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      06-15-2021, 07:19 AM   #1
IllustriousMari
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Upgrade HK to Focal Inside Speakers and Subs

So over the weekend I decided to upgrade my current HK speakers and subs as I wasn't very happy with the sound even after tweaking the EQ. I decided on getting Focal as they were plug and play and easy for me to install. The speakers were the BMW 100L and subs were the ISUB 4

The 100L speakers units installation was pretty straightforward; remove the door panels, tweeter domes and just plug and play directly into the existing wiring.

The subs, on the other hand, took a few hours as I had to remove the mounting bracket from the enclosure very slowly by using a heat gun.


Once that was done, just mount the new subs into the enclosure and drop it back it.


It will take me a few more hours to give my verdict on this, but so far first impressions were great- the vocals had considerably more clarity even at lower volumes. As for the subs, they also sounded less muddled than before and more pleasing.
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      06-15-2021, 01:47 PM   #2
fndrplayer13
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You didnt upgrade the amp too, by any chance?

Thanks for posting, I'm debating between this or Bavsound for my x45e. HK is no longer an option for us new buyers, sadly
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      06-15-2021, 10:11 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fndrplayer13 View Post
You didnt upgrade the amp too, by any chance?

(
No as I am happy with the current HK amp despite being lower in terms of watts (425) vs the previous F15 (600). I guess this is because the relatively quiet interior in the 45e makes up for this.
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      06-23-2021, 10:45 AM   #4
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Do you have any pics of the Amp installed?
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      06-23-2021, 09:26 PM   #5
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can't wait to hear your feedback....

how was the door trim removal ? did you need to buy new clips or everythign is still pretty tight after one removal ?
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      07-07-2021, 01:58 AM   #6
IllustriousMari
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BMW128 View Post
Do you have any pics of the Amp installed?
No I didn't upgrade the amplifier as I felt the current one was good enough for my music tastes.
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      07-07-2021, 02:03 AM   #7
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Originally Posted by philooo View Post
can't wait to hear your feedback....

how was the door trim removal ? did you need to buy new clips or everythign is still pretty tight after one removal ?
Because I listen to a lot of jazz, I felt that the vocals were much sharper than before and overall sound was brighter especially when listening to percussion instruments.

As for the door clips I was especially careful as they were kinda fragile. I brought a box of spare clips before starting, but in the end didn't use any.
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      08-03-2021, 07:52 AM   #8
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IllustriousMari I installed a Match amp recently and now I'm thinking about upgrading my HiFi speakers to Focal. I had a couple questions. Were there any issues installing the separate crossovers into the doors? Did you add any sound deadening material? Lastly, do you have any further impressions after listening to your speakers for a while? Some say Focal has a distinct sound.
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      08-04-2021, 05:30 PM   #9
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i was taking a look at the focal prices and yikes the subs are $500 each! Doesn't that seem a bit much for what they are?
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      08-05-2021, 09:03 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wall_nut View Post
i was taking a look at the focal prices and yikes the subs are $500 each! Doesn't that seem a bit much for what they are?
Yeah, stupid money. Look at Earthquake SWS 8xi woofers, low cost and they are almost PnP; you need to find/purchase BMW connectors.
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      08-09-2021, 10:06 PM   #11
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Any further update on how you like this upgrade after a few months of use?
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      08-13-2021, 11:12 PM   #12
IllustriousMari
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Quote:
Originally Posted by VertigoAtHome View Post
IllustriousMari I installed a Match amp recently and now I'm thinking about upgrading my HiFi speakers to Focal. I had a couple questions. Were there any issues installing the separate crossovers into the doors? Did you add any sound deadening material? Lastly, do you have any further impressions after listening to your speakers for a while? Some say Focal has a distinct sound.
Pretty much everything was plug and play so I had no issues installing the speakers; the only thing tricky were the door frame plastic clips which can be easily broken when removing. The subs, on the other hand, took the longest because of the plastic mount that I had to remove from the existing ones to reuse on the newer ones. I didn't use any soujnd deadening materiels because this is a 45e which is very quiet as it is.
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      08-13-2021, 11:25 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Big_CG View Post
Any further update on how you like this upgrade after a few months of use?
Regretably due to the lockdowns I haven't been driving as much as I wanted to so most of the time I've just been sitting stationary and listening to a few tracks to gain some burn-in times. So far here are my impressions:

1) The clarity in vocals, percussions, and wind instruments is a notch above the old HK. I normally set my EQ to flat anyway and while listening to Diana Krall's Live in Paris I was surprise to see how close it came to matching the Burmester in my 2012 Porsche Cayenne.

