Bonjourno,
One of the mods, VifferMike I think, mentioned he’d like to hear my views on the Burmester once a few tunes had been played.
I’ve always liked a good system in a car, put a few in over the years when younger as the stock offerings were hopeless, the usual thing, couple of 10” subs in the boot trying to crack the rear window of my XR3i....two big amps, mids in the doors, tweeters behind the mirrors etc. Then moved a bit more stealth, hiding everything as much as possible, etc, etc. The first semi decent-ish system I had which was OEM was a few years ago in an E89 Z4, BMW use Harmon Kardon and the top end system in the old Zed uses 14 speakers and an 850 watt amp, an equaliser in the i-drive screen let’s you do the adjusting. This system cost me £750 over the standard utterly atrocious 6 speaker business offering which a complete insult tbh in a then 50k new car, they could easily have put something better in as standard, but this is the way BMW are going, look beneath the screens etc, and the cars they churn out nowadays are penny pinching low quality offerings that have no place in the price bracket BMW ask for these new cars, but that’s another story.
The 14 speaker ‘Professional’ offering is, tbh, not bad for £750 outlay, approx what, $1000 over the pond, it lacks depth in the bass, they use very shallow 6” subs behind the seats, the mids are weak, there’s a distinct lack of warmth to them, tweeters are not bad at all and the amp is plenty powerful for the quality of the speakers, so all in all a bit ‘meh’ but ok for the outlay. I didn’t have Bose in my previous 981 but the 3 test drives I had in a 718 GTS earlier this year did have it, all 3 test drives probably equated to a full day in the car so I had a reasonable chance to try the Bose. Personally I don’t agree with the opinion that a good sound system is wasted in a convertible so it was good to be able to try the Bose for a few hours. I’d read elsewhere that the Bose is too boomy, and I have to agree, it’s ok but seems like the sub bass is over amped compared to the mids, not sure what they use though, I’m assuming a separate bass speaker and two way mids, but I may well be wrong. However it’s better than the very similar priced HK system in the old Zed, which incidentally is all but identical sounding in the brand new G29 Zed, a car already rumoured to be for the firing line after only 6 months in production, obviously not yet but sounds like there won’t be a freshen up in a couple of years, but I digress. The problem I have with BMW among lots of things, is there isn’t the option to upgrade to a high end system like the Burmester if you want it, why I don’t know but it’s a failing imho. The Bose then in the 718 was ok for the price but not anything to get worked up about, but then you at least have the Burmester option for those silly enough to pay the £2750 price tag for it, over $30000 in the US. Is it worth it..? The difference in price is obvious but so is the quality, you now have controlled tight bass that doesn’t distort very easily, has that real good thump or depth to it you get in aftermarket systems, personally I think it needs a bass controller simply due to the differences in recordings which it picks out very well, something the Bose etc, cannot do. Obviously you can use the screen to adjust it but if you feel lazy a dial within easy reach would be a luxury, but no matter. Mids are strong and warm, there’s excellent quality in them with true depth, the difference to the Bose or HK is there in buckets, again they’re plenty good enough to merit adjusting the treble depending on the recordings, you don’t just keep it at a preset level, you do need to adjust it to get the best out of it, same goes for the bass. Treble is sparkling without being harsh, the quality is obvious. Well recorded CD’s sound superb, I’m not sure how much is lost with Bluetooth but again good recordings sound excellent.
In summary I’d have to say there are obviously much much better systems you can put in your car given no budget constraints, goes without saying, but for a system coming out of the box and therefore not needing to rip your interior and wiring about, for the money, I think the Burmester is well worth the cost, you’d have to really really want something much much better to bother changing it, I don’t regret a penny of it.
One of the mods, VifferMike I think, mentioned he’d like to hear my views on the Burmester once a few tunes had been played.
I’ve always liked a good system in a car, put a few in over the years when younger as the stock offerings were hopeless, the usual thing, couple of 10” subs in the boot trying to crack the rear window of my XR3i....two big amps, mids in the doors, tweeters behind the mirrors etc. Then moved a bit more stealth, hiding everything as much as possible, etc, etc. The first semi decent-ish system I had which was OEM was a few years ago in an E89 Z4, BMW use Harmon Kardon and the top end system in the old Zed uses 14 speakers and an 850 watt amp, an equaliser in the i-drive screen let’s you do the adjusting. This system cost me £750 over the standard utterly atrocious 6 speaker business offering which a complete insult tbh in a then 50k new car, they could easily have put something better in as standard, but this is the way BMW are going, look beneath the screens etc, and the cars they churn out nowadays are penny pinching low quality offerings that have no place in the price bracket BMW ask for these new cars, but that’s another story.
The 14 speaker ‘Professional’ offering is, tbh, not bad for £750 outlay, approx what, $1000 over the pond, it lacks depth in the bass, they use very shallow 6” subs behind the seats, the mids are weak, there’s a distinct lack of warmth to them, tweeters are not bad at all and the amp is plenty powerful for the quality of the speakers, so all in all a bit ‘meh’ but ok for the outlay. I didn’t have Bose in my previous 981 but the 3 test drives I had in a 718 GTS earlier this year did have it, all 3 test drives probably equated to a full day in the car so I had a reasonable chance to try the Bose. Personally I don’t agree with the opinion that a good sound system is wasted in a convertible so it was good to be able to try the Bose for a few hours. I’d read elsewhere that the Bose is too boomy, and I have to agree, it’s ok but seems like the sub bass is over amped compared to the mids, not sure what they use though, I’m assuming a separate bass speaker and two way mids, but I may well be wrong. However it’s better than the very similar priced HK system in the old Zed, which incidentally is all but identical sounding in the brand new G29 Zed, a car already rumoured to be for the firing line after only 6 months in production, obviously not yet but sounds like there won’t be a freshen up in a couple of years, but I digress. The problem I have with BMW among lots of things, is there isn’t the option to upgrade to a high end system like the Burmester if you want it, why I don’t know but it’s a failing imho. The Bose then in the 718 was ok for the price but not anything to get worked up about, but then you at least have the Burmester option for those silly enough to pay the £2750 price tag for it, over $30000 in the US. Is it worth it..? The difference in price is obvious but so is the quality, you now have controlled tight bass that doesn’t distort very easily, has that real good thump or depth to it you get in aftermarket systems, personally I think it needs a bass controller simply due to the differences in recordings which it picks out very well, something the Bose etc, cannot do. Obviously you can use the screen to adjust it but if you feel lazy a dial within easy reach would be a luxury, but no matter. Mids are strong and warm, there’s excellent quality in them with true depth, the difference to the Bose or HK is there in buckets, again they’re plenty good enough to merit adjusting the treble depending on the recordings, you don’t just keep it at a preset level, you do need to adjust it to get the best out of it, same goes for the bass. Treble is sparkling without being harsh, the quality is obvious. Well recorded CD’s sound superb, I’m not sure how much is lost with Bluetooth but again good recordings sound excellent.
In summary I’d have to say there are obviously much much better systems you can put in your car given no budget constraints, goes without saying, but for a system coming out of the box and therefore not needing to rip your interior and wiring about, for the money, I think the Burmester is well worth the cost, you’d have to really really want something much much better to bother changing it, I don’t regret a penny of it.
