[FotiosF90M5]

UPDATED AGAIN 1/5/24. PICS ADDED
UPDATE TO AN OLDER THREAD I POSTED
1/5/24 update
Took out the earthquakes and replaced with underseats that provide much better mid bass and higher power capability. Much higher sensitivity as well. BMW specific ESX VISIONS. Made in Germany by esx ( stamped on speaker basket, they also make very good DSP amps as well, NOT Aliexpress, looked into it although they do look the same ) similar to B&W’s design but 2 ohm 180 watt RMS. Kevlar cones, large voice coils, strong neodymium magnets, PnP. Easily the punchiest underseat woofer I’ve heard or tried and I’m very impressed by them. Sharp and thick punch and mid bass, goes very low if you want it to, very clear and quite strong at 2 ohm’s and up to 180 watts rms. Overall sound is very much improved over the earthquakes along with JL trunk sub.
https://www.esxaudio.de/english/vxb8w.html


Also ordered the match up10 ALPHA ONE version / tune. Curious of the their custom oem integration version as well as how good or not good their custom tunes are as well as the custom support they state.
I will be putting one in our X3m which has oem speakers still. My curiosity got the best of me despite the steep price and wanted to upgrade the X3m anyway. I like the match up10 so pulled the trigger.
Will post my review soon. Set up details below:
https://www.bimmer-tech.net/speakers...pUpDecodeForm1

FOCAL ES100k’s mid/tweeters all around
OEM B&W Center Speaker w/ matching OEM Diamond Tweeter + oem crossover
ESX Vision 180 watt RMS Underseat mid bass woofers
JL Audio Active 10” 400 watt Trunk Subwoofer
AF MATCH UP10 DSP AMPLIFIER
AF CONDUCTOR remote controller
JL Subwoofer Remote
B&W Style Ambient lighting speaker covers
( Ali express - impressive quality tbh)

Previous update below:

Changed things up a bit since this was originally posted and got a bit better in regards to tuning the system. I was finally able to actually truly code out the active sound the M5 ram/booster setup has . Quiet as hell now but now I can actually utilize the power of this amp without the car artificially sounding like a full fledged, incredibly loud race car.

The amp is definitely powerful for a mid range amp/dsp. Before I had to balance the gains and input voltage to have good sound and not have crazy loud active sound and turn signals but couldn't utilize the power as much as I wanted, now I can do whatever I want and the sound power and quality is impressive.

So, I'm now running same setup but all the midrange and tweeters for the front doors, rear doors, and rear shelf speakers have been swapped for the Focal ES100k's ( mids and tweeters ). Dramatic increase in sound quality and power and IMO are amazing speakers. A bit harder for the install and pricey but worth it.
The center speaker is actually an oem B&W mid speaker as well as the matching B&W diamond tweeter ( same setup as the pre-LCI B&W crossover wise ). This duo works very well for the center speaker.
The underseat woofers are now the Earthquake sws's with the 2ohm setup. They are actually quite powerful and IMO a much better fit for my system. Very punchy and with the es100k's was able to match them very well for midbass too.

Added the oem illuminated ambient lighting speaker covers all around as well and the yellow cones of the ES100k's look very cool at night. Cool aesthetic upgrade and matches the ambient light color chosen. The rest of the setup is the same and the whole setup sounds amazing and considerably better than the oem B&W in the M5 in particular. It better with how much I've spent ( stopped keeping track ). So I can honestly, finally say I'm happy with it and might even be done for a few minutes lol. Thanks for reading, I'll get some pics asap if anyone wants to see the focal es100k's through speaker covers during day and night, cool setup.

Old setup and original thread below

…..we'll sort of. Still getting better with really fine tuning. Went through so many phases , sleepless nights, and setups to get here but sounds awesome now and learned more than I ever thought I would. This amp is incredibly capable and small! Not much to take pictures of now but in case anyones HK sounds horribly weak and wants a very powerful amazing sounding stereo this could help. Very crisp, clear, and powerful highs , super punchy and finally loud mids, strong and deep bass that seems to come from all over. The vocals sound loud and crystal clear as well. Been through hell with this but was well worth it.

