BMW Sound System Upgrade

jamieh

Hey all,

I got a new 5 series sport 2day...I ordered the sound system upgrade for it. According to the car spec the sound system upgrade is installed on the car.

In my last 3 series I had the sound upgrade and there was an amp in the boot and harmon\kardon was written on the speakers....there's no amp in the boot and the speakers seem to be standard. I've paid around 800 euro for the upgrade.....

Does anyone know if there's a way of finding out if the sound system has been upgraded or not?

drdre

in my uncles 7 series he got the upgrade and harmon\kardon is written on the speakers, im not sure if he has a amp etc.i will found out from him in next day or two

jamieh

Cheers drdre, much appreciated.....I can only find 4 speakers in the car and there's meant to be 10!! Feck them anyway.....I was looking forward to hearing the upgrade....I don't know where to go from here!! U can only get the upgrade done at the factory stage!! :mad:

fletch

I'd tell them to take back the car! Or insist on a new one with the upgrade

jamieh

I've been waiting 3 months for the car....by the time they ship it back to germany, install the upgrade and ship it back it would take weeks!!

I reckon I'll just have to do without :mad:

lomb

jamieh wrote:

I've been waiting 3 months for the car....by the time they ship it back to germany, install the upgrade and ship it back it would take weeks!!

I reckon I'll just have to do without :mad:

get an aftermarket one put in after u get a refund(ul prob get better sound this way anyway.) see if u can get some extra refund also for hassle.

jamieh

Hey Lomb.....

What kind of aftermarket system would you recomend for around the 800 mark??

lomb

for starters id get the upgraded head unit out of a breaker car, theres loads of them around especially on ebay. what kind of sounds u want? does the upgrade have dsp?
also ul need 2 tweeters, good range speakers for doors and rear shelf, and a subwoofer and good amplifier like alpine. persumably all these things should connect to the upgraded head unit. try asking on bmw forums whats needed

jamieh

Cheers.....I don't think the head unit can be upgraded because there isn't really a head unit there....its all integrated into the idrive....I'll see what the garage say tomorrow before I do anything!! Thanks for the advice

kdevitt

The Harmon Kardon system is dire to be honest - most owners I know of who have it regretting paying extra for it.

The main issue with newer BMW's is that aftermarket headunits look a bit crap in them - thats if you can replace them in the first place. I kept my stock headunit, but installed an Audiocontrol LC6 processor which creates RCA outputs from the stock headunit, I then wired it up to a good amp and the system is by far the clearest I've heard. If you can get the money back that you paid, any decent audio shop should be able to do something for you retaining the original headunit.

drdre

do go back to the garage and argue with them, they should be able to get it done for you from somewhere else.nothing is impossible

dont worry and are you sure you paid them for the upgrade

colm_mcm

surely an €800 upgrade would be obvious?

lomb

check or ask the bmw dealer to show you what outputs are on your existing head unit. u ideally should have a pre amp out for the amp, and rcas for the speakers. thats all u need short of getting dsp.
then all u need is a good 2 channel amp running in bridged mode with a subwoofer, and some extra speakers and tweeters and some crossovers to sepeate3 the frequency.
its all down to what you have from the head unit thats there if u cant replace it with the idrive and all.

edit/ from bmw.ie i thing u only get speakers for 750 euro, the amp is probab;y part of the pro kit thats 1750 so maybe your car has the spec its listed with?

5500

Your sure the amp isnt placed somewhere silly like under a seat ect?

If they charged 800 for speakers alone they'd want to be bloody good and theres no way possible they would sound there best not being run off a seperate amplifier.

I would reccomend kicker,infinity and the alpine type R series components,amp'd of course.

As for a sub do you want one or two?deep bass or punchy bass,slight thump or feel the air pass by your head thump?

kdevitt

The factory amp is normally in the boot on the passenger side -



I wouldn't be surprised if theres no factory amp - BMW sound systems are seriously poor for the price to be honest. Have never seen a factory BMW headunit that had pre-outs for an amp either. The loom is completely different for cars with the 10 speaker system, so it'd involve ripping the car apart to get it in. The head units are normally the same regardless of what system is being used, its just the loom that changes - so it either powers the speakers directly or goes to the sub, so I'd forget about looking for a new one.

Did you check what the sound system upgrade consists of before you went ahead and bought it?

jamieh

Hey all,

I was in touch with the garage this morning....I'm calling in tomorrow and their going to have a look.

