Digital Amp Settings for the E89

[Lurcher]

Building a amp setting thread specifically for the e89. The below pics show the imaging settings (distance), crossover type, frequency correction, and master volume settings. Most digital amps for BMW (bimmertech, etc) all are using a base configuration motherboard and add in some tweaks, thus the interface software is different (customized) but most settings shown can be used.

My current speaker config: Front tweeter/mids combined (CH1/2) / center channel removed / front kick panel mid-bass (CH3/4) / rear sides (Ch5/6) / subs (CH 7/8). AMP is a Audison 8.9bit.

My speakers (as of this moment):

Tweeters: Audiotec Fischer from this set: MS 83C-BMW.1 - M123822.
Mids: From Mini Cooper - thier upgraded speakers (don't remember model)
Mid Bass: Hertz sv165.1 SPL SHOW 6.5
Rear sides: stock (really useless anyway)
Subs: stock

Below amp settings not optimized for the Hertz yet, I still need to do a firmware upgrade and retune. Settings were done with stock mid-bass, and with the top up. This should get you down the road to learning your software and having a base configuration.

Lower left shows speaker selection/location

 

[Lurcher]

Filippo has some more info in his master thread about the Hertz and subs (pain in the hiney to upgrade). If I was to find the motivation, I'd rewire so all three front speakers have their own discrete channel (plus each sub), and kill the rear surrounds (useless and blows imaging regardless). With the digital delay, you can get over killing the center channel - and a side note about this for historical purpose...

When installing a 8 channel digital amp, the center is wired in, but you have the mid-bass paired in a mono configuration (bridged). To seperate, something has to be sacrificed, thus the center channel is removed (and speaker wires run down from the center channel connectors to the right (or left) mid-bass), and both midbass then have their own discrete channels.

 

[derekgates]

Woah. This is impressive. I wanted to go to this level with my E92 but couldn't get over the price of active DSP... seems VERY worth it!


Pretty cool you have 6.5" mid-bass in the Z4! E92 has a tiny 4" and underseat only.
DSP settings look great; is this automatic, SPL meter, or 'known values'?





In my E92 (not Z4, sorry) I went with JL XD600/6, Morel MT-23, Hybrid Audio Technologies L4SE Carbon and some MB Quartz under seat via a Technic harness. I am mostly happy with it but I have some weird 'protection mode' or strange distortion on left side tweeter/mid... bleh.

 

[Lurcher]

Started with a RTA at the best stereo shop in Dallas, then went on my own to "fine tune", so this is moreso the end point from 2 years ago. I've got 6k watts and the Martin logans at home, and it's never going to get there, as it's a convertible so only so much is possible! Knowing when to say 'enough" is a hard decision, like finding the perfect motor mount! I'm using this as well now for a sanity check - $20 for a calibrated microphone...

Calibrated mic


Once I get in there again after the software upgrades, I'll repost, especially since the mid-bass have finally broken in and I know the crossover points need changed.

 

[derekgates]

Started with a RTA at the best stereo shop in Dallas, then went on my own to "fine tune", so this is moreso the end point from 2 years ago. I've got 6k watts and the Martin logans at home, and it's never going to get there, as it's a convertible so only so much is possible! Knowing when to say 'enough" is a hard decision, like finding the perfect motor mount! I'm using this as well now for a sanity check - $20 for a calibrated microphone...

Calibrated mic


Once I get in there again after the software upgrades, I'll repost, especially since the mid-bass have finally broken in and I know the crossover points need changed.

Kickass! That's the way to do it. I calibrate home theater setups and use Room EQ Wizard with a calibrated mic and SPL meter to do RTA/waterfall/delay/etc... Running some Boston Acoustics E100/E70s with some Outlaw 2200. Certainly not to your Martin Logan level, hahaha. That must blow your socks off with clarity; I've been in awe of those and Magnepans (or just some planar headphones would be cool).

Gallery of my previous house calibration:



I am sure the car sounds amazing. Those DSP tweaks must be the icing on the cake. I really want to get into that.


Thanks for sharing that little mic, what a great way to 'sanity check'.



(lol about motor mounts. I keep hmm'ing about going with both sides... they are sitting on my bench!)

