Upgrading Speakers ONLY

[spotshooter]

I have the "professional" audio system in my 2011 135i. I want to upgrade the audio system. Got a quote from a local car audio shop for Focal speakers, and a Hertz amp. The price was about $2500 which included replacing the door speakers, under-seat subs, wire, and labor.

I'm curious to hear from fellow 1er's if upgrading the door speakers only will net an improvement, or is it not worth doing without the amp/subs?

Thanks.

Chris

[taibanl]

There is no professional audio system. Just professional hu. "systems" are described in the sticky on the three series board.

[nato-main-man-5am]

taibanl is right, but no matter which audio system you have, just upgrading the speakers is mostly a losing proposition. the amplification on all the possible systems in a 2011's is not adequate to get much improvement if you only upgrade the speakers -- unless you go with a system designed for it (e.g., BSW), which is a step up from the middle tier "hifi" system speakers, though it might not be enough of an improvement to get you what you want.

check out the stickies and other builds.

i know this from personal experience: I upgraded the 4inch mids and tweeters to Morel's, initially leaving the OEM "hifi" amp in place. It was a little better than stock, but didn't really come to life until I upgraded the amp, as well. (and added time alignment and EQ.)

and since you are in the pacific northwest, you are probably within driving distance of portland, home of musicarnw -- which are the experts in upgrading bmw audio. i tried to use them on one of their road trips to the bay area. we weren't able to make the timing work, and i've muddled through the DIY route -- and learned that everything they said about tradeoffs and options and bang-for-buck was true. if i was starting over, i'd likely bit the bullet and drive to them!

[wa128]

I also agree about having proper amplification. Four years ago I had the base system in my old 128i upgraded. I felt the key was a new Zapco amp that powered new MB Quart door speakers and the OEM subs. The OEM amp was kept to power only the rear speakers for fill-in. Now I know the OEM subs can't match a pair of Earthquakes. Don't even think of comparing them with trunk mounted subs. Nevertheless, the new amp noticeably removed a muzzle from the OEM subs. The subs came to life to a point that I didn't find it necessary to swap them out.

I now have the HK system in my 135i and I'm missing the setup from the 128. It surpasses the HK any day of the week.

To the OP - if you happen to be located in the Seattle area check out an audio specialty shop called SpeakerLabs in the U-District. They did my 128.

[GaryS]

I upgraded just the subwoofers to Earthquake SWS-8xi. It made exactly the difference I was hoping for, a little more extended bass.

[peeti]

Is there two of these or just one in the car? (the subs)... and confirmed in the convertible at that? I felt under the seat and can't find any grill, may need to actually get my lazy ass under there and do a proper dig.

Would love to pick up just a bit more depth in the bass.

[GaryS]

Originally Posted by peeti

Is there two of these or just one in the car? (the subs)... and confirmed in the convertible at that? I felt under the seat and can't find any grill, may need to actually get my lazy ass under there and do a proper dig.

Would love to pick up just a bit more depth in the bass.

There are two subwoofers, one under each seat.

[VP Electricity]

Originally Posted by spotshooter

I have the "professional" audio system in my 2011 135i. I want to upgrade the audio system. Got a quote from a local car audio shop for Focal speakers, and a Hertz amp. The price was about $2500 which included replacing the door speakers, under-seat subs, wire, and labor.

I'm curious to hear from fellow 1er's if upgrading the door speakers only will net an improvement, or is it not worth doing without the amp/subs?

Thanks.

Chris

If you're in the PNW, you might want to contact us. You can't be THAT far from us... Check out the website to see how to determine your audio system.

[spotshooter]

No thanks. I dealt with you guys when you were "avincar" and the experience was terrible. I'll be working with a car audio dealer in Seattle who will stand behind the system they install and not leave me hanging.

[VP Electricity]

Yes, I made a lot of mistakes which ended up meaning I failed and let avincar go out of business. After we shut it down, I paid for some service work for clients, but when we lost email comms, we lost a way for clients to contact us. and we've taken care of all avincar customers though Musicar since we opened (even though my partner did not incur those responsibilities), I don't blame you in the slightest for beig pissed at me if I screwed up your purchase. I'd be happy to provide you with a good deal of application information and advice at no charge, and if there is any service I can still offer, I'm happy to do so.

I won't try to make any money off of you, but if I let you down at avincar, I'd like a chance to give you some value in compensation now. Unfortunately, we still know that car better than anyone.

[spotshooter]

I spent many thousands of dollars on a system installed by Ken and "avincar". The system was similar to what Musicar NW offers today: speakers, amp and custom rear sub. The trouble started when they did not have the right carpet to match my interior. My trip to Portland was planned well in advance and they did not bother to check their stock of black carpet. This should have been indicator that things were going to get much worse. The installed system, at random, would emit ultra high-decible white noise that would send me and my passengers running from the car. I cannot over emphasize how frightening and overwhelming the experience was. It was loud enough to cause instant ear pain. The sound would continue until the car was turned off, which turned out to be a difficult task due to the volume level. You just didn't want to get near it.

