Re: 328i sound system

[eab@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Elliot A Baines, Jr)]

Mike asks:
>how many speakers and the specs on the stock sound system in a 97 328i? i
>heard 8 speaker, 10 speakers. and anyone know the size of the speakers. 
>and last of all.  what has anyone done in terms of improving the audio
>system (especially bass)?? any help would be greatly appreciated

The'97 328i came with a standard system of 10 speakers - 3 on each side
up front (5-1/4" woofer in the kickpanel, 2" mid in the door,
and a 1" tweet also in the door).  There are 2 speakers on each side
in the rear -- I'm not absolutely sure about the size in the hardtop,
but in my convertible they are a 4" mid range and a 1" tweet, mounted
on either side of the rear seat.  The speakers are made by that famous
company known for their audio equipment - Nokia (yep, the cell phone
guys).

The stock amp is an underpowered 4-channel beast that has built in
passive crossovers, so that there are actually 10 sets of speaker
outputs (to match the 10 speakers listed above).  BMW claims this is
a 200 watt amp, but that's at an incredible 10% THD (most
manufacturers list power at a total harmonic distortion of less than
1%). I have heard that a more reasonable figure is 15 watts/channel.

Needless to say, there is lots of room for improvement.  The first
thing I did was add a JL Audio microsub in the trunk, powered by
a 2 x 50 watt amp, bridged, which is spliced into the rear
channel input to the stock amp.  In this way I can use the fader
control on the head unit to control the bassound works its way from
the trunk into the cabin through the ski pass-thru hole.  The
improvement in sound qulaity is substantial - this is probably the
single best thing you can do to improve the sound in these cars.  Others
have tried the new JL audio stealth woofers, which are available
for the hard top and repace the stock rear speakers.  More
recently, I have purchased (but not yet installed) a set of
MB Quart speakers to replace the fronts, and a Rockford Fosgate
4 channel amp tp drive both the new MB Quarts and the sub.  I plan
on simply disconnecting the old stock amp, leaving the rear speakers
dead.

I suggest you check out the following sites for ideas:
MB Quart:  http://www.mbquart.com/
A/D/S:  http://www.adst.com/   -- they have some nice info on speaker
   upgrades for BMW sound systems.
Chester Wong's page - he added the A/D/S speakers and amp, and the
   JL Audio stealth boxes:
  http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Boulevard/3287/car_audio/stereo_upgrade.html
The Unofficial BMW site - the e-mail archive in particular has some
intersting stuff on stereos:   http://www.unofficialbmw.com/

Hope this helps.

- -Chip
BMW CCA
'97 328iC
'86 528e

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