I still haven't gotten the rta setup right but ended up mostly by ear. Many many hours both still and while driving which obviously can be tough lol. Finally got it sounding amazing both parked and driving. . Could be much better with professional tuning for sure.
I have this set up in my 21 m5. I tried to find a place to help but never could so I learned how to do it myself. Would love some professional tuning but nothing around me. I went through multiple set ups and it all finally morphed into this setup and I have to say it sounds very good and will get better. Significantly better than the current b&w.
17 speaker system

Audisons mids and tweeters all around ( 12 total ) great speakers semi decent crossovers, including both 8" underseat woofers using 4ohms all around ( 2 8" AP SW4's )

The center speakers ( 1 mid 1 tweeter ) are Eatons and I'm very impressed with them. Great speakers.

400 watt JL Audio 10" ported, self powered subwoofer in the trunk facing rear of the car closer to drivers side a bit. The signal for this is through the matchup 10 amp via rca using the line out channel it has.

Matchup10 by audiotech Fischer with mec slot for bmw and the AF pnp harness for the new ram hk amp and booster all oem plug and play.
Amazingly capable amp with DSP and I haven't even scratched the surface of capability with this DSP and tuning.

I also have a JL bass knob and the audiotech Fischer conductor controller up front. It can adjust underseat subs, rear door mids, master volume , and choose between 10 files on the fly. Awesome tool, and color coded led lights on the knob.

Dynamat sound deadening throughout much of the car, huge impact on overall sound stage and clarity. Punch as well. Nice and crisp.

7 months ago I didn't even know What this stuff was and now I've installed, tuned, and set this powerful system up on my own so it's been both awesome and frustrating to say the least. It can be done!

If anyone has a similar setup with the ram and booster hk system I'd love to try some tune files. I'm sure some of you can tune much better than I can.

Thanks for reading !!!

[subterFUSE]

I could tune it for you but I'm in SC, not MA.

[FotiosF90M5]

Originally Posted by subterFUSE

I could tune it for you but I'm in SC, not MA.

Lol, damn that geography thing…..I just think if I got it sounding as good as it does ( to my ears at least ) not even really knowing what I'm doing what can an experienced audio tuner do. I know it's much more capable than I'm utilizing, it's a very powerful little amp and DSP.

[hunter8793]

I’m glad you got your setup working.

Since you have this experience now, what can you tell a guy that would like to add a 10 or 12 inch sub in the truck?

[FotiosF90M5]

Originally Posted by hunter8793

I'm glad you got your setup working.

Since you have this experience now, what can you tell a guy that would like to add a 10 or 12 inch sub in the truck?

I'm a fan of keeping it simple and needing a smaller footprint. If I were to do it again and only add a sub to an HK system this is what I'd do.
Technic PNP with loc
(Make sure it's ram unit if you have the booster)
JL audio 10" self powered box (400watt)
W/ bass control knob ( knob is essential)
I have a ported one but I think a sealed would be punchier ( ported maybe deeper ) either way is likely fine. Reason I like active/self powered is because it's just less stuff, cables, amps, brackets ( needs less space and just less work)
Clean install, good cables, and a good amp hook up kit 8 gauge would work well.
So:
Technic harness to loc- ( will give you signal turn on and loc power right from harness oem cabling )
loc to sub/internal amp via rca's , start with low gain and keep lowest gain while still sounding clean and strong enough then tune with bass knob based on what your listening to.
This is a nice and efficient way to do a 10" sub from my own experience. I'm not a pro and people might disagree but this is what I'd personally do and recommend. Hope this helps
Oh btw I put the sub box against middle of the rear seat backs FACING / firing to back of trunk. Secure it very well or it will sound like crap if it's loose in any way. I did sound deadening on trunk floor as well. Other places too but that's a different story.

[subterFUSE]

The closer the sub is placed to the rear of the car the better it will sound. Less cancellation. Unfortunately, the best location is the least convenient…. That being all the way against the trunk lid firing directly into the back of the license plate.

Be sure to try the sub in positive and negative polarity to find which works best. Having a DSP with time delay is best, but might not help depending on how the sub vs midbass timing works. The midbass might be the drivers needing delay added to match the sub properly, and there is no delay available in the OEM system.

