[IllLojik]

Originally Posted by ProfessorCook

Geez, Ill.... this sort of rational, reasoned response is a bit out of place here, lol.

I knoeees
lol

[IllLojik]

So the delivery was rather quick. Next day even. The package actually came from NY, so I suppose they have a center up here.

I opened the unassuming box
I wonder what's inside?


Opened


List of contents (Really it's just a receipt)


Tool kit


And here is the Problem.....




How the %#@!1! am I supposed to know what goes where?



Where are the "CLEARLY LABELED" speakers?
So I suppose I have to guesstimate what goes where by following another poster's pic (ProfessorCook @ the Bimmerforums)

[IllLojik]

Only the front and rear tweets were labeled. I won't be installing until next week. Hopefully by then I can get everything figured out. Guess I got to call Jeremy Whittle (the sales guy). Kudos to him for throwing in a free tool kit. I was supposed to also get his email for correspondence, but that's nowhere to be to wait until Monday anyway.

[VP Electricity]

So are the front mids and side mids really any different? I'm pretty sure they are identical...

[IllLojik]

Originally Posted by VP Electricity

So are the front mids and side mids really any different? I'm pretty sure they are identical...

One of them is slightly bigger. I think.... the fronts are the bigger ones. Waiting to hear back from them on that one... Unless anyone here can chime in

[Technic]

Originally Posted by IllLojik

Only the front and rear tweets were labeled. I won't be installing until next week. Hopefully by then I can get everything figured out. Guess I got to call Jeremy Whittle (the sales guy). Kudos to him for throwing in a free tool kit. I was supposed to also get his email for correspondence, but that's nowhere to be to wait until Monday anyway.

Once you take a look at your OEM speakers you will know where each BSW speaker goes.

[ProfessorCook]

The front door mids are not the same as the rear seat mids. The rear door mids are a bit heavier. You can't tell by looking at the speaker to be replaced which BSW speaker to use. I didn't try to see if I could put the BSW speakers in the wrong positions, but it's likely that the wrong speaker won't fit or that the connectors are different. 'Hard to say.

If you have a scale, you could tell them apart by weight. I posted all the weights I measured on my post over in Bimmerfest.

[IllLojik]

Originally Posted by ProfessorCook

The front door mids are not the same as the rear seat mids. The rear door mids are a bit heavier. You can't tell by looking at the speaker to be replaced which BSW speaker to use. I didn't try to see if I could put the BSW speakers in the wrong positions, but it's likely that the wrong speaker won't fit or that the connectors are different. 'Hard to say.

If you have a scale, you could tell them apart by weight. I posted all the weights I measured on my post over in Bimmerfest.

Ahhh.. thanks. I'll try that

[Lee Rambler]

on e92's the front speakers are "smaller" - the oem drivers use a neodynium magnet rather than ferrite as there is not as much clearance... to my knowledge the e90 does not use different drivers in the front from the rear. I presume the e93 is the same as the e92 but I have not had the doors of one

[Technic]

The speaker mounts are different, the component speakers have different connectors. Once you start removing the OEM speakers you will know where each BSW speaker will go.

[Lee Rambler]

the front door drivers have the bottom mount, but at least in the ones I've seen, the center, rear and back mids are all identical - all have the parallel connector jacks to plug the tweeter into.

[IllLojik]

I greatly appreciate all the input guys. I'll take a look when I get back home.

[PoweredByRICE]

Ok I'm confused. I go to the website, and I want to get the BASE system, because I have the terrible all around stock system. And it says "NOT AVAIL" next to it, but when I click it, it says ships in 1-2 days..so is this available or not lol. I just want the stock system replacement for a e92 328i.

[IllLojik]

Originally Posted by PoweredByRICE

Ok I'm confused. I go to the website, and I want to get the BASE system, because I have the terrible all around stock system. And it says "NOT AVAIL" next to it, but when I click it, it says ships in 1-2 days..so is this available or not lol. I just want the stock system replacement for a e92 328i.

just call them.

[IllLojik]

so I started the install today after work. Sorry no pics. There are four big speakers and 3 little ones to put it simply. Two of the "little" speakers had extra connectors for the tweeter. So as Technic mentioned, simple once you take the OEMS out.
Center channel: was the most straight forward since it was the only little speaker without extra component wires. Popped that in with no issues.

The Other little speakers had to be the rear components. I verified this with Jason @ bsw who pointed out that the speakers with a flush lip would be the rears. (The others have a 1/2 lip above the speaker).
Once I removed the rear driver and tweeter it was a simple drop in.
Curiosity got the best of me, so I listed to each speaker (I only so far installed the center channel and right side rear deck component) before I screwed everything back in. The BSW's sounded "lower" than the stocks individually. Now this could be because:
a)they need to break in
b)higher rms, lower sensitivity.. need moar amp powah
c)different material, I'm just mistaking the "harshness" of the oems for extra loudness.
d)that^
e)all the above

In any case, it's not fair to judge with 2 whole speakers plugged in so I'll finish up tomorrow and have a listen see.

I guess I'll try (no promises ) to take some pics of the remaining install.

[Micah D. Cranman]

Originally Posted by IllLojik

so I started the install today after work. Sorry no pics. There are four big speakers and 3 little ones to put it simply. Two of the "little" speakers had extra connectors for the tweeter. So as Technic mentioned, simple once you take the OEMS out.
Center channel: was the most straight forward since it was the only little speaker without extra component wires. Popped that in with no issues.

