2008 BMW 550i or any bmw with idrive

[satish1015]

Im looking into getting one of these.. anyone ever put a system in one of these?

I hear theres two versions.. both have idrive and one has a logic 7 system which uses fiber optic cables from what i hear..

sounds like it's going to be a pain in the neck!

anyone know more?

[hdorre]

Thats the one with the V8..right? Nice.

Id look for one without the logic 7... no doubt.

Maybe Ray will chime in.

[satish1015]

Thats the one with the V8..right? Nice.

Id look for one without the logic 7... no doubt.

Maybe Ray will chime in.

It sure is! I hope i can handle the power lol

The one i had my eye on had the logic 7 system, which was pretty much the only thing that had me on the fence.

I am not sure who Ray is.. maybe you can point me in his direction so i can shoot him a pm?

thank you sir!

[satish1015]

So i have the one with no logic 7 sound system in it.. any help guys?

[zxsonnyxz]

I know very little about theese newer factory systems, just so it's said.

What are you looking to put in there?

I know there exsist products that will communicate digitally with the car, that adds options for inputs/outputs that the factory system doesn't support if you need it.

Don't know any spesifics for BMW though.

Then for amplification you could get a sound prosessor and feed the output signal from a factory amp into that and well, the rest is obvious.

Or if you're just looking to add a sub you could just do something as simple as a hi-low adapter. Or even run high-level straight to the amp if it's cabable.

In my buddys Volvo (has fibre optics between hu and amp) the prosessor is just spliced on to the factory speaker wires, and is currently just used to feed signal to a sub amp.

Works well.

Even though theese cars have advanced electronics and a lot computer processing, the actual analog sound signal coming out of the amp is the same as anything else.

Also look out for any noise cancelling features you might find in newer cars, they can cause issues when adding sound.

For any spesific help you'll have to wait for, or get in contact with someone more experienced

[RobertR]

Any bmw install is a pain compared to most vehicles. way too over engineered. Are you wanting to keep the stock h/u in it? Even if it uses fiber optics it has to be switched to wire at some point to run the speakers. If your keep the stock h/u pick up a LOC. If your swapping out the h/u then scrap the entire stock audio, stab your gear in.

[TaylorFade]

I can't comment specifically on the 5 series... but my car (1 series) and the 3 series... there's a guy on the BMW forums that makes a sweet Plug and Play harness. All you do in unplug the factory harness and plug his in. Out comes RCA's. And then the other side of the harness plugs into the factory speaker wiring plug. Zero cutting,

From what I understand... the signal from our HU is a very nice, unfiltered 5v. And I know in my car, a lot of the software is tied into the facotry HU. So, I'm sticking with the OEM unit and using processing.

The guy's name is "Technic" and the harness is ~ 75 bucks. Well worth it as far as I'm concerned.

[Moreno93]

i dont think that the wiring would be so much as a pain and taking the interior out and making sure you dont break anything.. that seems like a pain in the ass

[TaylorFade]

i dont think that the wiring would be so much as a pain and taking the interior out and making sure you dont break anything.. that seems like a pain in the ass

The facorty amp, all associated wiring and batt are all in my trunk. Easiest install ever.

[satish1015]

What are you looking to put in there?

Also look out for any noise cancelling features you might find in newer cars, they can cause issues when adding sound.

For any spesific help you'll have to wait for, or get in contact with someone more experienced

I'm looking to put in my two dc lvl 4 m2's.. with a hifonics colossus for now.. and my hifonics zrx 2000.4 for mids.. i also have 2 kinetik hc 1400's that I would like to use.. but I'm not sure if I can with the stock bmw battery.. but just so nothing messes up, i want to put in a HO alternator as well.. i did some research on those devices and they are very pricely lol.. except for the jl clean sweep.. which is the cheapest option i've seen.. i do not want to do the hi level input's because i've heard that it's very distorted... i would rather not have a system, then have one that can get loud and distort like crazy lol specially since I am amplifying mids and highs.. what do you mean about noise cancelling features? i know that the speakers are cross overed but i have no idea how

Any bmw install is a pain compared to most vehicles. way too over engineered. Are you wanting to keep the stock h/u in it? Even if it uses fiber optics it has to be switched to wire at some point to run the speakers. If your keep the stock h/u pick up a LOC. If your swapping out the h/u then scrap the entire stock audio, stab your gear in.

lol tell me about it! I would like to keep the stock h/u because everything is routed through that... swapping it out is not an option for me.. what do you mean by LOC? sorry i am not familiar with that abbreviation

The guy's name is "Technic" and the harness is ~ 75 bucks. Well worth it as far as I'm concerned.

I've heard about 'Technic" and i sent him a PM on a 5 series forum but I've gotten no reply.. do you have his email or contact information maybe?

i dont think that the wiring would be so much as a pain and taking the interior out and making sure you dont break anything.. that seems like a pain in the ass

The facorty amp, all associated wiring and batt are all in my trunk. Easiest install ever.

lol hopefully i won't have to do anything on the inside! however i do want to put a HO alternator in the car to assist with all the extra load since it will be around 5000 watts.. I've messaged mechman and they said they can only provide me with a universal alternator.. so now i have to find someone to fabricate a harness in my area