[roxxor]

FWIW I did a full retrofit of the B&W system in my X5 last year. It was very expensive and quite complex, as it involved cutting the headliner and gluing the speakers in place, running extra wiring all over the car for the speakers and lights, rewiring the RAM and Booster connections for the additional/changed wiring, and more I’m probably forgetting. Suffice it to say, it sounded a lot better, but for the vast majority it is probably not worth the cost/effort.

[dmytro_usa]

Originally Posted by roxxor

FWIW I did a full retrofit of the B&W system in my X5 last year. It was very expensive and quite complex, as it involved cutting the headliner and gluing the speakers in place, running extra wiring all over the car for the speakers and lights, rewiring the RAM and Booster connections for the additional/changed wiring, and more I’m probably forgetting. Suffice it to say, it sounded a lot better, but for the vast majority it is probably not worth the cost/effort.

How hard was the coding? Do you have a pictures of installation? Why did you had to glue the speakers?

[dmytro_usa]

Here are 2 wire diagrams for BW and HK if someone interesting.

[dmytro_usa]

Here are BMW X7 headliner of a ebay and I can see there are marks on the back side where exactly holes have to be cut for speakers.

[keg97]

Good golly- my head hurts just looking at that wiring diagram!!!

Good luck

[roxxor]

Correct, the headliners are premarked however after months of searching online, I could not find a used B&W headliner at a reasonable price with the speaker brackets. The brackets are not available as a separate part and only come pre-glued on the headliner. This is why I had to glue (JB-Weld to be precise) the speakers into the headliner as that was the most reasonable solution I could come up with.

Coding was not hard at all, but I am pretty experienced with coding. As mentioned, it was the manual labor of removing so much interior trim (including the dashboard, seats, headliner, and most interior panels) in order to install the wiring and new speakers. The cost of the wiring alone adds quite a bit to the price, for anyone considering it, it isn’t just the price you see to buy the speakers and modules.

Unfortunately I did not document the entire installation, as it wasn’t one I planned on doing a full write up on since I honestly assumed I would be the only one crazy enough to ever attempt the retrofit, however I did take a picture of the car as I was working in it 😂

[keg97]

Wowsa!
Yeah it's better to trade in and get a X7 with B&W than attempt to retrofit

[mattsrs]

Originally Posted by roxxor

Correct, the headliners are premarked however after months of searching online, I could not find a used B&W headliner at a reasonable price with the speaker brackets. The brackets are not available as a separate part and only come pre-glued on the headliner. This is why I had to glue (JB-Weld to be precise) the speakers into the headliner as that was the most reasonable solution I could come up with.

Coding was not hard at all, but I am pretty experienced with coding. As mentioned, it was the manual labor of removing so much interior trim (including the dashboard, seats, headliner, and most interior panels) in order to install the wiring and new speakers. The cost of the wiring alone adds quite a bit to the price, for anyone considering it, it isn’t just the price you see to buy the speakers and modules.

Unfortunately I did not document the entire installation, as it wasn’t one I planned on doing a full write up on since I honestly assumed I would be the only one crazy enough to ever attempt the retrofit, however I did take a picture of the car as I was working in it 😂

Well done! I will have rattle nightmares tonight by just looking at this photo

[dmytro_usa]

Originally Posted by roxxor

Correct, the headliners are premarked however after months of searching online, I could not find a used B&W headliner at a reasonable price with the speaker brackets. The brackets are not available as a separate part and only come pre-glued on the headliner. This is why I had to glue (JB-Weld to be precise) the speakers into the headliner as that was the most reasonable solution I could come up with.

Coding was not hard at all, but I am pretty experienced with coding. As mentioned, it was the manual labor of removing so much interior trim (including the dashboard, seats, headliner, and most interior panels) in order to install the wiring and new speakers. The cost of the wiring alone adds quite a bit to the price, for anyone considering it, it isn’t just the price you see to buy the speakers and modules.

Unfortunately I did not document the entire installation, as it wasn’t one I planned on doing a full write up on since I honestly assumed I would be the only one crazy enough to ever attempt the retrofit, however I did take a picture of the car as I was working in it 😂

WOW, IMPRESSIVE!
I'll be a second crazy if I'll find good deal on full set.
I have rear professional entertainment (screens) in my X7, do you think that will affect after the installation?
Thank you

[srbabu790]

Originally Posted by roxxor

Correct, the headliners are premarked however after months of searching online, I could not find a used B&W headliner at a reasonable price with the speaker brackets. The brackets are not available as a separate part and only come pre-glued on the headliner. This is why I had to glue (JB-Weld to be precise) the speakers into the headliner as that was the most reasonable solution I could come up with.

Coding was not hard at all, but I am pretty experienced with coding. As mentioned, it was the manual labor of removing so much interior trim (including the dashboard, seats, headliner, and most interior panels) in order to install the wiring and new speakers. The cost of the wiring alone adds quite a bit to the price, for anyone considering it, it isn’t just the price you see to buy the speakers and modules.

Unfortunately I did not document the entire installation, as it wasn’t one I planned on doing a full write up on since I honestly assumed I would be the only one crazy enough to ever attempt the retrofit, however I did take a picture of the car as I was working in it 😂

wow.. someone is really willing to RIP a 100K+ car to replace a perfectly running audio system just because its not B&W..

[Propofoln]

Originally Posted by roxxor

Correct, the headliners are premarked however after months of searching online, I could not find a used B&W headliner at a reasonable price with the speaker brackets. The brackets are not available as a separate part and only come pre-glued on the headliner. This is why I had to glue (JB-Weld to be precise) the speakers into the headliner as that was the most reasonable solution I could come up with.

Coding was not hard at all, but I am pretty experienced with coding. As mentioned, it was the manual labor of removing so much interior trim (including the dashboard, seats, headliner, and most interior panels) in order to install the wiring and new speakers. The cost of the wiring alone adds quite a bit to the price, for anyone considering it, it isn’t just the price you see to buy the speakers and modules.

Unfortunately I did not document the entire installation, as it wasn’t one I planned on doing a full write up on since I honestly assumed I would be the only one crazy enough to ever attempt the retrofit, however I did take a picture of the car as I was working in it 😂

[roxxor]

Originally Posted by srbabu790

wow.. someone is really willing to RIP a 100K+ car to replace a perfectly running audio system just because its not B&W..

OR, it could just be that I like tinkering and doing retrofits just to do them on my cars, and enjoy doing them and sharing knowledge for others who want to do similar projects.

Not to mention, the B&W wasn’t offered as an option on the 45e when I bought it, and I felt like the HK system was a bit lacking.

[AvGeek]

Originally Posted by srbabu790

wow.. someone is really willing to RIP a 100K+ car to replace a perfectly running audio system just because its not B&W..

You're on an enthusiast forum site, enthusiasts tinker with their cars, what did you expect? To be honest, these types of threads where people do crazy retrofits and document the process are the best threads to read on forums.