What Customers Are Saying

I did this car last week but wanted to post pics of the install and to commend the guys at BSW for making such a well engineered audio upgrade for the E90 owners. This was my first using the sub box and I must say it was very impressive with only 300 watts on a single 10" Everything when in smooth as silk and sounded very nice when i was done. The owner of the car was very pleased. I highly recommend this package to anyone wanting a upgrade in audio performance without sacrificing space and cosmetic integration.

-Jeff, Audio Designs of Atlanta (AudioDesignsATL on BimmerForums.com)

I just replaced my front component speakers in my 330i with BSW units. I was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to hear a significant enough difference to justify the cost.

I had them professionally installed yesterday afternoon and I can't believe the difference. It's really stunning....if you are familiar with the Claritin commercial where they "tear away" the film over the camera to illustrate the "Claritin clear" tag line then you can envision the difference these speakers make.

I not only hear a larger frequency range, the definition and clarity are astronomically better. I really would not have expected to hear this much of a difference without also adding an aftermarket amp.

I almost wish I still had rear deck speakers just so I could change those too--I have the JL Audio stealth boxes powered by a JL Audio amp.

If you are thinking about upgrading to the BSW parts I highly recommend doing it...they are absolutely worth the money.

[This is a two part revew. Here's the second part. -BSW]

Ok...I have spent a few weeks now with my BSW stage one in my 330i formerly HK setup.

I feel compelled to come back here and let anyone know who is thinking about these speakers that they are FREAKING AMAZING!!!!!! The difference from stock is nothing short of phenomenal. I can't believe the improvement is this significant without adding additional power....they are just amazing.

I have the JL Audio 8 inch subs in the rear deck powered by an additional JL amp and my system really sounds amazing. In fact, I now find myself turning the volume up so much I occasionally bottom the subs... I am now trying to determine if there is any way I can make a set of JL w7's fit in the rear deck.

-Rollo, E46Fanatics.com

Today I installed the BSW Stage 1 Audio Upgrade. Before getting to the sound quality, a few words about the installation process.

The installation instructions are straight forward and while I was a little concerned about the air bags in the front door panels I mostly followed the directions. I started with the rear deck speaker replacements. These are really simple to replace and took about 5 minutes a piece. You have to make sure you use one of the mid range drivers that has the additional wires for the tweeters. The rear deck and the front door drivers have the additional wires for the tweeters. The rear doors and the center channel do not have the additional wires since there are no tweeters there.

Next I did the rear doors. The 1st door took the longest time since it was the 1st one I did. The clips are quite sturdy and require a little force to get the out. Subsequent doors went faster. I took the rear panel completely off and then replaced the drivers. Reconnecting the rear doors is straight forward process. Reconnect all connectors and LEDs, realign the clips, make sure that the door lock rod is in the hole and everything clipped back into place.

On the front doors, I did not follow the instructions to a tee. After removing the clips and the panel came free and off the door, I left all the wires connected and simply rested the door pannel on a box without pulling on the wires. There is sufficient clearence to do all the driver removal without disconnecting any connectors.

Now the good part. The sound is totally different. All the harshness of the tweeter and the mid range is gone . I spent an hour simply enjoying the sound. The blending of the base with the mid range and the tweeters is smooth and the sound is incredible. Readjusting and playing with the equalizer was actually fun and rewarding since the sound system was actually responding and while clearly projecting the right frequencies the blending smooth and pleasing.

In my opinion, well worth the money if you enjoy your music.

-Sam (aka ssigarto on M5board.com)

For everybody that is thinking about upgrading there sound system but not wanting to pay an arm and a leg the stage 1 kit from BSW is the way to go.

I ended up getting the stage 1 kit and all speakers are plug and play. ( the rear mids needed a tiny bit of work). They have amazing DIY videos on youtube that link directly off there site. Install was about 1.5 hours and thats because I took a break to eat dinner. I know a lot of people hate the HK system that BMW put in our car for some dumb reason. This is the way to go.

Ordered the complete stage 1 replacement kit with tool kit on wednesday afternoon and it was at my door monday morning. Great ordering experience as well. Tool kit is a must just due to the ease of install with the tools. Do the install yourself. Its easy and would be a waste to have a shop do it for you.

