# 2018 BMW M2 sq install



## Dirtboy (Aug 28, 2010)

I took delivery of my 2018 M2 last October and decided a couple months ago I was tired of dealing with the stock Harmon/Kardon audio system.

Here's a pic of the subject:










Right upon delivery I did Dinan performance upgrades; basically the P2 package minus the exhaust. For the exhaust i went with a FabSpeed sport cat and the BMW M Performance M2 exhaust.

But we're not here for performance mods... Here's the list of audio upgrades I've added to the M2:

Audiotec-Fischer Match UP 7BMW 7 channel amp/DSP
JL Audio XD300/1v2 1 channel sub amp
Earthquake Sound SWS 8Xi 8” woofers
JL Audio 10W3v3 10” subwoofer
Musicar NW F22 sub enclosure
Morel Hybrid 402 component speakers

I'll be keeping the OEM HK center and rear speakers installed for now..

I was going to go with the MusicarNW Level 2 4-way package at first. But they couldn't provide me with the DSP I wanted. Then I happen to find out about the Match UP 7BMW amp made by Audiotec-Fischer; the same company that makes the Helix DSP.

The Match amp is a plug-and-play amp for BMW hifi systems in 3 series and higher cars. In 2 series and lower cars it will work with both the hifi and HK systems. This is because 2 series and lower cars don't use the MOST net for audio. Instead they use differential balanced analog connections to the rear mounted amp.

Also, the Match amp uses the same DSP that is in the Helix DSP. It's also rated at 5x65watts at 4 ohm and 2x160 watt at 2 ohm and has one line level pre-out for an external amp. Plus a optical digital input.



















The amp came with a mounting bracket for the BMW and a custom wiring harness; no need to cut any wires.










It fits perfectly in the oem amp location. That other "amp" is the Active Sound Design amp; or the fake engine noise thingy. I don't know why BMW keeps putting this in new cars. If you can't tell by the pic, I have this thingy bypassed.











BTW, I'm surprised my 14 year old POS Windows XP laptop worked at uploading the sound file. I hope it handles the tuning session with my MiniDSP UMIK-1 hooked up as well.










One thing I noticed on the Match amp; while it's powered through the OEM wiring harness, you can also hook up 8 gauge wire directly to the amp. The manual says that if you have any system noise you should try that. I don't have any noise as of yet, but I'll keep that in mind.

I stuffed the JL XD300/1 on the right side of the trunk under the storage tray. It fit in there with about 1 inch of clearance. With it being right next to a cabin vent, I'm thinking it should get adequate ventilation.



















I ran 4 gauge wire to the battery lug. JL says you can use 8 gauge-- F that...











The MusicarNW sub enclosure is built pretty robust. I didn't measure it, but it seemed to me that the fiberglass is about 3/4" thick. I'm not sure what the internal volume is though.

















It's secured to the body by one plastic rivet up in the corner of the trunk. That and the fact that it fits VERY snug keep it from moving anywhere. It also comes with a quick connect for the speaker wire that runs through the hole where the 12V trunk outlet used to be.


















While I was at it I installed the pair of SWS 8Xi's. I know the Jehnert XE200's probably sound better, but I got these cheaper and I was worried about the impedance difference between the two drivers. The SWS 8Xi is 2 ohm and the Jehnert's are 6 ohm. 










The Morel Hybrid 402 speakers were not a direct drop-in replacement for the BMW HK speakers. I had to modify the OEM sail panels for the Morel tweeters. But since I got the Morel's from MusicarNW, the modifications to the crossovers were already done and the mids came with the correct speaker adapters.



















MusicarNW set up the Morel crossover with OEM connectors so no wires had to be cut in the doors. The crossovers mount low in the front corner of the door panel.










The Morel's are a big improvement over the stock HK speakers. I'm still working out the tune. It's a PITA to tune in an oven of a garage. I'll probably get a better tune once the outside temps go down and I learn how to use Room Eq Wizard. For now, it sounds good to me. Way better than the stock system. I've got the center channel turned off and the stock rear HK speakers turned down to where I can just barely hear them. The soundstage is right up on the dash and centered on the drivers position. I rarely have passengers so the sound is all about me.

Here's the setup on the front Morel Hybrid 402's.










Here's the setup for the rear stock HK's.










Here's the setup on the SWS 8Xi's.










Here's the setup on the JL 10W3v3.










I'm sure I'm not done tuning; I'll always be tweaking it. I'm think of getting a Helix Director just so I can have more than 2 sound profile presets, we'll see...


