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M140i Active Sound Coded - Updated with Guide

57K views 165 replies 42 participants last post by  downshift 
#1 ·
After collecting my M140i on Saturday it didn't sound as loud inside as the M135i's I'd heard. After seeing some other posts about the Mx40 not having Active Sound Design (ASD) I started investigating.

After tracking down the ASD unit and unplugging it I realised that yes, there was actually engine sound coming through the speakers and that the car is incredibly quiet with it unplugged (it also means you get no audio at all - radio / nav etc).

I then started reading up on coding in E sys and saw that you could code the ASD volume () so I ordered a cable and USB to Ethernet adaptor for my Macbook and managed to find a copy of E sys and a guide.

After playing about with it for an hour and successfully loosing all my audio (luckily restored) I managed to find out the 140i ASD is coded to 2/5 volume by default (UL werte =2). From what I understand the M135i is 4/4 by default. I then tried changing it to 3 and finally 5 which gives more growl. :band: I might give 4 a try when I have more time. It looks like you can even change the engine type (S55 anyone???) so that'll be something to have a play with.

Update:
Dummies guide to ASD coding complete with pictures completed and uploaded to:

 
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#3 ·
dominickelly said:
This is awesome! Great work! Does it sound awesome at 5, or something you imagine you might tire of quickly?
Level 5 (max) doesn't sound overly loud to me at all, I'm pretty happy with it from the 5 min test drive. I believe the Mx35 is set to max as standard. I just thought the 140 was a bit too quiet inside. You can actually hear it in comfort mode now whereas I couldn't before (although I am a bit deaf) but it's still quieter than sport mode.

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#5 ·
KR15 said:
dominickelly said:
This is awesome! Great work! Does it sound awesome at 5, or something you imagine you might tire of quickly?
Level 5 (max) doesn't sound overly loud to me at all, I'm pretty happy with it from the 5 min test drive. I believe the Mx35 is set to max as standard. I just thought the 140 was a bit too quiet inside. You can actually hear it in comfort mode now whereas I couldn't before (although I am a bit deaf) but it's still quieter than sport mode.

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Sweet! Will have to figure out how to recreate your steps when mine comes, assuming the 240 is the same.
 
#7 ·
M140Graham said:
I'd be interested to try this, Which software did you use and where do you get it from?
Think there will be a lot of people looking to try this, myself included.

Classic case I think of the trade off between the benefit of the sound and the potential disruption we can cause by having a go.
 
#8 ·
timmyc31 said:
M140Graham said:
I'd be interested to try this, Which software did you use and where do you get it from?
Think there will be a lot of people looking to try this, myself included.

Classic case I think of the trade off between the benefit of the sound and the potential disruption we can cause by having a go.
It's pretty easy really. I'm happy to put something together on how to do it if there's interest.

I don't think I can post links here but in the meantime if you google "bmwesys" or "getting started fdl coding" the top result should be a pdf. This will tell you everything you need to know with a step by step guide. It doesn't give an ASD example but I can show that bit.

I bought my esys cable from eBay. They are OBD2 to Ethernet so if you don't have an Ethernet port like me you'll need a USB to Ethernet adaptor. They came to about £15 for both.

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#9 ·
KR15 said:
I'm happy to put something together on how to do it if there's interest.
If you could knock up a step-by-step "Dummies Guide to changing the ASD volume" I'd really appreciate it. :thumbs:

I usually trust my coding to Wibbles, but I'm going to **** him right off if I'm trying different sound files / different volumes whilst driving around the block for hour after hour.
 
#13 ·
Head over to the coding section of this forum guys there are plenty of us coding F series cars and lots of tips, tricks and questions/answers.

Also people who will offer remote coding for you.

I got my cable from Ebay its called an ENET cable and the software is called ESYS however as some of you have the Mx40i you will need to make sure you have the latest and greatest version otherwise it wont read some of the CAFD files from your car.

Coding in general is very easy providing you are careful and back your files up before you write them back to the car.
 
#16 ·
suboy121 said:
I just checked my M135i (2013) and its set to OL & 3
Can you get SL & TL (4&5)? On any 135 related thread OL seemed to be the highest but I found a lot of threads on coding are a bit vague.

I'm also wondering if it's a completely different ASD unit. It's not even mentioned in the audio system parts of RealOEM unlike the 135 which initially led to people think the x40 didn't have it (along with people reporting the car to be quiet).

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#17 ·
Frates said:
When you say it didn't sound as loud as an M135i was it very different or just subtly?
Standard it's like a Rolls in comfort... Sport wasn't that much louder. Any M135i video I've seen seemed quite a bit louder. Jacking mine up to 5 from 2 sounds much better but it's not massively louder, certainly not ridiculous and sounds more like all the 135 videos. For those with better hearing you may want a slightly lower volume. It sounds about on par with my ST inside volume wise now (although a much better sound). Doesn't really sound synthetic to me either.

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#18 ·
packerman said:
marco_polo said:
If you could knock up a step-by-step Dummies Guide to changing the ASD volume I'd really appreciate it. :thumbs:
me too, i can turn it off then :D
:lol2: try unplugging the unit to get an idea. I was surprised at how quiet the car is without it.

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#19 ·
Guys, I'll try and get a step by step done over the weekend. The pdf I mentioned above covers most of it so I'll just add the relevant ASD steps. It also has links to the relevant software. Note: you'll need Windows. I ran via Parallels on my Mac.

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#21 ·
KR15 said:
suboy121 said:
I just checked my M135i (2013) and its set to OL & 3
Can you get SL & TL (4&5)? On any 135 related thread OL seemed to be the highest but I found a lot of threads on coding are a bit vague.

I'm also wondering if it's a completely different ASD unit. It's not even mentioned in the audio system parts of RealOEM unlike the 135 which initially led to people think the x40 didn't have it (along with people reporting the car to be quiet).

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Options I have available are:-

UL = werte 00
KL = werte 01
ML = werte 02
OL = werte 03
SL = werte 04
TL = werte 05
Hybrid = werte 06
 
#22 ·
KR15 said:
Frates said:
When you say it didn't sound as loud as an M135i was it very different or just subtly?
Standard it's like a Rolls in comfort... Sport wasn't that much louder. Any M135i video I've seen seemed quite a bit louder. Jacking mine up to 5 from 2 sounds much better but it's not massively louder, certainly not ridiculous and sounds more like all the 135 videos. For those with better hearing you may want a slightly lower volume. It sounds about on par with my ST inside volume wise now (although a much better sound). Doesn't really sound synthetic to me either.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I presume you just need to change it to TL (top value) and code it as opposed to edit the werte (the number) itself to 5?
 
#23 ·
suboy121 said:
KR15 said:
Frates said:
When you say it didn't sound as loud as an M135i was it very different or just subtly?
Standard it's like a Rolls in comfort... Sport wasn't that much louder. Any M135i video I've seen seemed quite a bit louder. Jacking mine up to 5 from 2 sounds much better but it's not massively louder, certainly not ridiculous and sounds more like all the 135 videos. For those with better hearing you may want a slightly lower volume. It sounds about on par with my ST inside volume wise now (although a much better sound). Doesn't really sound synthetic to me either.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I presume you just need to change it to TL (top value) and code it as opposed to edit the werte (the number) itself to 5?
Yep, just change to TL in the drop down and it will adjust the werte for you.

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#25 ·
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