adding better sound??!! - United Bimmer Community

**hydro95m3** · 10-31-2005, 06:13 PM

Are there any systems available for a 95 M3 at circuit city or best buy. all i hear is that because its a bmw there is a lot more labor involved. it sounds like bull crap. or is it true??

**c1apton** · 10-31-2005, 06:35 PM

Contact Rooz - he's the resident car audio guru on the forum

**Spieluhr** · 10-31-2005, 06:40 PM

Yes, that is absolute crap. Because you drive a BMW every person whether they are selling you a product or a service will jack up the price. The installation on your car would be the same as on any other.

Do any and ALL basic audio work on your own. www.crutchfield.com has a great selection on head units and they all come with installation kits and instructions for FREE. An audio NOOB can install a headunit in about an hour max.

Aside from that speakers, subs, amps, etc. Just do a little research and you can find something for you. I recommend buying the rest of your items from discount stores online or on eBay.

this link has a few write ups on some DIY audio projects...
http://www.geocities.com/e36rulz/DIY.html

**Dudesky** · 10-31-2005, 06:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hydro95m3

Are there any systems available for a 95 M3 at circuit city or best buy. all i hear is that because its a bmw there is a lot more labor involved. it sounds like bull crap. or is it true??

No. It's not much more labor if you're an experienced installer. The biggest obstacle is that the factory crossovers are integrated into the stock amplifier. Also, the wires at the amp harnesses are sometimes set up in a slightly unorthodox and non-linear fashion.

Places like Circuit City & Best Buy can't afford to hire real techs with good experience. That's why they take longer to work on certain makes. Basically you're paying for their lack of experience. Take your Bimmer elsewhere- I wouldn't trust those people in the first place. If you're looking for BMW specific audio, try bavsound.com.

**hydro95m3** · 11-13-2005, 06:48 PM

thanks for your advise. i have decided not to waste any money at best buy or circuit city. unfortunatley, not much of a selection here in daytona beach for other audio stores, i guess ill head to orlando.

**Rooz** · 11-13-2005, 07:20 PM

Actually, it's not JUST because it's a BMW, true the way OE sound system is setup in a BMW isn't that great to work on as far as aftermarket goes.

As far as it having a lot more labor involved, it's NOT just like any system that has an OE amp, it's a bit more complicated due to the fact of the way the amp works, for instance, if you notice, your car ought to have 1 speaker with two tweeters for the front, and the rear you have about 4" with another tweeter.

IF you were to go IDENTICAL size to replace those, for the rear I think it's $450ish (not 100% sure there)..... BUT there are ways to get around that, for instance I had a friend come by work the other day, his rear speakers on a 95 m3 were just done for. We replaced them with 4" Boston speakers and I told him to put some weather stripping in between the speakers and the little black plastic box from the factory so they would be sealed, they sounded much better than factory.

What you can also do is go for the 6*9 route and upgrade a little, I know that Bavarian Soundwerks sells some adapter plates that work like a charm...

For the fronts you have to go components, but you will have only 1 tweeter, you could have both tweeters but, in order to have both there is a good bit of money involved, and quite frankly, NOT worth it. Any regular 5.25" component speakers would do just fine....

What do you mean, by "Adding better sound"? What are you planning to add?

But yeah, since we drive BMW they are a bit more complicated than other cars since there is more engineering done with them, but it doesn't always have to be more expensive because there are MANY routes you can take to have a better sound system...