Alpine Hifi Kit

[Superdaws]

Originally Posted by Steve84

Hmm I just realised the kit I ordered is part number 65-41-0-445-684 but there is a later kit which I can't find on Schmiedmann, 65 41 2 163 268. My 135i is MY09. Have I ordered the right one?.

Your member stat says MY10? The newer kit is needed for cars after 03/09, sounds like u need the newer "plug and play" kit ... check the build date of your car.

[GJA003]

So for my 18th i was given the Alpine kit i was saving for although i can't find the little stickers for the tweeter covers anyone know where to get them ?

Also anyone know the rear speaker size for a e87 haven't ripped the boot apart yet.

[flinchy]

Originally Posted by GJA003

So for my 18th i was given the Alpine kit i was saving for although i can't find the little stickers for the tweeter covers anyone know where to get them ?

Also anyone know the rear speaker size for a e87 haven't ripped the boot apart yet.

4"

Ed: no need to rip boot apart, theyre right in plain view lol

[Knightelf]

Originally Posted by Steve84

Hmm I just realised the kit I ordered is part number 65-41-0-445-684 but there is a later kit which I can't find on Schmiedmann, 65 41 2 163 268. My 135i is MY09. Have I ordered the right one?.

Sounds like you ordered the wrong one if you have a MY10...

Pre-3/09 kit: 65410445684
From-3/09 kit: 65412163268

I ordered the newer kit from Schmiedmann: http://www.schmiedmann.com/654121632...uctnumber.aspx

[Steve84]

Prod month is 08/2009. Guess this means I need the newer kit? What is the difference?

[Steve84]

Just emailed Schmiedmann. Hopefully they read it before it ships. Their site doesn't list the model years for either part and the newer kit doesn't even show up on a search for Alpine so I didnt think twice.

[GJA003]

Originally Posted by flinchy

4"

Ed: no need to rip boot apart, theyre right in plain view lol

Just went into JB and picked up the best set of Alpine 4" they had

.. I know where they are although how do i get the plastic off ?

Does it require me taking the Airbag cover off then the speaker whole thing of just want to check before i brake a clip.

Also who has installed the first edition pre update alpine kit in Melbourne ?

[flinchy]

Originally Posted by GJA003

Just went into JB and picked up the best set of Alpine 4" they had

.. I know where they are although how do i get the plastic off ?

Does it require me taking the Airbag cover off then the speaker whole thing of just want to check before i brake a clip.

Also who has installed the first edition pre update alpine kit in Melbourne ?

just to let you know, for pure sound quality purposes, leaving the rears stock is a better idea than upgrading them, having louder speakers in the rear pulls the sound backwards, when you want it to appear that the music is coming directly in front of you

ED: i'm guessing you got type-r's? they're really not too bad. i mean, not worth their price, but not bad speakers.

[GJA003]

Originally Posted by flinchy

just to let you know, for pure sound quality purposes, leaving the rears stock is a better idea than upgrading them, having louder speakers in the rear pulls the sound backwards, when you want it to appear that the music is coming directly in front of you

ED: i'm guessing you got type-r's? they're really not too bad. i mean, not worth their price, but not bad speakers.

These are what i bought this morning http://www.jbhifi.com.au/car-sound-g...ers-sku-69410/

Im not the best when it comes to audio but i thought they will be better then the stock rear ones also they wont be better then the front as they will only run off the head unit so it sound stay okay in the front balance. In your opinion you reckon i should return them put it towards something more worth while i need ?

Edit: More research and decided not worth while.

[flinchy]

Originally Posted by GJA003

These are what i bought this morning http://www.jbhifi.com.au/car-sound-g...ers-sku-69410/

Im not the best when it comes to audio but i thought they will be better then the stock rear ones also they wont be better then the front as they will only run off the head unit so it sound stay okay in the front balance. In your opinion you reckon i should return them put it towards something more worth while i need ?

Edit: More research and decided not worth while.

type-s are the low end alpines, there's a chance they may not actually be better than the stock speakers (which aren't TERRIBLE, just not good either lol), though true, they'll be pretty quiet still. I'd say they're a bit too expensive at $109 too, to be honest. JB isn't the best place to go for car audio, will be more expensive than lots of specialist shops.

decided to return them? yeah that's probably the best bet, being in the front with the alpine upgrade, it'll be fairly loud, you won't miss them from the back lol

[Superdaws]

Originally Posted by Steve84

Prod month is 08/2009. Guess this means I need the newer kit? What is the difference?

