[J.Bradders]

I picked up my E92 320D monday and for the past few days ive been playing with the sound system in it to try and get it to sound better but no luck there lol.
I spoke to the sales man who i delt with and he said i can have a BMW Approved Alpine speaker upgrade, but is it going to be much better than the standard system?
I have the BMW Professional headunit but the standard 6 speaker system.

Thanks in advance Jay.

[robbie99]

Yes

[strongdeo]

Originally Posted by Nottz_Jay

I picked up my E92 320D monday and for the past few days ive been playing with the sound system in it to try and get it to sound better but no luck there lol.
I spoke to the sales man who i delt with and he said i can have a BMW Approved Alpine speaker upgrade, but is it going to be much better than the standard system?
I have the BMW Professional headunit but the standard 6 speaker system.

Thanks in advance Jay.

Hi Jay, did you buy from Syntern Nottingham, which sales person did you deal with? Dave

[strongdeo]

I keep getting told by dealers there is NO sound system upgrade available from BMW dealer?

[bengers15]

I keep getting the same response Strongdeo, No upgrade available! But i know loads of people are doing the Alpine and the Blaupunkt upgrade, starting to lose faith in BMW aftermarket services!!

[e92smurf]

The Alpine retrofit is certainly available, the part number is 65 41 445 684. When I was buying mine, I also got similar questions from the parts dept but they eventually found it.

I fitted the kit last weekend to my e92 320d m sport also and have never looked back, the sound is so much better.

I would imagine it will be an even bigger improvement in your car than in mine , as you have the pro radio. I have the pro nav system which sounds better than the non nav car in the first place as it is a more powerful headunit so the additional power should make a massive difference in your car.

The standard system is so weak and lacking in power no amount of tweaking will sort it out. Without doubt I would recommend the Alpine system!

[strongdeo]

Right! so you buy it from BMW parts dept then you have to fit it yourself? Or could I get some 3rd party audio specialist to fit it for me?

Is the Alpine upgrade better than the Blaupunkt upgrade?

[J.Bradders]

I can have the Alpine upgrade supplied & fitted by bmw for around £750, i dont no how much it would be if i bought the speakers ect and fitted them myself...?

How much did you pay for the Alpine kit e92smurf if you don't mind me asking?

strongdeo do you want the upgrade for your 645Ci? there might not be a Alpine upgrade for that car...?

[e92smurf]

Nottz Jay, sounds like your local dealer is having a laugh!! -

the kit is £225 retail from bmw ( before the VAT adjustment) plus £20 for the internal mirror trim corners for the tweeters. I asked for a discount and got 10% off so paid £220 quid all in.

The lowest fitted quote I got was £505 from a dealer but had wildly different prices, highest being £650.

The actual labour time BMW are quoting is 2.5 hrs so it depends on their labour rate. In the North of England it ranges from £100 or so quid up to approx £120 plus VAT per hour. I DOES NOT need coding to the car so anyone trying to charge an hour for this is taking the p - couple tried that with me!!!

Overall, I decided to have a go myself and save £250 quid plus and whilst it was a slow job, it is not that difficult. THis site has excellent instructions on how to remove the door cards, simply be careful. Once off the wiring is plug and play in the doors.

The amp goes in the boot under the carpet floor next to the bluetooth module and is again plug and play, the hardest part is finding the wiring in the door sills to connect the cables for the amp into the car speakers. They are tucked away and wrapped in tape so they are difficult to find. Also they on in different places on each side with the passenger side much further forward in the car. Once you find these it is just like wiring up speakers for a home hifi - not that difficult,

Finally, you have to remove some of the boot trim to wire in the earth onto the rear wheelarch point, that took longer than expected, but only because i was not expecting to have to do that, thought yo would be able to get to it from where the battery place is!!

however in these credit crunch times try them again anything that will fill the workshop fit be worth a punt!!

[strongdeo]

Originally Posted by Nottz_Jay

strongdeo do you want the upgrade for your 645Ci? there might not be a Alpine upgrade for that car...?