"Avincar" made one attempt to repair the problem, but the issue persisted. Shortly after that, the company went out of business. My emails went unreturned and voicemails were ignored. I ended up ripping out the electronics, and returning the audio system to stock before I sold the car. A loss of several thousands of dollars in gear/labor.

That's my experience. I won't repeat it. Caveat Emptor.

[VP Electricity]

Well, I definitely don't plan on going out of business again, for what that's worth. We obviously sold you a Zapco DC series amplifier. We have used a lot of those amplifiers over the years, and a small number of them did turn out to have an intermittent, impossible-to-create-on-purpose, terrible noise issue on turn-on that was a horrible failure mode to have to live with. With OEM integration into Audi, the amp remote turn on output from the head unit would not turn off until the key was turned off, making it even worse.

f we had known about it being a design flaw, we would not have sold them. We have recently been pulling out problem amplifiers and shipping them to Zapco for a modification they recently developed to correct the problem, which is a design problem, as it turns out - not an install problem, as a call to Zapco will confirm. We sold you an amp that had a serious problem, but the problem was not caused by installation.

With the problem amps, the DSP microprocessor powers up in some sort of oscillating state, and their hardware mod to the board eliminates the problem by changing the power-up sequence internally.

Now, I'm at a disadvantage, because I don't know who you are or what car you had. The period where avincar fell apart were the worst of my life, and I'm terribly sorry that I let you down. I get why you would be pissed - I didn't know we had someone out there who felt that we'd abandoned them. If you contact me via PM, I have some suggestions for you which you might find of interest.

I'm not perfect - and we ship later than we should at times still - but I'm happy to say that we've got a good track record at Musicar. I'm sure that's largely due to my having a partner this time, though. It helps a great deal.

[spotshooter]

Spare me the crocodile tears. I tried to contact you many times through your personal cell phone, and via a third party acquaintance in Seattle. You were unresponsive. Bottom line is I spent many thousands of dollars on a system I ended up throwing in the trash. You made money, I lost money. In hindsight I should have sued for a full refund. A mistake i'll never make again.

[VP Electricity]

Well, what I was going to offer you was a complete system package for your car, no charge, with all new in box components and all the plug-and-play and bolt in parts that we make for them. You can have us install it for no charge or you can have it installed in Seattle, but either way, there will be no cutting of wires and no mods to the car whatsoever.

Again, I still don't know exactly who you are, so I can't speak to your comments. But I'm offering you a completely free system - let's say our Level Two with a trunk-sub option - which has been installed in that car several times here and across the country. You can get a free install or you can pay someone in Seattle to install it.

[JohnnyDrunko]

you'd be crazy not to take that offer!

[mineo77]

Originally Posted by JohnnyDrunko

you'd be crazy not to take that offer!

[BMW86]

I would definitely take up that offer too, provide it is free and there is no catch.

I will say I did try contacting Music Car NW a while ago. I asked a few questions about a trunk sub setup (I don't know much about sound systems) and they eventually stopped replying to me too

Lost interest in the idea of doing the sound system after that and focussed on other things, but would like to find someone trustworthy and reliable in the future as I'll be spending a bit.

[spotshooter]

I know this sounds crazy, but i'll have to think about it. I was not posting in hope of getting free stuff. I was simply recalling my experience and venting a bit. I do believe in the power of making amends, and I will consider your offer.

I'll drop you an email next week to discuss. I don't plan to make any further statements on this forum. Let's close the topic.

[mineo77]

Originally Posted by BMW86

I would definitely take up that offer too, provide it is free and there is no catch.

I will say I did try contacting Music Car NW a while ago. I asked a few questions about a trunk sub setup (I don't know much about sound systems) and they eventually stopped replying to me too

Lost interest in the idea of doing the sound system after that and focussed on other things, but would like to find someone trustworthy and reliable in the future as I'll be spending a bit.

Seriously...MusicarNW knows your car better than anybody. There is lots of information about the systems on the website. But to imply (which I really hope you are not) that they are not trustworthy or reliable is insulting for how much they have done for the 1 series community. Not trying to be attacking but I cannot tell you enough how much these guys have done for me, my wife, co-workers and many others in this community and mistakes at Avincar may have occured but this isnt avincar, this is MusicarNW...NOBODY is as dedicated as these guys. Also remember, you go 2-3 guys running the show and only can answer a certain amount of questions, then if no $$$ is exchanged they need to focus on customer spending money.

Originally Posted by spotshooter

I know this sounds crazy, but i'll have to think about it. I was not posting in hope of getting free stuff. I was simply recalling my experience and venting a bit. I do believe in the power of making amends, and I will consider your offer.

I'll drop you an email next week to discuss. I don't plan to make any further statements on this forum. Let's close the topic.

, well said and much respected. Hope ya'll work something out. You will not be disappointed with Musicar's systems and hope it all pans out for you both