More cost cutting measures on the 2010?
 

Hey guys I just got a new speakers and amp in my car. The installer posted pictures and info here:

http://www.xoutpost.com/electronics/...intensive.html

Anyway there were no tweeters and no amp in the system. There was also not a speaker in the center channel which according the audio guy was a good thing. The guy who did the upgrade said that this was the base stereo in Europe and he has never seen it in the US. He said they used to use a Hifi system here that included an amp and tweeters. When I listened to the 2009 I did not think it was that bad so I think it may have had the Hifi system.

I am not really an audiophile but to me the base stereo sounded really bad and I had to do this upgrade and went a little overboard with it. Sounds great now!

Just thought you guys might want to know what I found.

We get base here in Australia ( I ordered Hi-Fi) ...as far as I know sounds like the assembly guy wanted to go to lunch early.. is your steering wheel on the right side ? :dunno:

Why do you say that? No its Left hand drive.

Sorry it was a joke...(i.e you got a Australian Right Hand drive model instead of US model !) maybe other members here can confirm the change in spec for US builds ?

I think the Australians might be the ones with the steering wheel installed incorrectly.

I think most BMW models don't have an amp as standard anymore. I remember for the X3, they had it in 2004 then ditched it the following year.

Sorry I missed the joke!

If the same performance components can be used in the amp in the head unit then a separate amp (at this level) is just a sales gimmick.

The extra speakers aren't a sales gimmick though ?

Obviously not if the standard ones can't reproduce the full frequency range.

My 2010 35d has tweeters fitted and I didn't spec any 'extra' stereo stuff. I have not looked to see if the amp is in a separate box.

I'm not suggesting that the OP here hasn't made big improvements to his system, just that for a standard manufacturers build there is nor real value in putting the amp components in a separate box.



I am a bit of an audio fanatic and have been for many years but my focus is on my system at home. For me, a car system is just background music and as long as its of reasonable quality I'm happy. You are never going to get really good and accurate reproduction in a car due to the small air space available and the inhospitable surroundings (vibration, noise, unstable supply voltage etc etc). Once you have to resort to filters, tone controls and artificially boosting or cutting frequencys real Hi-Fi reproduction is out of the window.

I'm not saying you can't get a great 'sound' in a car, its just not going to be an accurate reproduction of the original recording, which is what an audiophile will strive for at home.

The thing that most surprised me about not having tweeters is that I thought I did. The window sills in the front have the grates there that make you think there are tweeters there but they were empty.