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Thread: What are the options for 95 m3 upgrades?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2016
    Location
    Los Angeles, California
    Posts
    26
    My Cars
    1995 BMW M3 Coupe

    What are the options for 95 m3 upgrades?

    I checked Bavsound and there is no kit for a 95, and a google search doesn't bring up anything helpful. I'm planning to get an aftermarket deck too (undecided on which model).

    Any help would be appreciated.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    West London/Heathrow - UK
    Posts
    7,204
    My Cars
    03 530dT - Ex Police Car
    Hi,

    You need to improve your Google Fu and Forum Fu !!

    There's many choices you could go for, single DIN head unit, 5 channel amplifier, 2 way components in the front in custom door builds, 2 way co-axials on the rear shelf and an 8/10/12 inch single or twin subwoofer in a small enclosure. This route would give you the best value for money for audio quality and improvement Vs any other route. You could modify a little more and fit a shallo wdepth double DIN head unit as well. Do some more searches in this forum sub section for what you could acheive in an E36, it can be mild to wild all depending on how well and good, or loud you wish the audio to be.

    As you are in Los Angeles, zip over to Costa Mesa and speak to Michael at Method Sound and you can discuss the above and any other configurations you might want

    Cheers, Dennis!

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    nova
    Posts
    2,895
    My Cars
    8 BMW's & a Ford p/u
    i don't know of any difference between 95 and 96 m3 from a speaker perspective....there is a bavsound option for 96+. call them and ask.

    tons of threads on audio fixes for e36 coupe's. don't limit to "M3" searches. they are all the same.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Ottawa, ON, Canada
    Posts
    372
    My Cars
    '99 M3 vert, '07 X3
    Order of operations...

    1) Speakers - if yours are original 1995 vintage they're definitely really deteriorated. Replacing them with even cheap new ones will be a huge improvement... but I recommend buying absolutely the best speakers you can afford. This is really "where the rubber hits the road" to use a good car metaphor.

    2) Amplifier

    3) Sub and another amp

    4) Head unit if you really must but it's going to be hard to find something that doesn't look stupid in the E36... truthfully the best thing to do is find a BMW or Rover CD 43 unit. it's plug and play, and there are plenty of options to get Bluetooth, Aux, and USB additions cheaper than a reasonable head unit. If you have actual amps there's zero need for a high power head unit. If you listen to MP3. ACC, Flac files, the head unit isn't going to make a whole lot of difference to the quality coming from the speakers. (the weak link there is usually how well they were burned... if they're good quality lossless files the DAC in the CD43 will handle them just as well as an expensive aftermarket unit.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2016
    Location
    Los Angeles, California
    Posts
    26
    My Cars
    1995 BMW M3 Coupe
    I'm the worst googler there is. But thank you for this! I'll give him a call.

    Quote Originally Posted by DennisCooper View Post
    Hi,

    You need to improve your Google Fu and Forum Fu !!

    There's many choices you could go for, single DIN head unit, 5 channel amplifier, 2 way components in the front in custom door builds, 2 way co-axials on the rear shelf and an 8/10/12 inch single or twin subwoofer in a small enclosure. This route would give you the best value for money for audio quality and improvement Vs any other route. You could modify a little more and fit a shallo wdepth double DIN head unit as well. Do some more searches in this forum sub section for what you could acheive in an E36, it can be mild to wild all depending on how well and good, or loud you wish the audio to be.

    As you are in Los Angeles, zip over to Costa Mesa and speak to Michael at Method Sound and you can discuss the above and any other configurations you might want

    Cheers, Dennis!
    - - - Updated - - -

    Doing this! Thank you.

    Quote Originally Posted by mlytle View Post
    i don't know of any difference between 95 and 96 m3 from a speaker perspective....there is a bavsound option for 96+. call them and ask.

    tons of threads on audio fixes for e36 coupe's. don't limit to "M3" searches. they are all the same.
    - - - Updated - - -

    Ok, this is good to know. How much would you say is a decent set of speakers all around? $700 ish? Less?

    And yeah, I havent been impressed with any head unit but the goal would be bluetooth. I'll do more research on that. Thank you!

    Quote Originally Posted by jamrobin View Post
    Order of operations...

    1) Speakers - if yours are original 1995 vintage they're definitely really deteriorated. Replacing them with even cheap new ones will be a huge improvement... but I recommend buying absolutely the best speakers you can afford. This is really "where the rubber hits the road" to use a good car metaphor.

    2) Amplifier

    3) Sub and another amp

    4) Head unit if you really must but it's going to be hard to find something that doesn't look stupid in the E36... truthfully the best thing to do is find a BMW or Rover CD 43 unit. it's plug and play, and there are plenty of options to get Bluetooth, Aux, and USB additions cheaper than a reasonable head unit. If you have actual amps there's zero need for a high power head unit. If you listen to MP3. ACC, Flac files, the head unit isn't going to make a whole lot of difference to the quality coming from the speakers. (the weak link there is usually how well they were burned... if they're good quality lossless files the DAC in the CD43 will handle them just as well as an expensive aftermarket unit.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Ottawa, ON, Canada
    Posts
    372
    My Cars
    '99 M3 vert, '07 X3
    Quote Originally Posted by shanemcelroy View Post
    Ok, this is good to know. How much would you say is a decent set of speakers all around? $700 ish? Less?

    And yeah, I havent been impressed with any head unit but the goal would be bluetooth. I'll do more research on that. Thank you!
    First I swapped the C33 "business tape deck" (by Alpine for BMW) with the CD43 Business CD (by Blaupunkt for BMW and Rover). Better... but the speakers were the real issue thus my recommendation to go after that first.

    Then I added the Grom unit for USB, Bluetooth, and Aux. (This plugs into the CD Changer plug and can be either in the trunk or stuffed behind the Head Unit (I like the latter). You could just as easily use the "Parrot" or the "Ice" unit, and I'm sure there are others.

    Next was the Bavsound Stage 1 (10 speakers in the HK system and leaves the existing sub). It was a huge improvement. All my speaker surrounds (a '99 convertible) were basically dust. (Stage one ~ 700 Canadian pesos)

    I then swapped out the HK sub in the ski passthrough (it's a DVC 8 inch in a freeair box (frame really) for a Pioneer flat piston DVC sub designed for small enclosures in a spacesuit tight sealed box in the same location and powered by a Rockford Fosgate P300x1 amp (using the "rear woofer" speaker wires from the HK amp.)

    Then I added the AudioControl LC 1200.6, a six channel amp with built in crossovers for each pair to drive the front 6 speakers (using high level inputs from the factory amp speaker outs)... it was too much amp for the Bavsound speakers.

    I replaced the front only speakers with Morel Elate 503 components... (not cheap... about 1500 Canadian pesos) I had to enlarge the mid opening a few mm and remove the jute around the woofers but no major surgery... I left the rear Bavsounds connected to the factory amp.

    Now sounds about perfect even with the top down at highway speeds.

    I will eventually add a matching amp (LC 800.4) and speakers (Elate 502) to the rear and call it finished but I am in no hurry because it sounds great right now.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Arlington, VA
    Posts
    9,933
    My Cars
    2018 BMW M240i
    $700 should get you a fairly high quality set of speakers as long as that $700 doesn’t include installation.

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