 

[Lurcher]

The car sounds "ok". I see some guys trying to make it like a soundstage, but it's never going to be that. I had a much better system in my 7 series, but it (the car) was built for that (quiet/refined). I just want tweeters that don't make my ears bleed (soft domes rule!), manageable bass, and enough volume I can hear it with the top down at 80 mph.

And lets not go down the home road. I still shake my head about spending big bucks on a pair of speaker cables that cost more than my first car (and they do make a difference!). Expensive hobbies all around....

 

[fmorelli]

Thank you, Michael, for kicking this thread off with a big step up. I will not only be leveraging your work, but will post back if I can add information. In the meantime, let me just say a few things (since this is an E89 thread).

• I have a 2011 non-iDrive car. BMW in its infinite wisdom decided not to enable BT audio (just phone) on these cars. We're in the middle of working on programming to solve this. Unfortunately I've found no information of fixing this but soon hope to have the answer in publishable form.
• In parallel I have purchased a A2DP BT to SPDIF unit, as a way to get higher quality signal into the amp. It does so in two ways:
  • A2DP is a higher quality BT signal
  • SPDIF provides a digital optical signal straight to the PP82DSP which then uses a internal Burr-Brown DAC. This is instead of running an analog signal over wire pair.
  • One big issue with the convertible is lack of bottom end with the top open. I solved this a few ways - upgraded the 6" mid-bass speakers in the front footwells with Hertz (and custom install brackets in my thread), upgraded rear bulkhead woofers to Rainbows, and installed two self-amplified Alpine 8" sealed subwoofers behind the rear seats.

When I started my project I was naive. Not that I had not done a few stereo installs in my life, but I did not realize what an undertaking it was going to be with the Z4. To Michael's point ... it's a convertible so sound is going to be ok at best. But it is horrible stock. In my quest to build the car, I wanted the stereo to be invisible - so nothing looked different. This presented challenges as well. Taking the Z4 apart ... is a nightmare. Wiring idiosyncrasies with footwell speakers also an issue. Bimmertech really had no effective configuration file for the Z4 (they supposedly do now, and sent me one). For anyone that wishes to look at a Z4 install, this is a good place to start in my build thread.

Anyway - thanks @Lurcher for getting this thread going. I'm thankful for your assistance, Michael! I've got a few small things left to address and I'm going to start working the tuning side, certainly by next weekend.

Filippo

 

[derekgates]

Thank you, Michael, for kicking this thread off with a big step up. I will not only be leveraging your work, but will post back if I can add information. In the meantime, let me just say a few things (since this is an E89 thread).

• I have a 2011 non-iDrive car. BMW in its infinite wisdom decided not to enable BT audio (just phone) on these cars. We're in the middle of working on programming to solve this. Unfortunately I've found no information of fixing this but soon hope to have the answer in publishable form.
• In parallel I have purchased a A2DP BT to SPDIF unit, as a way to get higher quality signal into the amp. It does so in two ways:
  • A2DP is a higher quality BT signal
  • SPDIF provides a digital optical signal straight to the PP82DSP which then uses a internal Burr-Brown DAC. This is instead of running an analog signal over wire pair.
  • One big issue with the convertible is lack of bottom end with the top open. I solved this a few ways - upgraded the 6" mid-bass speakers in the front footwells with Hertz (and custom install brackets in my thread), upgraded rear bulkhead woofers to Rainbows, and installed two self-amplified Alpine 8" sealed subwoofers behind the rear seats.

When I started my project I was naive. Not that I had not done a few stereo installs in my life, but I did not realize what an undertaking it was going to be with the Z4. To Michael's point ... it's a convertible so sound is going to be ok at best. But it is horrible stock. In my quest to build the car, I wanted the stereo to be invisible - so nothing looked different. This presented challenges as well. Taking the Z4 apart ... is a nightmare. Wiring idiosyncrasies with footwell speakers also an issue. Bimmertech really had no effective configuration file for the Z4 (they supposedly do now, and sent me one). For anyone that wishes to look at a Z4 install, this is a good place to start in my build thread.

Anyway - thanks @Lurcher for getting this thread going. I'm thankful for your assistance, Michael! I've got a few small things left to address and I'm going to start working the tuning side, certainly by next weekend.

Filippo

View attachment 36929 View attachment 36928

Sweet!

