[Zinny]

Hi everyone,

I wanted to take the time to document my experience with upgrading my base audio system in my 2012 F30 with the CIC headunit.

Mods I have done:
- Harmon/Kardon Speakers and tweeters in the front, replacing the low quality mids.
- MMI box for wireless Android Auto/Apple Carplay.
- Vibe POWERBOX65.4BMW3 to boost audio and remove stock EQ (allows for HiFi mode).

Pricing:
- BM Performance MMI - £250
- H/K Speakers, Tweeters, and Tweeter trim - £250
- Vibe amp with BMW T-Harness - £129 (off of Amazon).
-> Total: £629

Notably, you can by the above parts second hand and get them much cheaper; because I did this in steps, I ended up buying each piece new.

I've noted lots of valid concern on the forum if the Vibe Amp can be used alongside an MMI box; I'm pleased to say it can be, as both the MMI and the Vibe Amp hijack the same quadlock connector that goes to the headunit, so it's just a case of daisy-chaining them together; I've plugged mine in the following order:
Car->Amp T-harness->MMI T-Harness->HU

The MMI works by sending an audio signal via the aux input wiring (on the quadlock) into the HU, which then gets processed by the HU (i.e EQ, volume, fade/balance etc), and is then sent back out through the same quadlock harness (but along different wires) which the Vibe Amp takes and amplifies before passing it back on to the car (speakers).

My thought process behind having the MMI plug into the HU first rather than the Amp is that the aux signal degrades over distance so this ensures the audio signal coming from the MMI is directly sent into the HU, shortening the distance (rather than going through the T-Harness of the Amp (longer).

Note: If you have the MOST optical connection you must transfer this over to the quadlock that connects to the headunit. I do not in my case so didn't have to, but in the instruction manual for both the Vibe Amp and the MMI it shows you how to transfer this over if you do.

Now comes the placement of the boxes:
I decided to place my MMI box in the little compartment to the left of the headunit area between the headunit and the glovebox.



For the Amp, I routed the wiring loom to the left past where the MMI sits, and down under the glovebox area, I then drilled screw holes in the panel which covers up the air filter access area (the same panel that the footwell light is in), I then used very short and flat ended screws to screw the Amp into the panel (the amp comes with 4 screw points), I used flat ended screws to stop any damage being caused to the plethora of other wiring that the panel covers up.



The wiring looms can be a little unweildly, so I used cloth electrical tape (same style as the OEM uses) to tape them together at several locations, allowing the loom to be pulled through and not snag as easy, I also ensured to tape the part where the wires come out briefly and chaffe against the plastic trim (see above image).



Placing the Amp here allows for direct control of the front and rear gain and high-pass-filters (HPF) without having to strip everything apart again.



Here are some before/afters on the HK speaker retrofit (p.s. it was very easy to do this with lots of tutorials on the forum already):



I am very happy with the outcome, very clear and loud sound, punchy bass, and having Spotify/Google Maps is a massive convience over loading MP3's onto a USB stick

I will say with the audio quality, that if you're going to upgrade the speakers, also do the amp; initially I just fitted the H/K mids and tweeters and although the sound clarity did improve a bit, the tweeters were so overwhelming, this is due to the dodgy EQ that the BMW head unit applies to the audio. It massively boosts the Treble and the Bass, leaving the midrange almost completely missing.
You can run the Amp without coding anything but this will leave the default EQ in place (yuk), what you want to do is code HiFi mode using Bimmercode which flattens the EQ, bringing back the mids and getting rid of the overwhelming treble; you can then customise the Bass/Treble using the basic iDrive EQ controls, or if you have the MMI, manually adjusting the EQ frequencies using the EQ tuner.

Note with the Amp, if you have the H/K retrofit tweeters, you absolutely have to use the High-Pass-Filter (HPF) on the front gain control, this stops deep bass going to the tweeters, otherwise you get crackling at high volumes.

I hope me sharing my experience with you helps answer any questions you might have about this process, feel free to leave a reply if you have any other questions