[Bimmerfun82]

Originally Posted by stlcdr

This is generally why I buy the best audio system for a convertible. A base system would be OK in an enclosed car, but the added noise will overwhelm an audio system.

Additionally, there's no point in putting an absolute best audio system in a convertible, because, again the baseline noise. Or, more specifically, the cost of the system will ramp up exponentially to get to a level that satisfies even a fraction of the audio 'aficionados'. aka. cost-benefit.

I'm happy with the HK system, but I can see (hear!) where it falls down very quickly. There are areas in the audio spectrum where I can hear it lacking. While it doesn't bother me, I can understand why someone would want an upgrade.

Back in the day on my 2012 x5 with HK I spent $1200 to upgrade by adding an amp and sub. Took an 800 watt system up to 1600. The clarity was unreal at any volume. I think I’ll try this approach here and see what happens. The 2013 M3 convertible I had sounded really good without any mods. The Z doesn’t have as much room to breathe and speaker placement and quantity is limited.

[tracer bullet]

So, I have a 135i, I'm here because I constantly browse for updates on any future manual transmission Z4. But - I thought as an HK system owner I might share something.

I did the MusicarNW "full bass" pacakge. It's a JL Audio amp with 4 channels. 2 feed to the underseat 8" mid-subs, and 2 are bridged to feed a new sub in the trunk (sealed 10" in a custom enclosure they make).

For bass overall, it's far more than any normal person needs. I learned along the way when tuning it that the simple extra power going to the underseat mids alone was enough to make a huge difference. I didn't at that point decide I didn't need the sub, but it was really noticeable how much the underseats improved with the extra power available. I spent a while tinkering with their gains before adding the sub and was impressed at what they actually were capable of given the extra power.

The amp intercepted signal through the wiring at the amp, there's a member "Technic" here that builds such things. It was literally plug & play and simply added onto the existing system.

So, maybe that gives a few ideas. If I do end up with a Z4 at some point I'm positive I'll have the exact same questions and desires regarding a little more bump from the stereo.

[Bimmerfun82]

Originally Posted by tracer bullet

So, I have a 135i, I'm here because I constantly browse for updates on any future manual transmission Z4. But - I thought as an HK system owner I might share something.

I did the MusicarNW "full bass" pacakge. It's a JL Audio amp with 4 channels. 2 feed to the underseat 8" mid-subs, and 2 are bridged to feed a new sub in the trunk (sealed 10" in a custom enclosure they make).

For bass overall, it's far more than any normal person needs. I learned along the way when tuning it that the simple extra power going to the underseat mids alone was enough to make a huge difference. I didn't at that point decide I didn't need the sub, but it was really noticeable how much the underseats improved with the extra power available. I spent a while tinkering with their gains before adding the sub and was impressed at what they actually were capable of given the extra power.

The amp intercepted signal through the wiring at the amp, there's a member "Technic" here that builds such things. It was literally plug & play and simply added onto the existing system.

So, maybe that gives a few ideas. If I do end up with a Z4 at some point I'm positive I'll have the exact same questions and desires regarding a little more bump from the stereo.

Thank you! Considering a similar approach - upgraded amp, signal processor, adding another amp and sub combo box from JL Audio. I'll let you know the result

[RavenGX]

Originally Posted by Bimmerfun82

Thank you! Considering a similar approach - upgraded amp, signal processor, adding another amp and sub combo box from JL Audio. I'll let you know the result

i am also looking into an upgrade of tythe hk system.
I'm not entirely sure yet which route i'll go: full speaker upgrade, or only amp and sub box in the trunk, or a combination of both.

I have a meeting with an installer a few weeks from now to discuss the options a bit more.

[Bimmerfun82]

Originally Posted by RavenGX

i am also looking into an upgrade of tythe hk system.
I'm not entirely sure yet which route i'll go: full speaker upgrade, or only amp and sub box in the trunk, or a combination of both.

I have a meeting with an installer a few weeks from now to discuss the options a bit more.

Thought about this, but for 5-7k and fact I switch cars every couple years decided to start with the amp sub addition and then see if I want to replace the speakers as a next step.

[RavenGX]

Originally Posted by Bimmerfun82

Thought about this, but for 5-7k and fact I switch cars every couple years decided to start with the amp sub addition and then see if I want to replace the speakers as a next step.

5-7 k seems expensive.

An audio upgrade is around 3000 euro here
and an amp/sub box upgrade around 1500

if you switch cars a lot i would go for an amp/sub combination you can "easily" remove those and plug them into the next car

[Bimmerfun82]

Originally Posted by RavenGX

5-7 k seems expensive.