I also have a 'business' head unit (Hi-Fi, not Top Hi-Fi) and a lack of the telecom module that provides bluetooth. I am using a BT adapter that talks to the 30 pin iPod connector which provides me wireless sound with combination of steering controls/track info.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017RWJ46O/ with one of these cables (ebay, amazin, etc)

Those Hertz 'subs' are intruiging! I like that you have the ability to do so. The Z4 has so many speaker locations! That's unreal!

The interior sounds like the nightmare my i3s has; I have Audison APBMW compoonents in that car and want to go with a set of Kicker CompRT 6.75" woofers

https://www.kicker.com/comp-rt-6-75-2-ohm-subwoofer

OH YEAH! But the installation is a crazy nightmare of removing the under dash, center console areas, etc. I feel the "lack of bass" pain in the i3; it is extremely anemic but the mid/highs are heaven with those Audison components.



Anyway, I realize this is the Z4 forum. Just thought I would send some positivity of audio upgrades your way.

 

[fmorelli]

https://www.alpine-usa.com/product/pwe-s8 ... I have two of these. Sealed 8" ... so the bass is not all sloppy. Self-amplified, has various controls on the units to adjust, plus remote adjustable stalk. If you can find a place to hide one of these and plumb sound to it (signal or power wire), it will probably help out.

On the Z4 I have these soft installed currently as I finalize the installation overtop of interior (the whole car was apart internally and just went back together). I'll shoot photos of their location on the Z4: you cannot see them unless you pull the seats forward (which honestly there is no reason to ever do unless you are 4'8" tall)

Filippo

 

[Lurcher]

And for us larger guys - there is ZERO room for anything behind the seats where Filippo has these additional subs. Ahh to be "average" sometimes...

 

[fmorelli]

Actually ... lol I checked this ... typically when you push the seat back, it's angled such that the top of the seat back limits rear motion (give its back angle), not the seat base. So there actually is some room for that sub box at the bottom.

Now if you are Hanz or Franz - 6.3 ft, 195 lbs fit biathlete that drives mostly upright ... it may be a problem. Last I checked, neither of us fit that description.

Filippo

 

[Lurcher]

My issue is anything other than completely full back, and my knee is in the dash (literally pushing near the key), thus I give up some seat angle (and comfort) to fit. 6-3, 290'ish (thanks covid). Remember me talking about moving to a 4 series eventually? This is the reason...

The seat is all the way against the carpet back there. I doubt I could put a finger in that gap...

 

[pbondar]

When you are doing the sound sampling for the set up of the digital amp do you sample it with roof up and windows closed or roof down windows down or roof down windows up?

 

[Lurcher]

Closed top and windows. Everything goes to crap with the windows down, even though that's where I spend 80% of my time. I"m ok with it though, as anywhere over 40mph the exhaust and wind noise takes over - and I'm OK with that

 

[pbondar]

Ah so..I use the BMW Match 7 from Audiotec Fischer

MATCH UP 7BMW

7-channel Plug & Play upgrade amplifier with integrated 8-channel 64 Bit DSP for BMW HiFi sound systems

www.audiotec-fischer.de

With Eton 100mm units and Rockford Punch 6.5 woofer and a class d alpine amp driving two audison subwoofers behind the seats

I'll look at doing a resample with teh roof down/windows up now that the speakers have bedded in..

I have plenty of volume but I have stock exhaust and removed the Active Sound Device fitted to the N20 variants..

 

[fmorelli]

I still have not gotten to mine ... but sounds like I may have local expertise soon ... ahem ... @Lurcher ...

Filippo

 

[Lurcher]

I still have not gotten to mine ... but sounds like I may have local expertise soon ... ahem ... @Lurcher ...

Filippo

Well, no work travel till 4q, so trying to figure out if we want to move up there sooner. First day is on 29th....

 

[Lurcher]

For documentation purposes: US resource for Audioson tech support:

Lance Doss
Director of Techical Support & Training
Elettromedia-USA

Office: 949 251 1851 ext 118
16691 Noyes Avenue, Irvine CA 92606
[email protected]

Now, I tried upgrading firmware 2 weeks ago, and things took a bad turn. Worked for a day, came back, then amp indicator light started blinking 3x, 3 times in a row. Something this specific should be a "known" code - but no help from manufacturer. Been trying a bunch of things lately and keeping Lance in the loop - no help. Sent to RMA department. Amp is 6 years old (2 year warranty), so lets see what happens..