Feeler: Experiment Help on Coding Amps

[pungo]

[QUOTE=mousitch;12702169]

Originally Posted by pungo

One more question. When using expert on the amp( or any small programming job) did you use a power supply or was the car battery sufficient to allow voltage during coding? I have a battery tender plus. Know that's not enough but I'm not going to be doing any heavy coding, just alarm and radio. Maybe three flash turn signals too.

If you have a good battery, then short coding session should be fine. I've coded the amp w/out a p/s several times.

[mousitch]

Recoded to the E85. Not dramatically impressed but the "wobble" bass in the rear is gone which is cool. Overall better. Less distortion. Noticed that the rear speakers have no bass whatsoever when fader turned all the way to rear. I assume this is the same for you, Pungo and MHeavC?

Wish we could read MhHeavNCs factory recoded amp and check his settings. Not sure what else there would be to change. Also I left the CID setting not active as I do not have nav. Wonder if that was correct. Everything seems to be working fine though. This thread is all win.

Pungo, which module and setting did you use to turn off key dinger? No big deal if you cant remember. There are a huge number of parameters.

[antennahead]

Originally Posted by mousitch

Recoded to the E85. Not dramatically impressed but the "wobble" bass in the rear is gone which is cool. Overall better. Less distortion. Noticed that the rear speakers have no bass whatsoever when fader turned all the way to rear. I assume this is the same for you, Pungo and MHeavC?

Wish we could read MhHeavNCs factory recoded amp and check his settings. Not sure what else there would be to change. Also I left the CID setting not active as I do not have nav. Wonder if that was correct. Everything seems to be working fine though. This thread is all win.

Pungo, which module and setting did you use to turn off key dinger? No big deal if you cant remember. There are a huge number of parameters.

The manual adjustment of the 7 band graphic EQ made a big difference in the quality of the sound for me. I think you're missing that option with no nav, yes?

[mousitch]

Originally Posted by antennahead

The manual adjustment of the 7 band graphic EQ made a big difference in the quality of the sound for me. I think you're missing that option with no nav, yes?

Correct, Had it in the 2006 but really dont miss the console popping up and down all the time. I did dig my custom "m" start up screen but I'm glad its gone. Does suck not having an EQ. But as far as nav my iphone with Tom Tom is much better.

[mgwatson48]

What are some good settings for the 7 bands on the EQ? I listen to mostly electronic type music when I'm driving but I don't like when ALL you hear is bass

[antennahead]

Originally Posted by mgwatson48

What are some good settings for the 7 bands on the EQ? I listen to mostly electronic type music when I'm driving but I don't like when ALL you hear is bass

Assuming you have the factory amp coding in your coupe, I wouldn't know where to start with any graphic settings for you. The coupe and roadster are two different listening environments obviously, then factor in the fact that BMW changed the amps "factory EQ curve" for the coupe, and I'd probably screw you up with any recommendations. Maybe aother coupe owner can chime in for you.

[Armatron]

Originally Posted by pungo

I see this post has been brought back to life. Here is the AMP file from my E86 w/NAV converted to E85. The coding is really easy...
Attachment 751343

!!

Does anyone know if this will work on a non-nav 10 speaker thx system?

Or, if it's ok to simply change the e86 to e85 in the amp coding file?

[Abyss]

Hi all, I have bought the cable and having difficult to install the software. The recoding process seems to be quite difficult. Is there a step by step guide somewhere I can read?

[gtMc]

Originally Posted by Armatron

!!

Does anyone know if this will work on a non-nav 10 speaker thx system?

Or, if it's ok to simply change the e86 to e85 in the amp coding file?

^ Pretty sure this is the same system I have. the Non-Nav Carver Amp system in an E86. All I did was literally swap an e85 Amp into my e86. Others have actually just recoded thier e86 amp to the e85 coding specs without removing the amp.

Originally Posted by Abyss

Hi all, I have bought the cable and having difficult to install the software. The recoding process seems to be quite difficult. Is there a step by step guide somewhere I can read?

^This... I am unable to help with, a few others here probably could though.

[Armatron]

Originally Posted by pungo

I see this post has been brought back to life. Here is the AMP file from my E86 w/NAV converted to E85. The coding is really easy...
Attachment 751343

This was a huge improvement over my 08 coupe, no nav 10 speaker stock coding.

It was worth figuring out ncs expert and buying the cable.

Something to keep in mind... The stock coding damages your subwoofers. It's no different than any other speaker when you severely underpower it, they get muddy and distorted if this is done over a long period of time.

I have a feeling that there is more improvement to be had over the e85 coding in the e86.

[Armatron]

Discovered a couple of things..

I no longer have access to the "DSP" settings

My CD player won't play MP3 CDs

Not the end of the world, and I'm sure it's something in the DSP coding, but something for everyone to be aware of.


Also, if someone has the carver 10 speaker system, no nav, no 10 disc, from an e85 I would LOOOVE to have the DSP coding :-D

[gtMc]

Originally Posted by Armatron

This was a huge improvement over my 08 coupe, no nav 10 speaker stock coding.

It was worth figuring out ncs expert and buying the cable.

I have a feeling that there is more improvement to be had over the e85 coding in the e86.

Excellent! you are now atleast the 3rd person to successfully recode an amp, and there are atleast 2 of us who successfully have swapped amps with an E85.

I would tend to agree that there is more improvement to be had out there. Is there any chance someone devises an 'ultimate and optimal' coding for an E86 Amp?

