Premium sound speaker upgrades?
 

I made the mistake of not getting the premium sound with my 08.. and ultimately went through a tedious upgrade project which included swapping out the OEM speakers to Polk Audios and adding a second amp.

the load is now balanced between two amps..

the sound is obviously much better than stock but it didn't really give me the true surround sound feeling I was looking for...(like it needed more speakers)

I never did like the idea of only having one central speaker in the dash..(when most vehicles have left and right, in addition to the ones on the doors)

I did however have limited options since my goal was to keep things looking stock...with no boom boxes in the trunk or oversized speakers mounted anywhere...

compared to the BMW factory stock system, the premium sound pkg comes with slightly upgraded speakers, additional speakers in the rear of the cabin and a 600 watt 9 channel amp.

I am making a new X5 purchase soon and was wondering if adding the premium sound pkg makes a huge difference or should I stick to the stock system and perform another upgrade...(obviously with a different solution)

maybe getting the premium sound and just upgrading the stock speakers to better quality speakers may be the best way to go...(kind of like the best of both worlds...)

thoughts??

If you are a true audiophile, you'll hate the premium system too. I did not get the premium system with my X, but instead upgraded the system with audiophile quality speakers, amplifier, subs and a sound processor. (Get custom boxes fabricated for your subs and hide them behind the carpeted wall in the trunk and you'll not need boom boxes. You might need to put a grille in front of the sub for the free air movement)

As far as number of speakers are concerned, in a 'small' cabin like that of X5, whether you have 10 or 16 speakers, it really doesn't matter. A nice 10 speaker system can sound hundred times better than a stock 16 speaker system if the speakers and amplifier are of good quality and have been tuned really well. Tuning makes hell lot of difference!

Trust me, my system can blow away any 'stock premium system' by leaps and bounds! A friend of mine has Bowers & Wilkins premium system in his Jaguar XF and he feels my system sounds better! I did end up spending lot more than a premium system, but at least I had the flexibility to choose the components and tune the system to my taste.

I have had some pretty crazy sound systems put in cars...I'm kinda over that now to some degree.

I would and did order the premium sound. It is not the crazy custom sound that you get when you go custom and start dumping cash in your system. I think it is good enough to keep you from screwing with it, it is good enough to keep me from screwing with it.

The premium sound will respond to some really low lows that most stock systems can't find. Its not the same hit the 3 - 10's in my old Ford (not to mention the goofy system I put in my boat) had, but not bad, and I don't plan on an upgrade from stock.

You can upgrade the base sound system to a better sounding system than the Premium Sound for less than the price of Premium Sound. I did not get Premium Sound, and I am in the process of looking for a speaker upgrade.

Custom Mount Bracket for Satellite Radio
 

I'm looking for a bracket to mount a Pioneer Inno XM radio, somewhat like a Bracketron custom bracket. Any ideas?

I'm not looking for the street thunder effect... just want quality, clear music that you can truly feel and enjoy on long rides...

600 watts on 9 channels on the premium sound system sounds like more than enough...(compared to the 250 watt stock system it comes with)

i think if it still needs a boost a simple upgrade of speakers (same size) will make a difference...

plus you do get an extra 4 speakers in the rear... i'm sure that helps circulate the sound too!

i think i'll go with the premium upgrade... (don't like the idea of doing boxes in the rear... ) i want to keep it looking stock...

Depends on how you install it. I did an aftermarket upgrade and my car still looks stock! Check out the 'Custom Audio installation' pics in my profile.

The quality of your work is very, very impressive!

How much time did it take you?

That looks great. Great speakers too, I had some of those in my truck back in the day....just not a project I want to take on in the X5, especially if there is any electronic gremlin combined with an a-hole of a service department.

I got the box made at a car audio shop. I couldn't do it myself since it takes multiple layers of fiberglass and wood to fabricate. Everything else took me about 2 days.

Impressive work. Nice components. Officially drooling! :thumbup:

great work!! looks really nice..

it's definitely something to think about...

does anyone know what the specs are on the upgraded premium sound system? size and type of door speakers and subs?

what would a nice speaker replacement be? audiophile?