2) The subs themselves were kinda disappointing as while they did improve the bass response somewhat, using the existing 425 watt HK amp to drive this quickly showed its limitations. Perhaps a future project for me would be to add another amp.
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      08-14-2021, 07:38 AM   #14
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I ordered the Focal BMW 100 L speakers, should be here in about a week. Hope to have them installed by the end of the month if I can squeeze them in among my other projects. That said, the match amp greatly improved the sound... the base HiFi speakers really are not bad when they get power. My biggest concern now is going backwards trying to improve on what I have.
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      08-14-2021, 10:44 AM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by IllustriousMari View Post
Regretably due to the lockdowns I haven't been driving as much as I wanted to so most of the time I've just been sitting stationary and listening to a few tracks to gain some burn-in times. So far here are my impressions:

1) The clarity in vocals, percussions, and wind instruments is a notch above the old HK. I normally set my EQ to flat anyway and while listening to Diana Krall's Live in Paris I was surprise to see how close it came to matching the Burmester in my 2012 Porsche Cayenne.

2) The subs themselves were kinda disappointing as while they did improve the bass response somewhat, using the existing 425 watt HK amp to drive this quickly showed its limitations. Perhaps a future project for me would be to add another amp.
If you could do it all over again would you say the door and center speakers are worth upgrading and leave the subs alone?
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      08-14-2021, 08:54 PM   #16
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has anyone tried these Match Up Subs ?
https://www.crutchfield.com/S-kntOuI...P-W8BMW-S.html
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      08-15-2021, 07:18 AM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Big_CG View Post
If you could do it all over again would you say the door and center speakers are worth upgrading and leave the subs alone?
Looking back if I just wanted a simple upgrade in sound then yes, the door and centers are enough. But having the subs now has given me ample motivation for my next project to upgrade my amp
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      08-21-2021, 10:21 PM   #18
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Installed the Focal's in the front doors. Install took way longer than it should but I managed to push through it (first time is always hard). Haven't had much time to listen to them and I need to sort out the Match DSP crossovers tomorrow am and ultimately tune with them with the analyzer which will be a challenge. Excited to get it complete. Once I've given them time to burn in, I'll let folks know what I think.
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      08-24-2021, 10:53 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Big_CG View Post
If you could do it all over again would you say the door and center speakers are worth upgrading and leave the subs alone?
For me personally I would leave the subs alone, but again this is kinda getting into subjective territory as for some even a slight upgrade in sub quality is worth the investment.
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      08-26-2021, 08:06 PM   #20
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how effective is the Bavsound upgrade over the default (non HK) speakers if we don't upgrade the amp?
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      08-28-2021, 04:59 PM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by VertigoAtHome View Post
Installed the Focal's in the front doors. Install took way longer than it should but I managed to push through it (first time is always hard). Haven't had much time to listen to them and I need to sort out the Match DSP crossovers tomorrow am and ultimately tune with them with the analyzer which will be a challenge. Excited to get it complete. Once I've given them time to burn in, I'll let folks know what I think.

Hey- any thoughts on sound quality improvement over the factory HK so far?

Where did you mount the crossovers that came with the focal?
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      08-28-2021, 10:28 PM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Big_CG View Post
Hey- any thoughts on sound quality improvement over the factory HK so far?

Where did you mount the crossovers that came with the focal?
I upgraded from the base HiFi rather than the HK. That said, after I installed the new Match amp, I had a chance to listen to the OEM speakers for a while and the sound was massively improved just due to more power (65 rms/120 peak/channel) and special effects to improve clarity and bass. For many this is upgrade alone is probably fine. I found Focals online at a great price so it made the decision easier. Right away you'll hear instrumental sounds that you didn't hear with the OEM speakers. Percussion and strings are stronger, clearer, and more precise, same with vocals, really pretty much everything is better. I've been trying various crossover settings. I did a lot of research and am pretty satisfied but I'm still searching for the optimal setting. Lastly, I need to buy a RTA microphone in order to tune the equalizer. Good ones are not cheap, may try one of the sub $100 microphones. Once I get that done I expect another noticeable improvement in sound quality.

Regarding the crossover placement, I tucked them in a small cavity behind the mid-range speaker... very tight fit... so far no issues. BTW, the Focal crossovers that come with the 100Ls are pretty minimal, appear to be more like the inline capacitors in the OEM and other PnP 2-way component speakers. The Focal BMW ICC 100 center speaker is actually a coaxial speaker with an integrated crossover which I suspect is due to there being no where to place a separate crossover. So you lose separate components if you replace the center. I didn't replace it yet for that reason and I'm not sure if it would make much of a difference (and I'm a bit timid to pop the grill out of the dash, yikes that looks dangerous).

So in summary, it's well worth the upgrades, particularly for those who have the base HiFi.

EDIT: If you have the base HiFi I wanted to emphasize that I would add the Match amp before looking to upgrade to Focal speakers. While I believe the Focals are a nice upgrade, the amp really transformed the system from the base HiFi since the amp is the weakest component IMO.

Last edited by VertigoAtHome; 08-29-2021 at 10:51 AM..
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