BMW F10 Premium / Professional Audio system - adding a sub woofer part one

The BMW F10 can be factory ordered with an upgraded audio system. Depending on where you are
in the world the upgraded system is either called the Premium or Professional version. To my ears
this is one of the best performing OEM installed solutions out there, however it has some
limitations. This first article is intended to provide a technical understanding of the default system
configuration and suggest ways in which a sub woofer upgrade can be achieved. I will detail how to
physically implement the upgrade including how to disassemble the interior etc in part 2 (when I get
time to write it). This guide is predominately intended as a reference to show my findings /
observations after conducting various tests and research. Any modifications carried out to any
vehicle as a result of the information contained herein has nothing to do with me. Especially if it all
goes horribly wrong!

Limitations

Bass
The number one limitation is the system is the lack of deep bass. The low end frequency response
though impressive is not able to shake the seats in a way I'm used to. Modern music in particular
lacks when played through the system. My aim here is to improve the low frequency response by
adding two 12" subwoofers and an appropriate amplifier to the system.

Limiting / compression
The system audibly employs some kind of electronic signal processing to help prevent distortion
when the system is turned to a high volume. While this is in some ways desirable, I find it very
noticeable. Hopefully the addition of a subwoofer may help improve this characteristic of the
system.

No direct control of level of bass loudspeakers

When the system is cranked up loud, the bass produced is acceptable, however when it is on at low
volume the bass is sometime non-existent. Adding a separate amplifier could allow more direct
control of the signal level sent to the new subwoofers.

Component locations
1/2 \ Yellow
6/7 }
Purple
13/14 / Black with white / purple
3/4 Blue (Thin)
16/17 Black (Thin)
5 Blue (Thick)
15 Black (Thick)
8/9 Grey
11/12 White
10 Amplifier with Fibre optic inputs.

Fibre optics wires are green.

Caution - these look the same as
copper wires - do not cut or you'll
ruin the harness!
With the exception of Black with white / purple, all negative connections have a brown stripe and all
positive connections have a red stripe. Don't know which way around 1, 2, 6, 7, 13, 14 are (didn't
get around to checking) but it's not needed for my purposes for now anyway.

Who makes the audio stuff in the F10?

There has been much debate on various forums over who makes the amplifier.

Yep! It's made by Harman (and has Dolby Pro Logic Urrgghh!). Explains why the surround is best
turned off! The Combox is Harman also...

And here's how they look in situ - notice how the amp is mounted in a chamber next to the antenna
amplifier and is fan cooled!
Here are the connectors to the amp...

All connectors Close up of speaker connection

Where to tap for a signal

There are no line level signals into the amplifier, only fibre optic. The most obvious solution
therefore is to use an amp that can accept speaker level inputs. This will save having to run lines to
the front of the car (assuming line level signals are present from the head unit). Given though that
the upgrade is purely for bass, any discernable difference in sound quality should be negligible. The
amplifier I intend to use is a JL Audio XD series device. According to the manual, it can accept levels
up to 4 volts peak to peak. Almost certain we'll be looking at higher voltages than that, but we'll see.

Testing
In order for the upgrade to work, there are two main considerations.

1) We need to ensure that any signal provided to the new amplifier is matched to what the input
can accept.

2) The frequencies provided by the signal need to go low enough for a sub woofer. A full range
signal would be ideal since this would give maximum flexibility and allow better control with the
active crossover that is built into the new amplifier. The speaker connector is fairly obvious and it's a
safe bet that the two pairs of thick wires are for the under seat subs. My plan though was to mount
the new amplifier between the chassis and the parcel shelf. It would be great therefore if I could use
the lines from the parcel speakers.

On with the testing...

Armed with my trusty oscilloscope and the iPhone 'Oscillator' app let's do some probing.
General findings are that every output on the amplifier with the exception of the sub outputs are
subject to high pass filtering. The amplifier appears to have nine channels, but I don't know whether
the active crossovers are in the head unit or the amp. Being fibre connected it could be either
although as amp seems to have Dolby Pro Logic processing it could well be the amp. In addition to
the active filtering, each speaker / tweeter pair has it's own passive crossover for the tweeter.

Active filtering on all nine channels is pretty impressive for an OEM audio system! Goes towards
explaining why it sounds so good.

While the active filtering is impressive, it does limit us to using the sub outputs for this upgrade.
They are low pass outputs with a roll off at around 170Hz. Interestingly they also roll off at the low
end at 58Hz. Again, not ideal for our purposes here but it's what we have to work with. 58Hz is
low(ish) and the signal doesn't completely disappear lower than that, so there are things we could
do if we had to.

OK - so sub outs it is. I want to use both of them - especially since by panning I confirmed they are
stereo and not just mixed. Need to check my assumption though that brown and red are always
positive and negative. Basically I need to check they are in phase.

Yes they are. Ouch! 20 Volts peak to peak and I'm no where near full volume. As initially thought, a
line driver will be needed for the amplifier.

Full install details will be shown in part 2.