Note: For more information on US availability by model year, click here. The E82/7 1-series will not have center speaker or the second set of rear speakers (so check the head unit menu for the equalizer). The E9x 3-series will also a have center-channel dash speakers and two sets of rear speakers (side and rear deck). I disabled mic (Bluetooth Audio Input Device for Bose QuietComfort 35 - Mono Audio) from the recording devices. I changed the station and realized the crackling was on all songs. Premium Sound systems will always have graphic equalizer settings in the head unit’s menu, as well as a “Logic 7 On/Off” or “Surround On/Off” option. At first I thought the live stream I was listening to on YouTube purposely had the 'record player' sound, but it was far too distracting. Premium Sound (also knownto BMW internally as “Top HiFi”) is branded as:Īll these systems share a similar architecture – speaker size, count, location, and amplifier channel complement are all identical. (While 2006-2009 had ten speakers, many 2010-2011 had 8 speakers – the rear tweeters were deleted.) There is no graphic equalizer setting in the head unit’s menu – just bass and treble – and no “Surround On-Off” setting. Not surprisingly, the ‘Sonos way’ has spawned copycats, including an intriguing effort from Samsung, as well as a new line of speakers from a more familiar name in audio, Bose. The HiFi system has front tweeters and an amp. The signal from the head unit is heavily equalized, and the rear signal is high-pass filtered. The first thing I noticed about the 31.5 x 4 x 1.8-inch Soundbar 500 is how slim it is its noticeably slimmer than the 25.6 x 3. The mesh tweeter grilles inboard of the side mirrors are missing. The speakers are powered by the head unit. The six-speaker Stereo system has no tweeters and no amp. It’s critical to know which BMW audio system you’re starting with! BMW has three different levels of original-equipment sound system: