[pj94z]

I have a hifi 676a system in my 09 335i sedan.

I already added an aftermarket 12" sub with a 1000w amp in trunk.

but, the inside speakers sound like crap - no midbass at all.

I called local shops and they said they don't carry 4" speakers...so, Im kinda lost.

which speakers are known to fit my car and work well ?

[garagemethods]

Do you have a budget?

[cdgatti]

For midbass improvement in the hifi system you need to either external amp the stock underseats or amp some aftermarket underseats. For the 4" speakers, morels are probably the speaker of choice around here. You can do all this with a single 4 channel amp or a 6 channel like the JL xd600/6. It's all in here! Just read up.

[ctuna]

Amp change will make a bigger difference than a speaker change alone
although both are recommended.
The known to work solutions are found in

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

MusicarNW can sell you a complete kit
known to work high quality stuff.

There is not a large selection of stuff that fits or
works in these cars so you should stick with known
solutions if you don't want to pull your hair out.

Most local stereo shops are clueless on the e9x.

[pj94z]

I went to a local car audio shop today and the installer said the only option they have for my e90 is to get a jbl ms8 EQ processor, cost $1,000 usd installed.

He said there will be a noticeable improvement in midbass from factory speakers with the jbl ms8 , as it also has an amp built into it.

He said changing the 4" speakers to aftermarkets using oem amp wont offer much improvement in midbass due to their small cone size.

He said he could add an amp and install 6x9 in the front 2 doors for $1,600
Which would include a custom fit enclosures for front doors.


Im a bit frustrated. ...

[pj94z]

Originally Posted by garagemethods

Do you have a budget?

Under $1000

[taibanl]

If you already have a sub which is amped, you could definitely go the MS-8 route and go from there.

You can get them from JBL refurbed for 399. You can install with a technic harness for somewhere around $100, and be done.

You may need to play some tricks to blend the sub with MS-8 but that will come later.

[billybarty]

I have the same car & stock HiFi system. I was considering an MS-8, but decided to try a JBL MS-2 first. The MS-2 is an EQ processor similar to the MS-8, but doesn't have its own amp and works on the input side, so can only balance, time correct, and EQ 2 channels.

I have it wired using the BMW ipod/iphone adapter in my center console. Instead of plugging the 3.5mm stereo plug into the aux input, I plug it into the input of the MS-2 and the output of the MS-2 into the BMW aux input. The BMW adapter allows me to do all of my music selection on the idrive / nav screen and steering wheel controls. Everything fits in the center console (where all of the wiring/power connections are), so there's no visible wiring. I used a 2 socket cigarette lighter adapter so that I could power both the ipod adapter & the MS-2 and also needed a 3.5mm headphone extension cord so that I could move the MS-2 around the cabin to do the calibration.

It took a bunch of tweaking and recalibrations to get the sound dialed in, but I really like it now. From what I read, the MS-8 takes a lot of tweaking, as well.

It cost $150 on Amazon -- which has a good return policy in case you don't like it. UPDATE: I just looked on Amazon, it's down to $80!

[ctuna]

For a Hi Fi system they are wrong
There are lots of options and a ms-8 is only one of them.
But they are not inexpensive.

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

Look at the Hi Fi section in the above thread for system examples and you might as well read the rest of it to.

[pj94z]

I got the JBL MS2 :


I got the ms2 a few days ago and have been playing with it quite a bit, i was really hoping to see some improvement in SQ, but i was disappointed :/

Results: Makes my stereo system sound worse

My bmw system is a stock hifi 676 ( tweeters, 4" conponents, 8" subs underseats) + aftermarket 12" sub/ amp in trunk.

After following instructions, my bass sounded worse. It really cut down on the deep low freq bass from songs and made it sound more like "cheap flat bass". And it made the music sound more flat, kind of hard to explain.
the midbass improved, but that maybe due to really poor bass.

The mids my music were louder and i did notice the sound coming from the center of the dashboard , as opposed to from side doors, which i liked.
But the bass and midbass were pretty poor compared to without ms2.

Overall, the quality of sound was much better WITHOUT ms2

I did the setup about 15 different times, trying all sorts of diff settings and even manually adjusting a few times after setup.

i will attempt to disconnect my sub and run ms2 setup again, see if there is any improvement in SQ when in a totally bone stock stereo.



My setup was done like this:

Fader front at +8

Bass all the way down -10

Mp3 player volume 75%. ( manual says 100% volume, which produced distorted sound, had to cutback vol )

Aux Vol input on HU: set to 4/6. ( if i maxed this, i got distorted sound also)

Treble: +7

Sub light on ms2 OFF

HU volume between 50-85% of full.

Held ms2 0-6 inches away from my face in drivers seat and hit setup.


Did i do anything wrong in the setup? Any ideas?

[ctuna]

Run away from any of these guys that are going to cut big holes
in your door panels.
Its not cheap to upgrade these cars the cars aren't cheap
either .

[RioGrandeValley]

6x9" in the front 2 doors? That shop must be kidding no longer need that big of a basket for better sound. I'm guessing the shop deals mostly with American cars! Like others said upgrading audio in a Bimmer takes more $$ than most other cars. I've done 2 E90s and the shop did minor custom work to get the 5.25" mids to fit. Speaker depth, or lack there of, is Bmw's #1 enemy for the front doors as there's almost no room to play with.

FYI as saying goes Careful what you wish for. I gained lots of volume in my current setup but gaining hearing loss along the way. Sometimes wish I'd left stock stereo alone. Keep researching on here, gather equipment costs+labor charge from competent car audio shop. If numbers agree on your current budget then dive right on in. If short on $$ to have all done then keep saving up so you can do it right the first time. But most importantly DO NOT try to save $$ by choosing a cheaper priced shop that will mess up your doors while installing. The better shops will be pricier on labor but in the end produce better results. Hopefully!!

Enjoy

Tomato

[pj94z]

I thik the problem is that im picky about how my music sounds in my car and the stock stereo provides little EQ customization.

I found my little mp3 player has a 4 band EQ, which I adjusted to increse the midrange and decrease the low.

The result is the music sounds much better and i have louder vocals/mids and cleaner sound from all songs....And, this makes the stock system LOUDER! ( to the point where my ears were starting to feel numb after listening for 20+ mins, dont want any louder than this lol)

Another factor is that i listen to only downloaded mp3s burned to a data cd.
Using the mp3 player w an aux input gold tipped cable seemed to be higher quality than
The same mp3 burned to a data cd ( maybe its just in my head ? )

Although, there is still less midbass than Id like, im pretty happy with the sound improvement using the little mp3 player's EQ.

So, ends my quest for better sounding music - got it done for about $30 bucks.