They said that Harman\Kardon are no longer written on the speakers, so thats a possitive...seemingly there's 2 sub woofers under the passanger and drivers seats, I'm going to look for them later. And the amp is no longer visible in the boot....U have to go looking for it!!

I'll let te know how I get on.

Cheers!!

BrianD3

Looks like someone might be telling a fib or two. It must be nice to have a new 5 series sport when only a month previously you were a student on a provisional licence looking to get a 96 Fiesta.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=50793040

Also, this thread makes interesting reading.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=305574

unkel

BrianD3 wrote:

Looks like someone might be telling a fib or two

Ah leave the kid alone. Probably his da's car(s) he's talking about

jamieh

Hey unkel....

Good guess....ya its my Dad car...it's handier to just say that its mine!!

Anan1

If the car doesn't have the upgrade fitted, then I would tell them you (your father) don't want it as it's not what you wanted. Stick to angle. They will do an awful lot to avoid having to take the car back.

HashSlinging

BrianD3 wrote:

Looks like someone might be telling a fib or two. It must be nice to have a new 5 series sport when only a month previously you were a student on a provisional licence looking to get a 96 Fiesta.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=50793040

Also, this thread makes interesting reading.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=305574

thats nasty! great work LOL

"So....looks like that could be the end of my 330Ci"

unkel

Anan1 wrote:

If the car doesn't have the upgrade fitted, then I would tell them you (your father) don't want it as it's not what you wanted. Stick to angle. They will do an awful lot to avoid having to take the car back.

For the bluff to work, you need to go one better. Put at least 500 miles on it, so it is obviously second hand or a demo. Car loses at least €5k off the list price and then the $tealer will do an awful lot to avoid having to take it back

Anan1

unkel wrote:

For the bluff to work, you need to go one better. Put at least 500 miles on it, so it is obviously second hand or a demo. Car loses at least €5k off the list price and then the $tealer will do an awful lot to avoid having to take it back

The car's already been registered to your father, so it can't be resold as new. And it's not a bluff. They haven't fulfilled their side of the contract. Make them take the car back, unless they come up with a proposition that makes it worth your while not to. I'm assuming that your father traded in a car against this one? If so, then they'll have to return that pending the arrival of the new car.

ds20prefecture

I have exactly the same problem with my newly delivered Veyron. The brochure says there's 11 radiators, but I can only find 5. Can anyone help? I'm so worried it'll overheat, I've decided to just stick to the Enzo and F1 as daily drivers.
:rolleyes:

Anan1

We're not a little bit jealous DS20 by any chance, are we?:rolleyes:

ds20prefecture

Anan1 wrote:

We're not a little bit jealous DS20 by any chance, are we?:rolleyes:

Of a mythical 5 series? In fact of ANY 5 series? no. I can safely say I'm not jealous.

unkel

Anan1 wrote:

The car's already been registered to your father, so it can't be resold as new

Good point, I didn't think of that. That alone should do it

Anan1 wrote:

it's not a bluff. They haven't fulfilled their side of the contract. Make them take the car back, unless they come up with a proposition that makes it worth your while not to

It is a bluff. OP has hinted that he doesn't want them to take the car back as he had to wait for it for 3 months. Last thing he wants is to have to wait another 3 months for the sake of a lousy €800, not much more than 1% or so of the list price of the car

So he needs to pressurise the $tealer to come up with a rather satisfactory solution

drdre

ah guys leave him alone:D

hope you get the problem sorted

jamieh

Thanks for the support drdre, myself and my aul man are goin to the dealer 2moro to sort it out.

jamieh

ds20prefecture wrote:

Of a mythical 5 series? In fact of ANY 5 series? no. I can safely say I'm not jealous.

As far as ds20prefecture is concerned.....I admit I said the car is mine, even though its my dads....my bad and i'm sorry, but why would I bother making up a "mythical 5 series" with no hifi upgrade

Squirrel

jamieh wrote:

As far as ds20prefecture is concerned.....I admit I said the car is mine, even though its my dads....my bad and i'm sorry, but why would I bother making up a "mythical 5 series" with no hifi upgrade

To be honest man why would a mythical 330Ci be made up with a damaged sump.

About the 5 series, if the upgrade isn't there get a solicitors letter. What model is it btw? My mates dad has a sweet 523i M-Pack