[paulcurtis]

Hello all,

I'm looking at doing a hifi upgrade in my e91, as per the blaupunkt thread from gizze. I have the european very basic 6 speaker set up, in my old 1 series i had the hifi upgrade which was much better. Im trying to strike a balance between quality and cost here.

I notice that with the OEM parts there are 3 levels of speaker possible, i've found almost no information on the specs of the speakers. All i've got are part codes and prices (in UK £) and the specs of the amps in each level.

There are 3 levels of OEM door speaker from BMW

- Top-HiFi (65139142512) £48.43
- Mid-Range (65139143147) £25.89
- Individual Audio (65137838905) £96.04

And 3 levels of Tweeter

- Top-HiFI (65136964013) £44.26
- HiFi (65136964012) £25.89
- Individual (65137839500) £44.26

And 3 levels of bass

- TopHifi (65139143136) £223
- Hifi (65139143144) £107
- Individual (65137838907) £208

I'd consider 3rd party speakers too but i'd love to get an idea of how these OEM models stand up against everything else out there. For example i could buy 2 SWS8 fror the cost of one TopHiFi sub. The question is: is the top hifi sub going to be better than the SWS? Also the individual door speaker is twice the cost of the Top HiFi one...

I will probably drive these with a THA555 amp from the normal professional cd head unit.

I'd love to hear any opinions, comments or specs

many thanks
paul

[yunus]

my 2 cents worth

i had the standard option 6 speakers , i would first install the blaupunkt amp and see what difference it makes, the standard speakers are okay ( not fantastic ) when you add some power.

you might lack some treble up front so that might be all you need to add, but everything from loudness to clarity improves with just adding power,

i left the standard subs and added some power 50rms /channel , then added the infinity 4 inch coax upfront , which is good but i would have like mids in the doors and tweeters on the pillars where the belong, just to lift the sound stage . i may still do that if i can find some used tweeter mountings!

[Technic]

IMO, if you want to stay with OEM speakers get the Individual Audio 4" mids/tweeters and coaxials (you forgot to list those and the required front OEM crossovers) with the SWS-8.

This is my Individual Audio setup: http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=183025

The Individual Audio subs are not good at all compared with the SWS-8 -they are 7 ohms OEM woofers which will be loading your Blaupunkt with unnecessary impedance, they are expensive because they only come with the enclosure which you already have in your car, and simply they don't sound as deep or as loud as the SWS-8.

The OEM 4" drivers really can take a lot of power (they are 4 ohms; I running them at more than 100W RMS each without any issues, their build quality is comparable to the Focal 100KP and they sound really impressive to be OEM.

[paulcurtis]

Technic,

Thanks, great info.

Are the individual coaxials for the rear doors? This is a touring version, and the rear doors only have the 4" speaker (no tweeter spaces in the trim) so a coaxial speaker would be very useful there. I will get the new trim for the front door so i can put the tweeters up there.

Any idea who makes the individual speakers? the mids are twice the cost of the normal 'top hifi' and part of me was wondering are they different or are bmw just making more money on them...

One final quick question. With the SWS8 how have you sealed the rectangular space in the enclosure? You say you have it mounted flush (by removing the plastic inside the base of the enclosure) but i can see some kind of seal where the wires come out from.

many, many thanks!
paul

[Technic]

Originally Posted by paulcurtis

Technic,

Thanks, great info.

Are the individual coaxials for the rear doors? This is a touring version, and the rear doors only have the 4" speaker (no tweeter spaces in the trim) so a coaxial speaker would be very useful there. I will get the new trim for the front door so i can put the tweeters up there.

Any idea who makes the individual speakers? the mids are twice the cost of the normal 'top hifi' and part of me was wondering are they different or are bmw just making more money on them...

One final quick question. With the SWS8 how have you sealed the rectangular space in the enclosure? You say you have it mounted flush (by removing the plastic inside the base of the enclosure) but i can see some kind of seal where the wires come out from.

many, many thanks!
paul

The coaxials in my E90 M3 are in the rear doors and in the center speaker. The front doors and rear shelf has components, the front components have a separate crossover module and the rear shelf components have a single cap at the tweeters.

The company that makes the OEM Individual Audio speakers is this one: http://www.lpgmbh.com/en/index.html . I sent them an email sometime ago trying to find out the specs of the speakers to no avail. That information is BMW proprietary.

The SWS-8 are sealed with silicone in my particular installation; the rectangular space is covered with a plastic cover and then sealed with silicone so only the wires are coming out.

[paulcurtis]

Originally Posted by Technic

The company that makes the OEM Individual Audio speakers is this one: http://www.lpgmbh.com/en/index.html . I sent them an email sometime ago trying to find out the specs of the speakers to no avail. That information is BMW proprietary.

Thanks again.

That company has a sister company selling direct to the public http://www.etongmbh.de/ so there's a possibility that the speakers on there are similar to the OEM ones. I've not physically seen the individual OEM ones so i don't know if they look like the range on that site. I may email then anyway, just in case...

I will probably go for SWS then components at the front and coax in the rear door. Any more that that and i would be into serious trim alterations!

cheers
paul

[poggy]

Have you considered the Alpine hifi retrofit kit. At £220 approx, i think it represents excellent value. The amp is 'd' class like the blaupunkt but it comes with all the approriate wiring.

[paulcurtis]

Originally Posted by poggy

Have you considered the Alpine hifi retrofit kit. At £220 approx, i think it represents excellent value. The amp is 'd' class like the blaupunkt but it comes with all the approriate wiring.

Yes, that's a possibility but im not sure i can run the SWS off that. Whatever happens i have to replace the subs because in the stock 6 speaker system they are really not very good (i think they are smaller too 6.5" rather than 8 of the hifi versions).

Do you know if the alpine retrofit would drive the subs?

cheers
paul

[yunus]

the alpine kit amplifies the mids and tweeters that come with the amp and also DOES power the subs as well!
but NOT the rear speakers
you will also have to buy the tweeter trims for the doors , these are NOT supplied with the kit

[paulcurtis]

Thanks for everyones comments, this and all the other threads on here have given me the confidence to do something about it.

If i got the Top HiFi mids and tweeters then i cannot see any crossover on realoem for that. So what's the deal here - shouldn't there be a crossover available?

I can see on the Invididual Audio that there *is* a crossover specified. But the mids for this are twice as expensive as the top hifi and i'm not sure they would be worth double (looking at nearly £100ea). Also the individual specs in the notes mention '+core' which i cannot work out what that could be.

I assume i cannot use the individual crossover (65137838929) with the top hifi speaker choices?

Are there any third party component sets that are a simple drop in instead?

many thanks (again)
paul

[marooned77]

Originally Posted by paulcurtis

Thanks for everyones comments, this and all the other threads on here have given me the confidence to do something about it.

If i got the Top HiFi mids and tweeters then i cannot see any crossover on realoem for that. So what's the deal here - shouldn't there be a crossover available?

I can see on the Invididual Audio that there *is* a crossover specified. But the mids for this are twice as expensive as the top hifi and i'm not sure they would be worth double (looking at nearly £100ea). Also the individual specs in the notes mention '+core' which i cannot work out what that could be.

I assume i cannot use the individual crossover (65137838929) with the top hifi speaker choices?

Are there any third party component sets that are a simple drop in instead?

many thanks (again)
paul

Hi!
I've hot Hi-Fi set in my E90.
Just returned from dealer with just front doors tweeters replaced by 65 13 6 964 013. I have to admit that sound became different. Good improvement for quite low investment. It's just a pity I did not order midspeakers also to make them in one replacement at dealer.