[accel]

I'm among those unlucky ones who got "professional" audio system.
in 2010.

But, actually, I'm not such a big audio aficionado.

My only issue wth the system is sound distortion when it is too loud.

So, my question is can just speaker upgrade fix this? Or, maybe there's some other quick tweak (other than than keeping it quiet) that will let eliminate the issue?

I wouldn't like to go full upgrade path, and as I said, totally satisfied with sound quality until I want to make it loud...

[BMMWW]

what size of speakers do you need, what you have now installed and how much you want to spend?

[accel]

I have BMW base system, I believe it is 6 speakers, no amplifier. And, as I said, I only dislike this unbelievable distortion when set audio volume (too) high. If I knew which speakers cause that, I would only replace those.

I would prefer something of same size and as plug and play as possible.

[ctuna]

You need to do some Homework
Read the following thread with emphasis on the base system
upgrades.
Upgrading the speaker won't help.
There is no power for aftermarket speakers that fit and Head Unit eq
can make them sound worse.
There are several companys that make BMW compatible speakers
but it you intend to amp the car some of them won't take much
power. Like the Focal Kit for example.
You really need to spend some Bucks and Time to make this system
sound better its not throw some speakers at it and it will be
all better.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=641323

At least the front set of speakers doors and floors need up grading.
You need and amp and processor or amp/processor to flatten the eq from the
base radio eq curve or recdoding to Hi Fi output from the Head Unit and a amp. some kind of harness probably a Technic Harness.
Unless you hack the car there are a limited number of speakers that
fit they are on the Speaker List contained in the above thread.

[OzCoE92]

Originally Posted by accel

I have BMW base system, I believe it is 6 speakers, no amplifier. And, as I said, I only dislike this unbelievable distortion when set audio volume (too) high. If I knew which speakers cause that, I would only replace those.

I would prefer something of same size and as plug and play as possible.

I feel your pain as I have the same stereo but have just recently acquired new speakers thanks to E90post. If you look at the classifieds under electronics there should be some speakers for sale that will help in upgrading the horrible base stereo. It is a whole system problem that will require a DSP in order to flatten your signal, or you may be able to have the headunit coded by the dealer, but that is not always successful depending on year and options on the car. There are a set of Focal drop in speakers that just came up for sale in the classifieds, otherwise there is the Alpine upgrade sold in Europe and by Tischer, both are budget friendly and better than what you have now. Hope this helps and good luck!

[saranghae]

I'm in the same boat, and I'm fairly new to the audio scene. Would it be better to go with the Alpine system (looks like they go for around $500 online) and then two underfloor speakers, or will I get better bang for buck trying to kit my own system together?

[Wongway]

I'm guessing here, but to get the best impact for your $$ spent;

Technic harness to an amp like the JL XD600/6, JL Cleansweep, and a 3 way component setup that includes a tweeter, 4"mid and 8" underseat woofer.

If I were to assign an arbitrary number rating of one to ten, let's say
0 for stock base audio;
I'd probably say the BMW Alpine upgrade might bring that up to a 3, and a cleansweep+amp+speaker upgrade would bring that more up to like a 6 or 7.

[accel]

Originally Posted by OzCoE92

I feel your pain as I have the same stereo but have just recently acquired new speakers thanks to E90post. If you look at the classifieds under electronics there should be some speakers for sale that will help in upgrading the horrible base stereo. It is a whole system problem that will require a DSP in order to flatten your signal, or you may be able to have the headunit coded by the dealer, but that is not always successful depending on year and options on the car. There are a set of Focal drop in speakers that just came up for sale in the classifieds, otherwise there is the Alpine upgrade sold in Europe and by Tischer, both are budget friendly and better than what you have now. Hope this helps and good luck!

So, are those Focal drop in speakers alone enough to make it slightly better?

