Non-budget audio system - Morel integration reference + Morel integration performance underseat woofers + mObridge K2 amp + JL audio sub

[dAPEX]

This is the system I eventually landed on after trying multiple other options that I found to be very disappointing. This is now the best sound system we have in any of our cars (F25 X3 with HiFi Professional Logic7 DSP upgraded with full bavsound components, underseat ghost subs, and bavsound revenant pro amplifier), m235i with "Hifi" upgraded to the 2 series version of harmon kardon with bavsound component speakers, underseat ghost subs, Audiotech Fischer UP8DSP amp, and JL JD500/1 subwoofer amp with a 10TW3 in a sealed custom box.

- Morel Integration reference mids/tweeters (IR-BMW42) $999 per set, two sets (doors and behind seats)

- Morel Integration performance woofers (IP-BMWSUB82) $369 per woofer, 2 woofers

- Morel Integration reference center channel mid + tweeter (IR-BMW42-CTR) $499

BMW Manual high end 27-07-22 for web

Integration BMW - Morel Hifi

- JL Audio single 10" 10TW3 PowerWedge sealed subwoofer, 2 ohm (CS110LG-TW3) $749.99

CS110LG-TW3 - Car Audio - Subwoofer Systems - PowerWedge™ - JL Audio

- JL Audio 500 watt Class D Subwoofer amp (RD500/1) $379.99

RD500/1 - Car Audio - Amplifiers - RD - JL Audio

- mObridge K2 8.1.1 channel DSP amp with MOST25 w/ PNP harness for the Supra $1,599

K2 8.1.1 Channel DSP Amplifier – Universal MOST25 - mObridge

- I also installed some butyl rubber/aluminum material to the back of the car along with some closed cell foam to eliminate any rattles.

Total cost: $5962 installed (DIY)

This was not cheap but outside of major modifications to the stock speaker locations I feel this might be the best DIY friendly setup. This combination is incredible and the drivers seem to be of a much higher quality than other brands I have tried including Bavsound, Bimmertech, and others. It is extremely loud with zero distortion and great clarity. One cool feature of the BMW integration Morel speakers is that they come with adaptors for every BMW mounting location so if you decide to get a different BMW based vehicle in the future you can use these speakers even if the mounting points are different.

One disadvantage to using the mObridge K2 is that it doesnt come with a detailed tuning file for the car so you have to set up the amp yourself. I have my tuning file if anyone is interested in this combination.

The bimmertech alpha one lightwave is a rebranded mObridge K2 DSP tuned for their speakers.

The bavsound revenant pro we have in our BMW X3 is a rebadged Audiotech Fischer amp with a mObridge MOST25 adaptor tuned for their speakers.

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[tracer bullet]

- mObridge K2 8.1.1 channel DSP amp with MOST25 w/ PNP harness for the Supra $1,599

From Technic? Or something else?

 

[dAPEX]

From Technic? Or something else?

I purchased directly from mObridge and they sent it with the amplifier. I'm not sure if they make them in house or if they use Technic.

 

[BMWAF]

What do you think makes the most difference, the mObridge amp or the Morel speakers?

 

[dAPEX]

It's honestly hard for me to say. I started with the bavsound component speakers and ghost woofers with the stock amp. It was very disappointing. Then I installed the mObridge amp with bavsound speakers/underseat woofers and it was still underwhelming. The bavsound speakers didn't seem to be able to handle the power from the amp without distortion. Full disclosure though, the tuning file for the mObridge was not set up well at the time. I ended up replacing the bavsound speakers with the morel speakers and it was better but things didn't really come together until I figured out the tuning for the amp.

I think adding the subwoofer also allowed me to force all of the speakers to only play the frequencies where they were less likely to distort under load and led to the sound quality and quantity to increase significantly.

I suspect the mobridge amp is the most important component but without tuning it will seem underwhelming. It might be better to have a shop tune the amp for you unless you have experience with this sort of thing.

 

[BMWAF]

It's honestly hard for me to say. I started with the bavsound component speakers and ghost woofers with the stock amp. It was very disappointing. Then I installed the mObridge amp with bavsound speakers/underseat woofers and it was still underwhelming. The bavsound speakers didn't seem to be able to handle the power from the amp without distortion. Full disclosure though, the tuning file for the mObridge was not set up well at the time. I ended up replacing the bavsound speakers with the morel speakers and it was better but things didn't really come together until I figured out the tuning for the amp.

I think adding the subwoofer also allowed me to force all of the speakers to only play the frequencies where they were less likely to distort under load and led to the sound quality and quantity to increase significantly.

I suspect the mobridge amp is the most important component but without tuning it will seem underwhelming. It might be better to have a shop tune the amp for you unless you have experience with this sort of thing.

Thanks for the post. I've considered replacing the stock amp with mObridge but its just so expensive! The stock sound system isn't complete garbage but it really doesn't compare to even a cheap after market system. Unfortunately, nothing is cheap in the Supra and there really isn't a budget solution. Ugh.

 

[MK5_Ger]

Thanks for the post. I've considered replacing the stock amp with mObridge but its just so expensive! The stock sound system isn't complete garbage but it really doesn't compare to even a cheap after market system. Unfortunately, nothing is cheap in the Supra and there really isn't a budget solution. Ugh.

