[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

[romanonj]

Goeff,

I did mine and it sounds great, and all about 1k in total, while installing it myself..

BSW speaker upgrades (F&R $549)
JL XD600/6 amp ($379) can probably get used one for 200
Technic wiring harness for HiFi ($65)
SWS 8i subs ($269)

A few comments:

1. technic harness is a must. It will plug into factory wiring harness without the need to splice any wires. Your HiFi stereo is actually best for upgrade, its already putting out balanced output. Technic harness comes with RCA outputs which will plug into your Xd600 amp.

2. Underseat subs dont require spacers in X3, only in e9x. So its a direct fit without any spacers.

3. Dynmat your door panels, eiminates any rattles

4. When adjusting amp gain, dial front gain 20% higher.

5. Of course you can go crazy and add sound processor. JBL MS-8 would be my choice.

PM if you have any questions..

Regards,
Roman

[GeoffInRoyalOak]

Great info, Roman, thanks! I will take your advice, and you may hear from me if I run into any snags.

Geoff

[archy121]

Anyone know if its possible to direct swap the Professional HU (X1/3Series) for Business CD HU in the UK X3 2007 ?

I'm hoping this is possible as the Business CD does not have other features such as such as BT/SatNav/Parking etc so removing should not have impact.

[GeoffInRoyalOak]

Update on my audio upgrade. I've taken the first step and swapped-in the BSW Stage 1 speakers, front and rear. After some learning curve on the first door, the rest went easy-shmeasy and I knocked all that out in about two hours.

Already on the high and midrange, huge improvment. Much crisper high-freqs and far less muddy mids. But I do feel the lack of some decent bottom. So, I'm most likely going to go for the subs too. Might have to wait until Spring, as I have no heated garage and winter has suddenly hit Michigan this week. I feel lucky to have gotten the door speakers in on a nice sunny 52º day.

Roman, since the BavSound speakers were pretty much a swap with the OEM, am I right in assuming that the rest of the items on your list (amp, wiring harness) are needed for driving the subs? I'm a bit of dunce when it comes to this stuff, so I may need some hand-holding on how and where to rig those things.

Thanks!
Geoff

P.S. And I just have to preach to the choir and say...damn, I love this car!