[hookson]

Hello guys!

So I think I have ecently find another widespread issue that affects G30 and F90 equipped with B&W sound system.

For those who have it, you will probably agree that its definitely not the best high end stereo (especially compared to B&O) and it can get even worse if you mid speakers will stop playing. And you better check yours, if your car is 2020 and older

Circled is the MID frequency speaker.


So what happens? Water gets inside the door panel and drips on the open important part of the speaker, such its magnet and wiring.

Traces of water and dirt inside the door panel when the speaker is removed. Speaker magnet and wiring is affected by all of this.


You can see actual water inside the speaker that was just removed from the car.


Overtime, it will damage it and your speaker will stop playing. Car won't get you any codes and it's actually hard to notice sometimes because the speaker will star loosing it sound gradually. The best way to test is to change output to specific side through equalizer. If the speaker is good, you will HEAR IT playing. If in doubt you can compare to rear doors.

It mainly happens with the front doors on both sides, however I had a car that required rear ones to be changed as well. Speaker are not cheap at around $200 each and requires door trim removal to be changed and you also need to change all of the door panel clips ones you pulled it.

So after some testing I did create special cover that protect pins, magnet and wiring of the speaker. It sits nicely inside the door panel and gives the speaker extra protection from water that drips on it. And it doesn't affect the sound.



It sits nicely with the speaker installed and looks OEM.



I plan do a repair kit, that will include speaker, door clips, speaker cover at very reasonable price.

In the meantime, you can check if your MID speakers are actually working

BTW, for whatever reason, it doesn't seem to happen with the cars that are equipped with Harmon & Kardon speakers.

[Joe-BMW33]

No issues here on my 2018 and I pretty much power wash it weekly. Honestly, this is the first I’ve heard of this issue, I definitely haven’t seen it as widespread.

Have you done work to your car previously in terms of removing the door cards?

Maybe related, may be not, when the dealer was prepping my car for delivery, the work order performed listed adding insulation to the doors, totally forgot they did this, but for some reason this thread made me think of it. I just dismissed as a TSB of some sort.

Is it the absolute best system, no. But I find it very solid. It’s also the highest fidelity offered in the G30, so pretty much the only option if you want the best system. Can’t really comment on B&O in the G30, because it’s not offered . Every system sounds different in every car. HK sucks in the G30, but sounds good in my X5.

Nice work though and glad you created a workaround to save yourself a few bucks.

[RonronEG]

My front driver side mid stopped working some years ago. Replaced under CPO. Could definitely hear the front stage being pulled to the right when it was non functional. From the time I made the appointment to the time it was replaced it did occasionally work until it finally died for good.

I would think each door would have a moisture barrier of sorts to keep water out. Dealer didn't mention any signs of water damage, just that the speaker was indeed shorted.

The B&W is a decent system in the G30. An additional 2 8" subs or finding a way to put 10" subs under the seat could've really helped the low end extension.

I've been driving an XM with the B&W for about a month now and even though it's got the same number and type of sub, it does have a bit better low end extension- probably a larger enclosure with a lower tuning freq given the difference in space constraints. Still not perfect but a notch above the G30.

[hookson]

Originally Posted by Joe-BMW33

No issues here on my 2018 and I pretty much power wash it weekly. Honestly, this is the first I’ve heard of this issue, I definitely haven’t seen it as widespread.

Have you done work to your car previously in terms of removing the door cards?

Maybe related, may be not, when the dealer was prepping my car for delivery, the work order performed listed adding insulation to the doors, totally forgot they did this, but for some reason this thread made me think of it. I just dismissed as a TSB of some sort.

Is it the absolute best system, no. But I find it very solid. It’s also the highest fidelity offered in the G30, so pretty much the only option if you want the best system. Can’t really comment on B&O in the G30, because it’s not offered . Every system sounds different in every car. HK sucks in the G30, but sounds good in my X5.

Nice work though and glad you created a workaround to save yourself a few bucks.