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## phantomtides (Nov 11, 2008)

Looks great so far. Nice to do a whole car with a minimum of new wiring to be laid!


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## dcfis (Sep 9, 2016)

Absolutely stunning car and set up! You done good!


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## lashlee (Aug 16, 2007)

One of my bucket list cars, even the right color!


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## chefhow (Apr 29, 2007)

Looks awesome. I saw you are in Dallas, you should come out to the show in September at Soundscape to meet some of the local crew here. We should have a pretty good turnout since this is our regional final.


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## metanium (Feb 2, 2007)

Very nice integration into a car that you definitely don't want to go "hacking into". Clean and simple, I love it.


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## Dirtboy (Aug 28, 2010)

Thanks for the compliments everyone!

My goal was to get better sound while keeping the OEM look. I'm sure I could get better sound out of this setup by switching to full digital input. But I'd have to track down a Mobridge DA-1 for that.




chefhow said:


> Looks awesome. I saw you are in Dallas, you should come out to the show in September at Soundscape to meet some of the local crew here. We should have a pretty good turnout since this is our regional final.


I might be able to make it depending on the date. I work out of town a lot so most of my weekends are spent out of town.


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## leogcalegari (Jun 13, 2017)

amazing car!


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## GreatLaBroski (Jan 20, 2018)

Awesome car and color. Nicely done.


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## fury (Dec 12, 2007)

Don't suppose you know how much room there is behind the 4"?
Wondering if a 70mm deep driver would fit...
Don't suppose you have a pic of the doors with / without the 4"'s mounted?

Sweet ride!


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## Dirtboy (Aug 28, 2010)

fury said:


> Don't suppose you know how much room there is behind the 4"?
> Wondering if a 70mm deep driver would fit...
> Don't suppose you have a pic of the doors with / without the 4"'s mounted?
> 
> Sweet ride!


Sorry, I was in so much of a hurry to install the speakers that I only took one pic, lol. 










Unfortunately, I don't think a 70mm deep driver will fit; it'll hit the glass. Over on 2addicts.com they're saying the deepest you can fit is 46mm. https://www.2addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1508684

Thanks for the compliment!


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## fury (Dec 12, 2007)

Thanks for that.
I have an m140i and was planning to use a Scanspeak mid.
The 12MU (Illuminator) is cheaper than the 12M (Revelator), and from all accounts appears to be the better driver, but is 70mm deep.
Damn.


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## Flash_Gti (Dec 8, 2008)

This Looks Awesome! Id be interested to know how this sub setup affected the (if at all ) the handling of the car. I am probably going to get an M2 next year , I currently track a Gti Clubsport S and scrapped the sub + box because of the way it made the car feel (13tw5). Ive found in the past few installs Ive had that I cant deal with the added weight over the rear axle.


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## Dirtboy (Aug 28, 2010)

Flash_Gti said:


> This Looks Awesome! Id be interested to know how this sub setup affected the (if at all ) the handling of the car. I am probably going to get an M2 next year , I currently track a Gti Clubsport S and scrapped the sub + box because of the way it made the car feel (13tw5). Ive found in the past few installs Ive had that I cant deal with the added weight over the rear axle.


The JL 10W3v3 is 12.25lbs. The JL XD300/1v2 is 3.8lbs. 

I didn't weigh the fiberglass sub enclosure but I'd guess it's around 6-7lbs. 

You could offset the weight of all that by replacing the heavy OEM battery with a lighter lithium battery.


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## Dirtboy (Aug 28, 2010)

I decided to upgrade the rear speakers. I said I wouldn't, but just knowing the HK's were still back there was bugging me, lol. 

I decided to go with the Eton B100N components. Despite what the box says, these are only rated for 50w RMS. 










Side by side shot of the drivers with the passive crossovers for the tweeters.










Looks like the Eton tweeters have a better crossover with a capacitor and an inductor (2nd order), but I don't know the crossover point. The woofer has no crossover so it's playing full range sound. I have the high pass on the Match amp set at about 200hz to the rear speakers.










Installation didn't take long at all. Maybe 20 minutes per side, but I was taking my time making sure I didn't scratch anything.

I can say that I noticed quite a difference between the HK's and the Etons when playing only the rear speakers. But with the way I have the system set up, it's hard to tell. I have the rear speakers set to where I can just barely hear them. They are more for rear-fill. Could I have lived without upgraded the rears? Sure. But it was just nagging at me knowing the HK's were still there...


Oh, I also got a Helix Director to hook up to the Match amp.










It'll give me a bit more control over the DSP and 20 more DSP presets. I'm waiting for some more electronic goodies to come in so I can install it all at once.


