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      04-01-2011, 04:13 PM   #23
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you answered that question for me because I am in Columbus as well I think I will put that extra $400 to better use
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      04-03-2011, 03:36 AM   #24
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Got all the equipment to go in the car...



Half of this is being installed by BMW tomorrow morning... The rest by a local Audio installer as soon as I get the Sub Enclosure from Ben (TPLSM3).

You might notice some Morel Tweeters and Crossovers on the right... I have a set of Dotech Ovation II 6" component Splits that I never got around to putting in my last car. I'm going to let BMW install the Alpine Kit and then swap out the crossovers and Tweeters myself.

If anyone happens to have a spare pair of Morel Dotech Ovation 4" Drivers I'd be very interested.

And I'm never going to buy anything from Scmiedmann again. Absolutely zero after-sales service. 3 emails to them and haven't heard a word back about the damaged tweeter...

- Harlequin
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      04-03-2011, 05:27 AM   #25
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I'm jealous, but certainly not "before" the install. I'll be green with envy only "after" the install and everything is working as expected.
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      04-03-2011, 01:51 PM   #26
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Originally Posted by Harlequin View Post
Got all the equipment to go in the car...

Half of this is being installed by BMW tomorrow morning... The rest by a local Audio installer as soon as I get the Sub Enclosure from Ben (TPLSM3).

You might notice some Morel Tweeters and Crossovers on the right... I have a set of Dotech Ovation II 6" component Splits that I never got around to putting in my last car. I'm going to let BMW install the Alpine Kit and then swap out the crossovers and Tweeters myself.

If anyone happens to have a spare pair of Morel Dotech Ovation 4" Drivers I'd be very interested.

And I'm never going to buy anything from Scmiedmann again. Absolutely zero after-sales service. 3 emails to them and haven't heard a word back about the damaged tweeter...

- Harlequin
WOW!

Looks like your doing much more of a custom system than I. Good luck with everything.

Sorry to hear about your problems with Schmiedmann. I never had to deal with them myself, other than placing the order online and waiting for it to ship. It's too bad they're so terrible about even responding to their customers, much less resolving any issues like this...
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      04-03-2011, 10:08 PM   #27
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Harlequin View Post
Got all the equipment to go in the car...



Half of this is being installed by BMW tomorrow morning... The rest by a local Audio installer as soon as I get the Sub Enclosure from Ben (TPLSM3).

You might notice some Morel Tweeters and Crossovers on the right... I have a set of Dotech Ovation II 6" component Splits that I never got around to putting in my last car. I'm going to let BMW install the Alpine Kit and then swap out the crossovers and Tweeters myself.

If anyone happens to have a spare pair of Morel Dotech Ovation 4" Drivers I'd be very interested.

And I'm never going to buy anything from Scmiedmann again. Absolutely zero after-sales service. 3 emails to them and haven't heard a word back about the damaged tweeter...

- Harlequin
I only dream I could upgrade to something like this. Congrats and good luck!
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      04-04-2011, 03:26 AM   #28
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HOLY SNAPPIN' DUCKSHIT!!!

I cannot believe what a difference this upgrade makes... Now I wonder if I actually need the rest of the upgrades (Rear speakers and JL 10" Sub). That's not gonna stop me doing it of course...

It sounds AMAZING. Heaps of bottom end. Midrange is MUCH fuller and the top end is crystal clear.

It also raises the soundstage up to eye level - where it should be.

Oh... and it's WAY louder


VERY VERY VERY Happy. Everyone should do this upgrade.



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      04-04-2011, 04:16 AM   #29
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Originally Posted by Harlequin View Post
HOLY SNAPPIN' DUCKSHIT!!!

I cannot believe what a difference this upgrade makes... Now I wonder if I actually need the rest of the upgrades (Rear speakers and JL 10" Sub). That's not gonna stop me doing it of course...

It sounds AMAZING. Heaps of bottom end. Midrange is MUCH fuller and the top end is crystal clear.

It also raises the soundstage up to eye level - where it should be.

Oh... and it's WAY louder


VERY VERY VERY Happy. Everyone should do this upgrade.



- Harlequin
Great you finally got it done. Glad you like it. Your comments echo pretty much how I feel, too.

The amp alone provides literally an exponential increase in power. At least by a factor of 10, if not greater.

And just having the tweeters at all raises the soundstage as you said, which is much more pleasant of course. It's just much fuller as well.

I did a fair amount of driving this weekend (6+ hours each way) and got the chance to listen to a lot of different music - the clarity and brilliance of this arrangement is what strikes me the most. And it gets better with increased volume, as I find it takes a bit of power to really bring the subs to life.

Just curious what EQ settings you're using? I'm still toying with it myself, but right now I'm on Bass +8 and Treble +4.
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      04-04-2011, 04:20 AM   #30
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Just curious what EQ settings you're using? I'm still toying with it myself, but right now I'm on Bass +8 and Treble +4.
Still letting it run in and only had the chance to drive it for about 1/2 an hour but currently I've got it on Bass +8 and Treble +7.

I like a fair amount of top end...

I expect to turn the Bass down to about 3 or 4 once I put the Sub in the boot. It will depend on how it balances out...

I'll probably turn the tweeters down a bit once they've loosened up too...

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      04-04-2011, 08:24 AM   #31
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Great write up OP.

Thinking about upgrading my garbage base system and this might be a good start.
A couple of questions.
Anyone know the wattage the Alpine puts out?
Can the underseat 'subs' be replaced with better ones(either hi-fi subs or aftermarket)?
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      04-04-2011, 08:49 AM   #32
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According to a brochure I have, the Alpine amp puts out 80W x 4 channels. I haven't found any numbers for total wattage. The model number printed on the amp is "PDA-F200," but Google doesn't turn up any specs for it.

