E89 audio upgrade

C

CliveN

Active member
This subject again. The basic six speaker system is terrible. I wanted something simple that didn’t require the car being torn apart and many installers say they can do it saying it’s the same as other contemporaneous BMWs. Well it isn’t as it doesn’t have under seat speakers and it has a collapsible hardtop. So buying a speaker set from day vibe is not feasible as they provide the under seat woofer. Which I can’t fit.

Ditto some threads have said its the speakers at fault others the head unit. I am
baffled….

The question is therefore how best can I improve the sound by buying replacement speakers for the six already installed in the car and to buy a tweeter fir where there is currently a hole. I do not an amplifier nor to cut wiring so simple replacement speakers are best fir me at this stage. What about bavsound? Any experience??

Advice please. I have read all the threads and they appear to be more complex solutions.
 
I went with the MatchUp's. Straight plug and play.

Screenshot_20250805_113909_eBay.jpg

For the footwells, I went with the Hertz Cento's

Screenshot_20250805_114723_eBay.jpg
 
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Thank you. The matchup were for the doors? Did another matchup go behind the seat ms in the door pillar? What are the little black boxes on the matchup pic please? And lastly I presume you had to make extra wiring for the connection from door speaker to tweeter?
 
If you’re willing to pay around £150-£200 ish per pair then Audison, Eton, Audiotec Fischer amongst others make front units with separate tweeter with suitable cables and coaxial units for the rears.

They are not as efficient as the original bmw speakers so volume levels may not be as high due to the limited power of the integrated amp in the head unit and the fact that the front amp drives both the door mid range and footwell woofers .

They are a good first step to better audio…for some it’s enough..others add booster amps, others have used genuine bmw mini speakers to good effect…other Chinese copies of premium bmw speakers.

Depends on your ears, budget etc etc


The boxes are the off board crossover to drive both a mid range and a tweeter.

Personally I rate Audison , Eton and AF in that order speaker wise
 
Here's the video i made a few years ago, before I "really" upgraded :ROFLMAO:...


Everything i fitted was plug-n-play, whereas some other manufactures* speakers would require a short modified piece to connect them.
With the tweeters I fitted, and OE BMW tweeters, they are also plug-n-play as the midrange come with 2 plug points per speaker.

For more amplification power, and although I did seriously consider fitting this i went down a different route in the end, there is the Vibe Powerbox...

VIBE POWERBOX65.4BMW3 BMW Compatible Amplifier upgrade, Black : Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

VIBE POWERBOX65.4BMW3 BMW Compatible Amplifier upgrade, Black : Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo
www.amazon.co.uk

Again this is plug-n-play, no cutting or altering anything at all.

* Edited this as it sounded wrong, sorry, the ones I show are all plug-n-play with no additional wires required.
 
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AnubisZed said:
For more amplification power, and although I did seriously consider fitting this i went down a different route in the end, there is the Vibe Powerbox...

VIBE POWERBOX65.4BMW3 BMW Compatible Amplifier upgrade, Black : Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

VIBE POWERBOX65.4BMW3 BMW Compatible Amplifier upgrade, Black : Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo
www.amazon.co.uk
Click to expand...

Can confirm this gives a good boost paired with @AnubisZed's original speaker upgrade as per the video :thumbsup:
 
CliveN said:
Thank you. The matchup were for the doors? Did another matchup go behind the seat ms in the door pillar? What are the little black boxes on the matchup pic please? And lastly I presume you had to make extra wiring for the connection from door speaker to tweeter?
Click to expand...
Both were for doors and behind the seats. The boxes are the crossovers for the tweeters. No extra wiring needed, all plug and play. I also have the vibe powerbox amp, that is also plug and play.
 
Hello Arcs and thank you. Can you confirm please that I can use the speakers you propose without the vibe amp and that the speakers just replace the ones in there using existing wiring? If so this is it for me. As it’s very simple and likely to do enough to satisfy my ears.
 
Yes - they just plug straight in. I also went with the match up kit - very pleased with it (no other modifications - otherwise standard set up).

You can always add a vibe amp later if you feel you need it, but the matchups on their own make a pretty big difference.
 
Just as a matter of interest here....
There are no off-the-shelf aftermarket replacements for the footwell woofers, nobody sells them.
To upgrade the basic system woofers your options are either to drill out the old woofers from the frame and then attach some appropriate new replacements or to go for the OEM HiFi/Top HiFi ones which are part number 65139192367 and will fit straight in.
 
AnubisZed said:
Just as a matter of interest here....
There are no off-the-shelf aftermarket replacements for the footwell woofers, nobody sells them.
To upgrade the basic system woofers your options are either to drill out the old woofers from the frame and then attach some appropriate new replacements or to go for the OEM HiFi/Top HiFi ones which are part number 65139192367 and will fit straight in.
Click to expand...
FWIW and IMHO the 676/677 woofers aren't great..I have a collection in my garage..but..most alternatives (which I used a marrine ply frame to support) need a lot of oomph to get them to work well..a good speaker and lots of amp is a splendid thing indeed..much more impact on the audio than any sub arrangement..although I have those too!
 
Hello again. AnubisZed are you saying that the hertz speakers mentioned by arcs earlier are not a straight forward fit (but the matchups go straight in). And that the BMW hifi upgrades speakers (which presumably do fit straight in) aren’t much better?
 
I think what a lot of owners don't appreciate is how the standard speakers are set/wired up. The rears are a reduced output and the footwell woofers are in parallel with the door midrange speakers each side, it's only stereo fed via a 4 channel output with reduced capacity. Replacing the speakers will improve it, but adding an amp would be better.

CliveN said:
Hello again. AnubisZed are you saying that the hertz speakers mentioned by arcs earlier are not a straight forward fit (but the matchups go straight in). And that the BMW hifi upgrades speakers (which presumably do fit straight in) aren’t much better?
Click to expand...
As you say, the Hertz speakers shown are not a straight swap over, and to the best of my knowledge there aren't any on the market that are (I've looked, a lot!).
No the OEM BMW HiFi woofers are better than the standard ones, but, as stated above, you probably wont notice any difference unless you do some amplification.
 
And also thanks for Dave’s video on how to remove panels. That makes it much more doable. Last question - can I leave the roof up? And better with side windows down or up please?
 
Okay got it thank you. I might just try door and rears only at this stage and see where it takes me. Did you do a subsequent video showing amplifier replacement ?
 
CliveN said:
And also thanks for Dave’s video on how to remove panels. That makes it much more doable. Last question - can I leave the roof up? And better with side windows down or up please?
Click to expand...
Yes roof and windows up if you want to, it entirely down to personal choice for access :thumbsup:
CliveN said:
Okay got it thank you. I might just try door and rears only at this stage and see where it takes me. Did you do a subsequent video showing amplifier replacement ?
Click to expand...
No I've not done a further video. I went from the standard to a retrofit of the 676 system, then this year I changed it again for the full 677 system, and love it :driving:
 
Sorry one more before I start. I presume I don’t have to disconnect the battery? And that the same applies to my E86 where I have to put mid ranges into the holes in the door cards. I have speakers for that! Thanks for all your help so far
 
CliveN said:
Sorry one more before I start. I presume I don’t have to disconnect the battery? And that the same applies to my E86 where I have to put mid ranges into the holes in the door cards. I have speakers for that! Thanks for all your help so far
Click to expand...
Always prudent when doing ANY electrical work to disconnect the positive terminal of the battery..
 
As long as you're only replacing the speakers then you don't need to disconnect the battery (personal choice!! ;)), just don't have your key in!!
See video for placement of midrange, they are screwed to the door not the door card :thumbsup:
 
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