[Spyke1017]

Any new updates?

[d-run]

Had a chat with bimmertech — they just shipped me an amp and sub with the newly designed harness. Arrived today!

I’ll update this thread when I have a chance to install and test.

The x50e is currently in the shop having the valve recall addressed (and hopefully iDrive 8.5)

[hmbmd116]

The resistor is being delivered today. I’ll install it tonight and let you all know what happens.

[Spyke1017]

Fantastic! Looking forward to the results. Hopefully this fixes the issue. I’m trying to decide if I want to purchase the full package with all the speakers or just the subs and amp. Is there a noticeable difference with the amp and subs? I like my music to thump from the bass

[hmbmd116]

Bad news! Installed the resistor and driving assistant pro is restricted again after the car goes to sleep. I notified Bimmertech and waiting for their response.

What I have been doing lately for long trips is disconnecting the amp prior to the trip and letting the car go to sleep. I then open the door and the car wakes up. I then reconnect the amp. When I stop at at a rest stop or get gas I turn on the preconditioning feature which prevents the car from going to sleep. I then then use the driving assistant pro for the entire trip.

I only use the driving assistant pro for long trips and it only takes me 60 seconds to connect or disconnect the amp. It always remains connected to the battery and only powers on when it receives a signal.

It is annoying, I was really hoping this would correct the problem.

Having said all that, the difference in sound quality between the stock HK amp and this Bimmertech amp is quite noticeable.

I'll let the forum know if anything changes.

[d-run]

As promised — after installing the subs & amp with the newly designed PnP harness, I’m sad to report that Assisted Drive (on my ‘24 X5 x50e with iDrive 8.5) is bricked.

I submitted a ticket with bimmer-tech and will give y’all an update if they’re able to find another solution.

I’d also like to report that, as an upgrade to the HK system — totally worth it. In a different league in terms of clarity & soundstage. Mid-Bass is greatly improved, but now I’m considering a modest trunk sub to fill in the sub-100hz response that’s still lacking (due to the physical limitations of the ghost subs).

[bloozemanAZ]

Originally Posted by hmbmd116

This parallels my findings. I have all stock speakers with the exception of the subwoofers, which are Bavsound subwoofers. I used the driver assistance plus today and can confirm when the camera in the dash detected I was not looking forward, I would hear a warning chime that came through the tweeters. It does seem that the driver assistance plus will not engage when the car senses there is no speaker available to give the warning chime.

That's the key as the gong warning sound come through the door and center channel (dash). Not sure if tweeters or the mid-range in either but that's the source. So with iD8 BMW changed the game with the impedance detection for what it "expects" for those 3 speaker clusters. iD7 could care less as many HK owners on the 8-series have done the full Bavsound/Bimmertech speakers upgrade and some either the Audiotec Fischer MATCH 10DSP or Bimmertech new Alpha One amp (they are one in the same as Bimmertech OEMs the MATCH 10DSP) without any issues.

[MrChips]

Yeah, I upgraded the stock speakers to the Bavsound speakers. They sound great. Way better than what came in my 2022 X5 45e.
No conflict issues so far. Been running them for about 6 months. I had them professionally installed.
However, changing the amp was a problem. Did the Bimmertech one and the car started throwing codes like crazy. Took it off and then changed the speakers. No codes, even after software upgrade.
The stock amp has to stay. Systems are integrated.

[Spyke1017]

Glad I didn’t go by Bimmertech’s word that they found a solution. I really would like to upgrade the sound in my 50e but don’t want to go through the hassle if it sends errors to the computer. Hoping there’s a solution but don’t know if there ever will be. Thank you all for posting your results. Maybe in the near future there will be a work around for this. I thought about adding a powered sub but don’t know how that would affect the intricate electronic system

[hmbmd116]

If I were you, I still would consider updating as there is a night and day difference between the stock amp and the Bimmertech Amp. I also have upgraded subs under the seat which improves bass even without the amp. I don't know about you, but I only use assisted driving pro on longer trips so it is not that much of an issue and also, it takes less than 30 seconds to connect and disconnect the amp. You only have to do this with the RAM unit and not the booster. I am doing another remote session with Bimmertech tomorrow to see what codes are showing and their lead tech will continue to try to correct the problem. In the meantime he said he would send me an extension to the RAM unit which will make the connection process even easier.

[mscot]

Can someone help confirm the statements below, b/c I'm having trouble following.

Bimmertech - neither speaker nor amp upgrade works with LCI and DAPP
Bavsound - speaker upgrade works with LCI/DAPP (but hard to tell b/c there is no option to select for a 2024 G05 on their site)
Focal - I can't tell if they offer a BMW kit in the US

[hmbmd116]

Originally Posted by mscot

Can someone help confirm the statements below, b/c I'm having trouble following.

Bimmertech - neither speaker nor amp upgrade works with LCI and DAPP
Bavsound - speaker upgrade works with LCI/DAPP (but hard to tell b/c there is no option to select for a 2024 G05 on their site)
Focal - I can't tell if they offer a BMW kit in the US

Bavsound speakers do not work with LCI and DAPP.

[hmbmd116]

I spent several hours with Bimmertech support today. They ran diagnostics on my car and no significant error codes were present. We did this while parked as well as when driving with driver assistant pro engaged. They are shipping me several different resistors of various levels of impedance to try. They will continue to investigate with their engineers but in the meantime will ship me an extension cable which will make connecting and disconnecting the amp easier. I will continue to state that even with this issue, the amp is well worth it as the stock HK sound system is anemic compared to having the amp installed.

I must say that customer support from bimmertech is second to none.

