stock stereo, logic 7 or aftermarket?

Ok...I ran a search and saw a thread that sort of discussed my question, but it seemed to wander a bit into car audio versus home audio. So...I'm going to post hoping that y'all aren't too tired of this kind of question.

We've just ordered a 325i (yesterday) and opted to stay with the stock stereo. Now, this being said....I really want a great listening experience. I've never owned even a modestly quiet car so I've never opted to upgrade a stereo. At home, I use an ipod with my music encoded at over 256 kb and sennheiser HD 650 headphones and an x-can headphone amplifier to listen to my music. So I'd call myself a discriminating listener. Yet I won't call myself audiophile because I'm unwilling to give up convenience...so I mildly compress the music I encode and I don't get into things like power conditioners and such. I also think that I've reached the maximum resolving capabilites that *my ears* can discern. I tried alternate cables for my headphones (which theoretically should have enhanced mid and upper mid clarity on my hd650s), but I heard no difference.

So...is it worth it to get the logic7 system if what I want is good *stereo*, clean mids, low sibulance, non-fatiguing sound, and crisp,fast tuneful non-boomy bass? Or should I look at aftermarket?...or for that matter, is the stock system good enough? I listen to jazz, classical, choral, electronica, pop, rock...almost everything. (FWIW, I recall listening to some sonus faber speakers once and they made a great soundstage for such little speakers. I could close my eyes and picture Dawn Upshaw standing.... ...right there. They were fast...really fast and clean. I hate distortion...it's so fatiging.)

I ask these questions because the nearest BMW dealership to me is 80 miles away. My partner got to test drive the car and she decided that "we had to have it" and she placed the order. We scoured the bmw web site and got other options/packages figured out (we didn't want much of 'em), but there's no real way to tell just what the difference is with the stereo upgrade to logic7. (I do know it simulates surround sound, but I don't care about that, I only care about sound quality) So, since she went ahead and ordered what she wanted, is it too late to add the logic 7 to it? I doubt I'll get to even see a 325i before she picks our car up at the dealer. FWIW, I did opt to prewire for satellite radio and we may opt when the car arrives to go ahead and put in the sirius reciever.

Any advice on whether the stock head unit and speakers are up to the type of listening I want?

Thanks,
Ceci

--------------edit-----------

Oops...I'm new here. I probably posted this in the wrong forum. I copy this over in the auido and upgrades forum. But I don't know how to delete it here....sorry mods.

Reply » stock stereo, logic 7 or aftermarket?

Firstly, it's not too late to change any details about your order. You can usually change things up until about a week before the car actually goes into production (and if you ordered yesterday, it probably won't go into production for a few weeks).

The stock system in the 3-series is a 10-speaker system, including two subwoofers. The Logic 7 upgrade adds three speakers to that, including one in the center of the dashboard. The Logic 7 has some upgraded componentry and also gets louder than the stock system by some 20 decibels, but this you would only discover on paper. Even the stock system gets as loud as most people would need it to.

Whether it's worth paying the $1200 for Logic 7 for your 325 is something that really only you can decide. To a lot of people, the relative increase in sound quality is not worth it; others have appreciated their decisions to get it. I, personally, really like the system. It takes a little getting used to because the E90 Logic 7 seems to present the sound in a really unusual way. The center of the music seems to be on a flat, horizontal plane. Nuances in the music, however, come from just about everywhere. Sometimes instruments and sounds will emerge from varying heights and different positions in the car. It's a very strange yet thrilling experience. Once you get used to the way the sound is projected and simply listen to the music, you realize that there isn't one range of frequencies that the Logic 7 does not produce well.

The real question, however, is whether you can get sound as good as the Logic 7 aftermarket for less or if for the same money you can get a significantly better sounding aftermarket system.

Reply » stock stereo, logic 7 or aftermarket?

Thanks for the reply. Since the car won't go into production for a while, I may see then if I can get to the dealer and see what my partner's excitement was all about. While I'm at it, I'll listen to my ipod with the stock stereo and the logic7. The price of the logic7 scared me off since I hadn't gotten to hear it. Since she already ordered the car, I figured it was very soon going to be too late to change it. So I thought I'd have to decide based on paper specs if I I'd made a mistake.

FWIW...I couldn't care less about how loud a system plays. I care about how cleanly and distortion free it plays. So loudness won't push me towards a logic7 upgrade.

thanks again,
Ceci

Reply » stock stereo, logic 7 or aftermarket?

I have the stock system and I feel it is superb. The logic7 is a step up, but not a $1200 step up IMHO. The stock system has excellent stereo imaging due to the positions of the speakers. The bass is nice and tight but not boomy, the mids are clear and the highs are crisp .. I can get the stereo almost too loud for me before it begins to distort.

My main problem with the logic7 is that it processes the sound to give you a surround sound effect. I dont like processed music but only pure stereo unless I'm watching a movie in dolby digital. I've read that the logic7 users can tweak the effects to make it superb without "processing" so I guess its personal preference

Reply » stock stereo, logic 7 or aftermarket?

also remember that logic 7 is standard on the 330i. i've seen ppl order their 325 with xenons, power seats and logic 7 and all those options diminish the value of the 325 relative to the 330.

Reply » stock stereo, logic 7 or aftermarket?

Well, I just ran a slightly different search and found scads of topics on the forums just like this one. Oops again!

Since it'll be a while before our car gets built, I'll give both systems a listen and change my order if I need to. If I can't hear them both because the dealer doesn't have both...then I'll have to make a decision based on paper specs. But from what I can tell from the previous threads, it's no small feat to upgrade a BMW's stereo due to the wiring and the door panel configuration. So it runs into some serious money...often more than the logic7 upgrade. So, I'll be keeping that in mind.

I apologise to the mods. If you want to move this post or kill the other post on the audio forum, I'm game.

Page 1 of 2