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      10-30-2011, 10:49 AM   #9
KenH
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Drives: e92m3 f25x3 e71x6
Join Date: May 2008
Location: VA

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Job Done

I now have Individual (aka Enhanced Premium or "M") Audio in my X6 in place of the Premium Audio that was fitted as standard and I am very happy with the results. Only genuine BMW Parts were used. Here are some notes that might be useful to anyone else mad enough to attempt this interesting exercise:

1. I was lucky enough to buy a slightly used Individual Amplifier on eBay that was already coded for an X6 and had been bought only for testing a suspect system. A brand-new part may need coding. It is plug and play apart from the possibility of coding.
2. The instrument panel speakers are an easy replacement but the parts catalog is misleading. If you buy the correct "frame" it comes complete with the necessary co-axial speaker, you do not have to buy the speaker as well. Or you can just buy the speaker, replace the original and disconnect the original tweeter that is no longer used. But the difference in price between the Individual speaker alone and the frame with speaker included is only a couple of dollars. The Individual frame just has a blanking plate where the tweeter is fitted on Premium (= Top Hi-Fi) audio.
3. The rear door speakers and tweeters are plug and play. No external crossover is used. Unless you want to mess with wiring they have to be used as a pair as the tweeter connector is 3 pin instead in 2.
4. Although I bought the Individual door speaker grilles I did not fit them. The originals are installed by the supplier by plastic welding the pins inside to hold them in place and I did not want to try that in case I damaged the leather on the door panels.
5. The D panel speaker frames are not available in the USA as spare parts for some strange reason and I had to order them from a German dealer. They arrived quicker than the other special order parts ordered in the US! But the special order parts also came from Germany, despite the fact that the X6 is built in the US.
6. The front doors were the biggest and only real challenge. The connecting cable from mid-range to the new crossover is also not available as a spare in the US but I found that the same part from an E60 (or E64) works fine. The Individual tweeters are a snap fit in the housings and the mid-range a direct replacement. The big problem is the crossover - or rather where to put it. The new tweeters had much shorter cables than the originals and there was nowhere in range of the connector on the door panels that I thought suitable. There is a rectangular pattern of the right shape and size marked on the panel but that was 2 inches beyond the end of the cable, also the surface in that area was far from flat, not ideal for glueing. Eventually I glued the crossovers onto the horizontal flat surface below the door pulls (which is empty) and used E90 Individual cables to extend the tweeter cable to the crossover (which was by then way out of range). You could use these E90 cables (which are in two parts) instead of the E60 cables mentioned above but they are much longer than necessary for crossover to mid-range if you mount the crossovers where I did.
7. The subs are plug and play but are under the front seats and are quite expensive. The biggest challenge was to remove the plastic covers that hide the front seat bolts but once you know that you pull the back legs out to remove them it is quite easy. There is no need to remove the seats completely, just remove the four TORX bolts and tilt the seat backwards. I did not want to disconnect the seat cables in case I generated an error code so found a box about 12" high to rest the front of the seat on while I worked underneath.

I think it probably took 4 hours for the installation but much more than that for the logistics/research (plus a day waiting for the glue to dry on the crossovers, just-in-case).
If anyone would like part numbers or advice let me know. I did take a few photographs on the way.
All speakers, both Premium and Individual are 4 ohm, apart from the subs which are 8 ohm. I imagine that the upgrade process would be very similar on the E70. And in case anyone asks.
Logic7 is not available on the E71 or E70, despite some opinions and the above does not necessarily apply to a car with standard audio, "Hi-Fi" in BMW parlance. The Individual and Premium speakers on the E70 appear to be the same as the E71 with the exception of the subs.

Below is a picture of the driver's door panel with crossover attached. Note that it is upside down (waiting for the glue to dry). If you look to the right of the mid-range speaker you can see a date stamp (April 2012) at an angle, surrounded by a rectangular outline. I believe that is the factory position for the crossover but there is no way that the cable of the supplied tweeter would reach to there.
The second photo is of the Premium and the Individual amps. The only way that you can tell the difference without dismantling is by part number and the fact that the Individual has a built-in fan, the Premium (on top) just has a space for one. Both amps are made by Lear.
The third photo is the instrument panel speaker frame. This is the original Premium setup with separate tweeter, the Individual is co-axial so does not have a separate tweeter but the frame itself is the same.
The fourth photo is a Premium sub and the fifth is the Individual sub, both 8 ohms.
Sixth is the co-axial Individual speaker used in the instrument panel. It is used on some other BMWs as well and is possibly the biggest single improvement in sound quality and positioning.
The last picture (not mine) shows how the speaker grilles are retained in the door panels by "welding" the plastic pins.

For what it is worth I would suggest that the most economical route to enhancing the Premium sound quality without the high cost of all these new parts is:

1. Replace the instrument panel speaker and tweeter with the Individual coaxial unit.
2. Replace the front door tweeter and mid-range speakers with the Individual parts including the crossovers.
3. Keep the rest of the speakers/tweeters and the amplifier from the Premium setup.

This is based on the fact that most of one's audio experience in a car comes from the front.
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Last edited by KenH; 11-04-2011 at 03:47 PM.. Reason: Corrections/expansions/photos
Appreciate 0