# 2011 BMW M3 audio system by Musicar Northwest



## VP Electricity (Apr 11, 2009)

Those who know us know we do a lot of BMW upgrades. Well, one of our local clients had one of our Level Three 3-way system installed a few months ago, but later decided that he wanted to go beyond - he wanted a 4-way system, and he also asked how he could exceed the level of performance he had. 

The requirements were:

- Load floor unencumbered 
- No false floor
- Stock appearing interior
- Rears present for Rear PDC parking sensor audible alerts, and for music if faded aft
- Subwoofer level control
- Reversible installation
- Use the OEM HU with its 5V outputs, flat, full-range signals (here is a screenshot of the electrical output of the BMW HiFi HU):










He eventually selected:

- Dynaudio MD102 30mm tweeters and Esotar 430 midranges (fully active)
- His existing Maestro underseats (but bandpassed as midbasses)
- Morel Ultimo SC104 carbon-fiber subwoofer
- Three Mosconi AS series power amplifiers - 100x4 on the mids and tweeters, 200x2 on the midbasses, 600W on the sub. 
- His current Helix DSP managing the new fully-active system
- His current Morel Hybrid 402 as rear speakers (powered by a dedicated Arc amp)

All work performed by my partner Tom Miller. 










Original DSP location:










New DSP location:











The Dynes in the doors:




























The woofers underseat (even though these were already there, we had pics)










Rear speakers:




























The amps had to fit in the corner, in the same footprint that the CD changer trim would have taken. However, the CDC trim isn't tall enough for the amps used. The pedestal has a fan in it.



































































































































































The finished trunk:





































How did it sound? I had never heard the first track off of John Coltrane's "Ballads", and I'm buying it after hearing it on this system. It was very revealing of the information in the recording, and what was going on as it was made.


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

Very nice fabrication skills. Nice and neat.


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## jKnight (Nov 8, 2013)

Some of the best in the biz!


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## Installer Josh (Sep 9, 2013)

Very Nice.


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## wdemetrius1 (Aug 16, 2007)

Wow!!! 

Very well executed.


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## [email protected] (Nov 7, 2010)

Awesome as always! Tom knocks it out of the park again!!!
Guys, I think Tom Miller is one of the best installers you might have not ever heard of!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free


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## Mic10is (Aug 20, 2007)

thats actually really slick. Im diggin the amp rack


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

when i grow up, i wish i can be half as good as Tom Miller


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## 13SQCivic (Sep 29, 2013)

Something I could only dream of having haha. So smooth!


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## jKnight (Nov 8, 2013)

Tom Miller for president!


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## ultimatemj (Jan 15, 2009)

Beautiful install!

Any notes about the tune?


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## sinister-kustoms (Jul 22, 2009)

Nice! I like the vinyl accents in the trunk - just a little something to hint the fact it's not stock, yet subtle enough that it doesn't slap you in the face.


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## reno.sa (Mar 11, 2012)

Very nice and clean install.

Only thing that would bother me if it were my car is the amps being so close together, wont they over heat from being so close to each other?


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## Blinkybill (May 1, 2008)

Lovely work guys!! Do you have a cnc in house for the metal speaker adaptors?


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## VP Electricity (Apr 11, 2009)

reno.sa said:


> Very nice and clean install.
> 
> Only thing that would bother me if it were my car is the amps being so close together, wont they over heat from being so close to each other?


The amps are fan cooled and there is a fan below them exhausting through the mesh grille. We have used these amps in this situation before. Each channel is at 4 ohms other than the sub, so they aren't running hot anyway.


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## ThreeMan (May 11, 2009)

Very Nice.


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## Big_Valven (Aug 20, 2008)

Lovely install of the amplifiers, especially with all the matching trim.

What were the power distribution blocks you used?


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## fullergoku (Jun 21, 2009)

Amazing Bmw Install loving it!!!


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## VP Electricity (Apr 11, 2009)

Big_Valven said:


> Lovely install of the amplifiers, especially with all the matching trim.
> 
> What were the power distribution blocks you used?


Thanks! Those are Scosche DBLOCKs. They come with a plate so you can use them for two fused and two ground points. We put both plates into one block. There is an Arc Mini 125.2 powering the rear deck which gets the 4th power and ground taps.


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## VP Electricity (Apr 11, 2009)

Blinkybill said:


> Lovely work guys!! Do you have a cnc in house for the metal speaker adaptors?


We offer bolt-in BMW kits - which aren't up to this level, but which are pretty good - so we have a machine shop laser-cut these out of steel. This part has been tooled for about 4 years.


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## bbfoto (Aug 28, 2005)

It's nice to know that particular HU's output is as it is! Absolutely beautiful finish work with excellent underlying fabrication. The owner's wants were a tall order to fill, and IMO you guys easily exceeded them as far as the install goes...can't hear it so I'll take your word for it regarding the SQ!  And Yes, Tom Miller for President. 

Thanks for posting this.


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## Old Skewl (May 30, 2011)

Very Nice!! Love that amp rack!

Sometimes I wish I would have picked up an 08+ M3. Nice to have those underseat enclosures for some nasty midbass!!


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## clix`g35 (Aug 23, 2009)

Really nice install, clean disappears in the car, metals speaker rings, metal and ABS amp rack, and there is no MDF anywhere!


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## mattyjman (Aug 6, 2009)

Love the amp rack!!


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## VP Electricity (Apr 11, 2009)

clix`g35 said:


> Really nice install, clean disappears in the car, metals speaker rings, metal and ABS amp rack, and there is no MDF anywhere!


MDF? What's that?


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## jriggs (Jun 14, 2011)

VP Electricity check your PM when you have a moment. Thanks.


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## Chris659 (Sep 23, 2013)

Wow! Extremely nice work!


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## LBaudio (Jan 9, 2009)

VP Electricity said:


> MDF? What's that?


Medium Density Fiberboard aka Mediapan (type of wood)


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## clix`g35 (Aug 23, 2009)

LBaudio said:


> Medium Density Fiberboard aka Mediapan (type of wood)


It was rhetorical, he was being sarcastic. Since MDF has no place inside of a car he pretends not to know what it is.


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## mrmill (Feb 11, 2013)

that's an awesome amp rack


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## Kenreau (Feb 10, 2011)

Wow - that design and fabrication is so clean. Awesome job!

Kenreau


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## captainobvious (Mar 11, 2006)

VP Electricity said:


> Those who know us know we do a lot of BMW upgrades. Well, one of our local clients had one of our Level Three 3-way system installed a few months ago, but later decided that he wanted to go beyond - he wanted a 4-way system, and he also asked how he could exceed the level of performance he had.
> 
> The requirements were:
> 
> ...



Really excellent work !

Question about the stock head unit- Does it have RCA outputs? I didn't see any mention of an interface between the OEM HU and the Helix DSP. I'm looking at a friends BMW to help him with an upgrade path and that's one of the question marks as I haven't gotten into the vehicle yet. Does it use fiber out to the stock amp/dsp or does it have RCA outputs? That would be ideal for sure for integrating DSP. His system has the 11 speaker upgraded setup in the E93.

Thanks !


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