The thing is when you pull the door panel you don’t really affect insulation of the speaker in any way. I think it’s not widespread because a lot of people just don’t notice it. I noticed it only when may dash speaker died (under other circumstances), and my BMW gong sound noticeably changed. Before that moment I was driving with bad speakers and wasn’t aware of it.

[2022M550i]

Having just recently pulled my door panels off to install new speakers, look at the area where I circled. There is a little foam insert that can fall out and water will definitely drip in there and leak right onto the speaker. Check to see if yours is still there.

Edit: right after I posted this, I checked your pictures to see if yours was still there and it was. Make sure it isnt cracked

[hookson]

Originally Posted by 2022M550i

Having just recently pulled my door panels off to install new speakers, look at the area where I circled. There is a little foam insert that can fall out and water will definitely drip in there and leak right onto the speaker. Check to see if yours is still there.

Nope, I did have them on my car

[Joe-BMW33]

Originally Posted by 2022M550i

Having just recently pulled my door panels off to install new speakers, look at the area where I circled. There is a little foam insert that can fall out and water will definitely drip in there and leak right onto the speaker. Check to see if yours is still there.

Edit: right after I posted this, I checked your pictures to see if yours was still there and it was. Make sure it isnt cracked

Ha, knowing you just operating on every door card, I was just about to ask you what you saw in there. Although you had HK and the OP references vulnerability in the B&W system.

I have to think if I was having this issue, it would have shown its ugly head in 5 years. I also listen very careful for distortion.

[2022M550i]

Originally Posted by Joe-BMW33

Ha, knowing you just operating on every door card, I was just about to ask you what you saw in there. Although you had HK and the OP references vulnerability in the B&W system.

I have to think if I was having this issue, it would have shown its ugly head in 5 years. I also listen very careful for distortion.

Most definitely, you would’ve known by now. And you know me, I was checking it all out. My garage was like a surgical center.

[weinerbarn]

Had both fronts replaced on our 2020 CPO right after we brought it home. Sad part is the dealer (not the one that we purchased from out of state) acted like they were doing us a favor by replacing them.

[hookson]

Originally Posted by weinerbarn

Had both fronts replaced on our 2020 CPO right after we brought it home. Sad part is the dealer (not the one that we purchased from out of state) acted like they were doing us a favor by replacing them.

Did you notice that the sound was off?

[weinerbarn]

Originally Posted by hookson

Did you notice that the sound was off?

It seemed WAY too quiet to be B&W system and more rear biased. I verified all of the settings. I'm fairly sure it worked when I picked it up because I drove 500 miles home with it and I was definitely listening loud. I ended up updating the iDrive version with ISTA since it was still on 2021 software and it threw some errors about front speakers being disconnected. I then ran the test procedures and confirmed they were indeed not playing any sound. That's when I took it to the dealer.

[AHall]

Originally Posted by 2022M550i

Most definitely, you would’ve known by now. And you know me, I was checking it all out. My garage was like a surgical center.

2022M550i when replaced the front door leather handle cover how did you deal with the metal clip at the top of the handle? It is a 90 degree handle and I do not see how it fits in the cover.

[MauiSteve]

Why would this sort of water damage be limited to just B&W front door speakers. Are the HK and regular HiFi speakers not in the exact same location with similar risk of water damage?

[Joe-BMW33]

Originally Posted by MauiSteve

Why would this sort of water damage be limited to just B&W front door speakers. Are the HK and regular HiFi speakers not in the exact same location with similar risk of water damage?

No disrespect to the OP, but I don’t think this is a “widespread “ issue. This is honestly the first and last example I’ve come across. I wouldn’t sweat it.

[eliphil]

I hope it’s not an issue w my 23 m550. I am thrilled with the BW stereo, it’s not perfect on the low end but clarity is amazing even when satellite radio is the source. I had an rs7 with a BO, the high end was better but I prefer the bw overall. The stereo in my wife’s Range Rover is also amazing the bass is truly remarkable. I have machine head on music dvd and the sound is incredible. I wish the m550 had a dvd player.

