# F22 Audio upgrade



## RadW (Sep 28, 2017)

Hi, I'm looking to upgrade the sound quality on my M235i. She has the basic EU head unit (CHAMP2 plus combo box). So there are 4 4" speakers, 2 6" subs and no tweeters. There's plenty to improve on. I want the upgrade to be 100% reversible should I choose to. I'm after more clarity and better stage, not loudness. I've already disabled ASD with coding.

I've done a lot of reading and it's between Eton and Focal for the speakers. Eton has the benefit of being cheaper and offering a straight swap. Focal has better build and sound quality from what I read for a heftier price.

I'm leaning towards Focal ES100K for the front. That means I'll have to get the tweeter housings on top of the speaker price. No brainier for me but I don't know if the tweeters are the same size as HK ones?

What I'm also not sure about is the speaker mounting. I'll need an adapter from 4 to 3 screws. I can't find any info if those speakers will fit under panels and not cause an issue? Annoyingly Focal doesn't have F22 under compatibility for any of their products I've seen.

I haven't decided what to go with for the back speakers yet. I know there are mounting points for tweeters there too. Again not sure if I should look for speakers with integrated or separate tweeters. The second option will mean more work.

Last but not least are the subs. I know the speakers are connected directly to HU and it only gives 100W. Subs aren't even separated from the door speakers. Is it worth upgrading those without investing in an amp? I know I can only go that far without adding an amp but I hope that's enough for what I need.


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## RadW (Sep 28, 2017)

Well, I went ahead and bought the speakers. I got a pair of Focal ES100K with mounting ring for the front. On top of that I got a pair of Focal IFBMW-Sub.V2 subs. I found an early black Friday deal that was too good to pass on. I'll be installing them next weekend assuming all other bits arrive too.

Now I'm looking into an amp and a pair for good value coaxials for the back. Subs should be an improvement over the do nothing subs I have now but won't shine without an amp. I looked under the speaker cover in the back. While there are mounting points for the tweeters there, there's no mesh in the cover for them.


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## RadW (Sep 28, 2017)

I got a deal on a pair of coaxial Eton speakers so they are going in the back. I also ordered Eton Stage6 amp but I'm not sure if I'll keep it, more on that later.

Focal speakers came in yesterday so I already fitted the subs. What a pain in the arse but worth it in the end. My factory subs were glued in so they took a while to separate from the housings. Focal subs came with everything I needed though it's not quite a drop in install. Since my subs are of the shallow variety I had to use the spacer ring that was included. That made the assembled speaker a bit taller than the OEM one. I could not screw the cover back on. The original screws were too short. I used the shorter screws that came with the speakers to tie the cover back in place but I'm not happy with how it sits (it's not flush and under tension). I might remove it completely if I don't find a better way of dealing with it.

None the less, with just the subs the sound has improved dramatically. As soon as the tweeter housings arrive, I'll be replacing the front. I fear it will not be soon as I believe they will not come from London as advertised, damn Ebay.

Anyhow that takes us back to the matter of the amp. If upgrading the remaining speakers will sort the clarity and stage issues, an amp might be an overkill for my needs. The system is loud enough for me. But since I ordered it already, I ought to at least spend the time figuring out how I'd go about integrating it. I have two options as far as I can tell:

Tap in at the speakers
Tap in at the source
First option will be much easier. Eton offers (expensive) pair of cables that can separate the front speaker from the sub at the sub plug. You only need to run them from the amp to the sub and voila, you turned one channel into two. No cutting or soldering required. You still need to run new wires to the back speakers though.

Second option is to grab the channels I have at the head unit and run them back to the amp, then run all new cables to each speaker. I'd like to say that's the proper way of doing it, but having spelled out the work required for both options, option one looks a lot more attractive right now.

There's also the matter of fitting in the amp. It will fit next to the battery if I take out the tyre repair kit and some other road side emergency stuff I keep there. It could possibly go where the stock amp would sit but I'd need a custom bracket to move the ASD module a bit. But I'll only be able to figure this out if I have the amp in my hand and I have a least dummy wires running out of it.


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## deebow91 (May 4, 2014)

for the amp wiring have a look into technic wiring kit. depending on your audio level it might be the easier option
https://technicpnp.com/


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