Difference is the earlier kit is deigned for the older cars that dont have all the same components. You have to splice wires on the old kit. New kit is plug and play. Theres something about different amplification from the head unit, not 100% sure but google is your friend.

[resistor]

Originally Posted by flinchy

just to let you know, for pure sound quality purposes, leaving the rears stock is a better idea than upgrading them, having louder speakers in the rear pulls the sound backwards, when you want it to appear that the music is coming directly in front of you

ED: i'm guessing you got type-r's? they're really not too bad. i mean, not worth their price, but not bad speakers.

have to agree & disagree on this one.
replacing speakers in the back wont pull the sound backwards unless you upgrade the amp supplying the power to the rear.
they are powered by the head unit anyway, so replacing the speakers isn't going to make it louder, just clearer.
plus replacing with a better quality speaker is a good idea when you upgrade the fronts as you will be pushing the system more due to the upgraded amp in the front.
As you said though, you need to make sure you actually "upgrade" the speaker ,not just replace them with something similar.

[flinchy]

Originally Posted by resistor

have to agree & disagree on this one.
replacing speakers in the back wont pull the sound backwards unless you upgrade the amp supplying the power to the rear.
they are powered by the head unit anyway, so replacing the speakers isn't going to make it louder, just clearer.
plus replacing with a better quality speaker is a good idea when you upgrade the fronts as you will be pushing the system more due to the upgraded amp in the front.
As you said though, you need to make sure you actually "upgrade" the speaker ,not just replace them with something similar.

they'd still be more efficient if it was an upgrade, which means more db/watt - and the clarity will make your ears listen to it more, you tend to tune out undesirable sounds unless you look for them - plus that the front's will be amped, they'll be running WAY more power than the rear regardless, that's true.

for pure sound quality, most people actually straight up remove the rear speakers, unless they carry lots of passengers. even then, a solid system plays loud enough you can hardly tell the difference.

[resistor]

Originally Posted by flinchy

they'd still be more efficient if it was an upgrade, which means more db/watt - and the clarity will make your ears listen to it more, you tend to tune out undesirable sounds unless you look for them - plus that the front's will be amped, they'll be running WAY more power than the rear regardless, that's true.

for pure sound quality, most people actually straight up remove the rear speakers, unless they carry lots of passengers. even then, a solid system plays loud enough you can hardly tell the difference.

for sure. what i should have said is the rears are just used as ambient filler
rather than the main source of sound. but you do notice the difference if the rears are missing altogether. i think my front to rears are balanced 80/20 or thereabouts. it sounds horrible 50/50.
looking forward to upgrading.

[Harlequin]

Brisbane BMW charged me $400 for labour. They initially tried to quote a lot more as the install instructions list a coding time of UP TO 12hrs and they were planning to charge me labour for that whole period.

That coding time is worst case scenario if your car's DME is way out of date. The coding for mine took about 1.5 hrs - and I refused to pay labour for that...

[Steve84]

I just had the kit installed yesterday, and echo everyone's opinions that this is an awesome upgrade! Mid/upper range clarity is excellent, soundstage is lifted, and it is plenty loud.

The only thing lacking for me now is tightness of the bass. There is plenty of it (enough for me) with the underseat subs powered by the amp, but it is not as "punchy" as I'd like particularly given the crispness of the top end.

Can anyone recommend replacement for the underseat subs which would result in more punchy lower end? I don't want the bass to be overpowering just tighter.

[Liam]

Hi Steve
I had mine done about a week ago. You're right - the bass doesn't seem quite right (lots of it though). I thought I'd give mine a few months before I'd make any changes (wondering if I've become used to the standard set up, so need time for my ears to acclimatize). I'd be interested to hear what you end up choosing.

