[threebabies]

Hey all. Just got around to ordering replacements of the speaker system in the X5. I have the Harmon Kardon sound system and frankly it wasn't giving me enough of the sound I would like. I decided to upgrade the speakers and tweeters with different components.

System Notes:
4" shallow-mount speakers and 1" tweeters for all doors, the rear pillars, and center dash (14 speakers, 7 pairs). Each 4 ohm pair will be wired in series to create a 2 ohm "set" of speakers for wattage and ohm-rating purposes.

The Receiver Audio Module or "RAM" is what sends the signal to the Harmon Kardon amplifier. A converter is required (LC2i) to transfer the cable signal to an RCA signal for aftermarket amps.

2x 4-channel amps for the speakers; one will be set to the left side of the vehicle, the other to the right.

1x amp for the 600w 10" subwoofer in the cargo area

Still planning out the system but will continue a more in-depth guide and/or maybe videos for you audio enthusiasts with the 16-speaker Harmon Kardon system. This will also include the X7 and X3 people since, I believe, they have the generally the same amplifier, RAM, and iDrive setup.

Total cost of audio upgrade:

$1100 - Amplifiers
$ 800 - Speakers
$ 270 - Subwoofer
$ 100 - Car Audio interface
$ 100 - Misc install stuff

[spike5150]

Looks like a fun project, and look forward to your write up. Will the 4” coaxial add too much high frequency sound since the stock speakers are component midrange only?

[threebabies]

Originally Posted by spike5150

Looks like a fun project, and look forward to your write up. Will the 4” coaxial add too much high frequency sound since the stock speakers are component midrange only?

I'm guessing it will be fine. You can always adjust with the amp EQ and gain. Then there's the iDrive 7 EQ to tone down the 5-10kHz range. It'll take some tweaking.

[threebabies]

I installed the kicker 4" and 1" speakers in the D-Pillar. BMW uses a weird 3-point system that I'm having trouble describing. I ended up breaking two of the metal mounting tabs off the kicker 4" and trimming the remaining tabs so they would fit in the harness. Using the factory star-bit screws, I secured two of the three factory mounting locations. Checked for snugness and it doesn't move. This is partly because breaking the other two tabs off gives the speaker a sort of wedge against the housing.

Installed the LC2i with power, signal, and RCA out to the three amplifiers. I pirated the signal from the factory D-Pillar speakers to plug in to the left and right channels. The LC2i can take signal from speakers up to 400 watts. I think the entire HK system is 464 watts so it should be fine. If I'm guessing correctly, the 14 full range factory speakers (not the 2 subwoofers) get about 15-20 watts a piece and the subs get ~60-75 watts. I'll have to take a multimeter to it to find out. The LC2i should be able to handle it.

Day 2 I'm going to wire up one of the amplifiers, plug in a set of speakers to it, and see if the LC2i is doing its job from the factory head unit. If not, I'll definitely need to take out the factory amp and trace a bunch of wires.

[threebabies]

I got the amps installed and the rear D-pillar speaker pods tested. It all works. I'll show it all cleaned up later but for now, here's the remote wire (red capped yellow) that's on the factory amp. I tapped that to run the three aftermarket amps

[threebabies]

If yall watched the Bavsound speaker replacement video, they mention their speakers are a direct fit. In replacing the door speakers, I realized the basket for the HK 4" speaker is oversized. The 4" Kicker replacement barely didn't make contact with 2 of the three mounting points without modification. I added a couple washers to press-fit the 1/4" difference. Works like a charm.

The second thing I noticed was there is no way to run your own speaker cable through the door grommet. The internal metal panel to the doors were too stiff to remove (didn't want to break anything). I decided to tessa tape the shielded white speaker wire and run them through a slit in the door seal, down the floor trim, and back to the trunk. More pictures to follow. I was outside for 6 hours today running lines and figuring out what/how I wanted to do this and it's dark. I'll take the pre-cleanup "it works" photos tomorrow.

[threebabies]

All the door speakers were installed. All the wires were ran under the interior door trim and behind the back seat. This is a pretty seemless installation with the exception of running the new speaker wire through the doorjam, through the rubber weather seal, and into the interior trim pieces.

The Driver Side Door has the only access for the speaker wire to go into a rubber grommet prior to going into the cabin. All other doors require more disassembly to put wires into the cabin.

