Aftermarket Subwoofer in the trunk?

[blake9220]

I'm desperately trying to find a solution to the terrible subwoofers that come with the standard Hi-Fi system (non-HK). I have an old Rockford Fosgate sub (with built in amp) that is just sitting in my garage that I'm considering using. My question is whether or not anyone on the forum has added an aftermarket sub (not the bavsound system) to their non-HK system. Did you remove the underseat subs?

I'd love to move to the bavsound sytem, but just can't justify the cost right now. Any ideas are greatly appreciated!

[RocketBoots]

First of all, you're very fortunate to have the Hi-Fi system, as it's much easier and cheaper to upgrade.

Our car didn't come with "subwoofers"; it came with woofers, or midbass. If you want to use your old RF sub (I'm assuming it's in a box if it's got an amp), you will have to strap it down. That may not look the best, and take up a lot of usable trunk space, but could sound just fine.

To get sub-bass in the car, you need to tap the signal to the OEM amp, send it to an aftermarket amp. Since the HiFi system is all analog, this is relatively easy to accomplish.

However, you seem to be saying the Bavsound system is expensive. It's expensive for what it is, but in terms of cost for a significant audio upgrade, that amount of money will not get you much. If you're willing to put that RF box in your trunk, my advice would be to get an aftermarket amp/DSP for your existing speakers, and hook up the the RF sub / amp. That's probably the best bang/buck you will get.

[Super Spartan]

I thought all M4 had the H/K sound system as standard. or is that just recently?

[tom @ eas]

Originally Posted by Snappy Phoenix

I thought all M4 had the H/K sound system as standard. or is that just recently?

As of MY16.

[Super Spartan]

Originally Posted by tom @ eas

As of MY16.

thanks for the clarification chief

[weissja]

OP, you can add your new sub to the existing subs without any problems, which is what I did. Good luck.

[braylark]

I feel your pain. I added my own setup to make up for the sound quality. I posted in the DIY section my project for a subwoofer install. Check it out.

http://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho...php?p=19645298

[matt@bavsound]

As RocketBoots is suggesting, you can definitely get a reasonable amount of extra low end by using your old RF sub in the trunk, but this will require adding an amp to run it, an enclosure (if you don't already have one) time down in the shop, and at least an hour of labor.

BMWs don't really do that well with just throwing a sub in the trunk as the trunk is well sealed from the passenger compartment, and the car isn't really the right shape/size to fully propagate low frequency waves unless you can get more energy inside the cabin. We used to spend a good amount of effort building bandpass enclosures and passthrough grilles to get BMWs to sound truly great in the sub department.

I'm truly happy to help you with technical knowledge if you're going the route of using your own sub and a new amp in terms of getting it all wired up, but also can vouch for the bang for the buck our GhostSubs would give you. Super easy to install, and a marked improvement in your low end without expending a ton of money and effort.

Let me know if you have any questions - whichever route you decide to take!

[Zayzel]

I have 2 12" subs in an enclosed box - currently coming out of my 650 into a '18 F80. Does anyone know if these will fit the M3 trunk?

[norcalcarguy]

Originally Posted by matt@bavsound

As RocketBoots is suggesting, you can definitely get a reasonable amount of extra low end by using your old RF sub in the trunk, but this will require adding an amp to run it, an enclosure (if you don't already have one) time down in the shop, and at least an hour of labor.

BMWs don't really do that well with just throwing a sub in the trunk as the trunk is well sealed from the passenger compartment, and the car isn't really the right shape/size to fully propagate low frequency waves unless you can get more energy inside the cabin. We used to spend a good amount of effort building bandpass enclosures and passthrough grilles to get BMWs to sound truly great in the sub department.

I'm truly happy to help you with technical knowledge if you're going the route of using your own sub and a new amp in terms of getting it all wired up, but also can vouch for the bang for the buck our GhostSubs would give you. Super easy to install, and a marked improvement in your low end without expending a ton of money and effort.

Let me know if you have any questions - whichever route you decide to take!

Curious what you do with the pass throughs to get the bass into an M3. Want to put two twelves into my 2008 m3.