The Bass get's distorted at relatively low volumes. The HiFi is okay for most people, but it is not a very powerful system. it was available in Canada but not the US. I'll have to play with both & listen to a reference track.īTW, the E90's Individual (Dirac Live) system was incredible IIRC. I should order a F31 soon so I'll have to make a decision with regards to the audio system - it only comes with the Executive package here so I'm not sure I want to spend $1700 to get it. I think HK speakers have lower impedance ratings. If I was really serious about sound, I would skip the $850 on the HK and spend $2K- $4K on a "real" after market system - but then again I would spend that money on my home audio rather than car audio since the car's sound environment is anyway messed up badly due to road, wind, traffic noise. In any case the standard Hi-Fi system gets absurdly loud if you really want it to. Now, I'm not sure if the HK system uses more efficient drivers. However, that should not really matter since doubling the amp power would only give a 3db increase in volume levels. The amplifier is rated under 200W while the HK system is rated at more than double the power. Also the equalization is pretty basic with just bass and treble adjustments (which I am actually fine with since it is easier to screw up with a 9 band equalizer unless you use some kind of parametric equalization). However, I find the tweeters a bit on the brighter side. Actually there was some response even below 20Hz but that was far below -3db from the average levels. I do not agree with one of the above posts which stated that the bass gets muddy at 50% volume. The standard hi-fi system actually even comes with shallow-profile sub woofers under each of the front seats which give a good punch when you turn up the volume. The B&O in my previous car was much better than this system. I found an 'ok' setting for Rock but once switching to any other type of music, it does not work and I need to adjust the settings. Hi all, I got my G20 last week and I am still unable to make the HK system work for me. I never found the bass to distort under moderately loud volumes. Harman Kardon poor sound quality/ upgrade. The Hi-Fi system in the US models is actually pretty decent. I'd rather splurge on nice audio equipment at home than try to put audiophile gear in a car, where the environment sucks anyway (noise, sound stage, listener position, etc). I haven't extensively played Hi-Fi or HK in the F30, but my E90's Hi-Fi system sounds pretty good, so I'm thinking the F30 Hi-Fi should be on par with what I have now. 1st Post on the forum, have just moved over from Audi to my first BMW.
Most probably BMW will offer an Alpine kit (PnP amp and speakers) for the G20 as they did for the F30. Have to wait until some vendor creates an audio interface harness for the OEM HU, or cut wires to add an amp to the OEM HU. The sound quality is dismal, to say the least. The Stereo system has no OEM amp in trunk.
BMW F30 FORUM SOUND SYSTEM UPGRADE UPGRADE
I have only heard a system with the Audisson upgrade and it was noticeably better.Keep in mind that standard audio is not an option in the US (except maybe for the 320i.) - it is available on certain models in Canada but only for lower trims (328i xDrive Classic for example). I was playing music and threw my ballcap on top of it and it seemed to muffle the sound (yes my scientific test haha).
I did not open up the center dash but I am 99% sure there is the center speaker there. I decided that adding the tweeters was my first priority to my ears.
BMW F30 FORUM SOUND SYSTEM UPGRADE SERIES
On the 2 series forums there was a good thread where people were arguing whether replacing speakers first or replacing the amp first was the best choice. I did read that the best/easiest plug-n-play amp would be the Match7-UP amp and could be "best offered" for $700 USD. Now I do not crank the volume up really high because I really don't want to go deaf, and I do like to hear my engine and everything else, so I assume that adding the amplifiers would help with that. Ie this now compares to my wife's X1 with the HK system for all of $33 USD. I personally just added the tweeters and I'm happy for now.
I did a little write up with some pictures.