This was an interesting project and i'm very happy with the result over the HK sound system. I'd say there's an immediate increase in sound quality over the HK system. I played Classical, Rock, R&B, and Dubstep to test; hopefully installer bias didn't take over.

Here is the unpolished product of the "Amp space", Trunk, and door-to-cabin wire.

[threebabies]

Since I used the Rear speakers to pirate the signal from the iDrive7 to the LC2i, Fader settings on the iDrive7 need to be set to the rear in order to have the entire speaker system work.

The downside is that the vehicle is not adjustable to select the sound positioning in iDrive7. All speakers running through the LC2i are permanently fixed on the same level. This means that the audio will always run in a "center" configuration. This isn't a big deal to me, so I don't mind, it's just worth mentioning in this configuration.

Instead of pirating a signal from the rear factory post-HK-amp speakers, you could, in theory, buy a Mobridge DA2 to pipe directly into the factory source and bypass the factory amp completely. The rest of the installation should be the same.

I was concerned when I saw the stealth sub installation of a G05 on youtube, there was an OBD bypass switch installed on their build and decided on the LC2i instead of the Mobridge for that reason. No need, IMHO to mess with the OBD in Germany where I live. It would cause problems with vehicle registration if the "check engine" or other trouble codes came up.

If anyone has any questions on the build, let me know. I'd be more than happy to share the experience and/or shoot more specific pictures your way.

[spike5150]

The most important question - how does it sound?!

[threebabies]

Originally Posted by spike5150

The most important question - how does it sound?!

It sounds great - i'd say there's a marked improvement above stock sound. 20-50% better quality. The equalizer on the iDrive7 plus the amplifier frequency adjustments need some tweaking but overall i love it.

[timmahh]

Curious, how long did you have your X5 before deciding the HK system was insufficient? No doubt what you've installed would sound better no matter what, but I've read that speakers need time to break in, and will sound better after several hours of different types of music at different volumes.

[threebabies]

Originally Posted by timmahh

Curious, how long did you have your X5 before deciding the HK system was insufficient? No doubt what you've installed would sound better no matter what, but I've read that speakers need time to break in, and will sound better after several hours of different types of music at different volumes.

I had the 2021 xdrive40i for about 2 months before deciding on upgrading. The clarity and bass wasn't where I'd like it to be and you really had to turn it up to 70-80% to jam. I've been a hobbyist musician for the last 15 years and am very particular about my audio.

Now, the clarity and bass is there. My normal listening volume is configured at the default and I only have to turn it up to 40-50% to rock out on short trips.

[timmahh]

Originally Posted by threebabies

I had the 2021 xdrive40i for about 2 months before deciding on upgrading. The clarity and bass wasn't where I'd like it to be and you really had to turn it up to 70-80% to jam. I've been a hobbyist musician for the last 15 years and am very particular about my audio.

Now, the clarity and bass is there. My normal listening volume is configured at the default and I only have to turn it up to 40-50% to rock out on short trips.

Cool, thanks for your thoughts.

My pattern of BMW audio thus far is had HK, loved it > no HK, hated it, would never do it again > had HK, loved it again > no HK, told myself it was ok with out HK, it's not, vow to never do non-HK again.

I swapped in the bavsound stage 1, and it is [to me] a great improvement. Still not as good as HK, but it improved the audio enough that I'm fine with it for two more years.

[leightos]

for those doing replacements - I saw that the OP here had to cut speakers to make them fit.
Please check out this link that has adapters
https://technicpnp.com/product/door-...em-connectors/

[threebabies]

Forgive the rats nest. I ended up getting some boards to screw together that way everything doesn't shift around if I'm driving a little hard around corners.

[GetSmart]

Originally Posted by leightos

for those doing replacements - I saw that the OP here had to cut speakers to make them fit.
Please check out this link that has adapters
https://technicpnp.com/product/door-...em-connectors/

Awesome link!
Thank you.

[F80GTS]

Does anyone know or can check on hifi equppied cars to see if the trunk panel trim where the speakers and tweeter would be on HK equipped models has the speaker wire sitting behind the trim.

[2dangerous]

Originally Posted by F80GTS

Does anyone know or can check on hifi equppied cars to see if the trunk panel trim where the speakers and tweeter would be on HK equipped models has the speaker wire sitting behind the trim.

It does not, only wired for factory speakers.