I am considering an audio upgrade in my 05 x5. I was thinking of starting with the BSW stage 1 kit that replaces all 10 speakers. I imagine this would be a HUGE improvement. Has anyone else done this upgrade and how big of an improvement was it??

I have custom MB setup in all 14 locations in the 740iL, then using a simple tweet/mid/woofer pre-packaged combo in the M5. How do you feel about MB's vs Focal? I can't say if I've ever heard Focal's in person, but I know they're supposed to be a good brand. I'm trying to find something for next summer on ebay and I'm hoping to find a good (hopefully pre-matched) set of replacements for the stock speakers in the X.

Save your money...read posts 11-16 http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...-question.html

The standard sound system has a combination of 4" speakers+tweeters in the doors and dash. The woofers under the seats are open air 8". All of these are made by Philips. Can't say for sure if the premium sound system has the same.
For replacement, you don't have many options, since there aren't many companies out there that make 4" speakers. I know for sure that Hertz and Focal have 4" speakers. For subs, there are hundreds of brands out there.

Haven't auditioned MB Quart before, but I have heard good things about them. Focals Polyglass and Utopia definitely belong to the high end car audio segment. I guess it all depends upon how much you want to spend.

I agree, the prices on their speaker package to seem inflated. However, they are plug and play and require no splicing and soldering of wires. This is nice. I know the price is a little high but what im curious about is the sound quality of the upgrade. They are using Rainbow speakers and I have never heard these speakers in person. When you did the MB Quartz upgrade on your 7 did you do the installation? Did you cut and solder the wires?

I heard the Individual sound package is supposed to be amazing, better then the Premium Logic 7, Bose, and Bang & Olufsen.

Might be worth looking into if you want an OEM BMW setup with the best quality.

so it seems like a reasonable yet effective solution could be opting for the premium sound pkg which gives you more speakers and a 600 watt 9 channel amp.. then upgrading those 4 inch speakers in all locations (front/rear/doors)

maybe the subs too...if you can get to them under the seats...

this way you don't have to bother with rewiring or cutting out larger holes into the doors and other locations and messing around with third-party amps or buidling custom boxes to house the bigger systems.

swapping out the philips to MB Quartz or Focals and using the same amp should have a significant improvement wouldn't you think? (as long s your using the upgrade sound system)

sounds like a pretty good idea...

As long as you choose to install 4" speakers, you wont have to cut out larger holes. Installing an aftermarket amplifier requires some rewiring, but its not too much. All stock free/open air subs are useless. Custom boxes for subs, is totally a personal choice. If you want to add more bass, then you'll need to add an enclosed sub to your system.

I used Focal speakers with my stock amplifier for about a month. The sound was definitely better than stock speakers, but it missed the fidelity I was looking for. I then upgraded the amplifier and the sound quality changed from good to awesome.
What I mean to say is that you need to pair good quality speakers with a good quality amp, the stock amp will do no good! Moreover, if you are spending $2000 extra on premium system, its better to upgrade the normal stock system using the same $2000 to a much better aftermarket sound system.

I'd suggest contacting Rainbow directly since they still llist a BMW section w/o the markup that BSW tacks on.

As for my car, it was a complete rewire...not for the faint of heart. Removed the stock stereo completely, wired in two amps (top end and bottom end), DVD/Navi in dash, dual headrest monitors, 12" sub w/ custom enclosure, etc etc etc. The only thing left of the stock stereo is the speaker wiring from the trunk to the amp and the OBC/Radio portion in the dash. Soon enough the OBC will be relocated to the glovebox and a custom double DIN bezel will be made.

:iagree: After a certain point, a true subwoofer enclosure is gonna be required...door speakers running in a free air environment will only do so much.

The factory amp has it's own crossover points that are matched to the stock speakers, so unfortunately you can add the best speakers on the market, but eventually the factory amp will still be a bottle neck. I learned this when I did MB's in my M5 also. I had the same experience you did where I replaced the stock speakers, used the MB crossovers (not knowing the amp took more reign) and it sounded better...but was still missing something.