BMW 1 Series Coupe Forum / 1 Series Convertible Forum (1M / tii / 135i / 128i / Coupe / Cabrio / Hatchback) (BMW E82 E88 128i 130i 135i)
 





 

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      01-12-2012, 06:45 PM   #1
Technic
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Notes on a 2011 128i Stereo system with VP Electricity Stage 1 upgrade

Customer gets a 128i with the disgraceful OEM 6-speaker Stereo system and wants something done about it. He contacts VP Electricity at MusicarNW, gets their Stage 1 kit and it is done:

- Rainbow SLC 4" component set (front)
- SWS-8 (underseat)
- Cleansweep
- Arc Mini 125.4 amp
- Custom harness

Kit contents:


Front OEM mid and no tweeters:




Rainbow mid, tweeter and crossover with PnP harness (no OEM wires cut, spliced or tapped) and OEM tweeter pod:








SWS-8 with spacers:




Harness connection (front OEM outputs and front and underseat inputs):


Arc Mini install (no Cleansweep photos):


Notes:

- Not that much to say: this is a loud and clear transformation.
- Cleansweep takes care of the OEM HU EQ curve and the Arc Mini takes care of the front and underseat woofers with authority. Bass is everywhere and tight; the front Rainbow set really fixes the lack of tweeters and its mid is now only responsible for the mids.
- The result is a system with much more impact and front presence than even the OEM Logic7 system. And much, much louder in doing so.


Last edited by Technic; 01-12-2012 at 07:38 PM..
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      01-12-2012, 07:16 PM   #2
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Great pics!

Couple of things I would point out:

- This is our Level One kit for the E82 (same components used in the Level One for the E90). There are some speaker upgrade options - but this is the basic package.

- The white plug in the harness underseat is for the new woofers (since they don't have their own circuit).

This harness grabs F channels and door speaker leads underseat. The harness splits to the amplifier and to the CleanSweep. All four speaker pairs go to the amp, the two pairs of head unit signal go to the CleanSweep. We use the CL441dsp signal sensing to turn everything on, which means that this harness eliminates the head-unit removal step from the installation. (If you are upgrading the rear speakers, then we use the Technic head-unit harness which plugs into the back of the HU).

- That black 2" tape is gaffer's tape, as used on sets in the movie and theater businesses. It doesn't leave residue like duct tape, and it looks OEM in appearance.

- We add all those Molexes to all our door speaker components to make them easy to wire and to keep the door panels serviceable just like the factory (that is, if the mechanic has to get into the door, the tweeter unplugs, just like the factory does.)

- The tweeters come premounted in the tweeter pod, right out of our box.
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      01-12-2012, 07:35 PM   #3
nato-main-man-5am
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Awesome.
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Euro spec wide mirrors; sport wheel + paddles; staggered sport rims with Conti ExtremeContact DW. JL Audio 600/6 + technic harness; Gladen Audio 8" Woofers + musicarnw adapters; Morel Hybrid Ovations.
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      01-14-2012, 05:17 PM   #4
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Very clever Ken...so THAT's how you're doing without the Technic Harness!

I wish you were doing the kits this way last year! (I mean P+P, though still prefer the Technic harness)

Post upgrade, the customer's SWS do have a dedicated channel I assume? Was a bit confusing in your post.

Great work by Technic and VP Electricity.
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      01-14-2012, 08:18 PM   #5
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Ordered my kit, cant wait for it to arrive. do you know of a diy for the door panel removal? looks like it just pops out.
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      04-26-2012, 12:23 AM   #6
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2 questions

2 questions...

How does that amp compare with the JL XD600/6?

What would the system be like without the clean sweep? Dramatically better?

Thanks, looks like a great setup!
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      04-26-2012, 01:45 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Volktronic View Post
2 questions...

How does that amp compare with the JL XD600/6?

What would the system be like without the clean sweep? Dramatically better?

