RE: BMW Radios stink

[mikenew2 <mikenew2@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I think we all agree that BMW's need some serious work in this 
department.  Not only do the factory systems, including the HK premium 
installation, sound anemic, they are difficult to modify. Other car 
maker's systems have better sound, no doubt, but I've found even the best 
of them to be boomy and harsh, plus it seems that it has become an 
industry standard practice to tune all systems out of phase to ostensibly 
"expand" the sound stage - this has always driven me nuts.

I consider myself an audiophile (though not an auto-audiophile), but I 
prefer to sink most of my money into my home system rather than tricking 
out my car. Anyway, my perception is that BMW's cheif trouble is lack of 
power in the head unit, which causes obvious distortions if you enjoy 
loud music, and lack of bass.  The stock door and kick panel drivers are 
actually not too bad if you don't try to push them into compensating for 
the lack of low end response. The rear deck speakers are, however, awful. 
My budget solution in my 98 E36 was to add a small 6' bazooka tube and 
amp to the front circuit - a relatively easy installation which a 
determined owner could do himself, but any decent aftermarket installer 
can handle for cheap. Then, since my 2 door has no easy way to port the 
bass into the passenger compartment, I removed the rear deck speaker 
units and took the tweeters out of them. (I wanted to use the main 
drivers, eventhough they are really terrible, for fill.) Removing the 
tweeters provides for about as much air movement as the tube port itself, 
though having two port holes can cause some phase effects - but generally 
this is unnoticeable. 

By taking the burden of bass off the stock speakers and amps you can 
actually produce a nice, clear and perfectly pleasurable sound quality.  
My ~$250 investment gave me a system comparable to any "quality" factory 
system I've heard, balaced rather than booming bass, a decent stage and 
minimal phase distortions. It's an easy upgrade which will satisfy the 
average listener, if not actually impress her. (just my 2cents WOB)

Michael
New Orleans
98 323is

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