The Other little speakers had to be the rear components. I verified this with Jason @ bsw who pointed out that the speakers with a flush lip would be the rears. (The others have a 1/2 lip above the speaker).
Once I removed the rear driver and tweeter it was a simple drop in.
Curiosity got the best of me, so I listed to each speaker (I only so far installed the center channel and right side rear deck component) before I screwed everything back in. The BSW's sounded "lower" than the stocks individually. Now this could be because:
a)they need to break in
b)higher rms, lower sensitivity.. need moar amp powah
c)different material, I'm just mistaking the "harshness" of the oems for extra loudness.
d)that^
e)all the above

In any case, it's not fair to judge with 2 whole speakers plugged in so I'll finish up tomorrow and have a listen see.

I guess I'll try (no promises ) to take some pics of the remaining install.

First, sorry for the small oversight on the packaging. We do pretty intense QC, but it's not perfect every time. Glad you were able to get it figured out.

As for volume differences, they are not an exact match to OEM. Remember that we are effectively "retuning" the way the car sounds and some of that requires different loudness at different frequency ranges than OEM. Nothing to be alarmed of -- you'll shortly see that the usable volume range is actually quite a bit higher than stock!

[IllLojik]

Originally Posted by Micah D. Cranman

First, sorry for the small oversight on the packaging. We do pretty intense QC, but it's not perfect every time. Glad you were able to get it figured out.

As for volume differences, they are not an exact match to OEM. Remember that we are effectively "retuning" the way the car sounds and some of that requires different loudness at different frequency ranges than OEM. Nothing to be alarmed of -- you'll shortly see that the usable volume range is actually quite a bit higher than stock!

No issues Micah. You guys got back to me pretty quick. Plus I had plenty of input from these great guys.
As far as the volume, I figured that I'd have to wait for the full install before judging. Can't wait till I'm done.

[Lee Rambler]

perhaps I need some edu-macating.... how does a less sensitive speaker play louder with the same power?

[IllLojik]

Originally Posted by Lee Rambler

perhaps I need some edu-macating.... how does a less sensitive speaker play louder with the same power?

redistribution of power to the more needed areas (ie front)?

So I completed my install in a no iDrive L7 sedan. All about 5 hours or so total (Sound deadening took up the majority).

The install videos don't cover the Sedan and the instructional pdf loosely covered the rear doors and front tweeters which are VERY different from the coupe. However, with a little bit of common sense, everything is straight forward if you already tackled one door. I just have to say 1st that BMW's door panel removal (for this car anyway) has got to be one of the easiest disassembly reassembly tasks I've done on a car.

As I mentioned above, if you listen to each speaker vs oem individually, the BSW's sound lower IMO. However after careful analysis, I realized it was due to the oems being "sharper" [not in a good way.. ear piercing].

With all the speakers in, I did get more detail quality at a lower volume than I would with the oem L7 drivers. One thing that drove me crazy and drove me to get these speakers in the 1st place was the fact that if I turned up the volume 3/4, my ears would start to bleed (not literally of course) from the piercing harshness. The BSW's had a "warmer" sound for lack of a better word.

While listening to some hip hop, At 1st I was like. Hmmmmmmm Go On... then I turned to some Jazz and R&B and then I was like.. Okaayyy.. then Alright.. Now this is some quality shit.

Now, side note about my setup: I have a vented Alpine type R 12'' sub in the trunk powered by an Alpine 1500w mono amp, with the gains turned all the way down and crossed at 80hz iirc. It brought the stock system to life, but for testing purposes I unplugged it to listen to the Raw BSWs.

With the BSWs, I did notice that stock bass was more noticeable. It was like the under seat subs decided to actually work for a change lol. It sounded okay, but on more bassy tracks like T-pain, they distorted. I turned down the bass and that helped, but everything just sounded lifeless. I needs my bassessessess.

**disclaimer** The above paragraph is no criticism of the BSW speakers. They sound great after reseting the equalizer. What has happened however, is that the BSWs made more obvious the weakness of the stock subs. The popping of the subs when turning up the volume with bass set to +3 or 4 was rather annoying. Therefore I plugged my trunk sub back in and turned the bass to -3. A lot better. Certain songs I have to turn the bass all the way down to -10. Now I'm thinking if theres a way I could just turn off the under seat subs by either, cutting the feed from the amp (easiest),or lifting the seat and unplugging them. Also, I'm going to have to get either a less powerful amp, or smaller sub, or both.

All in all, dispite the problems with the bass, the BSW drivers did what they were meant to do, enhance the sound. They sound good. Now I just need to fix that damn under seat woofer or kill it.

[kaigoss69]

Originally Posted by IllLojik

Now I just need to fix that damn under seat woofer or kill it.

Now you are in dire need of midbass. The only place it can be produced is under the seats. The easiest way to do this is to add a small amp with about 100 to 150W per side and bring those puppies to life. You will be surprised what a difference it makes.

[Micah D. Cranman]

Originally Posted by Lee Rambler

perhaps I need some edu-macating.... how does a less sensitive speaker play louder with the same power?

Reduced distortion.

Factory components distort at lower volume and you get less USABLE volume, which is what I said above, not that BSW components are louder. If you were to do an SPL measurement, stock would be louder at the same power but it doesn't matter if you can't actually listen to it without it sounding absolutely awful.

[IllLojik]

Originally Posted by Micah D. Cranman

Reduced distortion.

Factory components distort at lower volume and you get less USABLE volume, which is what I said above, not that BSW components are louder. If you were to do an SPL measurement, stock would be louder at the same power but it doesn't matter if you can't actually listen to it without it sounding absolutely awful.

Ahh. Ok, this makes sense. Which is why the under seat woofers are more obvious now. (ie: you realize more bass than before since the oems were drowning them out)