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Interesting findings e87 audio quality

1565 Views 12 Replies 4 Participants Last post by Andre2004, Jan 26, 2016

andyc1988

Discussion Starter · Jan 25, 2016

I discovered something quite interesting a few days ago regarding audio quality in my 130i - I'm gutted I didn't discover it years ago!

I have 2006 130i with the Professional head unit and what appears to be the hi-fi speaker upgrade, (good subs and good mid's, tweeter covers but apparently no tweeters visible inside???) I really don't know what speakers I have as the sound is not much different from the new HK setup yet I have no tweeters.

Anyway, for years I've listened to analogue radio and CDs ripped from various bitrates (128-320kbps) and found the quality to be acceptable at moderate volumes but when increased to high volumes (or what might be considered moderate at motorway speeds) I would find the bass distorts and I get to a point where the audio is incomprehensible due to distortion. Not knowing much about speakers I assumed they were cheap(ish) and that I was overloading them.

A few days ago I decided to plug in my phone via the 3.5mm Aux socket and use Spotify the stream at 320kbps. I turned my phone volume up to maximum and adjusted the output volume from the steering wheel as I went along. I noticed I could turn any song, even very bass heavy ones, up to maximum (ear hurting) volume with no distortion and much better quality sound. I actually maxed out the volume and still had no distortion until I boosted the bass from +3 to +6 on the head unit, and even then the music only slightly distorted during bass heavy elements.

This quite confused me! Any ideas why this might happen?

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stevesurrey

· #2 · Jan 25, 2016

An online VIN checker will tell you what speaker package your car left the factory with.

http://www.babybmw.net/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=55328

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andyc1988

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jan 25, 2016

stevesurrey said:
An online VIN checker will tell you what speaker package your car left the factory with.

http://www.babybmw.net/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=55328

Thank you, that made some interesting reading. I recall noticing the plate inside the door read October 2005 and I wondered why the car was registered as a 56-plate. I said when I was looking at the car I would not get a 55-plate as I didn't want the first of a new run of cars, and with hindsight if I'd have known the actual build date I would have passed...and I'd have been justified in doing that

.

Anyway, the spec sheet just reinforces the mystery. The car was built with business radio and standard speakers.
I assume the previous owner upgraded the head unit to the professional one - that makes sense.
What doesn't make sense is the tweeter covers with no tweeters behind them - these cars didn't come with tweeter grills without tweeters.
What also doesn't make sense is that the mids and subs are most definitely not basic BMW speakers, I'd dare say they are Alpine or HK.

So at some point the previous owner replaced the mids and the subs, ripped the doors apart to fit a functionless piece of plastic (or indeed fitted tweeters but then decided to remove them before selling the car, leaving the mids and subs in place).

I'm quite confused, but I still don't understand how any of that could cause Aux playback to be crystal clear while CD/radio distorts at high volume :?.

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Andre2004

· #4 · Jan 25, 2016

stevesurrey said:
An online VIN checker will tell you what speaker package your car left the factory with.

http://www.babybmw.net/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=55328

Where in the vin checker does it say, I just checked mine in the pictures on the bimmer vin checker of the interior it shows the grills with tweeters like mine does. But I can't see it under the options unless it's default with the SE trim?

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andyc1988

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jan 25, 2016

Andre2004 said:
Where in the vin checker does it say, I just checked mine in the pictures on the bimmer vin checker of the interior it shows the grills with tweeters like mine does. But I can't see it under the options unless it's default with the SE trim?

Would you be able to post a photo of your tweeters? Mine are just grills, I haven't physically taken the covers off but no matter what I do I cannot see speakers behind the covers.

Maybe the hi-fi upgrade was standard and the previous owner removed the tweeters on mine, but it wouldn't make sense with a business head unit.

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Andre2004

· #6 · Jan 25, 2016

I've put my ears to it and I could swear they were working, if the covers pop off ill go to the garage and check to make sure

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Andre2004

· #7 · Jan 25, 2016

Just checked, I didn't take the covers off but i used a torch and noticed an empty circle embedded into what looks like black polystyrene.

I think I must have been misled as once I changed to pro hu it had so much more treble.

I'm going to order some tweeters and figure out how to enable the passenger bass speaker

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andyc1988

Discussion Starter · #8 · Jan 25, 2016

Andre2004 said:
Just checked, I didn't take the covers off but i used a torch and noticed an empty circle embedded into what looks like black polystyrene.

I think I must have been misled as once I changed to pro hu it had so much more treble.

I'm going to order some tweeters and figure out how to enable the passenger bass speaker

Interesting! Maybe the pro head unit makes a lot more difference than speaker upgrades.

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Octavius

· #9 · Jan 25, 2016

andyc1988 said:
Andre2004 said:

Just checked, I didn't take the covers off but i used a torch and noticed an empty circle embedded into what looks like black polystyrene.

I think I must have been misled as once I changed to pro hu it had so much more treble.

I'm going to order some tweeters and figure out how to enable the passenger bass speaker

Click to expand...

Interesting! Maybe the pro head unit makes a lot more difference than speaker upgrades.

It does help as it has a bigger internal amp so more power output help but the biggest improvement is adding tweeters.

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andyc1988

Discussion Starter · #10 · Jan 25, 2016

Blackbmw120d said:
andyc1988 said:

Andre2004 said:

Just checked, I didn't take the covers off but i used a torch and noticed an empty circle embedded into what looks like black polystyrene.

I think I must have been misled as once I changed to pro hu it had so much more treble.

I'm going to order some tweeters and figure out how to enable the passenger bass speaker

Click to expand...

Interesting! Maybe the pro head unit makes a lot more difference than speaker upgrades.

Click to expand...

It does help as it has a bigger internal amp so more power output help but the biggest improvement is adding tweeters.

Do you have any ideas why the Aux port can provide much more clarity and much higher volumes than anything played from the head unit itself? I doubt my Nexus 5 has a high power amp built-in :lol2:

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Andre2004

· #11 · Jan 25, 2016

Not sure, I'm guessing the input volume is louder it was the same on my business as well as pro.

Do you know the size of tweeters I need to buy for the door pillars been searching eBay for ages

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andyc1988

Discussion Starter · #12 · Jan 25, 2016

Andre2004 said:
Not sure, I'm guessing the input volume is louder it was the same on my business as well as pro.

Do you know the size of tweeters I need to buy for the door pillars been searching eBay for ages

A friend bought an Apline kit from BMW for around £600 that came with tweeters. I think they're individually purchasable and weren't too expensive. You could give one of the cheap forum sponsors a call, then you're guaranteed compatibility.

Is it Cotswolds?

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Andre2004

· #13 · Jan 26, 2016

Cheers, I've managed to get some off eBay out of an e82 for 30quid from USA

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