Hi guys,
Got my first BMW 3 months ago, a 2011 1 Series 118D. Super happy with it, however I would like to upgrade the speakers as high end they tend to suffer, as well as upgrade the Radio Interface itself, to something along the lines of BlueTooth Audio Playback, as my iPhone 7 doesn't work with my car over BlueTooth currently, which is irritating for long drives.
Does anyone have any recommendations for good speakers/radios? Also how to go about getting them fitted!
I'm new here and going through a similar process to yourself...given that I cut my teeth on Fiat Puntos back in the 90s this is a whole new world of complexity and confusion. A few issues to consider...
Front speakers - around 4" but, crucially, you can only go to 40mm or so deep. The speakers are mounted to the door card, not the door, and the aperture is pretty shallow. I found some reasonable Vibe audio 4" speakers for about £30 - but anything is better than the standard ones tbh.
Under seat woofers - there's space for an 8" mid down there but, again, depth is an issue - around 70mm IIRC. No room for a big subwoofer.
Upgrading the HU - be aware that installing a new unit will take away steering wheel functionality and parking sensor bleeps without the relevant CANBUS adaptors. These can be quite pricey and, more importantly, pretty big. Thankfully there's a fair bit of space under the existing stereo as the climate control panel is quite shallow and, given that this comes out first, you've got good access and can route the cables well before reinstalling anything. I've plumped for one of these:
More importantly it looks like there's no obvious permanent live behind the stereo - so you'll have to run one either to the fuse box or directly to the battery in the back. That's where I'm at ATM.
The actual removal and fitting of speakers and stereo is pretty plain sailing - only a couple of screws in each door and a bunch of clips. I broke 3 across the 2 front door cards through, so best have a few spare just in case...they're pennies on eBay.
Unfortunately I'm totally new to the whole car upgrade scene, this being my first car worthy of upgrading. A few mates are accustomed to sound systems so I'll probably go down the 'give us a hand with this mate' route to get it done.
That Gladen 201 looks amazing but £300 is a tad expensive!! Glad to hear that there's scope for the upgrades I want, I don't suppose anyone knows about Remapping and performance upgrades also?
Having looked at upgrading the sound system previously, there are quite a few companies who'll do a nicely packaged Stage 1/2/3 upgrade specific to your model - give it a google. The real audio-buffs I'm sure will be able to recommend better products but it'll give you an idea for what's out there and prices etc
Having looked at upgrading the sound system previously, there are quite a few companies who'll do a nicely packaged Stage 1/2/3 upgrade specific to your model - give it a google. The real audio-buffs I'm sure will be able to recommend better products but it'll give you an idea for what's out there and prices etc
Stage 1/2/3 is just sales talk and an attempt at getting customers in. In reality you can do all of the upgrades in modular phases or one go. It all depends on your budget.
I would personally recommend you do the headunit first and then do the speakers/amp.
Speaking of upgrades, does anyone know an easy fix for the USB socket that's underneath the centre console arm rest? plugging in a normally iPhone USB cable doesn't feel like it fits, and im hoping that itll allow me to have better connectivity with music to my radio.
I just can't accept 4" speakers in my e87. The whole stereo is gonna have to get overhauled majorly. Even high end 4" splits are still going to be dissapointing coming from 6" and 6x9 + 12" sub setup in my previous car. 6" speakers are going somewhere... somehow
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