[accel]

Originally Posted by ctuna

You need to do some Homework
Read the following thread with emphasis on the base system
upgrades.
Upgrading the speaker won't help.
There is no power for aftermarket speakers that fit and Head Unit eq
can make them sound worse.
There are several companys that make BMW compatible speakers
but it you intend to amp the car some of them won't take much
power. Like the Focal Kit for example.
You really need to spend some Bucks and Time to make this system
sound better its not throw some speakers at it and it will be
all better.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=641323

At least the front set of speakers doors and floors need up grading.
You need and amp and processor or amp/processor to flatten the eq from the
base radio eq curve or recdoding to Hi Fi output from the Head Unit and a amp. some kind of harness probably a Technic Harness.
Unless you hack the car there are a limited number of speakers that
fit they are on the Speaker List contained in the above thread.

I actually went through that topic, but it's really not concentrating on ways to fix the base system. And to tell you the truth, I'm not too technical in audio area. So it's not for anyone to understand easy.

[accel]

Actually, let me clarify my exact issue... cause I'm not sure what I have is normal and maybe replacing oem speaker could help...

Everything is fine and in 95% of the cases I'm just satisfied with the audio system. But once in a while I open windows and would like it to be loud.

In such case, especially during drums performance I can hear pretty scary distortion. I would even say feel it rather than hear. It's like I hit some metal obstacle with my car's body. It's so scary that first time I thought I hit something indeed. I believe it might be safety issue as I think I lost control over the car for the moment.

So, I'd just like to fix this single thing. Off course, the simplest fix is to reduce the volume...

[ctuna]

You need a basic understanding of audio and electronics.
Some experience with car and home systems helps to.
Usually but not always people that come looking here
have that.
Almost everyone that has that base system that has any love
for good sounding stereo know's that system stinks it reminds
them daily.
The trouble is BMW really cheaped out on that system so no one
thing will really fix it in a very satisfying way.
It lacks both power and good speakers plus the stuff they did to make it work with those makes it even more difficult to deal with.
This might be acceptable in a 20 k or less car but in one that is North of 50k out the door it's not.
The drop in Focals are expensive and they won't handle much power so if you then decide you need to go further they are not
capable of handling stand alone amp power. Also they are not component speakers. If anything they will decrease the volume because they require more power but won't handle standalone amp power.

[Wongway]

You want volume, you need an amp.

You want to amplify it, you need to clean up the signal getting to that amp.

To clean up the signal you need another device.

Speakers are going to do nothing for you if you don't have the proper signals and equipment going to them.

So to clarify, no, it's not an easy or simple fix

[saranghae]

Originally Posted by Wongway

I'm guessing here, but to get the best impact for your $$ spent;

Technic harness to an amp like the JL XD600/6, JL Cleansweep, and a 3 way component setup that includes a tweeter, 4"mid and 8" underseat woofer.

If I were to assign an arbitrary number rating of one to ten, let's say
0 for stock base audio;
I'd probably say the BMW Alpine upgrade might bring that up to a 3, and a cleansweep+amp+speaker upgrade would bring that more up to like a 6 or 7.

If you code the stock stereo to Hi-Fi (to remove the EQ), will you still need a cleansweep in that setup?

[Wongway]

No need for the cleansweep if it's coded out, just have to be careful it's not one of the batches of head units that don't take that coding well (I believe taibanl might have run into that). So rather than take the risk...

[saranghae]

Originally Posted by Wongway

No need for the cleansweep if it's coded out, just have to be careful it's not one of the batches of head units that don't take that coding well (I believe taibanl might have run into that). So rather than take the risk...

Thanks. How do you know which ones will take the coding and which ones won't? I just have the CIC with a generic headunit, there's no labeling such as "professional" or "business" as I've seen with some headunits.

[Wongway]

That one, unfortunately, I'm not certain on. I never wanted to take that chance myself, so I opted to find a solution that cleans up the signal without recoding. Plus, down the line, I figure I might add the Dynavin N6, so it would have been wasted. Frankly, the cost of some coders would pay for the cleansweep, so it's a wash.

