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Notes about Focal IFBMW-S components speakers for front doors

15K views 49 replies 9 participants last post by  pdxway 
#1 · (Edited)
Finished installed the Focal IFBMW-S components speaker yesterday. Only had about 1 hour of listening and adjusting time. Initial impressions are:

*No more harsh high.
*More mid bass than oem fronts. I had to adjust down the gain for the 8" underfloor woofers as I don't need to play the 8" higher than normal to compensate for OEM speakers lack of mid.
*Songs feel more "live".

Note about installation:
*As one reviewer said, fit for F30 is just too tight and would hit the windows without a spacer. Instead of using a spacer, I used two layers of Dynamat to reduce mounting depth.
*If using Dynamat, make sure that you press it down nicely. A small part of the mat's aluminum top was touching the passenger door's mid's speaker terminal and cause the mid to loss sound. It took me a couple hours to figure that out, after taking doors apart a few times, checking wires connections, etc.

Cost:
$490. Better than USA regular price of ~$650, but still higher than in Europe. Special order with local authorized dealer. That was the best price I could find during Cyber Monday sales and I got the local dealer to match the online price.

By the way, my setup before this is similar to this thread: http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=732603&highlight=.

I had JL amp and sub and was using OEM speakers. The sound was clean and loud, but the OEM fronts were still not good enough. A bit too harsh for me when turn up high.

Totally, including the JL amp and sub, I spent ~$1800, including parts and labor (dynamat and front speakers were done by me, thus if using professional installer, your price may be higher. Or if you do everything yourself, you will spend a few hundreds less than $1800).

I might upgrade the 8" woofers later, but for now I think I am done for at least a year. :D

May 29th, 2015's update:
My final setup:
*All OEM speakers and amp were disconnected.
*The only active speakers are Focal's components on the front doors and JL audio subwoofer 10W3v3-2 in a sealed box in the trunk. All powered by JL Audio XD700/5 amp.
*Focal is crossed at 120 Hz. JL audio subwoofer is crossed at 100 Hz.
*I listen mostly with the ski pass in the back seats open. The reason is to hear more bass notes without turning up the sub too high.
Compared to OEM Hifi setup:
Originally I got the Hifi setup. I also had a chance to listen to 2015's Hifi setup a month back. My setup definitely got better bass notes. Overall my setup is much cleaner and punchier at high volume. Still very happy with my setup.

Oct 19, 2015 update:
I closed up the ski pass in order to reduce road noise coming in from the ski pass.

I adjusted the crossover to 100 hz for the Focal and 80 Hz for the sub. I also adjusted the gains level for both until I am satisfied.

So far so good. Still liking my setup. Using 100 Hz is kind of at the door limit now. Once in a while, I can hear some rattles coming from door when playing certain bass tunes.
 

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#49 · (Edited)
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