B&O center speaker knock off.!

[x5wntd]

230am..8th hour..won't give up! tomorrow kinds will be thankful to the Bimmerpost community for the school cancellation

[x5wntd]

Not enough length to wire it to the fuse box..have tried about 5 different ways.. no any 24/7 store around.. gonna try with the nbt unit.. stay tuned

[mrfochon]

I was considering it granted wanted to know the quality of sound but now I sont hesitate anymore lol
This is too much work for just a speaker.

[-c-]

Originally Posted by x5wntd

Not enough length to wire it to the fuse box..have tried about 5 different ways.. no any 24/7 store around.. gonna try with the nbt unit.. stay tuned

Holy crud guys! This was way harder than it had to be !!!! Yes You need to extend the wires a bit longer to reach the fuse box.

Again you just need to fish it down and attach to the accessory fuse with a "add a fuse"

This should not have taken that long and you did not need to remove your trim.


Man I wish I could just come over and help you out!
I feel terrible to see you go through that!

[Cranswick852]

My install was also easy. Speaker connection is simple plug and play. Power needs to be routed down to fuse box. Note that I am RHD, with fuse box under steering wheel. I removed the instrument binnacle, but that was all: wires were routed through to fuse box without removing trim. As already mentioned, wires are too short, so we're extended (joint in binnacle recess).

[x5wntd]

Originally Posted by -c-

Holy crud guys! This was way harder than it had to be !!!! Yes You need to extend the wires a bit longer to reach the fuse box.

Again you just need to fish it down and attach to the accessory fuse with a "add a fuse"

This should not have taken that long and you did not need to remove your trim.


Man I wish I could just come over and help you out!
I feel terrible to see you go through that!

That's ok bro no worries, still trying to finish this out. Now the problem is that I have the nbt evo id4 , which has no pin 13 for "radio on" signal (so the speaker will go up when the HU is on and down when off). Wanna do that way but atm didn't find that exact pin I need to connect to ..

[Ascotgrun]

At this point I think I would just wire the speaker motor to accessory 12v and be satisfied with the speaker rising and lowering with the ignition rather than the radio.

I can't think of any time I have had car on and not the radio.

[-c-]

Originally Posted by Ascotgrun

At this point I think I would just wire the speaker motor to accessory 12v and be satisfied with the speaker rising and lowering with the ignition rather than the radio.

I can't think of any time I have had car on and not the radio.

That's what I did and am happy with it.

Yea I can get deep into it but that's for another time. .


It makes it 98% easy! Lol.

[x5wntd]

Originally Posted by Ascotgrun

At this point I think I would just wire the speaker motor to accessory 12v

Where at? The fuse box? I just started trying to connect it to the cigarette lighter and lol believe me or not , seems like another 2-3 hours at least, and it's just for the 12v cord.

[x5wntd]

Show must go on✌️

[Ascotgrun]

Originally Posted by x5wntd

Where at? The fuse box? I just started trying to connect it to the cigarette lighter and lol believe me or not , seems like another 2-3 hours at least, and it's just for the 12v cord.

Cigarette lighter would be the best bet. Just need to be sure it switches off with ignition.

[x5wntd]

Originally Posted by Ascotgrun

Cigarette lighter would be the best bet. Just need to be sure it switches off with ignition.

On my way! There's another 12v btw

[CatalinP]

Originally Posted by Ascotgrun

Cigarette lighter would be the best bet. Just need to be sure it switches off with ignition.

It doesn't. However, it switches off 12 minutes after locking the car.

[-c-]

Originally Posted by CatalinP

It doesn't. However, it switches off 12 minutes after locking the car.

If my car was not in the body shop right now I'd shoot you a pic of the fuse I used.

It turns off and on with the key. Not when it goes to sleep.

As soon as I get the car back I will take a pic. But it may be a week or so.

[djrabbi]

I had Best Buy do my install. I paid the $200 fee for a year of Total Tech and it was covered under this plan. I got few other things installed like a subwoof, radar, this speaker... all for $200 and keep doing more for the rest of the year

[x5wntd]

Originally Posted by djrabbi

I had Best Buy do my install. I paid the $200 fee for a year of Total Tech and it was covered under this plan. I got few other things installed like a subwoof, radar, this speaker... all for $200 and keep doing more for the rest of the year

Wooow looks like a really good deal! Will take a look on it

[djrabbi]

Originally Posted by x5wntd

Wooow looks like a really good deal! Will take a look on it

I had to go to 4 different Best Buy's to see which tech knew what he was talking about lol. They damaged my tint front windshield thinking it wasn't tinted but they paid out in cash on the spot

[GeorgeR]

Does the pop up center have a tweeter that points out into the cabin vs. the stock tweeter that bounces off the windshield?

If that is the case, how do you adjust for the DSP tuning and potential changes in phase if you aren't also adding an aftermarket DSP? Even though the center shouldn't impact sound as much as the front R/L speaker I would expect it could still introduce issues.

[-c-]

Originally Posted by GeorgeR

Does the pop up center have a tweeter that points out into the cabin vs. the stock tweeter that bounces off the windshield?

If that is the case, how do you adjust for the DSP tuning and potential changes in phase if you aren't also adding an aftermarket DSP? Even though the center shouldn't impact sound as much as the front R/L speaker I would expect it could still introduce issues.

It has both, A speaker for the windshield and a tweeter. It's a carbon copy if the B&O setup, all I can say is their was absolutely no loss in sound quality from the stock one. Don't know how it's done as it has its own circuit board but theirs no issues otherwise.

At least from my perspective and ears. Others I can't speak for.

[Ascotgrun]

Is there a noticeable increase in sound?. I wouldn't mind brighter highs from the front and this would be cheaper and easier than changing out the door speakers... assuming it made a difference.

The other option would be just replacing the stock center speaker with something that offered more highs.

[Cranswick852]

My knock-off B&O centre speaker replaced the HK that was installed. Personally, I noticed no real difference in sound quality: neither better nor worse. I kidded myself it was better at first, but that would be placebo

[-c-]

Originally Posted by Ascotgrun

Is there a noticeable increase in sound?. I wouldn't mind brighter highs from the front and this would be cheaper and easier than changing out the door speakers... assuming it made a difference.

The other option would be just replacing the stock center speaker with something that offered more highs.

The only real way to know for sure would be to test each on their own.

However as many have said some have a tough time hearing a clear difference between the HK and the B&O, based on design alone their may be a difference as the sound reflectors are different so they may throw the sound differently than the stock location.

Some ears can tell. Some can't.

If your looking for a chance get the non branded version so you can keep the HK grills and it looks like it's part of the package.

If you want to do a full looksy then buy the branded and replace all the speaker covers and get a OEM fit for the speaker upgrade like Focal and or Bavsound.

That way at least you would have the nice shiny covers to compliment the center cover.

The price is cheap enough for a give it a try and not cry if you feel it's not better, it's definitely not any worse.


Now I have heard that some have coded the idrive unit to allow B&O expanded to be chosen on their HK system and noted a clear difference.

So it's possible that option makes use of the center channel more. I have no idea as I haven't done it.