My BMW E70 X5 Premium Audio EQ Settings
 

Okay, so I have the premium audio and I adjusted the EQ to the settings below. Frankly, at the default, it sounds crappy. Upon a Google search, I found a thread at Bimmerfest where a guy named ElDorado posted his adjustments, but they are flat and start screeching when the volume is up. I decided to fine tune it myself.

The settings I have configured aren't perfect, but it sounds multitudes better, especially when the audio is turned up. Let me know what you guys with premium audio think. Note that I have less than 200 miles of audio burn-in, so it might be better or worse.

I have tested my settings with different songs at a high volume while driving from the following genres: Pop, Alternative, Classical, Rap/R&B, Dubstep/Club non-sense, Korean Pop, Japanese Rock, and Oldies. The settings are very well-rounded although I have not tested it with Sirius/FM.

By the way, standard audio wouldn't suck so bad if they had this in the iDrive menu. Maybe someone can find a way to code it for those who don't have this submenu.

http://img837.imageshack.us/img837/1863/photo2ql.jpg
http://img803.imageshack.us/img803/9089/photoqw.jpg

Wow, that is not what I expected....

Hmmm?

So is that good or bad? I haven't adjusted mine to test these settings but wanted to see what responses folks had first.

Doesn't hurt to try, there's a Reset button in that menu to bring everything back to factory.

FWIW, here's a discussion about some settings. I posted mine there. I think it's a vast improvement over stock.

2011 X5 Premium Sound equalizer settings? - Bimmerfest - BMW Forums

I have a 2012 X5 with premium stereo and after listening to the system playing CDs have concluded that the 'Surround' option muddies the sound quite a bit. Listening without the surround engaged unveiled the clarity of the system. I also agee with a previous poster who said to use he equlizer to primarily demphasize the frequencies that are too prominent. Do not boost the lower frequences as it will rob power from the system and you will increase distortion and increase muddiness. To me, the system seems base heavy when flat and benefits from decrease in the 100 and 200 hz bands. I boosted the 10khz band a bit and decresed 2khz a very small amount. On other music such as FM and satellite, those settings may not suit, so I am still tweaking.

Bottom line is that the system is NOT limited by the speakers in term of clarity when you disengage to surround button.

Maybe someone else knows what type of material is improved using the surround?