[Tarekith]

(reposting here because it's my understanding the audio systems in the X1 and X2 are identical).

The stock audio system in the X2 is just... annoying to me. There's this huge peak around 3-5kHz that just makes everything sound overly harsh, and with just bass and treble tone controls there's no way to tame the midrange. I'm looking for a relatively quick way to tone down some of that harshness and improve the sound of things.

I'm a professional audio mastering engineer AND I used to compete in car audio many years ago, so I know how quickly I can get over obsessive about my music listening. At some point I will likely do a complete audio make over of my 2020 M35i, but for now I just want a quick drop-in fix to tame some of that harshness and improve the imaging.

I've already seen some videos on replacing the 5 main speakers for the HiFi system (do we have the subs under the seats btw?), so I know I can do it myself easy enough. But is it worth roughly $1k for the Focal replacements? I'm a big fan of their speakers from the music studio monitors they make, but I'm open to other ideas as well.

Thanks!

[iceman7]

A friend in the ΒΜW X1 Greek Club has switched to Focal

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Focal-Integ...AAAOSwJCZdg5co

Great results!

[Tarekith]

Great, thanks!

[Ridin'Dirty]

Originally Posted by Tarekith

At some point I will likely do a complete audio make over of my 2020 M35i, but for now I just want a quick drop-in fix to tame some of that harshness.

Have you considered first replacing the stock Hi-Fi amp with one that has DSP capabilities? I choose the Match Up 7BMW amp to better contour the sound and positional timing of the originally installed Hi-Fi speakers. Later I added a separate powered sub to pass and/or reinforce those lower bass frequency's that the under-the-seat woofers lack.

[Xorbitman]

I have the sound system that's above the base system but not the HK system. I had my local car audio shop here in Montreal install 2 Pioneer tweeters and a powered subwoofer with an active crossover. I love the sound and the tweeters are good looking. My X1 came with the subs under the front seats. However I use those as lower mids / upper subs. The tweeters in the doors are now mids and the Pioneers handle mids to highs. The sub is tight and using the eq in the BMW and the EQ that comes with the Pioneers Sub was a bit tricky to get right but now it's much better. I'm have a lot of experience from my youth as a radio station DJ. I changed careers but became an audiophile with several systems over the years. I have a couple of sports cars including a G37 Coupe with a Bose system that I find very clean. I'm also a Jazz musician, and play keyboards. I have a new Yamaha Keyboard and a professional PA system so I know a thing or two about sound quality and can honestly say that the best system is the one that doesn't draw attention to itself and sounds smooth and natural. This is what I think I've achieved. I will try and post a picture of the Sub in the hidden compartment in the trunk, the sub is held in place with professional velcro which also serves to isolate it from the floor of the trunk preventing rattling: I wasn't happy with the sound and this is what I installed:

[Tarekith]

I ended up ordering the Focals for the front 3 speakers, I'll try those first and see if they fix my issue. Should be here on Tuesday. The DSP amps look interesting, but they only work with Windows OS so that's a no go for me.

[Tarekith]

Ok, got the 3 front speakers installed this afternoon. I thought it was pretty funny how small the stock voice coil magnet is, never seen one that small:



Overall the install was pretty easy, Bavsound has a nice video for the X2 on YouTube that walks you through how to take off the door panels and the center speaker cover. I'm sure the X1 is identical. Everything in the Focal kit just slots right in, perfect fit.

Nice upgrade in sound overall. Definitely better lower mids and the highs are MUCH less piercing. Overall tighter imaging too, the sense of depth and space is a lot more precise. I still think the speakers needed to be replaced before the amp for the greatest result, but I can also tell now that the current stock amp is running out of juice pretty early too. I'll look into that soon, hopefully I can find something that doesn't require Windows OS to set up the DSP, grrr....

The only downside on the new speakers is that I only replaced the front three thinking those would be enough of an improvement for the driver. However you can definitely still hear the harsh highs coming from the rear door speakers, so I just ordered those as well.

Feel free to ask if you have any questions about the install process.

[Xorbitman]

I didn't bother changing these. As you saw from my picture the Pioneer tweeters do a much better job covering the mids to the highs....IMHO even if the magnet is small and probably the spider too, it's too small to make a difference. On the other hand getting the speakers under the seat to do the lower mids and upper bass really cleans things up.

[Budgie]

I bought a audison complete system,amp, front door and separate tweeters, rear set with in built tweeter, harman surrounds for the windows and sound deadening for all the doors, I’ve never fitted a audio system but watch countless videos and thought, I can do this, well I did. Total outlay all in for trim tools and literally everything was around £1250. Sound is now amazing compared to harman and stock. Ohhh and the 2 subs under the seats....nearly forgot....doh

[allwheelsdriven]

I just put in the focal two way 4" speakers and underseat 8" subs. Huge improvement in detail and dynamics.

[justdriving]

Originally Posted by Ridin'Dirty

Have you considered first replacing the stock Hi-Fi amp with one that has DSP capabilities? I choose the Match Up 7BMW amp to better contour the sound and positional timing of the originally installed Hi-Fi speakers. Later I added a separate powered sub to pass and/or reinforce those lower bass frequency's that the under-the-seat woofers lack.

