2002 BMW M3 Speaker Replacement Question

[resevil83]

My friend asked me the other day if he knew what speakers to get for his car. I told him I had no idea really because his car is much more complicated/luxurious and better than mine. I do know that he has a 2002 M3 with the Harmon Kardon system. If I remember correctly someone who actually pulled their door panel off told me that there are three speakers in each door. There should be one tweeter, a midrange speaker and a midbass speaker. My friend does not want to swap out his head unit. He just wants to replace the speakers. He doesn't want to spend a lot of money so nothing fancy like Rainbows or Focals. Just better than what he has. If it's possible to just swap out the speakers with different ones please let me know. I don't know what speakers will work.

[bmw528i]

Originally Posted by resevil83

My friend asked me the other day if he knew what speakers to get for his car. I told him I had no idea really because his car is much more complicated/luxurious and better than mine. I do know that he has a 2002 M3 with the Harmon Kardon system. If I remember correctly someone who actually pulled their door panel off told me that there are three speakers in each door. There should be one tweeter, a midrange speaker and a midbass speaker. My friend does not want to swap out his head unit. He just wants to replace the speakers. He doesn't want to spend a lot of money so nothing fancy like Rainbows or Focals. Just better than what he has. If it's possible to just swap out the speakers with different ones please let me know. I don't know what speakers will work.

Yes, it is possible to swap out the factory speakers for other ones. First thing though, if he wants to keep the factory head unit and does not want to run an outboard stereo amplifier, I suggest he leave the factory system alone. Any halfway decent aftermarket component system is going to need a good reliable outboard amplifier. However, if he wants to run an outboard amplifier and wants to keep his factory head unit I recommend he purchase a JL Audio Clean Sweap or Alpine PXE-H650 to clean the signal so the amplifier can be properly tuned.

There are tons of speakers that will fit into the M3 factory locations. I recommend Polk, Alpine, JBL, JL Audio, or Boston Acoustics. All of these companies make really nice component systems for cars and your friends should look into them. I recommend that he goes to a shop that has a display or setup where he can listen to a combination of speakers and amplifiers and choose which sounds best to him. One thing I can say is never buy anything audio related without ever listening to it first.

[resevil83]

I don't think he wants to spend that much cash... I suppose he would run an outboard amplifier, I'm assuming he would have to bypass the stock one then? Then he'd have to run new wires and everything. That is a big install. There's no simple, swap out the speakers and done deal? Maybe he could just replace the speakers with the ones that are stock??

[bmw528i]

Any speaker better than the HK's will require an outboard amplifier as simply swapping better speakers in won't produce better sound quality. I say if your friend doesn't want to spend the money to do it properly than I say it would be best to leave the factory system alone.

There is a company called Bavarian Soundwerks that makes swap in speakers for most BMW's and they are claimed to bee better than the factory system. I don't know too much about their product, but I would suggest checking them out here.

BMW Audio, BMW iPod, Speakers, Subwoofers, & more | BSW: Bavarian Soundwerks

[DJshabba]

Is crutchfield.com a good place to get a set of speakers from?