Weird! When I picked it up three weeks go, I had this option and I was able to set the output. I only tried to go back today to change the 1Hz setting only to find its no longer there!

Does this mean that the option is actually there but not coded? I mean why will it be available in F3* models and not in F2* models? For asking out loud, is the HK in F3* more pricey than that of F2*?

Has anyone tried to code this in their F2* by the way?

 

It's not a coding issue.

The EQ relies on a digital signal being sent from the head unit to the amp in the boot via the MOST bus on the car. The equalizer is in the amplifier itself, and works on the signal in the digital domain before sending it to the amp. Unfortunately, in order to add the synthesised engine noise to the M135i, the F20 sends the signal from the head unit to the amp as an analogue signal, bypassing the MOST bus completely, so the equalizer isn't in the signal chain at all. Even if you could code the equalizer to appear in iDrive, it would have no effect on the sound. This is also probably the cause for the high levels of background hiss on the HK system in the F20 - it's analogue noise picked up on the line from the head unit to the amp.

The only way to get the equalizer on the F20 is to remove the HK amp and replace it with one from an F30, and to do a lot of coding - this is theoretically possible, anyway, but I don't think anyone has actually managed it in practice.

It's particularly irritating for those of us who don't have an M135i and hence have no synthetic engine noise to be added!

 

Thanks Spl23,
I have also just read on HK website that the HK on F2* has automatic Eq built in.

What I can't figure out is why mine had the Eq option for about a week only to disappear after about two weeks :?

 

It's not really automatic EQ - they claim that they have already equalized the sound to compensate for the acoustics of that particular car. They might have done, but it's impossible to tell, so it may equally well be b*llocks!

 

The lack of an eq is the reason I didn't order HK in our 125d. My 330dx F30 has HK and an eq, and sounds great after some tweaking of the eq. What be done in the 125 is use the eq in my iPhone to adjust the sound to my liking. It's perfectly acceptable, and in any case my Mrs listens to local radio almost all the time anyway.