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## Dirtboy (Aug 28, 2010)

Got another gadget to add to the setup.










Just gotta find the time to install this and the Director.


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## mrichard89 (Sep 29, 2016)

Beautiful car and great build log!


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## vietjdmboi (Jan 3, 2015)

What’s your opinion if the morel speakers? 

I have a 2015 bmw 328i with the non Hk system that I want to add the match dsp but not sure what speakers to upgrade with.


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## dcfis (Sep 9, 2016)

Dirtboy said:


> I decided to upgrade the rear speakers. I said I wouldn't, but just knowing the HK's were still back there was bugging me, lol.
> 
> I decided to go with the Eton B100N components. Despite what the box says, these are only rated for 50w RMS.
> 
> ...


What do the eatons measure at cause honestly it would be hard to beat the HKs response


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## Dirtboy (Aug 28, 2010)

dcfis said:


> What do the eatons measure at cause honestly it would be hard to beat the HKs response


Quite honestly, I really didn't need to switch out the rear HKs. But I got a good deal on the Eton's; and they sound better, to me, than the HKs. I forgot to get a pic of the Eton response from the last time I played with the tune; I'll have to try to remember to do that next time.


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## Dirtboy (Aug 28, 2010)

I found some more time to do some updates. My OCD was kicking in and I wanted a full digital signal from the headunit to the amp/dsp. So I went ahead and ordered a Mobridge DA1.

I got my inspiration for installing the DA1 and running the MOST net to the trunk from 2addicts user gtmax500 His build thread is here: https://www.2addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1350726

First step was to rip apart the dash to get behind the headunit to connect the MOST net Y-cable. I was sweating bullets the whole time scared I was going to scratch something.










Next was running the 4m MOST cable to the trunk. Once again, scary stuff to do to a new car.










DA1 in the trunk










Final product. I have the DA1 mounted behind the ASD amp. I know it looks like the MOST cable is being pulled too tight but it's not. It's pretty stiff cable and that's just the way it lays in there. There's about 3-4 inches of slack in the cable.










While I had the interior torn apart, I ran the control cable for the Helix Director. I temporarily mounted the control unit in the center console until I can get a proper housing made for it.










Now I wish I could say my install went as easily as gtmax500's. I'm currently having a issue with the DA1 not wanting to be programmed to the "BMW" MOST net standard. When I use the Mobridge setup software, the DA1 always reverts to "Audi" no matter how many times I select "BMW". Mobridge support told me it's a software bug and sent me a newer firmware. I hope to try it out next week after Christmas.

One the plus side, the Director is working beautifully.


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## tranv9565 (Jun 6, 2017)

I had the same issue with my mobridge where it kept switching back to Audi as well. Turns out, the software doesn't work with apple OS if that's what you're using.

Use a Windows laptop and it should work fine.



Dirtboy said:


> I found some more time to do some updates. My OCD was kicking in and I wanted a full digital signal from the headunit to the amp/dsp. So I went ahead and ordered a Mobridge DA1.
> 
> I got my inspiration for installing the DA1 and running the MOST net to the trunk from 2addicts user gtmax500 His build thread is here: https://www.2addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1350726
> 
> ...


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## Dirtboy (Aug 28, 2010)

tranv9565 said:


> I had the same issue with my mobridge where it kept switching back to Audi as well. Turns out, the software doesn't work with apple OS if that's what you're using.
> 
> Use a Windows laptop and it should work fine.


Thanks. I ended up buying a new Windows laptop just for audio tuning. Got the DA1 switched to BMW and did some tuning.










This is the closest I could get the eq curve to match the "house curve" in the Audiotec Fischer DSP program. 

I've got all crossovers set to 24db Linkwitz-Riley.
Crossover points are:
200hz high-pass for front/center/rear
70hz high-pass/200hz low-pass for underseat woofers
70hz low-pass for trunk subwoofer

To try to combat the mid-bass hole the SWS 8Xi's have, I actually boosted their gain higher than the rest of the channels. That way, the eq could cut the frequencies that were too high while leaving most of the mid-bass at the appropriate level. While this improved the sound a lot, you can see that there is still a dip around 160hz. Honestly, I don't notice it while playing music.

I also took the opportunity to setup some more sound profiles in the Helix Director:
1. All speakers playing, including center and trunk sub.
2. All speakers and sub playing; center off.
3. All speakers and sub playing; center and rears off.
4. All speakers playing, including center; trunk sub off (this involved deleting the high-pass crossover point of the underseat woofers so that they play down to 20hz.

I may add more sound profiles in the future, but for now this will do.


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