'95 BMW 320i, Sound system

Hi there, I am looking at purchasing a '95 BMW 320i, and I am wanting some advice on soundsystems for the car. It currently has the standard radio with speakers fitted. I have not heard this system but would like to know, how good is it compared to higher grade systems? If it is not up to scratch, I am looking at putting in a new fronloader as well as new speakers, maybe a sub too. For frontloaders, I am currently looking at JVC, Sony, Pioneer and Alpine varients- I have a resonable,but not infinite budget-what do you recommend. Also with regards to speakers, i have been researching the Infinity, JBL, Alpine and Boston Acountics systems-what kits-(tweeters, mids, etc) do you recommend?

Thanks for your time.

Fraser

Reply to
Fraser Montandon
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In news:c986p0$1d3$ snipped-for-privacy@newsreader02.ops.uunet.co.za, Fraser Montandon decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

Alpine throughout. Alpine head units naturally seem to produce more bass than most other similarly priced head units. Alpine DDD speakers are rather good and not too huge, but for a Sub, there's a cheapish Kenwood one that's as good as the Alpine for about half the price, so I'd go for one of them

As for speakers, I'd recommend separates as opposed to a 6x9 set up. (Bass / mids in doors / shelf in factory positions, tweeters high up at ear level.)

Try to go for a head unit with 4 volt pre out, as that way you can run the amps properly without cranking the head unit up to mad levels.

and if you're planning on running a sub, use something called an "epicentre" to control it..

Oh, and ignore all the Motor World type s**te, cos it *is* s**te

P.S.. Mp3 CD players *rocketh mightily*

Reply to
Pete M

Alpine head units are crap. Sound quality is OK but construction quality can be poor. Blaupunkt, Panasonic, Pioneer all much longer-lived and better made. Kenwood have stupid fiddly controls.

Indeed. 6x9 have terrible frequency characteristics and cones far too heavy for decent midrange response. 3 way if you can fit it, or 2 way with sub and a bass rolloff to the panel speakers to prevent vibration. If budget allows you want to go for an active crossover and a DSP - delay the front speakers a little to compensate for the sub it makes a big difference, as does the ability to fine tune the crossover points and DSP. All depends on money though - you can get good results from most blaupunkt head units (with parametric EQ, sub out etc) and some seperate front speakers (infinity make a good range), factory back and a small active sub under the drivers seat.

Yep - cheap alternative to a changer.

Reply to
Tim S Kemp

My Blaupunkt CD head unit that i got for my 17th birthday has survived 5 years, 2 write offs and about 8 different cars. Bit basic now but still does the job in my g/fs car. Quality piece of kit! Avoid Sony, my experience of their head units is utter s**te (i was almost glad when it got nicked). Best i've had is a Kenwood KDC6090 (i think). Sound quality was fantastic, worked perfectly, had some great features (maybe a little too complex for some people) and looked great (it had the changey colour display). Shame a leaky heaty matrix destroyed it :(

Thats what i need!

Reply to
Carl Gibbs

In article , snipped-for-privacy@timkemp.karoo.co.uk spouted forth into uk.rec.cars.modifications...

I found the Sound quality of the Blau modena CD53 was good, but the tuner was very poor compared to the el-cheapo panasonic that could easily pick up FM stations 3 counties away. The Blau has trouble picking up the ILR station 14 miles away. But the Blua has an AUX in feature which means I can add the CarPC when I get it going again, my Portable MP3 CD player, or an IPod should I choose.

Reply to
MeatballTurbo

In news:b snipped-for-privacy@karoo.co.uk, Tim S Kemp decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

I've got a Kenwood Mp3 CD jobbie in mine, only bought it because it was £300 when the next cheapest one (Alpine) was £650.. was a while ago like.. but it seems to work fine, and the buttons aren't that fiddly..

Reply to
Pete M

I've had Alpine units in nearly all my cars and they have all been fantastic. Alpine DDDrive speakers are also really good. Kenwood tend to make terrible head units. Panasonic and Pioneer are pretty good but I would say Alpine would have to be close to being the best. I had a Rockford Fosgate and despite it's high price it was a piece of crap.

Fraser

Reply to
Fraser Johnston

Had a pioneer in my old car, then swapped it for an Alpine. Much better sound quality with the alpine. My mate had a kenwood (flashy changey colour screen thingy) was shit as well. On my Alpine the volume control is playing up a little and it looks a bit crap (as most alpines do) but you don't buy a headdy for looks. Oh and it has MP3 which is great and all that, but I don't know if anyone else experiences this. But the sound quality while playing MP3s is quite a bit worse than when playing CDs. Not like the difference from radio to CD, but you can definately tell.

Before anyone says, this is comparing a CD burned as audio from MP3s, or a CD burned as MP3 from MP3s...So the music source files are technically the same quality.

Andy R

Reply to
Andy

In news:c9dalo$9qa$ snipped-for-privacy@titan.btinternet.com, Andy decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

Strange, the difference between audio cd and mp3 cd is minimal on my Kenwood. The only time I can tell the difference is on compilations where I've not bothered optimising the levels. Rest of the time it's fine.

Reply to
Pete M

Just got an ex-demo Blaupunkt Daytona MP53 head unit for £100 off ebay - arrived this morning. No idea if it's any good yet, but it was damn site cheaper than getting a CD changer and a compatible head unit.

MP3 CD headunit = Yay!

So sayeth me.

Reply to
Albert T Cone

they are not the same quality at all, I play mp3's here in my house ripped from CD's at max quality and I can tell the difference between that and the original cd, the bass goes higher without distorting etc...

Reply to
Theo

I think he was saying that he burned an audio CD from MP3's he had on his PC and also burned a data CD with the same MP3 files on, and that the playback from the data CD sounded worse than from the audio CD.

If that is really true, then either the MP3 decoder in the headunit is a bit shonky, or the interpolation algorithm used by the burning/decoding software on the PC is better.

Reply to
Albert T Cone

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