[bri1042]

I've been through several BMW sound systems in my 5 BMW's (6 if you count the Hifi system in my SO's 530e). The G80 is by far not the worst of them.

One point before anyone starts copying others' EQ work:

Your ears are not their ears. While some folk around here are relatively young, many of us are not. It would almost be good for folk to log how much of their hearing (especially highs) in their EQ posts, but even that would be questionable as being able to hear a frequency is not the same thing as still being able to pick out nuance or detail at that frequency. I've had a full audio test due to an issue with my left ear a few years ago (which cleared up...stereo hearing is such a fine thing), so I know what frequencies I have issues with and that's it's almost bizarre that I can still hear 18khz at 50 years of age.

A friend of mine, who is a few years older, has a hole right between 225 and 300hz so has trouble even noticing female voices but his hearing is solid otherwise.

Anyway, as much as they type of music you listen to matters with such things, so does your own, individual ears.

On to the point:

The G80 is OK, certainly better than my M2C's, but not terribly satisfying. The bass gets overly boomy if pushed too hard, the center speaker is a stereo separation travesty as expected, and despite the size of this car we are still too close to the driver's door speakers.

With a good DSP installed, this could all be solved. The six trillion speakers could be timed for the driver's seat (passengers will suffer, of course), the center speaker could be software-disabled, etc...

I have three cars worth of audio equipment at home (minus a few parts from my M2C that I sold under the working assumption that I wouldn't need them anymore). If they had kept to the old audio hardware setup, I would have already ripped out the stock amp and upgraded this fella. But with the new setup (RAM), I haven't even poked the hardware yet. I used to work with MusicarNW and learned a lot from them, but stopped when I had my M2C as they became less interested in accommodating folk that can't just give them their car for a week or two. I imagine they could work it out if I could live without my car for a bit, but I can't.

So what have I done with this thing?

I EQ'd it to settings that work OK for my ears and my wide-ranging music tastes. I've shifted the sound field to the rear a bit to help the rear drivers offset the too-close front drivers and pull some energy from the center channel. And, as opposed to my '16 340, the left/right balance comes close enough to being able to center the sound on my seat. I've also disabled the ASD, which did help on this system. The best I've been able to get with it is a decidedly mediocre sound that I can tolerate but don't particularly enjoy.

I don't expect that the HK drivers themselves are really that much of an issue. They're likely on the happy side of mediocre if they're fed a bit more power, timed and EQ'd. Like most of the other HK and Hifi drivers in BMW's that I've poked. That doesn't mean that upgrading the drivers isn't worth it, I actually HAVE Hybrid Audio and Morel speakers that I used in the front locations on my 340i and they are significantly better drivers, and buying them are a significant investment.

I'd love to use them again, but there's no point without solving the amp/dsp issues.

Edit for clarification: The G80 is the first BMW that I've been to get to "tolerable" without making hardware changes. I've gutted every other one I've had as they couldn't reach that level. I have not owned an F80/82, but I did have the HK in my 340i and the system was the same (if I recall...apologies if there's a difference I don't know). I couldn't balance the 340, center connected or not. The driver's door driver set was just too present and the balance control seemed to need another notch or two.