BMW 5 (G31) - replacement of the factory Harman Kardon system

BMW 5 Series (G31) and exceptional "sound quality" audio from our workshop. The owner of this car approached us with a request to create a completely new sound system that would meet his high demands for audiophile sound quality and at least come close to his home high-end audio system. For this installation, plug & play speakers, digital amplifiers with integrated DSP processors, or retaining the factory wiring—like in our other BMW installations—were out of the question. We also had to deal with the Harman Kardon system, which is not the ideal partner for installing and tuning a new audio system. For this car we and the client selected speakers from the Israeli high-end manufacturer Morel, from the second-highest Elate Carbon line, which meet the highest ambitions regarding sound quality. We complemented silky tweeters with Morel's typically faithful and detailed sound by adding midrange speakers from the same line, which provide tonally balanced and accurate mid frequencies, together forming a perfectly matched speaker system. We added bass speakers from the same manufacturer, mounted in the factory locations under the seats. For such high-quality speakers it is essential to choose a matching amplifier—unequivocally an analog A/B class—which still delivers a significantly more faithful sound than even the best digital amplifiers. Our thoughts naturally turned to the audiophile Zapco amplifier, and we were just hoping its impressive nearly 60 cm length would fit into the double floor of the trunk. We barely managed to fit it, including an additional amplifier and a Helix DSP processor from the German audio masters. Precise low-frequency reproduction is handled by a JL Audio subwoofer, which—despite its high power and excellent sound quality—has compact dimensions. Of course, such an installation requires top-tier cabling to ensure lossless sound transmission. Perhaps the most important step comes at the end of the installation: sound measurement with the professional JL Audio Max measuring system with 5 microphones, which after expert tuning allows adapting the sound not only to the listener but primarily to this specific car with all the obstacles of this acoustically imperfect environment. We set the measured results in the DSP processor software, fine-tune the sound according to our preferences, and then perform the final adjustments with our demanding client. To give this installation real purpose, it was important to consider the signal source. The factory head unit offers simple and intuitive control but more or less affects the final sound even when precisely tuned—a process we spent longer on at the client's request than usual. Although the result meets very high sound standards, in such a case neither the full potential of the chosen components nor that of high-resolution music files is used one hundred percent. The ideal choice is an external hi-res player, which enables lossless music playback at maximum quality. A second, increasingly popular solution is installing a Hi-Res Bluetooth module that provides a similar service via your smartphone. In both cases you can use your own music collection or a streaming service such as Tidal. Each source naturally requires its own measurement and sound tuning, and we choose the optimal method after consultation with the client. Sources can be switched easily using the DSP processor controller, so it’s always up to the client whether to use the factory head unit for everyday listening or switch to a higher-quality source for long trips and enjoy their favorite tracks at the highest quality.