[mr.raindoggie]

I have a 2006 330xi with Logic7 and I love the sound from it. I am planning to buy a 2011 328xi this week - I’ve got 2 car candidates: one has hifi and one only has the base system.

Before I get rid of my ‘06 (it has 319k miles on it), I would be interested in getting a stereo installer to pull the Logic7 amp/speakers/wiring from it and install it in the newer e90. I’m willing to use the ‘06 head unit as well if that is necessary, though I’m not sure whether it would be possible to put an ‘06 head unit in a 2011 e90?

Other questions:

Could I swap in the entire rear door panels with speakers from my ‘06 330 into the 2011 328 (thereby avoiding any cutting), or are the door panels not the same size and interchangeable?

I know some will say just get a plug n play retrofit kit, but I am very fond of Logic7, and in particular having sound from those rear door speakers.

Any thoughts on how possible this might be, and what I should expect to pay to have it done? Thanks for any insight you can provide!

[colorado.e9x]

When I replaced my doors I had to swap the entire wiring harness from my old doors (Logic 7) to the new doors (base hifi)

You'd have to swap the entire audio harness and possibly the HU as well. Logic 7 is fiber optic whereas hifi is not

*Take whatever I say with a grain of salt, I'm not always right and everything I say is based off personal experience

[ctuna]

If you have the Bucks aftermarket systems are way better than
Logic 7.

[smass]

The rear door panels with mounted speakers are a direct swap. Hopefully yours are the same color as your new car. The center dash speaker assembly is also a direct swap.

Removing the L7 wiring harness will take the most time. Just start at the amp and trace the wires forward. You only need the amp plug with some wire to splice on to and then the complete runs to the rear doors and center dash. The door wiring goes through the main door wire harness as an add on plug. The connectors fit into slots of the main harness which makes it simple. The dash speaker wire runs under the drivers seat, up the console, behind the radio and up to the center speaker. As your seats will be removed for sub swapping, running the wire is easy. The passenger side rear door wire follows the same path below the seats.

Ultimately you will find that he sub wiring follows the same path as the rear door wiring. It was pretty easy to remove it from the donor at the same time. The same was true for the rear deck speakers. The rear deck is removed to swap the speakers which gets you easy access to that wiring also.

In the end, the only wiring I spliced was to the front door speakers. And the power and ground wires for the amp. These splices are close to the amp. It is possible to swap the L7 wiring for the front speakers however the wiring gets mixed up in dash/fuse box wiring which makes it time consuming to remove.

Don't swap the head unit as the LCI one is better. Just get it coded to add the L7 option.

Labor wise I would say 2 hours to remove everything from the donor car. Then another 2 to reinstall.

If you have another questions feel free to reach out.

[smass]

Here are the wiring diagrams for L7 and pro

https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/e...em/fwuewoK.svg

https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/e...em/kYBGuXG.svg

[mr.raindoggie]

Thanks smassey321 for such an awesome answer, that’s exactly what I needed to know! In fact, I will bring that with me to show any car stereo installer I talk to.

My other question relates to that. I am not mechanically inclined at all so DIY is off the table for me. The couple of car stereo installers I’ve spoken to so far didn’t think this could be done. Do you or anyone else here have any advice for how I should go about finding someone with the skills to do all of this?

Thanks again.

[smass]

Here are a few more things that need to be mentioned. My car was a pro and I don't know much about the base system.

Base audio system has all of its wiring going to the head unit. For L7 retro, front speaker splicing will need to happen up front or get/use the entire L7 harness. New power wires will need to be found/run in rear for the amp.

I am not sure how much extra fiber they put in 2011s. 2006 had lots of extra fiber for CD changers and things like that. If needed, remove the length of amp fiber and plug from your 2006. The other end connects to the most bus behind the rear seat. All the amp wiring runs next to the most bus so you will be there anyway. The most bus will need to be re-patched to keep everything in series.

[ctuna]

It can be done but its not worth the trouble.
You can do far better with aftermarket stuff.
Get a Bimmertech helix dsp setup with Match speakers.
People in Europe do this but usually it's
because they have found a car they can gut.
What are you going to do with your gutted car.

If you have to pay somebody to do this it will cost a lot
unless they work for nothing.