Thanks, looks like a great setup!
This system uses a 4-channel amp. Kind of hard to compare a 4-channel amp and a 6-channel amp. I think that the Arc is a slightly better-sounding amp.

I don't think you understand what the correcting processor is for exactly. The Stereo system has dramatic equalization boosts to the low and high end of the spectrum (as has been documented). This processing has to be corrected before good results can be achieved. You can use a more expensive processor for added manual control or for additional features (as we do in higher-level systems, this was a Level One) and you can get better performance - but you need SOME way of "flattening" that signal.

That make any sense?
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      04-26-2012, 09:24 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rogm
Ordered my kit, cant wait for it to arrive. do you know of a diy for the door panel removal? looks like it just pops out.
I included some door panel information in my writeup:

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=654680
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      04-26-2012, 09:15 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by VP Electricity View Post
This system uses a 4-channel amp. Kind of hard to compare a 4-channel amp and a 6-channel amp. I think that the Arc is a slightly better-sounding amp.

I don't think you understand what the correcting processor is for exactly. The Stereo system has dramatic equalization boosts to the low and high end of the spectrum (as has been documented). This processing has to be corrected before good results can be achieved. You can use a more expensive processor for added manual control or for additional features (as we do in higher-level systems, this was a Level One) and you can get better performance - but you need SOME way of "flattening" that signal.

That make any sense?

I was under the impression that the hifi system had a pretty flat signal and didn't need the processing. This is taken from the sticky in the e90 forums....



"taibanl - HiFi (Option 676) is the easiest and cheapest architecture to upgrade.

The signal from the head unit is low level, full-ranged, flat / unprocessed and uses balanced differential outputs. Thus, it will result in the highest-quality analog upgrade possible (There are some digital options coming out, see Top HiFi section below). "
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=641323





Any clarification is greatly appreciated.
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      04-26-2012, 09:45 PM   #10
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The clarification is that stereo and hifi are two different systems. Stereo/base is heavily eq'd. Hifi is flat
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      04-26-2012, 10:39 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Volktronic View Post
I was under the impression that the hifi system had a pretty flat signal and didn't need the processing. This is taken from the sticky in the e90 forums....



"taibanl - HiFi (Option 676) is the easiest and cheapest architecture to upgrade.

The signal from the head unit is low level, full-ranged, flat / unprocessed and uses balanced differential outputs. Thus, it will result in the highest-quality analog upgrade possible (There are some digital options coming out, see Top HiFi section below). "
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=641323





Any clarification is greatly appreciated.
Your understanding of the systems is correct. Your reading of the initial post of this thread is apparently the issue. This car did not have HiFi. It had Stereo.
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      04-26-2012, 11:51 PM   #12
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Hi

Just curious what is included in stage 2?

Thanks.
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      04-27-2012, 10:28 AM   #13
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Don't want to drive the thread into the ditch - shoot us a message at the email in my sig, thanks!
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      08-18-2012, 10:25 AM   #14
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Hi, I need some help

I have a BMW E92 320d with sat nav, i'm 99.9% sure that my sat nav (built in monitor and head unit) are business. I have UK business road maps cd. I have a oem audio system which includes total of 4 speakers and 2 subs under seats. I upgraded the system by a MTX amplifier which i didn't needed to cut any factory wire, 2, 4 inch speakers with tweeters MTX in front doors with MTX tweeters in the oem tweeter pod and the same in rear panels. It came very powerfull as we needed to put in 2 crossovers but i have the subwoofers getting signal from the front doors speakers and i need something to control frequencys for the subs and mid ranges and tweeters. i tought i can put any crossovers with a setting or at least can someone tell me what he've done if he made this system. I need to control mid range and tweeters to still get clear sound and a deep bass note. thanks alot. what is there diferrent from proffesional to business sat nav? and is the wiring harness the same please?
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      08-20-2012, 11:21 PM   #15
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Typically an amplifier will have a crossover built into it to divide the signal between the subwoofers and the rest of the speakers. Those speakers then have a passive crossover provided with them.

You should really start a new thread for this.
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