E46 328i Holy Crap The Stereo Sucks!

[give me m3]

As stated, I recently picked up a 99 328i. THe player says Business cd on it.

The sound is awful and does not get very loud. I searched for a bit but lacked any real results.

Im an audio noob, but I need to upgrade badly, can anyone help please?

I want to do speakers at least

[MarcoZandrini]

Go to www.crutchfield.com to see what fits your car. The best bang for the buck is to upgrade the speakers. Your car's speakers are 16 years old if they are original. The original speakers were made by Nokia. They are so-so quality.

First, determine how much you can afford to spend. The installation of new speakers isn't rocket science IF you buy the right speakers. Try to avoid speakers that require mounting adapters. A caveat: BMW rear mid-sub speakers have 3 mounting tabs. Most speakers have 4 mounting tabs! Also, the front speakers provide the majority of the sound so buy higher quality speakers for the front.

Some info about the audio system:
- the signals between the head unit and the amp are called "balanced differential"
- the amp is located in the left side of the trunk
- the amp contains the crossovers
- the doors have 3 speakers: a mid-sub, a mid range and a tweeter
- the mid range and the tweeter are located in the pod near the top of the door
- the amp is good quality but relatively low power

[snaponbob]

As stated, I recently picked up a 99 328i. THe player says Business cd on it.

The sound is awful and does not get very loud. I searched for a bit but lacked any real results.

Im an audio noob, but I need to upgrade badly, can anyone help please?

I want to do speakers at least

What system is in the car? You may have something wrong with it. I have an OEM HK system in my E36 and after I fixed the antenna lead at the radio head it has been very good. Is it Bang and Olufsen or Bose quality? But is far better than the base system. Your existing head unit should be able to drive the speakers to distortion, so something is wrong if the volume is low.

[give me m3]

Go to www.crutchfield.com to see what fits your car. The best bang for the buck is to upgrade the speakers. Your car's speakers are 16 years old if they are original. The original speakers were made by Nokia. They are so-so quality.

First, determine how much you can afford to spend. The installation of new speakers isn't rocket science IF you buy the right speakers. Try to avoid speakers that require mounting adapters. A caveat: BMW rear mid-sub speakers have 3 mounting tabs. Most speakers have 4 mounting tabs! Also, the front speakers provide the majority of the sound so buy higher quality speakers for the front.

Some info about the audio system:
- the signals between the head unit and the amp are called "balanced differential"
- the amp is located in the left side of the trunk
- the amp contains the crossovers
- the doors have 3 speakers: a mid-sub, a mid range and a tweeter
- the mid range and the tweeter are located in the pod near the top of the door
- the amp is good quality but relatively low power

Thanks for all the info

What system is in the car? You may have something wrong with it. I have an OEM HK system in my E36 and after I fixed the antenna lead at the radio head it has been very good. Is it Bang and Olufsen or Bose quality? But is far better than the base system. Your existing head unit should be able to drive the speakers to distortion, so something is wrong if the volume is low.

Im not quite sure, its Oem for sure. The rear speakers are outputting barely at all and distorted.

Im thinking upgrading all the speakers would be step 1, just need to figure out what speakers go where.

- - - Updated - - -

Anyone willing to share what size speakers I need? I figure even I can install new speakers. im thinking of leaving the stock headunit in as it seems to be more of a pain trying to find something to match. I would like a Aux hookup, but Im sure that's out of my league as well

I searched I promise (e46 Stereo/Speaker Upgrades etc)

Thanks

[MarcoZandrini]

You have a sedan. That means the front mid-woofers are 4.5" in diameter. The mid-range is about 2" in diameter and the tweeter is less than an inch in diameter. The rear mid-sub, located in the package shelf is 6.5" in diameter. I think that the tweeters in the rear doors are the same as the front tweeters. Btw, the car has an amp in the left side of the trunk. It contains the crossovers.

[DennisCooper]

Hi,

You don't say what kind of level of 'upgrade' you wish to do and mention speakers at least as a minimum. I'd say go for a modest to 'mid level' upgrade. Modern head unit with modern conveniences and safety related features like Bluetooth Hands Free mobile phone calls/connection, GPS, Bluetooth Audio Streaming, direct ipod connection etc. Add some entry to mid level speakers from the dedicated car audio speaker brands and run them off the head unit for now. I say for now, as later, when funds allow, you can add an amplifier and they'll play even better and you won't need to 'change' them to better ones. As and when funds allow, you can also add in a small 8 or 10 inch subwoofer in a small enclosure for the low end response. At that stage, you'll have a setup that'll sound a lot better than keeping the stock head unit and having to faff around 'adding to it' for features etc.

The Alpine iLX-007 and Parrot Asteroid Smart are shallow depth double DIN units which fit into the E46 dash without having to modify or cut the airbox/airpipes so saves you several hundred dollars there. This is what it looks like in an E46



Entry to mid level quality speakers from those dedicated brands will be around $125-250+USD. They'll sound good off the head unit, when they're amplified, they'll sound significantly better still ! Look at brands such as Hertz, HAT, DLS, JL Audio, Focal, Infinity etc.

Cheers, Dennis!

[give me m3]

Speakers will probably be the extent of my upgrade.

That Headunit looks amazing

[DennisCooper]

Hi,

The only choice you'll have if you only want to change the speakers are the direct fit, impedence matched ones from BSW. Look to be around $447 USD.

http://www.bavsound.com/

Cheers, Dennis!

[give me m3]

Thanks for the link, is this my best option? http://www.bavsound.com/Stage-One/Buy-Now/

I wouldn't mind going aftermarket, as I know some modding will need to be done. Any good write ups?