[FotiosF90M5]

UPDATE TO AN OLDER THREAD I POSTED

Changed things up a bit since this was originally posted and got a bit better in regards to tuning the system. I was finally able to actually truly code out the active sound the M5 ram/booster setup has . Quiet as hell now but now I can actually utilize the power of this amp without the car artificially sounding like a full fledged, incredibly loud race car.
The amp is definitely powerful for a mid range amp/dsp. Before I had to balance the gains and input voltage to have good sound and not have crazy loud active sound and turn signals but couldn't utilize the power as much as I wanted, now I can do whatever I want and the sound power and quality is impressive.

So, I'm now running same setup but all the midrange and tweeters for the front doors, rear doors, and rear shelf speakers have been swapped for the Focal ES100k's ( mids and tweeters ). Dramatic increase in sound quality and power and IMO are amazing speakers. A bit harder for the install and pricey but worth it.
The center speaker is actually an oem B&W mid speaker as well as the matching B&W diamond tweeter ( same setup as the pre-LCI B&W crossover wise ). This duo works very well for the center speaker.
The underseat woofers are now the earthquake sws's with the 2ohm setup. They are actually quite powerful and IMO a much better fit for my system. Very punchy and with the es100k's was able to match them very well for midbass too.

Added the oem illuminated ambient lighting speaker covers all around as well and the yellow cones of the ES100k's look very cool at night. Cool aesthetic upgrade and matches the ambient light color chosen. The rest of the setup is the same and the whole setup sounds amazing and considerably better than the oem B&W in the M5 in particular. It better with how much I've spent ( stopped keeping track ). So I can honestly, finally say I'm happy with it and might even be done for a few minutes lol. Thanks for reading, I'll get some pics asap if anyone wants to see the focal es100k's through speaker covers during day and night, cool setup.

[FotiosF90M5]

also added even more sound deadening along with the new adaptors for the focals, lined more of the trunk area as well and it's all very solid. Next is to do the sideskirts more to minimize exterior rattle from underseats.

[FotiosF90M5]

Updated with some pictures

[Mwerks23]

I have B&O in my F90 I am disappointed in the sound system. I wish it has more bass. The way you have your sound system set up is perfect!!

[MikeFish]

Originally Posted by Mwerks23

I have B&O in my F90 I am disappointed in the sound system. I wish it has more bass. The way you have your sound system set up is perfect!!

Have you set the EQ up correctly? I was quite impressed with the bass output once I played with the settings and used the guide someone else posted on here i.e. bass turned up high but 100Hz and 200Hz turned down low. Quite impressive for an OEM set-up (albeit an optional one).
But being a bass head it wasn't long before I fitted an aftermarket amp and sub. Now it sounds even better.

Note, some people have said the later cars did seem to have more bass, not sure what year your car is though.

[MikeFish]

Originally Posted by FotiosF90M5

PICS ADDED
UPDATE TO AN OLDER THREAD I POSTED
Changed things up a bit since this was originally posted and got a bit better in regards to tuning the system. I was finally able to actually truly code out the active sound the M5 ram/booster setup has . Quiet as hell now but now I can actually utilize the power of this amp without the car artificially sounding like a full fledged, incredibly loud race car.

The amp is definitely powerful for a mid range amp/dsp. Before I had to balance the gains and input voltage to have good sound and not have crazy loud active sound and turn signals but couldn't utilize the power as much as I wanted, now I can do whatever I want and the sound power and quality is impressive.

So, I'm now running same setup but all the midrange and tweeters for the front doors, rear doors, and rear shelf speakers have been swapped for the Focal ES100k's ( mids and tweeters ). Dramatic increase in sound quality and power and IMO are amazing speakers. A bit harder for the install and pricey but worth it.
The center speaker is actually an oem B&W mid speaker as well as the matching B&W diamond tweeter ( same setup as the pre-LCI B&W crossover wise ). This duo works very well for the center speaker.
The underseat woofers are now the Earthquake sws's with the 2ohm setup. They are actually quite powerful and IMO a much better fit for my system. Very punchy and with the es100k's was able to match them very well for midbass too.