[Sarinaslegal]

Originally Posted by Superdaws

Yeah, in Aus all our 135's come with the "Professional" radio as a minimum and i had the basic audio with the car (ie no tweeters etc and didnt take the option for any upgraded audio). The professional head unit then has some really heavy equalisation output from it (hidden and built into the code) to compensate for the lack of quality of the base speakers (so ive been told). I agreed with this because after i installed the alpines (before coding) it sounded better but not 100% right. When coding it in the CIC its default is "sterio" which means its outputing all that EQ to try and make it better than what it is. Once you code to "hifi" it removes all the EQ as it now thinks its one of the upgraded audio packages... it makes the alpines sound WAY better.

There is a difference with the "Business Radio" alpine kit. There is some extra wiring to be installed into the sub contoller (aparently there is only 1 woofer).

As for the EQ settings to come up on Idrive, mine doesnt. I believe you can code it as someone has tried but you then dont get any audio whatsoever cause its designed specifically for the Logic 7 system. So no, i dont think you will be able to get that with the Alpine kit.

I have the alpine retrofit fitted by the dealer. I complained of too much tweeter volume over miniminal midrange volume and then had them try the swap over as a result of your experience. The sound is now louder coming from the front but the rear fill in sound has reduced. It's hard to say which way sounded better. I'd be keen to know if the manufacturer has picked up on the issue or any others who have a similar problem.

[Superdaws]

Originally Posted by Sarinaslegal

I have the alpine retrofit fitted by the dealer. I complained of too much tweeter volume over miniminal midrange volume and then had them try the swap over as a result of your experience. The sound is now louder coming from the front but the rear fill in sound has reduced. It's hard to say which way sounded better. I'd be keen to know if the manufacturer has picked up on the issue or any others who have a similar problem.

What did you have "swapped over" though? You just had them code it properly?

You dont perhaps have really low PCD and gong volumes as well? That means an incorrect install of the diplexers.

Yes the alpine kit coded reduces the output from the rears, but thats beacuse they havent been upgraded anyway....

[flinchy]

Originally Posted by Harlequin

Brisbane BMW charged me $400 for labour. They initially tried to quote a lot more as the install instructions list a coding time of UP TO 12hrs and they were planning to charge me labour for that whole period.

That coding time is worst case scenario if your car's DME is way out of date. The coding for mine took about 1.5 hrs - and I refused to pay labour for that...

That's not even how coding works - it's not on a car by car basis, it's almost literally 'hi-fi installed' with some fancy words and commands around it

For people that know how, it's literally a few minutes, most of which is waiting for it to sort itself out

I don't even really understand how it would take 12 hours to fully update the DME anyway, it's a 7xxkb file over a system that works at what.. 2mbit? You can extract and reflash it yourself in seconds

[flinchy]

Originally Posted by Steve84

I just had the kit installed yesterday, and echo everyone's opinions that this is an awesome upgrade! Mid/upper range clarity is excellent, soundstage is lifted, and it is plenty loud.

The only thing lacking for me now is tightness of the bass. There is plenty of it (enough for me) with the underseat subs powered by the amp, but it is not as "punchy" as I'd like particularly given the crispness of the top end.

Can anyone recommend replacement for the underseat subs which would result in more punchy lower end? I don't want the bass to be overpowering just tighter.

Firstly: they're not underseat subs, 6.5" speakers aren't designed to play lower than 70-80hz at lowest.. Unfortunately due to them being the only speakers available, they will play lower, but with the equaliser tuned down so as not to distort higher frequencies (for a bunch of reasons i can't be bothered typing on my phone)

If you want proper tight and punchy bass you need an actual sub installed. 10" is big enough for these cars if you don't want LOUD.. Heck you can get 10" subs that'll happily go to 130db plus- depending on box design and sub model/amp/budget etc. etc.


Whether or not it's overpowering is a matter of how it's 'tuned' - you could install a 24" sub and have the volume set right, and it wouldn't overpower.. Or you could set up an 8" and have it play stupidly loud.

[Sarinaslegal]

In addition to the retrofit, I replaced the rear speakers with alpine s 4 inch 2 way speakers. The result was substantial improvement in clarity and depth. Fader is set to 4 to the left to allow more volume from the rear and less from the front. This gives a clear surround sound feel with music better balanced. However there is a sacrifice to overral power to subs and door speakers with this fader compensation. A touch more volume to the rears will improve substantially more again and will allow the fader be brought back to zero. if anyone has successfully found a way to increase power to rears whether with or without a second amp let me know.