In Reply to: aftermarket sytems posted by DannyJ on June 10, 2001 at 23:09:37:
(posted from: (135.214.42.162))
Hey DannyJ, Sorry, must have missed your post last week. Here are my thoughts: Go with the stock speakers and add aftermarket subs(Is this possible)? Yes this is possible and has been done by people here. You use the speaker wires going to the rear speakers as the input for an aftermarket amp, then add a sub. Many amps only accept line-level (low level) inputs so you might need a line level converter. This is by far the easiest way to go, premium sound or not. The only drawback is using a converter will degrade the signal slightly, but for bass it is not that big of an issue. Or do I have to change the mids...and get a new amp and change the deck?You can change the mids alone, but you have to be careful to match the impedence of the speakers to the factory amp. Most aftermarket speakers are 4 ohms, and I believe the factory uses 8 ohm speakers. If the amp is designed to run at 8ohms, you could be overdriving it with 4ohms and you would end up with more distortion than with stock speakers. It has also been suggested that BMW uses built in equalization inside the amp to compensate for the frequency response of the speakers (I can't back this up, though). What this means is that when you change to a more accurate speaker, you will still have that EQ for the stock stuff, which will sound "off". I have also heard that the stock amp uses "balanced" inputs, which is a type of signal transfer that is known for its low noise and made popular by home-audio. The problem here is if you want to replace the whole stock amp, you need either an aftermarket amp with this type of inputs, or a converter. Again, the converter would degrade the signal quality. In both situations, you would need to go through all of the wires going into the stock amp with a multimeter, to find out which ones are the inputs for which channels. In your case, go with option one. Find an amp with speaker level inputs, a good quality sub and a box. You should be able to find room near the spare tire to mount the amp yourself, but you might need to have an installer hook up the inputs from the factory amp (unless you're good with a mulitmeter). Go to a high-end shop that has experience with BMW's and their quirks. Good luck and have fun!
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