[hookson]

Originally Posted by Joe-BMW33

No disrespect to the OP, but I don’t think this is a “widespread “ issue. This is honestly the first and last example I’ve come across. I wouldn’t sweat it.

It’s widespread. Check M5 topic for same issue. These cars are equipped with BW much more often.
https://f90.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=2054428

[Joe-BMW33]

Originally Posted by hookson

It’s widespread. Check M5 topic for same issue. These cars are equipped with BW much more often.
https://f90.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=2054428

Interesting. So you got in my brain and I had to go in the garage to test. All mid range are working fine, front and back, but I did notice this, when playing Sirius XM, the rear door mids are silent. They pump strong with streaming (Apple CarPlay Apple Music) and with FM, but on Sirius XM, nothing is being channeled back there. I’ll chalk it up to Sirius XM sucking and maybe it’s a two channel signal that doesn’t get to the back doors?

If someone feels like checking this out for me, I would be interested in knowing if you have the same results.

No need to fuck with the EQ, just stick your ear on it.

[Neusser]

Somewhat related, I am always amazed by how these "high-end" stock systems look when you tear everything down.

I have a set of vintage B&W DM2s at home, and have experience with some of the newer stuff, and I just don't get why they can't seem to build a car system that exudes the same quality in materials and construction.

These systems are hilariously overprice in terms of general sound quality, the interior as a sound stage, and the effort they seem to put into materials selection, etc...

[Joe-BMW33]

Just to add, B&W set to Studio and everything centered. When on SiriusXM, if I fade 💯 to the rears, I’ll get something from the doors and rear deck, but not strong. Rears mids and deck don’t work on XM either when centered.

Probably a software update that I will pass on. Too much coding doke to lose.

Let me know what you find fellow B&W guys with XM.

[r1cero]

That's what I was testing recently when I was traveling as rear passenger in my car. When you fade speakers fully to the rear, only rear shelf speakers are working. You need to set it one notch short of fully rear in order to have speakers in the rear door working.

With that being said, I am noticing that the sound(when centered) is front biased which is noticed when you are sitting at the rear.

Is there any way for me to check if all speakers are working properly other than placing my head in each speaker?

[Joe-BMW33]

Originally Posted by r1cero

That's what I was testing recently when I was traveling as rear passenger in my car. When you fade speakers fully to the rear, only rear shelf speakers are working. You need to set it one notch short of fully rear in order to have speakers in the rear door working.

With that being said, I am noticing that the sound(when centered) is front biased which is noticed when you are sitting at the rear.

Is there any way for me to check if all speakers are working properly other than placing my head in each speaker?

It's definitely a front biased system overall. I don't have any issues when using Apple carplay, FM, USB, HDD or DVD. Rear doors and rear shelf play fine with those inputs, but yes, when centered on those inputs, all front speakers push a little harder than the rears.

It's just SiriusXM that I discovered that the rear doors and shelf are silent when centers and actually do not have any volume unless I put the fader 100% to the rear. Even the notch right before 100% produces nothing on the SiriusXM input.

I did a little googling, I don't think I am the only one, but will be curious to see what you guys get. I am not overly OCD about this as I don't use SiriusXM much, maybe because it sucked in my car and now I know why, but I will just use the SiriusXM app via Apple Carplay to stream it.

Hell, I will probably cancel it for this car as I have it on two other cars which come with digital streaming. It will save me $150 a year.

[2022M550i]

Originally Posted by Joe-BMW33

Just to add, B&W set to Studio and everything centered. When on SiriusXM, if I fade 💯 to the rears, I’ll get something from the doors and rear deck, but not strong. Rears mids and deck don’t work on XM either when centered.

Probably a software update that I will pass on. Too much coding doke to lose.

Let me know what you find fellow B&W guys with XM.

I use the Bowers and Wilkins interface, but you know I have Alpha One speakers and amp.

My experience is that studio sucks. I can’t hear anything from the rear speakers…so I never use studio. concert or on stage Sounds outrageously good. All speakers are activated.