Added the oem illuminated ambient lighting speaker covers all around as well and the yellow cones of the ES100k's look very cool at night. Cool aesthetic upgrade and matches the ambient light color chosen. The rest of the setup is the same and the whole setup sounds amazing and considerably better than the oem B&W in the M5 in particular. It better with how much I've spent ( stopped keeping track ). So I can honestly, finally say I'm happy with it and might even be done for a few minutes lol. Thanks for reading, I'll get some pics asap if anyone wants to see the focal es100k's through speaker covers during day and night, cool setup.

…..we'll sort of. Still getting better with really fine tuning. Went through so many phases , sleepless nights, and setups to get here but sounds awesome now and learned more than I ever thought I would. This amp is incredibly capable and small! Not much to take pictures of now but in case anyones HK sounds horribly weak and wants a very powerful amazing sounding stereo this could help. Very crisp, clear, and powerful highs , super punchy and finally loud mids, strong and deep bass that seems to come from all over. The vocals sound loud and crystal clear as well. Been through hell with this but was well worth it.

I still haven't gotten the rta setup right but ended up mostly by ear. Many many hours both still and while driving which obviously can be tough lol. Finally got it sounding amazing both parked and driving. . Could be much better with professional tuning for sure.
I have this set up in my 21 m5. I tried to find a place to help but never could so I learned how to do it myself. Would love some professional tuning but nothing around me. I went through multiple set ups and it all finally morphed into this setup and I have to say it sounds very good and will get better. Significantly better than the current b&w.
17 speaker system

Audisons mids and tweeters all around ( 12 total ) great speakers semi decent crossovers, including both 8" underseat woofers using 4ohms all around ( 2 8" AP SW4's )

The center speakers ( 1 mid 1 tweeter ) are Eatons and I'm very impressed with them. Great speakers.

400 watt JL Audio 10" ported, self powered subwoofer in the trunk facing rear of the car closer to drivers side a bit. The signal for this is through the matchup 10 amp via rca using the line out channel it has.

Matchup10 by audiotech Fischer with mec slot for bmw and the AF pnp harness for the new ram hk amp and booster all oem plug and play.
Amazingly capable amp with DSP and I haven't even scratched the surface of capability with this DSP and tuning.

I also have a JL bass knob and the audiotech Fischer conductor controller up front. It can adjust underseat subs, rear door mids, master volume , and choose between 10 files on the fly. Awesome tool, and color coded led lights on the knob.

Dynamat sound deadening throughout much of the car, huge impact on overall sound stage and clarity. Punch as well. Nice and crisp.

7 months ago I didn't even know What this stuff was and now I've installed, tuned, and set this powerful system up on my own so it's been both awesome and frustrating to say the least. It can be done!

If anyone has a similar setup with the ram and booster hk system I'd love to try some tune files. I'm sure some of you can tune much better than I can.

Thanks for reading !!!

What's going on there under the headrest? Looks like you have added some speakers in there. Pretty sure I don't have any there and also pretty sure none of the B&W information mentions any speakers there either.

[ResIpsaLoquitur]

Originally Posted by MikeFish

What's going on there under the headrest? Looks like you have added some speakers in there. Pretty sure I don't have any there and also pretty sure none of the B&W information mentions any speakers there either.

In a detailed thread, OP addresses that he has installed the speakers under the head rest himself.

[MikeFish]

Originally Posted by ResIpsaLoquitur

In a detailed thread, OP addresses that he has installed the speakers under the head rest himself.

Thank you for the informative reply but I can't find any mention of any headrest speakers in this thread.

To the OP, more information please, like why, what are they wired to, what speakers are they, how do they sound etc?

On a slightly different note, are the OEM speakers & B&W speakers interchangeable? I note you have used the B&W mid / tweeter for your centre channel,, was this a straight swap or did it require adapters. The reason I'm asking is I'm wondering if the plethorta of aftermarket underseat woofers will be a plug and play swap for my B&W ones? I thought they had different connectors but can't find confirmation now.

[S EyeLand]

How would you rate the carbon fiber trim overlays?