(Luckily, my amp does the cleaning, DSP, AND amp all in one.)

[JU57AJB]

Well, I'll give you my plans and see what you think, it's a budget alternative to the setups most people go for.

4" Vibe Slick speakers (they're cheap, good and are the perfect mounting depth) in the front doors, 6.5" Vibe Slicks under the front seats (ditto) with low and high pass filters at around 250 and 80-100hz (thanks to Wongway's recommendation in another thread).

Cheap 4 channel amp in the trunk to run it (mine's a Fli 900s) and a cheapish active sub box just to fill in for the under seats (watch out, most are crap). Cheap and easy and (to my poorly-tuned ears) it should hopefully still sound 90% of the way as good as spending hundreds and hundreds which would just be wasted on me.

Finally I have the Eonon D5165 head unit which IMO is by far the most cost effective way of flattening the EQ - you get a free touch screen, ipod interface and satnav system to boot! If you have more pennies to spend, with the new Dynavin N6 version I can recommend that too.

Any help?

[accel]

Originally Posted by JU57AJB

Well, I'll give you my plans and see what you think, it's a budget alternative to the setups most people go for.

4" Vibe Slick speakers (they're cheap, good and are the perfect mounting depth) in the front doors, 6.5" Vibe Slicks under the front seats (ditto) with low and high pass filters at around 250 and 80-100hz (thanks to Wongway's recommendation in another thread).

Cheap 4 channel amp in the trunk to run it (mine's a Fli 900s) and a cheapish active sub box just to fill in for the under seats (watch out, most are crap). Cheap and easy and (to my poorly-tuned ears) it should hopefully still sound 90% of the way as good as spending hundreds and hundreds which would just be wasted on me.

Finally I have the Eonon D5165 head unit which IMO is by far the most cost effective way of flattening the EQ - you get a free touch screen, ipod interface and satnav system to boot! If you have more pennies to spend, with the new Dynavin N6 version I can recommend that too.

Any help?

So, essentially, you are replacing the whole system, right?

[accel]

Can I summarize the topic so far, that 2010 Base audio system cannot be fixed? It should be either replaced or deeply modified?

[Wongway]

Originally Posted by accel

Can I summarize the topic so far, that 2010 Base audio system cannot be fixed? It should be either replaced or deeply modified?

There's no simple "Fix" for it.

It lacks amplification that even the previous year's "base" HiFi audio system has/had. That's just the first key for it to play "loud".

Once you get into wanting it to get loud, you're going to have to modify it to fix the base audio's problems.

So, as far as you're concerned accel, yep. Replaced or deeply modified.

There's 'cheap'(er) and expensive ways to go, but that's your choices right there.

[ctuna]

The Head unit is decent and with the correct add ons.
Meaning good speakers and a decent amp/processor or recoding
of the Head Unit to a low level output(for the base system which takes care of the equalization problem) and a amplifier and speakers .
Not many of the speakers that are commonly used in other cars
fit and the ones that are good tend to be kind of expensive.
On average you need to spend around 1500 dollars or more for equipment and then whatever your installer charges if you can't DIY install.
Even the Hi Fi system with and amp falls apart at higher volumes.
One of the reasons I got a MusicarNw system.
Adding and amp and speakers is not a deep modification but on
a BMW to do it right there are some things you have to be aware of.

If you already have Nav you should work with keeping it because trying
to replace it will be way expensive and complicated.

something like this solves all the base systems problems.
without coding.

http://www.monsteraudiodesign.co.uk/...one-120-4-dsp/

but its just one possibility.

[emoon3]

Originally Posted by accel

Can I summarize the topic so far, that 2010 Base audio system cannot be fixed? It should be either replaced or deeply modified?

I had that exact system so I feel your pain.

You could try to find a used JBL MS8 DSP and run your speakers off of that and see if it's enough for you.

You can probably find them used around $300. I just sold mine for around that much.

If it's not enough, at least the JBL will undo the factory terribleness to your signal and allow you to add amps and or speakers later.