Replacing the amp with any DSP will have the biggest impact. Even with stock speakers.
In my old BMW with Harman Kardon I was able to improve sound immensely with the Match UP10 DSP.
Door speakers are generally fine. They will handle a lot of abuse and you can do a lot with of tuning on them to make them sound how you want them to.
Only the subwoofer really need a swap.

A hifi store in Germany offers a "cheaper" solution without the use of the SDMI25.
Unfortunately they only sell the Match 8 and the plug and play cable with the speakers. After talking with them on the phone they are still unwilling to sell just the DSP with the cable.

https://www.carhifi-store-buende.de/supra-komplettsystem-soundpro-jbl

 

[dAPEX]

Yeah, I totally hear you. One thing I will say is that another nice feature of the Mobridge amp is that it actually has a dedicated 300 watt subwoofer channel so you can run a 10 or 12” sub off of the Mobridge amp but to be honest I found that it just didn’t seem to push the Subwoofer as well as a dedicated amp which at that point was only a couple hundred dollars more. I think my main issue was that I did not know what I was doing when setting up the amp DSP. I wish Mobridge offered a tune for the factory speakers that was optimized because then it would basically be a non-issue. I will say that I have been very impressed with the audio improvement to cost ratio of the match amplifiers. The only issue is that to get the best audio quality you need to have a MOST adapter, which are kind of expensive by themselves, and once you add up the cost of the MOST adapter with the amplifier, it ends up being more money than expected.

 

[dAPEX]

Replacing the amp with any DSP will have the biggest impact. Even with stock speakers.
In my old BMW with Harman Kardon I was able to improve sound immensely with the Match UP10 DSP.
Door speakers are generally fine. They will handle a lot of abuse and you can do a lot with of tuning on them to make them sound how you want them to.
Only the subwoofer really need a swap.

A hifi store in Germany offers a "cheaper" solution without the use of the SDMI25.
Unfortunately they only sell the Match 8 and the plug and play cable with the speakers. After talking with them on the phone they are still unwilling to sell just the DSP with the cable.

https://www.carhifi-store-buende.de/supra-komplettsystem-soundpro-jbl

There is an audio store in the UK that sells on eBay and provides PNP harnesses with the UP8 DSP by themselves. This is who I bought mine from. It’s called allwoodsaudio.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/234665239791

 

[MK5_Ger]

There is an audio store in the UK that sells on eBay and provides PNP harnesses with the UP8 DSP by themselves. This is who I bought mine from. It’s called allwoodsaudio.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/234665239791

Unfortunately this doesn't fit the JBL system.

 

[dAPEX]

Unfortunately this doesn't fit the JBL system.

Correct. If you wanted to use that amp with the JBL system you would need a MOST25 adaptor that takes the MOST optical signal and converts it to a toslink optical output that interfaces with the amp.

https://mobridge.us/product/da1-digital-pre-amp-most/

The problem is that once you add that you are almost to the cost of the K2.

 

[MK5_Ger]

Correct. If you wanted to use that amp with the JBL system you would need a MOST25 adaptor that takes the MOST optical signal and converts it to a toslink optical output that interfaces with the amp.

Check my link I posted above.
No need for the SDMI25.
Match 8 will work with the correct harness.

 

[dAPEX]

Check my link I posted above.
No need for the SDMI25.
Match 8 will work with the correct harness.

I wonder if this results in poor audio quality compared to getting the digital signal from the SDMI25/MOST25 signal. It sounds like they are basically still using the JBL amplifier and then feeding analog speaker level inputs from the JBL/HK amp into the Match UP8DSP. That's interesting and something I haven't seen done in other BMWs with the SDMI25/MOST25 systems (all the HK and Logic7 Professional systems).

 

[MK5_Ger]

I wonder if this results in poor audio quality compared to getting the digital signal from the SDMI25/MOST25 signal. It sounds like they are basically still using the JBL amplifier and then feeding analog speaker level inputs from the JBL/HK amp into the Match UP8DSP. That's interesting and something I haven't seen done in other BMWs with the SDMI25/MOST25 systems (all the HK and Logic7 Professional systems).

Theoretically there would be some losses but if they are noticeable is the other question.
It does have a big advantage. The parking sensors will still work and sound like stock and be surround instead of stereo. SDMI25 is Stereo only.

I would try it if they sold the set without the speakers but they won't.

 

[dAPEX]

Theoretically there would be some losses but if they are noticeable is the other question.
It does have a big advantage. The parking sensors will still work and sound like stock and be surround instead of stereo. SDMI25 is Stereo only.

I would try it if they sold the set without the speakers but they won't.

It is always hard for me to tell if theoretical loss in signal quality is actually going to translate to perceivable audio quality loss. Hopefully you can find someone who can offer a similar solution and let us all know. I'm in the Kansas City region if anyone wants to compare systems and has a stock JBL system.

What do you mean by the parking sensors would still work/sound like stock and be surround?

The parking gong/PDC/navigation still comes from all the speakers with the mObridge K2 and the audio level is adjustable in the software so you can adjust the gain for the parking/PDC, gong, telephone, and navigation all separately from music. You can select what speakers you want those sources to play from as well. I turned the gain on all of those wayyyyy down.

It also lets you set a preset using the surround button in the OEM supra headunit so you can have one preset that approximates the "surround" effect of the OEM system and a second preset that has distances measured from your listening position which should be the drivers seat to give it a better soundstage.

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