Need Advice/help with audio upgrade in 2004 BMW.
 

Hey guys, I'm new to this board, but there seems to be so much knowledge being around!

I'm always driving on the road for the line of work I'm in, so I'd like to improve my driving experience with a sound system which is up to my standards (I'm a home audiophile as well, with a taste for bass in the car audio field)


so I thought I'd ask.

car is a 2004 bmw 330ci m performance edition with Harmon Kardon upgraded audio system.

equipment I currently have. David Navone line out converter, and Elemental Designs 13 OV.2 sub, 30 gig Ipod Video.

building a 1.2 cubic foot sealed with bracing for the sub to fit in the spare tire well, and creating a false floor to hold the amps/sub. Wraping it all in Black Suede with brushed aluminum accents.

What I want to accomplish:

Great SQ at the same time, very good bass output if I need to use it.

looking for easy Ipod integration, along with good Eq features.

And also, I don't want to modify the doors permanantly to hold components. Instead, I'd like to do kick panels if possible that can be easily removed in the future without leaving a mess, if I decide to sell the car.

Now my questions are:

Should I stick with the Davidnavone lineout converter (suposed to be high end) and tap the stock Headunit preamps before the factory amp.

or Upgrade to aftermarket deck (Alpine 9856, alpine IVA-d100)

What amps should I buy? Stick with Elemental nine.1 and nine.2 or go with another company?

Who can build amazing kick panels at a decent price, and still complete the work without creating a mess? Are kick panels a bad idea in a manual BMW daily driver?

I'd appreciate anyone's suggestions! thank you!

What is your location in Ontario??

yes I'm in Ontario.

why do you ask?

I would not do kickpanels personally. I would keep it stealth and put the speakers in the stock locations. Next I would either replace the basic LOC that you have and use a Audio Control 6XS or LC8 to interface between the factory head and the new amps. A better option of course is to install a good cd player, my recommendation is an Eclipse with the Ipod interface as well.

For speakers, youi have tons to choose from. For the most part putting speakers into kick panels yields some poor tonal results as you are severely limiting the amount of airspace for the woofer.

ED...I'll reserve my opinion on.

I asked because if you are in the London, Ont area Fox Autosound does some really nice work in the way of kick panels. He is in Dorchester, ON

I guess you are right about the kickpanels. better to leave it stealth.

What's wrong with ED?

I've owned many high end brands in the past, and have decided its just not worth spending the same amount of money for high end gear, when ED is almost as good, at a fraction of the price... but I could be wrong, I really haven't spent enough time listening to all their gear.


Thanks, its pretty far from me.

I might just steer away from kickpanels all together.

Are alpine's entry level amps any good?

In a car like that, real pretty, it's best to keep things out of sight. As for the Alpine entry level amps, I've never had problems with them and they sound as good as the other lines. In fact I actually like them because they are very no nonsense looking...just black with a big heatsink/cover.

You get what you pay for. I'm sure ED is fine for some people. For others it is a far cry from a above average product. If ED was designed and engineered to be a Zapco or Focal at a fraction of the price, I would be interested as a dealer. However it is not designed to be such a line. It is designed to be exactly what it is, sold as a entry level product that does an alright job if used properly.

Nice car man that is deeerrtyyy :appl:

Have you thought about not using an enclosure and just mounting subs behind the rear seat and use the trunk space as the woofer's air space? I have a pic of that somewhere, I'll post it later.

^^I believe you're referring to the M3 that was done by Defro at Andre's. I did a search and here they are: