By measurement, it looks like there's enough space for me to mount the amp AND 3Sixty in the drivers side rear cargo compartment (remove amp, move other components, unbolt some of the bracket frame, make bracket for the new amp, etc - no cutting!).

From what you describe, you have a pretty sweet system!

Thanks for the info.

[digiteye]

Originally Posted by X5Mod

Despite the many opinions against the 3Sixty (I'm still not convinced), I'll go with it.

Actually I don't know of any other solution as for 3rd party DSP which can do the trick but it might be my ignorance only on the topic
I have also heard that their 1st attempt with 3Sixty was not too successful but the Mk II belongs to a whole different league.
Anyways, the output of the OEM radio has to be managed - you will see once the 3Sixty will be connected that the radio preset is far from being linear.
According to my guy the best solution would be adding a good radio-preamp (he has mentioned some Alpine and Pioneer models) - he even took a long look at the area of the panorama roof buttons there.... but I told him to chill

[X5Mod]

What (other than sound production) electrical functionality was lost when bypassing the OEM amp? I'm trying to determine if anything more than front/rear/bass/treble, etc. was lost in the install.

The reason I ask is the following: The amp "communicates" to the K_Bus and this connection is lost when the OEM amp is not used. No where can I find what this connection does, but I suspect that it gives front/rear/bass/treble/other? controls. Losing this is not a concern, because the 3SIXTY.2 more than compensates for this.

Thanks.

[digiteye]

I tried and the bass-treble and front-rear are intact. Now they are set to zero (neutral) except from front-rear which was set full front. Actually even my rear speakers are left in (they just were on zero level by the full front setting) and produce funny flat sound (the original one) if I adjust more to rear.
I don't see any functionality missing.
So the signal comes out from the OEM radio preamp towards 3Sixty2 - which was the goal (thats the signal that 3Sixty2 suppose to manage or "flatten").

But for the rear speakers i think the original wiring and connection have left remain.

[rufusdedog]

Wow! What a beautiful install.

[X5Mod]

Thanks for making this test.

Interesting results nonetheless.... . Prior to this install, I'm going to disconnect those wires (orange/green and green) to the K_Bus and see what happens (hey, it's only a two week old X5, why not!?). Clearly, it can't be too important, because you would have seen some significant change (assuming that the installer has completely disconnected your OEM amplifier).

BTW, for your installer to have CNC'd those speaker rings is really unbelievable! This speaks of a quality most others dream of.

[digiteye]

Thanks, Rufus!