[mscot]

Originally Posted by hmbmd116

I spent several hours with Bimmertech support today. They ran diagnostics on my car and no significant error codes were present. We did this while parked as well as when driving with driver assistant pro engaged. They are shipping me several different resistors of various levels of impedance to try. They will continue to investigate with their engineers but in the meantime will ship me an extension cable which will make connecting and disconnecting the amp easier. I will continue to state that even with this issue, the amp is well worth it as the stock HK sound system is anemic compared to having the amp installed.

I must say that customer support from bimmertech is second to none.

They should give you the system free of charge for all the R&D you are doing with them.

[hmbmd116]

Here is the new aggravation. Just had service done for oil change etc and they updated from 8.0 to 8.5. Now the car checks whatever it is looking for continuously so I can't use assisted driving pro at all when amp is connected to RAM unit. I can connect booster and use assisted drive pro which is an improvement in sound over stock HK but not as good as a total connection to amp. What is also interesting is that if I connect amp completely, I can use distance control cruise control but as soon as I push the mode button to switch to assisted driving, cruise control is completely bricked until I turn the car off and then on again.

[Spyke1017]

Dang. I have 8.5 in my X5. I was hoping that it would correct the issue. Still waiting to purchase bimmertech sub and amp until they get the work around figured out. Seems like all the newer BMWs will have this issue so hopefully bimmertech makes this a priority. Thanks for the updates. Were you able to test those resistors?

[Marty in NY]

Originally Posted by hmbmd116

Here is the new aggravation. Just had service done for oil change etc and they updated from 8.0 to 8.5. Now the car checks whatever it is looking for continuously so I can't use assisted driving pro at all when amp is connected to RAM unit. I can connect booster and use assisted drive pro which is an improvement in sound over stock HK but not as good as a total connection to amp. What is also interesting is that if I connect amp completely, I can use distance control cruise control but as soon as I push the mode button to switch to assisted driving, cruise control is completely bricked until I turn the car off and then on again.

The way the world turns. This reminds me of when we first got our injet printer, you know how they only come with a very limited supply of ink, so we bought 3rd party ink cartridges which worked great! A bit later the printer said there was a software update waiting, Hey...who doesn't like software updates??? Let's go, let's do it, let's see what cool features we will now get - for free!!!

After installing the update, the one and only thing we noticed is that the printer started rejecting the 3rd party ink cartridges Yup, that was it, total rejection which left us with a cupboard full of new yet unusable ink cartridges...oh joy! The 3rd party cartridge company wised up, changed something and allowed us to return ours for the new ones and presto chango, they worked like a champ. That was the last software update I did on the printer - this was three years ago and the printers display constantly begs me to install another update .. .. Ha, fat chance that'll ever happen.

Sorry to hear of your woes with the 8.5 iDrive level. I'm starting to relish crank style windows, push button AM radio and oil dipsticks and the days when you bought your car and that was it, no one except you could do anything with it or tell you how it will behave

[hmbmd116]

Originally Posted by Spyke1017

Dang. I have 8.5 in my X5. I was hoping that it would correct the issue. Still waiting to purchase bimmertech sub and amp until they get the work around figured out. Seems like all the newer BMWs will have this issue so hopefully bimmertech makes this a priority. Thanks for the updates. Were you able to test those resistors?

Didn't receive them yet. My tech at BMW dealer is going to ask around what exactly is the car checking for. For the speaker issue it was impedance, not sure if it is checking for something else with the amp.

Even with this annoyance I am still happy to have the amp as 95% of the time I am not using cruise control when I drive. Since I now determined that I only have to disconnect the RAM unit and not the booster from the amp when I am going on long trips it only takes me 30 seconds to do this.

I'll probably figure it out the day before my lease runs out.

[dombi]

What about X5s with iDrive 7? Are those affected by this?
Do we have any X5 iDrive 7 owners here?

@Go FasTA: have you tried contacting Focal about this issue? Any word from them about this?

[hmbmd116]

Originally Posted by dombi

What about X5s with iDrive 7? Are those affected by this?
Do we have any X5 iDrive 7 owners here?

@Go FasTA: have you tried contacting Focal about this issue? Any word from them about this?

I drive 7 is ok. I had a 2022 x5 45e with a Bimmertech amp and no problems at all.

[hmbmd116]

I’m not one to give up however after struggling with this amp for several months I finally removed it completely. The idrive 8.5 update completely interferes with the amplifier.

1. It continuously checks for speaker impedance or whatever else it is looking for and the driving assistant pro does not work at all. In addition if I have distance control without driving assistant selected and then press the mode button, the entire cruise control is bricked until I turn the car off and then back on again.

2. The drivers side microphone is bricked with the amp connected. If I push the microphone button on the steering wheel, the car dings but does not follow my instructions. If I say hello BMW then it follows my instructions but not all of them. Specifically if I say turn on the heated steering wheel, the car says I can’t do that from this side of the car.

Once I disconnect the amp, everything works again. As I said above, I have been working on this for months and I finally gave up. I’m hoping to get a refund but if not I’ll put in on eBay.

I had a long talk with my friend who is my BMW salesman and he tells me that BMW does not want any aftermarket products installed or any third party coding done anymore. I told him that if BMW sells a $90,000 car they should have B&W as an option for those customers who are into upgraded stereos. You can get B&W on a 50e in Canada.

[mscot]

Originally Posted by hmbmd116

I told him that if BMW sells a $90,000 car they should have B&W as an option for those customers who are into upgraded stereos. You can get B&W on a 50e in Canada.

Or they should start offering an aftermarket upgrade path through their dealers.