Reading all of the posts about sound quality, I was planning to purchase a Match Up 7bmw to replace my stock HiFi amp.
However, I’m starting to get nervous that this won’t be a plug-n-play replacement.

Does anyone know if the 2020 X1 with hifi (s676) has the directly replaceable amp?
I read that the 2020 X3 hifi has s676 instead of s676A, where the radio/dsp/amp are a new all-in-one and not drop-in replaceable.
My new 2020 X1 doesn’t have a cd-player, so I’m worried I also have a s676 instead of s676A.

I can’t find anything definitive online that says whether the 2020 X1 has the same audio system as 2016-2019.
Would love to know if anyone here has direct knowledge, or if there’s a way to tell without opening up my back panels.


Also curious which focals you purchased.

If going component and adding tweeters to my hifi, is there a non-destructive option? I have a lease, so would want to return the car to stock before turning it back in.

Thanks!!

[Tarekith]

I went with the Focal IC BMW100L speakers for the doors, and the ICC BMW 100 for the center channel. These are a direct swap for the stock speakers, nothing else required. If you upgrade to separate tweeter versions, you will need new rear door panels and the A-pillar trim piece for the front doors to install them.

Personally if I was using a lease and had to return it, I'd forget the separate tweeter option.

[mingus]

I put the Bavsound replacements in my X3 and it made a huge difference. happy with the results. the installer also covered the doors with dynamat, I'm sure that also helped.

the X3 is getting up in miles and I will replace with something newer soon, was thinking X1 maybe.

[Movnmik]

I upgraded the speakers like Tarekith. I went with the Focals IC 100Ls for all the door speakers and the ICC 100 for the center dash. I considered going with the non-coaxial speakers but decided getting more parts to integrate into the car was a bit more than I wanted to pay. I got the speakers from audioforfun@gmail.com which I found on Ebay and thought I got a very good deal.

I replaced the amp with the Audio Fischer Match Up 7BMW.

I coudln't be more pleased with the change. It's truly 100x better. Which is sad that BMW puts such crappy audio hardware into any of their cars.

Install wasn't bad at all and did all the speakers in about 3 hours. The amp change took about 2 hours. Next change will be the woofers but that won't happen for some time.

The down side of the change was the increase in the overall weight of the car and resulting decrease in speed. The newer speakers voice coils are much larger and heavier than the originals..

[allwheelsdriven]

Originally Posted by Movnmik

I upgraded the speakers like Tarekith. Next change will be the woofers but that won't happen for some time.

The down side of the change was the increase in the overall weight of the car and resulting decrease in speed. The newer speakers voice coils are much larger and heavier than the originals..

Sorry laughing here... I know the Focals have larger magnets but seriously?! Maybe one less fast food meal a week?

[Xorbitman]

Yes it's truly sad that despite BMW having an excellent infotainment system and especially in the 2021 models with the much bigger screen, the audio systems including the HK suck big time. My 2012 Infiniti G37xS Coupe came with the Bose system a graphic eq with lots of speakers. When I took it to get upgraded my local specialty shop told me that that car's sound system was one of the best out there and replacing the speakers wouldn't accomplish anything. I was ready to spend big money like over $2000! All we did was put some sound deadening pads in the 2 doors. Amazingly enough the car still has not a single rattle after 8 years! I have a USB port, Blue Tooth, aux & video input and Satellite. I use mostly my Sat: Sirius XM subscription and a USB thumb drive with days worth of music in categories as folders and can find music easily despite a few hundred tracks (artist, song, category (Rock, R&B, Smooth Jazz, etc). I have a friend that had a 4 year old 535 xi and it had very ordinary sound quality, he just traded in for a X3 M4.0...and I have yet to hear the sound system in that one.

[Tarekith]

Originally Posted by allwheelsdriven

Sorry laughing here... I know the Focals have larger magnets but seriously?! Maybe one less fast food meal a week?

Yeah I thought that was a joke myself. It’s what, maybe half a small bag of groceries in terms of weight. If that. 😂

[Movnmik]

Originally Posted by allwheelsdriven

Sorry laughing here... I know the Focals have larger magnets but seriously?! Maybe one less fast food meal a week?

I probably do need to cut out some of my fast food diet..all kidding aside the change was totally worth it.

[allwheelsdriven]

The bimmer tech dsp amp is a whole another range of improvement.

[Tarekith]

Shame you can only configure it with Windows based computers

[Fredro]

I upgraded to Bavsound speakers and subwoofers from stock hifi system, and what a vast improvement. Was quite pricey though but worth it. Stock system was horrendous.

[Tarekith]

Yeah I've been eyeing the Bavsound amp for awhile now. Same issue as the bimmer tech amp in that they only offer tuning via a Windows app and I'm fully a Mac guy. I might reach out to Bavsound and see if they'd due a custom tune for me before shipping it.

You're right though, I really cannot fathom why they EQ'd the stock system the way they did. The massive boost from 4-12kHz is just painful. It's so bad I took the car to dealership thinking maybe it was defective, and they said that's how it's supposed to be.