Cars with Premium Sound Option

yoda · 03-26-2009, 05:18 AM

Hey guys...
I was wondering if I could just hook up my Kenwood HU to the Factory Premium Sound Amplifier through the amplified/charged cables coming out of the radio...
And the answer is YES!...
The previous owner had installed some crappy sound system somewhere, that the guy simply took a cutter to all the cables in the rear!...
I hooked everything back together in the rear... then I followed the color codes posted here by a member... and it works wonderfully!...
Much better sound than just with the radio powering the speakers. The only thing that it doesn't retain is the Volume adjustment at Speeds, unless of course your aftermarket HU has that available as an option... then hook it up!...
FYI
BMW's Premium Sound Systems are Designed and Tuned for each vehicle. What this means is that whoever manufactures the Equipment, has engineers with measuring tools placed around the cabin, drive around and measure the Frequency responses... while they do this they are programing/Equalizing the Amplifier so that you get the Flattest Frequency response on that Vehicle. In other and simple terms... that sound system comes EQUALIZED for optimum sound for your car, getting an "Equal" amount of BASS/MID/HIGH's so that you can hear every nuance of sound coming from the speakers... Of course this doesn't mean that our Hatchbacks don't need a bit more BASS... cause they DO! But those 10 speakers are getting the right amount of power and equalization for each and every one of them... all you would really need to do is add a bit of a thump to complete it!...

I brought this Idea up with WolferJ when I picked up the wheels... and I just did it... and it sounds so much freaking better!.... I'm HAPPY!...

tiFreak · 03-26-2009, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yoda

BMW's Premium Sound Systems are Designed and Tuned for each vehicle.

so that's why they put cheap speakers in their cheap car

I will admit I was pleasantly surprised when my friends took their subs out for the winter and I got to hear their stereos without it, my CD player powering the stock speakers sounds better than their stereos with all the time and money they've put into them

yoda · 03-26-2009, 05:12 PM

An overpowering BASS simply masks how crappy the rest of the sound is...
I went through that phase when I was in my teens, and all it really did was loosen up stuff on the car... that whenever you drove without the system being on you could hear strange rattles coming from all over the car. plus the inevitable hearing loss you suffer from exposing yourself to such loud noises for prolonged periods of time.

Most OEM Speakers are and look CHEAP, compared to what you can replace them with... it is the same for our cars, especially when the car is as old as ours, the speakers need to be replaced. The Amp on the other hand still should work fine and remember that the AMp is the one Tuned to the CAR for that combination of speakers (no matter which brand, it helps if they're good too)...

yoda · 03-26-2009, 09:07 PM

Here are a couple of pics after I mended the damage done...

This is Finished and tucked!...

tiFreak · 03-26-2009, 09:17 PM

looks like that was a PITA, makes me happy I bought my car 100% unmodified and owned by a very close relative of the BMW dealer owners

yoda · 03-26-2009, 09:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tiFreak

looks like that was a PITA, makes me happy I bought my car 100% unmodified and owned by a very close relative of the BMW dealer owners

There were only 2 pairs that had the same color combo that had me worried... but I simply extended them, since they were cut at different lengths, and matched them like that... as of right now the only 2 speakers not connected are the front TWEETERS, cause the previous owner swapped them for aftermarket ones and they require the cables to be "welded" in place and they are not.

roadrash · 03-26-2009, 10:20 PM

Wow, there for a second, I thought you had a purple car and was planning a trip to "borrow" it from ya for a while. heh heh

If I ever swap out my HU, I'll buy a kit from Crutchfield rather than hack up the harness.

**wolferj-RIP** · 03-26-2009, 10:50 PM

Nice Job, Yoda... Doing it the right way!

yoda · 03-27-2009, 03:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wolferj

Nice Job, Yoda... Doing it the right way!

Amen Brother!...
BTW
I relocated the XM antenna to the interior of the car....
Front-Center-Top-Dash, in between the vents... it's almost concealed in a way, looks better now that i don't have the the Black BLOB on the Top rear of the roof with a cable trailing inside the car!......

**wolferj-RIP** · 03-27-2009, 08:30 AM

That sounds very nice, good relocation spot... BTW, did I leave a 1/4 drive rachet and 10mm socket in your car? Can't find it in my garage...

yoda · 03-27-2009, 05:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wolferj

That sounds very nice, good relocation spot... BTW, did I leave a 1/4 drive rachet and 10mm socket in your car? Can't find it in my garage...

No ratchet or socket in the car...Sorry

hotmilk400 · 03-30-2009, 03:20 PM

i will admit, the premium sound package on the ti + a loud sub is VERY KICK ASS..

i hacked apart my wiring in the back tho,... haha.. i replaced the old factory amp with a crossfire amp 4 channels, which ran at $250 when i bought it. then got a bazzoka mono amp on ebay used for $100, something like 500watts rms.. got the alpine type R sub, (Best sub on the market, haha) and, omg, the bass on my radio is -6 and Bass Boast is off... freaking nice......... so much bass, the rest of the speakers act as tweaters, and the factory subs (the kick speakers) are nice mids..

good choice =]
spent something like $1800 on audio and video for my car.. haha

lpossie · 03-31-2009, 04:30 PM

Thanks for the tip Yoda... how can you tell what sound system you have? I know that I have two woofer on the front kick panels, two speakers on each door.. I'm assuming one is a mid-range and the other is a tweeter. then I have two more on the back. Not sure if those have tweeters as well. Since I had my HU replaced, they installers told me I had a stock amp they had to by-pass. So I have an amp. Is that the premium sound package?

hotmilk400 · 03-31-2009, 04:56 PM

yeah, thats the premium sound package. its a 10 speaker setup. other cars only have 4 or 6 (i forget)

and depending on the year of your car, you might even have 2 amps, but i think that is the older ones.. i forget off hand, one amp for the speakers, on for the kick woofers. but i think that is like for the 95's

yoda · 03-31-2009, 05:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lpossie

Thanks for the tip Yoda... how can you tell what sound system you have? I know that I have two woofer on the front kick panels, two speakers on each door.. I'm assuming one is a mid-range and the other is a tweeter. then I have two more on the back. Not sure if those have tweeters as well. Since I had my HU replaced, they installers told me I had a stock amp they had to by-pass. So I have an amp. Is that the premium sound package?

Premium Sound Had a 10 Speaker Set-up... 6 in Front 2 Kicks(woofers)-2 Mid-2 Tweeters (DOORS), 2 MIDS-2 TEETERS (REAR). The AMP is located in the REAR PANEL (driver-side). Check to see if they took cutters to your harness, and they did then take your time splicing them back together, get the color codes for the cables that were posted by a fellow member on this section (for the HU)... then with your HU's manual begin splicing the cables the right way... This way you'll get Illumination, Continuos Power, and Switched Power correctly and of course your speakers correct as well...
The end result will be noticeable, much better sound ...

BTW
Regular Sound pckg had 6 speaker set up, 4-Front, 2-Back

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