As far as upgrading the subs, some people have used the Earthquake SWS-8 subs because they're apparently easy to fit, but I think they will be underpowered. I know of one person (Imperator on E90Post) who fit the Top HiFi/Logic7 subs and was pleased with the results, but they're over $300 each. The normal HiFi subs are about half that cost and would be an upgrade over what we have in our cars. Imperator had this to say about subwoofer choice:

It won't matter if you're using 2-ohm or 4-ohm SWS-8 drivers-- the Alpine's Class-D circuitry will output the same power (roughly) at either impedance. I'd recommend the use of OEM HiFi or Logic7 subs over the SWS-8s. The Alpine amp doesn't address the current needs (read: preferences) of the Earthquakes and the OEM drivers are much better for midbass response.

I'm only quoting someone else because I'm pretty much an audio noob and can't really get into the hows and whys of all of this.
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      04-04-2011, 08:55 AM   #33
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bimmer-Bob View Post
According to a brochure I have, the Alpine amp puts out 80W x 4 channels. I haven't found any numbers for total wattage. The model number printed on the amp is "PDA-F200," but Google doesn't turn up any specs for it.

As far as upgrading the subs, some people have used the Earthquake SWS-8 subs because they're apparently easy to fit, but I think they will be underpowered. I know of one person (Imperator on E90Post) who fit the Top HiFi/Logic7 subs and was pleased with the results, but they're over $300 each. The normal HiFi subs are about half that cost and would be an upgrade over what we have in our cars. Imperator had this to say about subwoofer choice:

It won't matter if you're using 2-ohm or 4-ohm SWS-8 drivers-- the Alpine's Class-D circuitry will output the same power (roughly) at either impedance. I'd recommend the use of OEM HiFi or Logic7 subs over the SWS-8s. The Alpine amp doesn't address the current needs (read: preferences) of the Earthquakes and the OEM drivers are much better for midbass response.

I'm only quoting someone else because I'm pretty much an audio noob and can't really get into the hows and whys of all of this.

^^^^^What he said

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      04-27-2011, 07:08 PM   #34
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Just called the dealer, told me 4 hrs labor to install this kit......so it would be about $400!! That's INSANE!!!!
You're lucky, my dealer quoted me 8 hours at $100 an hour for a total of $800 fucking dollars. I could barely contain myself as she was telling me this. The kit itself costs half that. I've directed over $250,000 dollars of sales to this place, $85,000 last month alone. I couldn't believe they would try to screw me like this. Debating whether to shop around quotes from other dealers, car audio installation shops or just save my money and forget about it...
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      06-19-2011, 07:53 AM   #35
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You guys are lucky ... My local dealership wanted to charge me over $900 for installation and coding, to be exact "$924 off the door, may be a little less" I even provided them with the installation steps since they claimed they have not heard about the kit. The instructions clearly stated about 3 to 4 hours total time including coding; my built date is 10/09.... I'm shopping around at the moment to get this sorted out... Not sure if writing BMW CCA's Ombudsman for their advice may do anything... Thoughts?

Cheers!


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You're lucky, my dealer quoted me 8 hours at $100 an hour for a total of $800 fucking dollars. I could barely contain myself as she was telling me this. The kit itself costs half that. I've directed over $250,000 dollars of sales to this place, $85,000 last month alone. I couldn't believe they would try to screw me like this. Debating whether to shop around quotes from other dealers, car audio installation shops or just save my money and forget about it...
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      06-25-2011, 06:16 PM   #36
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**** Update****

Got my upgrade kit installed at the dealer yesterday... Went back and forth with them and finally I paid around $435, thanks to this board

My CCA membership came really handy with discount on labor...

The system is really great and sounds much better than my previous standard system....

I really like to keep using my local dealership and they delivered... Cheers!!!

Quote:
Originally Posted by mojo_78613 View Post
You guys are lucky ... My local dealership wanted to charge me over $900 for installation and coding, to be exact "$924 off the door, may be a little less" I even provided them with the installation steps since they claimed they have not heard about the kit. The instructions clearly stated about 3 to 4 hours total time including coding; my built date is 10/09.... I'm shopping around at the moment to get this sorted out... Not sure if writing BMW CCA's Ombudsman for their advice may do anything... Thoughts?

Cheers!
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      06-25-2011, 11:24 PM   #37
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I am really interested in this as an OEM+ solution to getting better audio out of the car w/o having to go all out... I like the idea of a very clean solution.

My major problem is my local dealers. I am sure they will want some crazy amount to get this installed.
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      06-26-2011, 09:51 AM   #38
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where can i get this custom boxes ?
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      07-02-2011, 04:58 PM   #39
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Great info, not happy with the installed stereo system, subwoofers and tweeters weak.
Had a Becker Cascade Pro and Bose in previous car ( Audi A3) and sounded amazing ; dont want to change the head unit which is the single cd dab but NEED an upgrade. Yoyr info was very helpful.
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      07-03-2011, 05:15 PM   #40
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Whay wont the retrofit alpine work when i got profesinal sterio in my e87?does sombody know??
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      07-05-2011, 01:08 AM   #41
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Whay wont the retrofit alpine work when i got profesinal sterio in my e87?does sombody know??
Ummmmm....well....errrr....because you can't spell.....
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      07-05-2011, 04:18 PM   #42
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So nowbody knows...?hmm..
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      07-05-2011, 08:16 PM   #43
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2011 BMW 135I  [2.00]
just ordered mine should have this week end ill post results!
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      07-06-2011, 09:19 PM   #44
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2011 BMW 135I  [2.00]
just found out today its come from AG ! the sucks ! 10 to 14 days from 7/11/11
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