2006 BMW 325i

JBL chose to build the BMW due to the vehicle's inherent difficulty to install aftermarket audio gear. This would yield an excellent example of how the new JBL MS-8 processor interfaces with virtually any vehicle. To that end, Biggs left the stock source unit, the BMW iDrive, intact. The stock BMW speakers, a single 4" mid-driver in each door, along with a tweeter in the front doors and a pair of tweeters on the rear deck, were also left intact. Biggs also added a stock BMW tweeter to each rear door.

JBL chose to build the BMW due to the vehicle's inherent difficulty to install aftermarket audio gear. This would yield an excellent example of how the new JBL MS-8 processor interfaces with virtually any vehicle. To that end, Biggs left the stock source unit, the BMW iDrive, intact. The stock BMW speakers, a single 4" mid-driver in each door, along with a tweeter in the front doors and a pair of tweeters on the rear deck, were also left intact. Biggs also added a stock BMW tweeter to each rear door.

The stock center channel was upgraded with an additional stock BMW tweeter using a piece of 11/48" aluminum, cut to shape and mounted using one of the original midrange mounting screws. The center channel grille was modified to fit and to allow for the LCD display for the MS-8 to be seen.

The LCD display housing was created by gluing 11/44" strips of wafer board to the original grille, then wrapping it with grille cloth and coating it with resin. The pod was then reinforced with Duraglas, sanded and painted with SEM Landau Black paint. The new grille pod was opened for the sound to pass through with a 4" hole saw, covered with perforated aluminum grille material and covered with black grille cloth. The result is a perfect stock-looking grille that is anything but. The rest of the factory grilles in the car were covered in the same cloth so everything matches.

In the left side of the trunk, the factory amplifier was mounted. Biggs and Andy Wehmeyer of JBL used a volt meter to track and label the power, ground and audio input and audio output wires. Using the "Smart Live" software, they determined which output was which and whether it was highpass or lowpass. The MS-8 unit requires a fullrange signal to operate correctly, so Biggs and Wehmeyer decided to use the front doors as well as the left and right factory sub outputs for the input signal.

The subwoofer enclosure is a simple 31/44"-MDF vented enclosure painted to match the vehicle. The port is where things get interesting. Invented by JBL engineers, the patent-pending SlipStream Port was engineered to eliminate 99 percent of port noise associated with all other port designs. See above for details. It was molded through the rear deck using more mold fabric and resin. The rear fill speakers were also molded in and the entire piece was covered with black vinyl to match the interior.