[GeoffInRoyalOak]

Greetings, All!

New member, first post.

I'm about to take possession of a new-to-me 08 E83. This will be the first BMW I've had since a beloved 1971 2002 I had back in the 80's, and I'm pretty geeked. I drove a friend's 06 X3 a few years back and fell in love with it. It seemed like the perfect combination of fun driving and grownup utility. It's taken until just now for me to find a unit that had acceptable condition and mileage (74K) and a pricetag I could afford for cash money ($14K). She's got a lot of optional goodies on her, including Premium Package, Cold Weather, Comfort Seats, Heated Steering Wheel, Xenons, Auto A-C, Towing and Nav.

One option she doesn't have which I know I'm going to miss is the Premium Audio. I consider myself a bit of an audiophile, and I understand there's a huge qualitative difference between the stock and the Premium.

What's my best route for improving the sound quality without spending a fortune? I couldn't find a post asking this exact question (so it might be a dumb one), but how tough would it be to retrofit the OEM Premium gear into my car (assuming I could find the components)? Or, should I just go the aftermarket route? I saw the impressive re-work that Avincar did...that actually might be too Audiophilic (and too rich) for my blood.

I'm sure I'll be back with other pesky newbie queries.

Very much looking forward to being a part of the Club!

Cheers,
Geoff