Change DSP AMP? ATTN: Bavarian Crew

[Aimster]

Are your speakers rated higher (I mean louder) than the DSP speakers in the BMW? The ones you guys offer on your website.

I think the problem with the DSP system is that the amp is holding back the true performance of the speakers.

So let's say I do upgrade all my DSP speakers to the ones you provide. Wouldn't the loudness be the same as a result of the amp?

You all are the audio experts. Im just a noob. So you know better than me.

[el_duderino]

Originally Posted by Aimster

Are your speakers rated higher (I mean louder) than the DSP speakers in the BMW? The ones you guys offer on your website.

I think the problem with the DSP system is that the amp is holding back the true performance of the speakers.

So let's say I do upgrade all my DSP speakers to the ones you provide. Wouldn't the loudness be the same as a result of the amp?

You all are the audio experts. Im just a noob. So you know better than me.

I am not commenting on any BSW products, as I'm not affiliated.

But speakers have a characteristic called "sensitivity". It means how loud they will play with a given amount of input power.

It's usually measured in decibels of output with one watt of input power, measured at one meter away.

So one speaker may have a rating of 89 dB, 1W, 1M, and another may have a rating of 82 dB, 1W, 1M.

THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH WHICH SPEAKER SOUNDS BETTER. Often the better sounding speakers are less efficient, or to be specific, are less sensitive.

It also has little to do with how loud a speaker can play. Just because a speaker is efficient doesn't mean it will play louder than another speaker. It may not have the power handling or excursion ratings to do so, for one thing.

As far as you theorizing on what holds the DSP system back, my 0.02 on that is that the speakers and amp were all designed by a committee. There's not just one shortcoming. But if you use search, you can read posts about this from many folks...

[Micah D. Cranman]

Ken is right. The volume of the audio system in your X5 is determined by both the power output of the amplifier and the sensitivity (sometimes called efficiency) of the speakers used. Our speaker replacement upgrades are not going to really get you anything in terms of increased volume or loudness because they are very similar to the stock speakers in efficiency. (I would have to check the numbers and get back to you on whether they are just a bit more or less efficient -- I'm at home and can't remember right now).

Now, that said, our Stage 1 upgrade does provide more USABLE volume. That is, at any volume level, you have better performance from the system, so there's less distortion and more definition to the various instruments, notes, etc. We have a lot of customers that find themselves listening at lower volumes with the speaker upgrade because they don't need to crank it to get the experience of "full" sound they were previously trying to get with higher volumes.

But if you really like to crank it, you need to look into an amplifier upgrade unless what you feel like is really missing at higher volumes is bass response, in which case a subwoofer + speaker upgrade just might be the ticket.

Tell us a bit more about what you think is missing, and we can help you figure out what needs to happen to fix the issue!