Hi Jay the upgrade will be for a used 330i I plan to buy my 645 hs logic 7 but the standard music system in the 330i is rubbish makes me angry .

So Sytner want £750? Wow

[strongdeo]

Originally Posted by e92smurf

the kit is £225 retail from bmw ( before the VAT adjustment) plus £20 for the internal mirror trim corners for the tweeters.

E92smurf, thanks for the info. I am going to do this also. I take it the Alpine kit does not include any subwoofers to go under the front seats? Do you buy these (maybe SWS85s) separately and are they easy to fit?

Thanks again.

[bengers15]

Just been down to the BMW dealer, first of all they said there was no upgrade, then i told them thier part numbers and we soon got the ball rolling, in the end i ordered the Alpine upgrade and the door mounts. I asked for a discount, because i did his job for him and he gave me £40 off. Should arrive in the next two days, looking forward to the weekend now!

[e92smurf]

strongdeo, i have not changed the under seat subs, the kit does not change them, leaving the stock subs in place, the difference is they have a dedicated channel on the alpine amp so are much much better driven and the bass level in the car is far far better than previous.

Try it first and see what you think in my opinion, i would say the quantity of bass does not become the issue after the increase in power, my only comment would be a change in driver may improve the control of the bass. However for the money the upgrade is excellent value!

[RCUK]

What does the kit consist of - cant seem to find any info on the net re the upgrade!

[Steve748]

Originally Posted by e92smurf

The Alpine retrofit is certainly available, the part number is 65 41 445 684.

I phoned my BMW stealer in Harrogate and he said there is a number missing from this parts number. Without the number he is unable to help me!

[robbie99]

Originally Posted by RCUK

What does the kit consist of - cant seem to find any info on the net re the upgrade!

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=182752

[robbie99]

Originally Posted by Steve748

I phoned my BMW stealer in Harrogate and he said there is a number missing from this parts number. Without the number he is unable to help me!

Part no is 65410445684

[Steve748]

Originally Posted by robbie99

Part no is 65410445684

Excellent! The missing 0 made all the difference I phoned the stealer and I have to go down there to order it!

[RCUK]

Im very tempted with this upgrade .. bizarrely its seems good value - something not usually associated with BMW!

Tempted to get the dealer to fit it though - dont wanna start removing rear seats etc!

[Steve748]

You need the two door pods to fit the tweeters and they are extra the numbers are 51 33 7 184 197/8 and the whole lot cost me £229.99 and that includes a trade discount, ask and you stand a better chance of getting it!

[Steve748]

Originally Posted by RCUK

Im very tempted with this upgrade .. bizarrely its seems good value - something not usually associated with BMW!

Tempted to get the dealer to fit it though - dont wanna start removing rear seats etc!

It says on the instructions it should take the dealer 2 1/2 hours so ask them what they will charge. I am using a specialist car audio fitters and they charge £45 an hour. But I think it might take a bit longer!

[sheps]

Originally Posted by strongdeo

Is the Alpine upgrade better than the Blaupunkt upgrade?

The two are very different.
The Alpine upgrade is the only 'BMW Sanctioned' upgrade atm.
It consists of an amplifier, replacement midrange drivers (door) and new tweeters (as others have said here, you will need the tweeter housings).
The amp gives more juice to the underseat subs and the door/tweeter components, all in one hit.

The Blaupunkt upgrade is very different. Firstly, you're only purchasing an amplifier, so you will also need to change/add speakers if you want tangible improvements. There are a couple of different amplifiers in the Blaunpunkt plug & play range, which means there are a number of different systems that people run on here.

Some are/were using the two channel only, others using the five channel unit. Some people have added just tweeters, some have added tweeters and replaced midrange drivers, and some have changed the underseat subs for the Earthquake SWS items.

Whilst I know the Blaupunkt amps are up to the job, I haven't been able to track down the power outputs stats fo the Alpine amp (included in the Alpine upgrade) to see if it's capable of powering a pair of the Earthquake subs. If so, that would surely make the easiest (and cheapest) solution of improving the sounds, if you can utilise the Alpine upgrade and add the underseat SWS subs.