[mkPOTO]

Hey Guys,

So I wanted to make a thread about my latest project for my E92 M3. I am not a car audio expert like the many in here, but came upon a nice upgrade option that I wanted to share.

One of the things that I was annoyed about was the audio that was in the E92 M3. My car is equipped with the Hi-Fi system and it does the job, but was missing what I use to have in my old 335i. (Logic 7) It was not a priority to me to upgrade as many other items came first. Also, seeing what was involved turned me off a bit and I told myself I could wait.

Fast forward to a few months ago, a long time family friend started to work for MB Quart, he let me know of a direct fitment speaker set would be released by them.I was very excited to hear about this and asked him to sell me a set when they arrived.

So here is what I have currently going into my car. I am not sure if I want to go with a sub in the trunk, and still debating on this. What are you guys currently running size wise in the trunk?

I went to MB Quarts to pick up the BMW speakers and left with 2 amps and wiring kit! (ha)

Current Setup ready to install
MB Quart BMW Speaker Kit
http://www.mbquart.com/mbquart_bmw_speakers.html
MB Quart RM740.5 AMP
MB Quart RM1000.1 AMP (if I decide to use a Sub in the Trunk)
Rockford Fosgate 3sixty.3 (for Bluetooth streaming and as a processer)

Enough talk, on to the pictures. I will have pictures of when the install begins.















Unboxing

Mid's











Subwoofer


Manual.. pretty nice how much detail is in it

[Taran.J]

Sub'd. Very interesting, I have the same and am installing a sub to get me through until I find a full system replacement of my hifi system as well.

Can't wait to see it all done up

[Fooljam]

Nice kits
It is funny to see the MBQuart are 100% the same with Gladen speakers
Even the box has exactly the same layout
I wonder

[makkan00]

Originally Posted by Fooljam

Nice kits
It is funny to see the MBQuart are 100% the same with Gladen speakers
Even the box has exactly the same layout
I wonder

Thats correct.
But I do not understand why MB quartz are expensive compared to Gladen.
OP, their underseats play ver well at low frequencies upto 25-30Hz.
If you are bass addicted then you may benefit from the sub, otherwise you will be good with this kit if xovered correctly.

[mkPOTO]

Originally Posted by makkan00

Thats correct.
But I do not understand why MB quartz are expensive compared to Gladen.
OP, their underseats play ver well at low frequencies upto 25-30Hz.
If you are bass addicted then you may benefit from the sub, otherwise you will be good with this kit if xovered correctly.

thanks, I am pretty sure I will be getting a sub, thinking might as well wire it up for it and if I decide to do it down the road I dont have to rip things apart

[Fooljam]

Originally Posted by makkan00

Thats correct.
But I do not understand why MB quartz are expensive compared to Gladen.
OP, their underseats play ver well at low frequencies upto 25-30Hz.
If you are bass addicted then you may benefit from the sub, otherwise you will be good with this kit if xovered correctly.

Well actually after a bit of digging, it appears MB Quart actually copied most of the older Audio System speakers. The MB one is actually a 100% copy of the previously released, years ago, Audio System one. They have been tested by mags, here is some results.

[makkan00]

Originally Posted by Fooljam

Well actually after a bit of digging, it appears MB Quart actually copied most of the older Audio System speakers. The MB one is actually a 100% copy of the previously released, years ago, Audio System one. They have been tested by mags, here is some results.

Thanks for that. Can you kindly provide the information on what are those ratings for?

thanks.

[Fooljam]

Originally Posted by makkan00

Thanks for that. Can you kindly provide the information on what are those ratings for?

thanks.

That's all I have. This picture was provided to me by one of the manufacturer.
I believe it comes from the German mag, Car & HIFI.
http://www.carhifi-magazin.de/

The test must have been done recently enough since the Gladen 201 kit came out in May 2013 if I remember correctly.

But this at the bottom of this page might help

http://www.hifitest.de/test/car-hifi..._bmw_8476.php#

[mkPOTO]

Originally Posted by Fooljam

That's all I have. This picture was provided to me by one of the manufacturer.
I believe it comes from the German mag, Car & HIFI.
http://www.carhifi-magazin.de/

The test must have been done recently enough since the Gladen 201 kit came out in May 2013 if I remember correctly.

But this at the bottom of this page might help

http://www.hifitest.de/test/car-hifi..._bmw_8476.php#

Just talked to MB Quart and they were not aware of Gladen, but they did compare the two and you can tell they are similar, but the basket and a few other pieces are different.

Anyways, We started the RTA process today using Term Lab's software. My friend who is going to do the install is a top notch audio installer and I was so excited to have him bust out his cool toys.

