Bavsound Review

[duracellttu]

I think he's saying that they don't fit on a car that has the electric rear sun shade.

Thanks for clarifying. I have a rear sunshade so I am looking for a compatible solution.

[K-Dawg]

Are there any mods you can make to get the Rockford rear subs to fit in a coupe?

I think he's saying that they don't fit on a car that has the electric rear sun shade.

[0-60motorsports]

Do you know of any other model speakers that are a suitable upgrade that fit coupes?

Unfortunately I do not.

[duracellttu]

No, as there is no room for the sub box with the electric curtain installed.

Do you know of any other model speakers that are a suitable upgrade that fit coupes?

[0-60motorsports]

Are there any mods you can make to get the Rockford rear subs to fit in a coupe?

No, as there is no room for the sub box with the electric curtain installed.

[duracellttu]

These do not fit on M3 Coupes with the rear electric curtain

Are there any mods you can make to get the Rockford rear subs to fit in a coupe?

[Mayan-Viking]

I'd love to hear your setup next time we stretch these cars' legs. Perhaps we can A/B a track.

A/B is the only way. I'm confident we can agree on some tracks to demo together. I'm looking forward to this...

[bytor]

Hi there,
So when I say "I dropped the new ones back in" - sorry I meant I dropped the OLD original HK 6x9s back in!

I did lower the housing from the shelf with the Fosgate units installed - just to check they were working/putting out some sound - and they were - but very weakly.

Totally agree - the Bavsound is not amazing - but I wanted to keep the stock setup and for $700 AUD for the speakers with simple "plug and play" replacement - I think they are good value and provide real improvement over the original sound. I think they do provide better clarity from the original HK speakers - you hear sounds that the original speakers simply missed or were muffled. Agree they are a little on the bright side - but you can tweak bass/trebble to compensate. Sound is a bit like wine - everyone has slightly different taste - but to my ears they are better. The Fosgates - not so!

Cheers!

[01SG]

On a side note... I think I'm the outlier in that I feel the Bavsound speakers sound equally terrible to the H/Ks. I didn't replace any amps (perhaps that's my downfall), but find the Bavsound speakers were perhaps marginally better than the H/Ks. For the money, I would have expected a lot more.

Bavsound makes a convenient, hassle free replacement for the old stock system. But high-fidelity they are not. Any decent system will blow them away.

[Casa de Mesa]

Edit: It's worth noting that I also have the Avin 4 head unit which also makes a significant difference over factory HK sound. As such, my perceived differences with the new subs might be somewhat enhanced when compared to the factory head unit. For whatever that is worth...

I'd love to hear your setup next time we stretch these cars' legs. Perhaps we can A/B a track.

[Casa de Mesa]

I dropped them from the shelf to make sure they were working - yes, but very faint.

I think this comes back to the original speakers being 2-ohm and the Fosgate ones being 4-ohm.

I dropped the news one back in - and straight away better bass/kick.

What did you actually do? I'm confused by "I dropped the new ones back in and they sounded better". Did you cut the tweeter wires or?


On a side note... I think I'm the outlier in that I feel the Bavsound speakers sound equally terrible to the H/Ks. I didn't replace any amps (perhaps that's my downfall), but find the Bavsound speakers were perhaps marginally better than the H/Ks. For the money, I would have expected a lot more.

I'm drawn to warmer, rich sounding speakers and don't like speakers that are overtly bright or clinical. For reference, I have a pair of Vienna Acoustics floor standers at home (2 channel setup) and love the way their laid back Scan-Speak silk dome tweeters sound. To my ear, the Bavsound speakers are on the bright side, tinny sounding and lack definition/clarity. They are so bad that I put the fade to the rear to tone down their in-you-face shrill...

These were legitimately one of the most, if the the most disappointing "upgrades" I've ever done to the car.

I have thought about providing them proper juice via new amps, but not sure if it's diminishing returns.

[bytor]

I have an E46 M3 (2002) with Harmon Kardon.


1. I bought the Bavsound setup here in OZ and fitted it about 3 years ago. It's a major improvement over the HK setup.
2. Reading this thread I went out and bought the Fosgate 6x9 speakers (R169X2) exactly as described. I need to add that the HK speakers worked fine - I just thought why not freshen them up with new speakers.
3. Fitted them - very easy. Thanks for all the guidance. Worth notning that I did NOT cut wires to tweeter - left exactly as they came from the supplier.

Went to test them....really dissapointing!!

Worse than the originals. I set the fader to rear of the car and turned up the bass - the speakers did put out some bass - but very little. Set the fader to middle (front/rear) and the sound just lacked any bass. Played familiar tracks - just no bass "kick". I'm a bit of an audiophile - so know my way around decent setup - but these just lacked any bass.

I dropped them from the shelf to make sure they were working - yes, but very faint.

I think this comes back to the original speakers being 2-ohm and the Fosgate ones being 4-ohm.

I dropped the news one back in - and straight away better bass/kick.

It's not the end of the world as they are cheap ($100 AUD) and I'm sure I can punt them on to someone else.

In terms of 6x9 with 2Ohm - I found these:

Kicker 40PS692 6"x 9" 2-way speakers (2-ohm) for use in motorcycles, boats, and ATVs at Crutchfield

Quite a bit more money - but these are 2-ohm.

So that's my experience - dissapointing, but gave it a go!

Cheers

[maw1124]

^^^ This. I've looked at CDT for other car audio applications as well. Their main benefit seems to be impedance matching for cars that use 2 ohm loads. That gain is more easily and better achieved with highly efficient speakers (+90dB). If more established players have highly efficient 6x9 applications that fit, I'd just roll with them.

maw

[Tbonem3]

CDTs are great, but shallow will move less air. I want to say they do have "subwoofer" 6x9s, maybe called extended bass or something like that.

For discounted CDT speakers, check https://www.cdtaudio.com/shop/ Says refurb, but most stuff is b-stock, open box, nos.

If you're not willing to put a true sub in the back, then I would go for 6x9s that have lower fs, greater power handling to reproduce the low frequencies as best you can (without a true subwoofer).

You'll also want speakers with the same nominal impedance as the HK *if using factory amp (it might be 4 like those CDT 6x9 are, I just don't know. Could be 2 ohm or both 4 ohm wired in parallel to present 2ohm to amp, I'm not sure).

Here's an example, if you're ok with bigger magnets hanging down (if the speakers fit, I don't know):

https://www.cdtaudio.com/shop/viewit...?productid=136

More than twice the power handling of the shallow ones, lower response.

That was 4 ohm version, here's 2ohm:

https://www.cdtaudio.com/shop/viewitem.php?productid=172

[jdamore44]

This is great information. Someone on another post talked about these speakers.. I'm pretty green to Audio, but these look like they have nice shallow magnets.. Might fit even better than the RF's. Thoughts?

https://www.cdtaudio.com/sep_components/subwoofers/hd690cfs.php