BMW and M Power Owners

Man of Honour
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20 Sep 2006
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34,099
Any idea why my car starts playing music from my iPhone shortly after I start it up? Even though it is on DAB when it is switched off and for a minute or so when I turn it on?
 
Man of Honour
Joined
21 Feb 2006
Posts
29,328
That E30 is gorgeous, carfection shoot some loveely videos and Catchpole is a great presenter. Was amazed the owner let them drive it in that much rain tbh, some owners are sunny only drivers.
He is a proper gent and serious petrolhead. Has had all the great BMW's over the years including the 70's CSL and M1 when they were new!

For one reason or another, I'm particularly looking forward to the GTS video :)
No idea why. Imagine how valuable that car would be if we had signed our forum names inside the bonnet like Walter Rohrl or that Italian super Mario bloke from Lamborghini
 
Man of Honour
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21 Feb 2006
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29,328
On the subject of sound systems, what are people's opinions on aftermarket speaker upgrades? Worth the money or not?
How long is a piece of string really as it all depends on budget.

For me no because I tend to listen to books more than music these days.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
20 Sep 2006
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34,099
To be fair, DAB is so bad that any system better than a £15 childrens boombox is going to sound similar :p
It's annoying that Radio X is in mono, it's about the only station I listen to. If I set it up to go through my phone it's miles better compared to DAB.
 

Jez

Jez

Caporegime
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
33,073
It's annoying that Radio X is in mono, it's about the only station I listen to. If I set it up to go through my phone it's miles better compared to DAB.

Indeed, it probably will do :) Luckily most of my (time not distance) driving is around London where i can get stations like Radio X via FM. When i go out of range of London i just switch to MP3 to be honest!
 
Man of Honour
Joined
26 May 2012
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16,544
How long is a piece of string really as it all depends on budget.

For me no because I tend to listen to books more than music these days.
Haha yeah true that. I've seen the ones offering to change the front passenger and driver side speakers and adding the door tweeters...just wondering if it's worth the £500-ish they're charging
 
Soldato
Joined
1 Mar 2010
Posts
21,970
For me no because I tend to listen to books more than music these days.
with good quality audio source (320Kb/s BBC mp3's) these still benefit from a good quality system, to well present the timbre of familiar actors voices,
even those on The Archers ? let alone the original hitchhikers guide to the galaxy.

source quality is important too I don't have Flac's on my car system (ie sd card) at the moment, and CD's give the best in car quality,
versus bluetooth from a phone, that are re-encoded by phone.

Do FD30's for example have the wiring loom that enables you to put in additional tweeters to the base system,if you want to ?
the current trend of many speakers in the complex acoustic space of a car, versus fewer, better quality speakers and fewer amp channels, is an interesting one;
I don't really want a surround sound experience, the original music was not recorded in that manner.
 
Caporegime
Joined
25 Nov 2004
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25,834
Location
On the road....
To be fair, DAB is so bad that any system better than a £15 childrens boombox is going to sound similar :p
I’m very puzzled by people bemoaning DAB, apart from underpasses and the odd tunnel I find coverage absolutely fine, it’s rare if ever that it drops out in the truck - and I get all over the U.K. to test it - far less than in the BMW but again that’s only occasional, the only place it’s truly hopeless is up in the highlands.

I listen to Radio 5 a lot and I’d far rather DAB the usual Medium wave.
 
Man of Honour
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20 Sep 2006
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34,099
Sound quality is pretty poor and generally it's mono only. Listen to a song on DAB and then try it using Spotify and there's a massive improvement. CD is even better obviously. For stuff like Radio 5 it's perfectly fine though.
 

Jez

Jez

Caporegime
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
33,073
I’m very puzzled by people bemoaning DAB, apart from underpasses and the odd tunnel I find coverage absolutely fine, it’s rare if ever that it drops out in the truck - and I get all over the U.K. to test it - far less than in the BMW but again that’s only occasional, the only place it’s truly hopeless is up in the highlands.

I listen to Radio 5 a lot and I’d far rather DAB the usual Medium wave.
:confused: Nobody has mentioned coverage, the issue being mentioned is the absolutely dire sound quality, hence the joke about a childs boom box. Many of the stations are around 64kbps mono with some as low as 32kbps.
 
Caporegime
Joined
25 Nov 2004
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25,834
Location
On the road....
:confused: Nobody has mentioned coverage, the issue being mentioned is the absolutely dire sound quality, hence the joke about a childs boom box. Many of the stations are around 64kbps mono with some as low as 32kbps.
I was just mentioning that the coverage is fine ( a few people have said they find it poor in their cars )

As for sound quality, can’t say I’ve noticed, perhaps I’m going deaf in my old age. :p
 
Soldato
Joined
11 Aug 2012
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S.E Wales
Thanks to a new job i've landed in recently, i'm kinda on the lookout for my next potential car upgrade, of course there's a huuuuuuge list in my head.

Recently i'm drawn to the F36 435i/440i, Much to know about these cars, i'm assuming being a newer model it's not going to be plagued with the same turbo issues as the e90 cars had?

Cheers.
 
Soldato
Soldato
Joined
26 Oct 2013
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Location
Leicester
Thanks to a new job i've landed in recently, i'm kinda on the lookout for my next potential car upgrade, of course there's a huuuuuuge list in my head.

Recently i'm drawn to the F36 435i/440i, Much to know about these cars, i'm assuming being a newer model it's not going to be plagued with the same turbo issues as the e90 cars had?

Cheers.

Not heard any horror stories with N55/B58 engines; should be alright....
 
Soldato
Joined
24 Apr 2007
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7,562
Location
Southport
So, I still have the tatty 330d - getting towards 300,000 miles and still absolutely fine. What a bargain it turned out to be - £650 to buy, a few hundred on a prop bearing, gearbox service - and sailed through the last MOT.

Thus, I felt this was a good time to scratch the 'convertible itch' I've had for a while!
Behold....



Another 330d, this time manual (6 speed) and with plenty of boxes ticked.
Well priced because it's previously been written off (but repaired well with full engineer's report) and still relatively low miles @ 129,000.
Bought for a stag do roadtrip this summer (not mine!) and I'll probably keep it for a couple of years.

Stock stereo is awful (the saloon has HK with 16:9 display, this has the crap Business CD system) and there's a slight vibration on harsh acceleration (suspect guibo or prop bearing) but apart from that, a genuinely enjoyable car for pocket change.

I have bought some amusing hairdresser stickers already :p
 
Man of Honour
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
159,641
The stock stereo in that generation of BMW was indeed awful.

Not sure how it has 'plenty of boxes ticked' if it has base audio and a no navigation though, I mean what else is there? A magazine rack on the seat?
 
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