[afsar]

As expressed before in various other threads I am fed up with the cost and extra experience/knowledge required to setup a great sounding system in car. In search of better imaging (not too loud but moderate lound with high quality decent sound) I couldn't find a compatible decent dsp which doesn't cost an arm and leg here in the UK. Compromising between qualtity and cost/experience/expertise I am going for Logic 7 retrofit in my E60 for now.

If I can ever afford to upgrade this further I can always add things on top of this. Also I already have wire running for all four channel to the boot of car which can be put in use in case of aftermarket setup later on.

I already have 5 L7 mid-range speakers (already installed except the one for center channel), 2 tweeters, 2 L7 underseats and I sourced a cheap L7 amp which is on its way.

Considering I get all these delivered and they are all functional I should be fairly easy for me to connect and code it. I will run cable to the rear fuse to power L7 amp and will use MOST connection either from COMBOX/TCU point or from fibre optics distribution point. Biggest trouble for me will be to install speakers in the rear door cards. I have to cut whole in the rear door card (which already has the marking for the cut) and then install the speakers there. I still don't have 2 L7 speakers and 2 rear tweeters, so I will postpone door car work for now.

I have been speaking to one friend of mine who did this retrofit and he says the rear shelf speakers are are utterly pointless and surprisngly they have tweeters attached to them but most of the time rear shelf speaker set don't play anything at all. Rear doors speakers are much more active then the parcel shelf ones. He did confirm this with another stock setup and this was the case in the stock setup too. I don't understand why would BMW not have tweeters in the rear door but would install them on the rear shelf and not use them most of time. He suggested me not to cut the rear door card to install anything. Just use rear door output from L7 amp and pass it to the rear shelf. I am slightly worried about this setup as this may defeat the whole purpose of L7 which has been programmed inside the amp. How is your rear shelf speakers performing if on L7, do they make any difference to the listening experience at all?

Another question I had was in connection with the underseats. I have SWS-8 4 ohm installed at the moment. Would it be counter productive if I leave them in there with L7? I saw many people upgrading to SWS-8 from L7 underseats. Would L7 work with SWS-8? Worth keeping them?

Also on the ETK there are various part numbers for the L7 amp but most of them are revisions except one which says with CIC! I don't understand why would it be different with or without CIC? How about retrofitted CIC? Do you guys have same level of setting/tuning in CIC as you have on CCC?

Sorry for so many questions but once equipped with all these information I will plan my install considering no show stopper is found on the way.

[kaigoss69]

All I can say is good luck. Have you heard the imaging of the L7 OEM system? - It is flat out horrible. And how much are you spending when all is said and done (incl. dealer coding)? If I were you I would listen to some of the systems other UK forum members have put together and then compare to the L7 system of your friend. I think you would be surprised how good a simple low budget system can sound, and how terrible the L7 OEM system really is.

[afsar]

Originally Posted by kaigoss69

All I can say is good luck. Have you heard the imaging of the L7 OEM system? - It is flat out horrible. And how much are you spending when all is said and done (incl. dealer coding)? If I were you I would listen to some of the systems other UK forum members have put together and then compare to the L7 system of your friend. I think you would be surprised how good a simple low budget system can sound, and how terrible the L7 OEM system really is.

Oh man!!! I do coding myself but still all bits and pieces combined aren't cheap. Not counting labour.

[ctuna]

What am I trying to achieve.
If I want quality sound what the best way to achieve it.
Do I really need processed sound ?
There have been quite a few L7 people that have stated turning
of the L7 makes there system sound better.
The Head Unit is generally about features not making the sound , sound better.

[afsar]

ok guys, thanks for the tip. I heard L7 in one of my friend's car and since then I have dropped this idea of retrofitting L7. Must say it was good but mine average setup was better then L7 to my ears (actually even the L7 owner agreed)

So today I have ordered MS-8