An audio upgrade is around 3000 euro here
and an amp/sub box upgrade around 1500

if you switch cars a lot i would go for an amp/sub combination you can "easily" remove those and plug them into the next car

1200 USD for the amp/sub/signal processor/knob control incl. install.

To replace every speaker in the car is at least another $5k depending on quality of speakers

Agree with going with something easily removable

[Bimmerfun82]

OK it's done - sounds amazing. I've only listened to it for 30 minutes, but I would definitely recommend this approach. I am keeping the lows and lower mids turned down a bit in the equalizer which seems to give more power to the mids and hi including tweeters. Listened to some fairly immersive music like Ellie Goulding and Rufus du Sol - and it sounds incredible. Will give it more listening over the coming weeks with more genres but this is a huge step up. I may invest in better speakers in the future if necessary but hopefully won't need to.

I'm not a big bass shake the car kind of listener, just wanted to hear more immersive and clear sound with tighter bass - this does so with the bass nob at 20%-40% depending on the type of music. If the bass is turned up too high it affects the low end exhaust fake noise soundtrack, so I may if needed ask BMW service to disengage it - but didn't seem to be much of an issue with the bass turned to a reasonable volume.

This is the least invasive approach, and I think the biggest bang for the buck.

Didn't lose a ton of trunk space, but definitely a consideration on this.

[ebirotedu]

Looks interesting. How exactly is this wired into the stock system?

Originally Posted by Bimmerfun82

OK it's done - sounds amazing. I've only listened to it for 30 minutes, but I would definitely recommend this approach. I am keeping the lows and lower mids turned down a bit in the equalizer which seems to give more power to the mids and hi including tweeters. Listened to some fairly immersive music like Ellie Goulding and Rufus du Sol - and it sounds incredible. Will give it more listening over the coming weeks with more genres but this is a huge step up. I may invest in better speakers in the future if necessary but hopefully won't need to.

I'm not a big bass shake the car kind of listener, just wanted to hear more immersive and clear sound with tighter bass - this does so with the bass nob at 20%-40% depending on the type of music. If the bass is turned up too high it affects the low end exhaust fake noise soundtrack, so I may if needed ask BMW service to disengage it - but didn't seem to be much of an issue with the bass turned to a reasonable volume.

This is the least invasive approach, and I think the biggest bang for the buck.

Didn't lose a ton of trunk space, but definitely a consideration on this.

[RavenGX]

Originally Posted by Bimmerfun82

OK it's done - sounds amazing....
Didn't lose a ton of trunk space, but definitely a consideration on this.

What did you do with the ski hatch? do you keep it closed? or did you remove the doors?

[Bimmerfun82]

Originally Posted by RavenGX

What did you do with the ski hatch? do you keep it closed? or did you remove the doors?

Good question - left them as is, they're semi-open so I can hear the bass better.

[Bimmerfun82]

Originally Posted by ebirotedu

Looks interesting. How exactly is this wired into the stock system?

Sorry, don't know exactly how they wired it in.

[SpeedyATL]

I'd like to hear this setup. Maybe at the next C&C.

Not my speed generally speaking, but I do love good sounding tunes, so perhaps...loss of trunk space is tough though.

Were there any other placement options that you considered (under seat, etc) but was just too challenging? Could you have accomplished 80% of this in 50% the space? How important is aiming it through the ski door - could it have been placed against one of the sides of the trunk with much the same impact?

Just questions to see what my options might be, not picking at your decisions.

[Westside Guy]

Originally Posted by SpeedyATL

I'd like to hear this setup. Maybe at the next C&C.

Not my speed generally speaking, but I do love good sounding tunes, so perhaps...loss of trunk space is tough though.

Were there any other placement options that you considered (under seat, etc) but was just too challenging? Could you have accomplished 80% of this in 50% the space? How important is aiming it through the ski door - could it have been placed against one of the sides of the trunk with much the same impact?

Just questions to see what my options might be, not picking at your decisions.

Good questions because one of the perks of owning a Z4 is the extremely large trunk capacity which is unusual for a roadster like this.

This was a picture which I saved that was posted by one of our members some time ago and everything in this photo fit inside the Z4's trunk.

[Bimmerfun82]

Originally Posted by SpeedyATL

I'd like to hear this setup. Maybe at the next C&C.

Not my speed generally speaking, but I do love good sounding tunes, so perhaps...loss of trunk space is tough though.

Were there any other placement options that you considered (under seat, etc) but was just too challenging? Could you have accomplished 80% of this in 50% the space? How important is aiming it through the ski door - could it have been placed against one of the sides of the trunk with much the same impact?

Just questions to see what my options might be, not picking at your decisions.

Great questions. Next C&C you'll have to sit and listen for a while.

The option to reduce size was to fabricate a speaker compartment on the side of the trunk for an additional $800. I liked that idea but I don't keep cars very long - hopefully this time will be different, love this car - so I wanted something that I can remove and use in the future. And although that would have put the speaker/amp out of the way 1) it required a week in the shop and 2) we don't use the ski door anyway and don't need the extra space.

The other option of course was to replace the subs in the car and potentially other speakers and to upgrade the amp or amp/signal processor. I liked that idea, but the downsides are it's more expensive and this changes quite a bit of the the existing system with difficulty extracting that value in the future.