The E86 clearly has the proper bones and hardware for a great stock system, and the E85 Amp coding or some variation of it is clearly the key to unlocking and unleashing it all. Well done!

[Shipkiller]

I recoded my amp to the E85 spec. but lost the DSP. I think I know how to get it back...


.

[gtMc]

Originally Posted by Shipkiller

I recoded my amp to the E85 spec. but lost the DSP. I think I know how to get it back...


.

Nice! Make that 4 re-codes. Is this approaching 'sticky' status yet? Ship - if you are involved... this will get fixed, I just know it.

What results did you get overall?

[elwesso]

When I get my coupe out in a few weeks, I'm gonna get a cable and try this. One of the first things I noticed on this car is how the stock sound system was pretty bad.. I think the base sound system in a chevy cobalt is better than this! I definitely don't want to change much, and having a cable is a very useful tool anyway, so this should be a good upgrade...

I don't ask a lot from a stock sound system, but getting distortion anything above half volume is pretty poor I think.

[SCHMOUPE]

Originally Posted by gtMc

Nice! Make that 4 re-codes. Is this approaching 'sticky' status yet? Ship - if you are involved... this will get fixed, I just know it.

What results did you get overall?

Sticky with a step by step guide. I def want to try this but don't have the time at the moment to learn the software and monkey around with the options.

GtMC, take the lead on this buddy! I will even buy the cable for you

[gtMc]

Schmoupe,
There are enough of us around here to get this done and map it out. We are all still in the 'beta test' mode though...

If Ship also had success, then that means Pungo, Ship, Mousitch, and Armatron all recoded with success that I know of, and Myself and mHeavnc also swapped out with success. Thats good enough for me. Elwesso & Abyss and a few others sound like thay are going to try it too.

I'm down for helping you recode, lets do it when the cars come out of storage. If DSC_OFF still has any interior left in his soon to be track-only car, maybe he'd join us. you guys are smarter than me anyway.

[Shipkiller]

I am waiting for the delivery of the BMTechnic cable and software. Yes, I have a cable and have kludged together all the software and it all works BUT, I do get some non-critical errors sometimes when I use it.

So I purchased the BMTechnic package due to the fact that it seems to have folded all the 'free' BMW software into a nice package that seems to make using it easier. I joined their support forum site, http://forums.m3cutters.co.uk/index.php and Chris the owner, was VERY responsive to questions. When it gets here next week from the UK, I will let you all know.


.

[mgwatson48]

/subscribed! Ill be watching this thread like a hawk! Can't wait to unleash my 10 speakers from their shackles lol.

[Abyss]

Originally Posted by Shipkiller

I am waiting for the delivery of the BMTechnic cable and software. Yes, I have a cable and have kludged together all the software and it all works BUT, I do get some non-critical errors sometimes when I use it.

So I purchased the BMTechnic package due to the fact that it seems to have folded all the 'free' BMW software into a nice package that seems to make using it easier. I joined their support forum site, http://forums.m3cutters.co.uk/index.php and Chris the owner, was VERY responsive to questions. When it gets here next week from the UK, I will let you all know.


.

I already bought cable form ebay and quality seems to be good but I just can't get the software installed properly. Wondering if I can just get the bm technic software?

[Armatron]

No kidding, if I had known how much better it was I would've taken the time to figure out the coding process years ago. IMHO it's worth taking the coding file to someone and paying them to code your car (especially once we get all of the different codings figured out... nav/no nav, DSP/no DSP, etc)


It is totally different.. Listening to the coding back to back it sounds like a completely new sound system. Even after a week of the 'new' coding I am still amazed every time I get in the car.

It is a terrible shame that BMW screwed this up so badly from the factory as the speakers and amp sound really good when coded properly. I'm fairly particular about audio quality.. I have a full audioengine setup at home, etc etc, and am very satisfied with the 'new' coding in my e86.

Again, I have a sinking feeling that even with the new coding many of you will need new subwoofers to get the full effect if you've tried to overcome the original coding issues by raising the bass level. Over time mine got noticeably muddier and muddier, I suspected it was due to amp coding so I had them replaced under warranty and they sounded a good bit better (but still extremely underpowered). After they were replaced I basically stopped listening to the stereo above quiet volumes to prevent the new subs from getting distorted.

This is the same as home theater stuff... Take a 300 watt sub, power it with 100w and you will eventually damage the sub. Once this happens, even if you power it with 300w it's not the same.

[Armatron]

Originally Posted by Abyss

I already bought cable form ebay and quality seems to be good but I just can't get the software installed properly. Wondering if I can just get the bm technic software?

The trick I found was to "find" bmw standard tools 5.0. It has to be installed on a 32 bit windows system. You cable has to be on com 1. The 5.0 package I found had a nice simple pdf explaining where to copy the coding data and how to update the car.

After that, you need to update the daten files in ncs expert with v47 for the e86. Instructions should be with the download, it's basically just copying files around.

After that, download the revtor profile for ncsexpert.

That's really about it. There is a lot of extra stuff you can do if you want to get into coding.. ncs dummy, etc etc, but for simple amp coding just ncs expert is fine in my opinion.


It will take quite a bit of reading. I'm a fairly technical person and I probably spent 6 hours or more last weekend getting it all setup. It is VERY easy to click the wrong button and screw up your car, so be sure you are following a guide that explains how to switch from write to read in ncs expert.