Here are some pictures, we did not have enough time to do a full test and will be doing it again (also will be putting the stock seat back in for testing)

Placement of Mic, we ran the cable through the rear seats, closed them and out the trunk (closed as well)



Term Lab Software Uploading, pretty cool software

RTA testing

More

Testing Mic Setup and Term Lab Software

Playing 0db Pink Noise for the test

More of Term Lab

We will be doing another test and will post results!

[kaigoss69]

Pardon the ignorance but why was the mic placed in that position?

[Dannyboy]

Originally Posted by kaigoss69

Pardon the ignorance but why was the mic placed in that position?

Yes, I have the same question.

[mkPOTO]

Originally Posted by kaigoss69

Pardon the ignorance but why was the mic placed in that position?

well that is not were we placed the mic during our initial test. Mic was positioned on the driver seat. But my friend did bring up a good point that in order to get a true test for others to review the data I will have to place my stock seat in. I am doing that today and will be testing again.

[mkPOTO]

Got a good start on the car this weekend, the first thing we did was test the speakers with stock seats in the car.

Placement of Mic


RTA of stock stereo (bass and treble turned down)

80 DB was what it read

Next test,
Balance to the left and fader to the front (driver speaker)


RTA software reading:


Balance to the Right and fader to the front (passenger side)


Pretty similar to the front driver side


Then Balance to the Left and fader to the rear (driver side rear)


Balance to the Right and fader to the rear (passenger side rear)




We also tested from the passenger side and it was very similar


Alot of noise cancelation from the stock setup

[mkPOTO]

Now onto preparing and mounting

Stock door with Stock Speakers

First speaker mounted, as you can see no need for bracket/spacer to install these

Placement of cables

I am very anal about cables and neatness of things, so all my cables were wrapped in TechFlex (PET sleeving) and heat shrink

Pella tape was used to keep the cables in place, I know what your thinking.. isnt pella used for homes.. well yes its very similar to dynomat for half the price


Will have more pictures later, will be buttoning up the whole system this weekend!

[cadillacgrills]

good looking work so far, thanks for posting all the progress!

[jigga]

very nice. i used to have mb quarts in my accord back in the day.. loved em.

you may have inspired me to spend some money!

[mkPOTO]

Originally Posted by jigga

very nice. i used to have mb quarts in my accord back in the day.. loved em.

you may have inspired me to spend some money!

same, love mb quart products, they are always top notch. It is well worth it, I don't have the time to make brackets and spacers and wire it up, so this is the best solution

[mkPOTO]

Installation of Subwoofers

Got a lot of work done today, mounted the MB Quart subwoofers and installed them

Woofer in and Pella Tape used to hold the wires down

Ready to go back in, its pretty cool how the e92 setup is, they have a passage that goes to towards the sideskirt as a port. pretty sweet and awesome engineering from BMW

Mounted!


Stock VS. MB Quart Subwoofer

[mkPOTO]

Originally Posted by dmppdx

So how do the subwoofers sound?

Here is a video of it hooked up to the stock amp, the sound increases a bit and the bass as well

The next step is to RTA with the stock amp and see how much of a beating it can take, then I will be wiring up the 360.3 and MBQuart 5 channel amp.

[mkPOTO]

Wiring

My plan was to try to keep it as clean and oem as possible. I went to BMW and picked up some pins and connectors. My friend who works for MBQuart wanted to see what kind of difference there would be with running the stock amp.

Here is the connector for the subwoofer, again techflex cable and heat shrink


Door panels were the same as well, stock pins and connectors used


And here are some side by side shots of the oem speaker and the MBQuarts

forgot to post them earlier

[bunnysloper]

You have any idea when these speakers will be released to the U.S. market? The only ones I found were all on ebay UK or some store in Europe.

Any idea on the price in US Dollars as well?

[mkPOTO]

Originally Posted by bunnysloper

You have any idea when these speakers will be released to the U.S. market? The only ones I found were all on ebay UK or some store in Europe.

Any idea on the price in US Dollars as well?

you can contact Maxxsonics (owners of MBQuart) and purchase them directly. If you want to send me a pm I can provide you with a contact and phone number.

UPDATE!
Ran some RTA testing with the new MB Quart speakers and the stock Hi-Fi, I am pretty pleased with the results and very happy how much clear the system sounds. With the seats removed and sitting you can clearly tell how much of a difference they made. Much cheaper and the upgraded woofer bump much more than the stock ones

Here are some results


As you can tell many of the spots have leveled off and has a much nicer curve. With the processor you can easily clean up alot of unnecessary peaks, I will be installing the processor and will be doing some testing to see how much we can clean up. Like I stated before having a better amp will make a huge difference, but I wanted to see if just upgrading the speakers would make any change. Sure enough it has, I also wanted to see how much the amp could take before it gave. I have let the car sit for a few hours a day and it seems to be doing its thing. Will have more data for you guys shortly, I am very excited to see how it sounds with everything in!