[Bimmerfun82]

Originally Posted by Westside Guy

Good questions because one of the perks of owning a Z4 is the extremely large trunk capacity which is unusual for a roadster like this.

This was a picture which I saved that was posted by one of our members some time ago and everything in this photo fit inside the Z4's trunk.

It is a cavernous trunk! My wife and I travel light, and if we take the kids somewhere we don't store them in the trunk.

The most I've used the trunk for is groceries - but I'll have to use the SUV for large grocery runs now.

[ebirotedu]

Ah, I see. Someone else had posted some details for a Z4 upgrade a while back and I had thought I might copy it.

Ultimately I got cold feet because using the recommended special factory stereo connector, the sub only adds to the existing system rather than cutting the factory 8" subs out entirely. It occurred to me that the ASD feature would make use of the sub too and I wasn't sure how that would work.

That's why I was curious about how your sub is connected to the factory system. I'm wondering if they did something similar, basically piggybacking the sub/amp onto the existing system without changing anything else.

Do you notice any difference with ASD if the sub output is turned up? And is it otherwise a non-issue at whatever level you normally have the sub for listening?

This is the connecter I would have used to splice a sub in: https://technicpnp.com/product/hk-op...oster-systems/

And here's a pic of the 10" Rockford-Fosgate active sub I test fit - it only just fit at 13.something inches tall:
https://g29.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...postcount=1080

Originally Posted by Bimmerfun82

Sorry, don't know exactly how they wired it in.

[Bimmerfun82]

Originally Posted by ebirotedu

Ah, I see. Someone else had posted some details for a Z4 upgrade a while back and I had thought I might copy it.

Ultimately I got cold feet because using the recommended special factory stereo connector, the sub only adds to the existing system rather than cutting the factory 8" subs out entirely. It occurred to me that the ASD feature would make use of the sub too and I wasn't sure how that would work.

That's why I was curious about how your sub is connected to the factory system. I'm wondering if they did something similar, basically piggybacking the sub/amp onto the existing system without changing anything else.

Do you notice any difference with ASD if the sub output is turned up? And is it otherwise a non-issue at whatever level you normally have the sub for listening?

This is the connecter I would have used to splice a sub in: https://technicpnp.com/product/hk-op...oster-systems/

And here's a pic of the 10" Rockford-Fosgate active sub I test fit - it only just fit at 13.something inches tall:
https://g29.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...postcount=1080

The only issue with ASD is at initial acceleration at low speeds with the sub turned all the way up. They must have bypassed it somehow because it's a non-issue. I'll find out.

[Bimmerfun82]

Originally Posted by ebirotedu

Ah, I see. Someone else had posted some details for a Z4 upgrade a while back and I had thought I might copy it.

Ultimately I got cold feet because using the recommended special factory stereo connector, the sub only adds to the existing system rather than cutting the factory 8" subs out entirely. It occurred to me that the ASD feature would make use of the sub too and I wasn't sure how that would work.

That's why I was curious about how your sub is connected to the factory system. I'm wondering if they did something similar, basically piggybacking the sub/amp onto the existing system without changing anything else.

Do you notice any difference with ASD if the sub output is turned up? And is it otherwise a non-issue at whatever level you normally have the sub for listening?

This is the connecter I would have used to splice a sub in: https://technicpnp.com/product/hk-op...oster-systems/

And here's a pic of the 10" Rockford-Fosgate active sub I test fit - it only just fit at 13.something inches tall:
https://g29.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...postcount=1080

After listening in various forms and ways, different speeds and volumes etc. the ASD is a non-issue with this setup…the only time I’ve noticed anything is at idle with the music turned down low and the sub turned up a little higher than I would normally have it. In this scenario it gives an impression the exhaust sounds better than it does.

[RavenGX]

I just got back from the shop where i will get my upgrade done.
We decided on going the other route, i will get all the harman kardon speakers upgraded to hertz speakers and add a better dsp.

They will also put in cables so if it's not as good as i want that i can easily ad in a subwoofer in the trunk afterwards.

[Bimmerfun82]

Originally Posted by RavenGX

I just got back from the shop where i will get my upgrade done.
We decided on going the other route, i will get all the harman kardon speakers upgraded to hertz speakers and add a better dsp.

They will also put in cables so if it's not as good as i want that i can easily ad in a subwoofer in the trunk afterwards.

This is the better - and more expensive - approach. I wonder how the panels behind the seats will handle the better subs.

[RavenGX]

Originally Posted by Bimmerfun82

This is the better - and more expensive - approach. I wonder how the panels behind the seats will handle the better subs.

I havent recived an estimate yet, probably by the end of next week.
But i'm guessing around 3000 euro, the cheapest dsp upgrade was around 1100euro already

he already did some research.
And apearantly his supplier in germany has done some z4's already.They warned him to add some vibration dampening between the panels, so hopefully it will work out fine