Performance? As far as performance go the sound is a much crisper sound. Bass is deeper and you can hear all the details coming from each speaker. Your not going to get the type of sound from a complete replacement upgrade, including amp, high end speakers but this is definetly a huge leap above the POS HK sound system.

-trebm3 on M3forum.net

Ok guys it's been a long time since I posted but Saturday I had the pleasure of installing a BSW Stage 1 kit in a 09' 535ia sedan with the logic 7 audio system. I took the time to document the installation and evaluate the cost, benefit, value of the BSW kit verses the aftermarket options that we offer at my place of business. After the test I was inspired to share this all with you. This was my first 09' E60 chassis that received the basic stage one upgrade with nothing else. The client was looking for an overall sound improvement without any sacrifice of space and cosmetics. BSW has always offered a very well rounded modest upgrade package in my opinion, that would satisfy the needs of the any client looking for a moderate improvement in audio performance. The "new" Stage 1 kit included what appeared to be a newly designed mid/woofer that is extremely well built. The kit also includes a new 25 mm silk dome tweeter with inline 6/db high-pass filter. The installation took me roughly 4 hours to remove the center, rear grills and remove/re-install all 4 door panels and add the supplied sound dampening to all 4 doors. Before I started the installation I took a few minutes to listen to my reference CD's I've used for tuning extremely well designed and far more elaborate systems than the stock BMW H/K logic 7 system. The stock system seemed to have no life/emotion to it, what I like to call "GET UP AND BOOGIE" to it. The midrange seemed hollow and thin, the bass was more of a thud than a snap. But for a upgraded stock system on par for the course.

After the installation was complete and I powered up the new system for first time and the sound improvements were immediately noticeable. But I have a habit of breaking speakers in before listening in order to allow the voice coils/spiders to warm up and move a little more freely to produce a better sound. So I tracked up full range 20-20K pink noise at about 3/4 volume for about 30-45 min as I cleaned the shop and finished my paperwork with the owner. The owner and I sat in the car a queued up a reference track and about 1 min into the track the owner turned to me and asked "is this my car?" The mid rage and high frequencies were crisp, clear, and very detailed. The mid bass seamlessly blended in with the factory floor mounted subwoofer and anchored the bass response in front of the listening position. I was amazed at the tonal balance and linearity the BSW stage 1 kit revealed as we listened to everything from Diana Krall to Snoop Dog. Hats off to BSW on this kit, they have done an incredible job at improving the BMW's sound quality with very minimal effort. I highly recommend this kit to all E60 owners.

-Jeff, Audio Designs of Atlanta (AudioDesignsATL on BimmerForums.com)

Hello Folks:

Musical sound quality in a car is a subjective thing. That said, I'd like to offer some comments on a rear shelf speaker upgrade I recently did on my 2003 330Ci with the factory Harmon Kardon system. Like many on this forum, I think the HK system is substandard.

However, I focus my aftermarket dollars on suspension, brakes, wheels, and tires. I've never fancied the electrical modifications with major aftermarket sounds systems. It's all about personal choice.

Because of this, I thought I'd order simple a plug and play upgrade - that being the "BSW Rear Midbass Upgrade Speakers", $160 plus shipping.

The install was a snap, taking less than 45 minutes from start to finish.

When I first turned on the system I was very disappointed. All my audio settings were those from prior to the upgrade.

I experimented with the whole range of audio settings, but finally changed only the bass and fade settings from what they originally were set to.

The transformation in sound quality was significant, to my ears at least. With the BSW rear speakers I was able to increase the bass level four "clicks" (two "clicks" below max, treble set full high).

With the stock HK speakers the system would have sounded distorted and muddy. The BSW speakers seemed to provide a noticable amount of additional bass, without the distortion and muddiness of the stock HK speakers.

Also, I changed the fade three "clicks" towards a rear bias (it was originally set neutral). This was the final tweak and resulted in a really noticable improvement in sound quality.

So, just an FWIW. For $160 plus shipping it was very much worth it in my experience. Understand, even with the improvements I realized, the HK system is still rather weak compared to full aftermarket upgrades.

However, at least my BSW modified HK system is now "listenable".

Thanks BSW,

Scott (aka SLO Town on E46Fanatics.com)