what would you do to an x5?

Hi Guys,

What would you do to an X5 with non-premium sound.   I am looking for ideas and recomendations.   I would like to keep it as clean and as stock looking as possible (no big visible bass box).

Best regards,

Ted

Thanks.  I know I need to provide more details, but I didn't want to box you guys in with your ideas/creativty.  So any good ideas are appreciated....

Bascially, I want better sound quality, but at the same time, I don't want to go crazy with redesigning the doors/speaker enclosures and want to avoid a visible sub box if I can.  However, I would love to have decent bass.  I want to keep the BMW headunit.  In addition, I want to have a somewhat hidden cable that I can attach my ipod to.

Thanks for your help,

Ted

I would trade it in on a lifted crewcab longbox F350 diesel but that is just me. If you want to keep the factory headunit, you are going to need a interface that has a AUX input on it (unless your factory head does or can be added to it). The interface is necessary to integrate the factory head to the rest of the system. After that if it is respectable tonal response you are after, look to Morel for new speakers. A subwoofer is going to be a must, the trick is to find one that will round out what you expect for bass response and not take up a huge amount of space. A shallow mount driver from Kenwood, Pioneer or JL Audio may do this and a good installer will be able to make the box to both minimize lost space and make it look like it is supposed to be there. Amplification will be necessary, a 4 channel amp and a mono amp, both which can be hidden by a good installer. The new Eclipse amps have proven to be great, same with the Pioneer Premiere amps, both are nice and small, run cool and have lots of power.

I wanted to do the same thing to my X5. I did a bit of research and didn't want to pay tons of money for installation, so I went with the BSW kits from Bavarian Soundwerks. http://www.bavariansoundwerks.com/

The speaker upgrade works awesome. It's not going to win awards, but it's a 200% improvement over the suck ash stock system. I also installed the amp and sub system which are both hidden behind the panels. The bass is a 5 on a scale from 1-10, stock is a zero. So, very good improvement. I like a bit more bass, but for most this would suffice. I also added the Dice Silverline kit for my iPod and have the adapter running through my center console. I also added the bass control, a must if you listen to different types of music like I do. It comes with a pretty detail list of instructions and you tube videos that are step by step. By far the cheapest way to upgrade with the most sound. All in all, I spent around $1300.00 to get it all done. The local audio shop wanted $1800.00 to upgrade just my door speakers. LAME!

Thanks guys.

I ordered the BSW speaker upgrade (10 speakers) and also a JL Audio 10w6 with JL 500/1 amp.   I am going to be making my own "semi-stealth box" (done this before, but not for this vehicle).     

Best regards,

TC 

I know it's a bit late, but JL makes a stealthbox for that vehicle.  We just got one in yesterday for an X5.  Of course the sub they use is only a W1 instead of the W6 you have.  We are putting the 250/1 on the other side of the vehicle behind the pannel.  There seemed to be a lot of room so the 500/1 might fit there too.  We were going to mount the amp on a carpeted board and attach the board to the vehicle with the amp facing into the hole.

Although too late, I always recommend people auditioning speakers before purchasing them.    For $650 you could have found a pretty killer speaker set.  I hope those BSW speakers work out for you.

yeah, I know JL and BSW both make sub-boxes for this vehicle, but decided to save money on the box itself and put it toward a better sub & amp.    I've built boxes before that have sounded pretty good, so I figure that the 10w6 may need to protrude a little into the rear trunk space in order to give it the volume and space it requires.

Every reveiw, and i read tons, says the BSW speaker upgrade kit for the x5 (10 althogether) sounds great and is plug and play easy.   I am sure I could have gotten better speakers, but then I would have to rewire and potentially replace the stock HU and wasn't interested in that.  

However, I am going to dynamat the truck and I am intersted to see the difference that will make.  I have 20" rims and fat/low profile tires and can definitly hear road noise.