Help choose a good system

[backtofront001 10+ year member]

Hi, i am sort of new to car audio. In my previous car i had a 12" JL W0, a 5-Channel Eclipse Amp, and infinity reference speakers. I was not "extremely" but sort of dissapointed at the sound quality and the amount of money i had spent on it. The bass was very muddy in rock songs and just plain noise in hip hop. The speakers were OK but did not nearly get as loud as i wanted them to. I would often catch myself putting the system to the limits and still was not happy. I would like to make an investment again and this time i want it to be worth it. I would greatly appreciate if someone could recommend me all the things I would need to create a -- not OK, not good, but awesome system for about $2000 (i know that is not too much money for an awesome system, but all the help would be appreciated).

I have a BMW 325i and I listen to a lot of metal, heavy rock, more rock and all kinds of rock and hip hop. That entails having a sub that will have a deadly punch and accurate hip hop lows. For speakers I want something loud to make my ears cry but i also want to be able to discern the lyrics, so accurate but loud. BMW's have 3 speakers in the front but i heard that putting a good set of components in the front will compensate for the 3rd speaker. Also they have components in the back. A lot people with beamers have MB Quart Premiums but i dont know anything about Quart. I want to retain my stock headunit for the stock look. So am i going to need any after market equalizer or something. In my previous setup i had an alpine reciever and could do the MX settings which made the sound better but i dont want a reciever since i want to retain stock look. Do i need any caps or anything?

Please Help me not make a wrong decision! Thank You very much in advance

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[Prowler573 5,000+ posts]

The best suggestion I can give you is to get a comfortable chair and have a seat. Read the stickied tutorials in each subforum thoroughly. Once that is completed then come back and see us with any remaining questions. By the way? In a cabin with the minimal space of a 325i two grand will (can) get you a pretty slammin' setup //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

Not trying to give you a hard time but there are stickied threads for a reason ~ there's heaps of really good information to be gleaned from them.

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wave.gif.002382ce7d7c19757ab945cc69819de1.gif Welcome to the forum. Hope I haven't scared you off and wish you a good read!

 

[backtofront001 10+ year member]

i am sorry, i should have done that but i have read so many forums like mp3car and e46fanatics and had not gained a lot of information about audio so i was wondering if i could get any help here

 

[Prowler573 5,000+ posts]

i am sorry, i should have done that but i have read so many forums like mp3car and e46fanatics and had not gained a lot of information about audio so i was wondering if i could get any help here

Those are forums that have detailed discussions about aftermarket car audio as an afterthought rather than the prime focus. I'll tell ya the truth there's as much absolute BS here as there is to be found in any online discussion board (ya simply cannot completely eliminate the human component, eh?) but there's much more useful information for your specific purposes to be found here than I would imagine either of those forums can/will offer you.

Let's start here:

Do we know what size speakers are in the stock locations in your Beemer? Do you know whether you are a "rear fill man" (meaning you appreciate the presence of rear speakers) or are you in the "dedicated front stage only as rear speakers are a complete waste" camp? Do you want component speakers (separate tweeter and midrange with a dedicated passive crossover network) or are coaxials (woofer and tweeter all in one package with the smaller driver mounted directly in front of the larger one) good enough for your ears?

What exactly, if you know, are you wanting the head unit to do for you? iPod compatibility? Internal .mp3, .wma, or other compressed music formats playback? Is a color or greatly informational screen important to you or can you be happy with one that simply gives you the basics? Do you want an involved internal EQ in the head unit or are simple bass and treble adjustments satisfactory to you?

How much space in your trunk are you willing to dedicate to real estate taken up by a subwoofer or multiple subwoofers? Are you wanting something extreme that is going to require gobs of power? If so are you willing to do the necessary electrical system upgrades to support it?

(I could go on for literally days with the questions....)

See what I'm getting at? There are innumerable factors to include when considering entire system design and implementation.

So - truly - have a read and then we'll talk. Amongst the BS in those stickied threads there genuinely is a crapload of incredibly useful info.

Again, welcome to our little corner of the car audio world. Hope you enjoy your stay here. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[backtofront001 10+ year member]

I would like components in the rear and the front. I cannot imagine going without the rear speakers. The size of the front speakers is 5 1/4. I want iPod compatibility and for that i am going to use ICElink. I want more than just bass and treble controls but want to keep the stock headunit. It seems like something from audiocontrol would be a good idea but i dont know. I am willing to sacrifice a good amount of space in the trunk for a good setup however i definitely do not want to sacrifice all the space. I dont necessairly want something that will require gobs of power -- i want something that will satisfy my needs. Very Powerful and accurate sub or subs. As i stated, i had a bad experience with cheap 12W0 JL Sub and i dont want that again.

and i am reading the stickied stuff. Thanks for ur help

 

[TheSpeakerMan 10+ year member]

Man i wish i had a BMW or 2000 to spend on a system