Adi-Benz

Does pretty much any 4" dash speaker fit?

I've got access to BMW's Harmon Kardon (probably same), Bose (supposedly upgrade?), and Bowers Wilkins (best)

They're all basically the same shape, and same plugs, so basically figure I throw the best one in there and see what happens.
Not sure how logic 7 reacts to "other"

Thoughts?

bmwpowere36m3

As long as it fit physically and is the same impedance... I don't see what the issue would be.

rapidoxidation

Shape, impedance and frequency response range. Then you can start looking at sensitivity.

LILBENZ230

I can't imagine a Bose speaker working with a HK system.. everything with Bose is so different and proprietary.

I would imagine the best result would be another HK L7 speaker.

Adi-Benz

Structurally they all looked almost exactly the same but better build quality each step. Then again, I'm not a guru, so yeah.

Went with the most expensive one (Bowers & Wilkins)

Guess we'll see what happens. If it's a massive upgrade by shock for some reason, guess I'll have another video to make hah. If it doesn't work, it is what it is.

Heavy AMG

Any update to the replacement speaker and whether it worked? Thanks

Left Coast Geek

for playing stereo music, I don't think the center speaker is even used.

ccww

The center speaker is an odd duck in the W212. It has multiple purposes and is a dual voicecoil design which means that there are two separate sets of wires which connect to it. Unlike most dual voicecoil drivers which are designed to be alternately wired in series or parallel to present a different load to the amplifiers, the two voicecoils in this speaker actually have completely different purposes. One is for use with the main stereo system, at least if you have the HK Logic 7 option. There is a significant amount of content from this speaker during music playback.

The other voicecoil is connected to a different amplifier that is solely used for the MBRACE system. If you use an aftermarket replacement driver without the second voicecoil (and I don't think any have it) you will not be able to hear anything during an MBRACE emergency call, although this isn't important if you don't subscribe to the service.

More generally, I think that using aftermarket drivers as drop-in replacements is a bad idea. They have different impedance curves, T/S parameters, sensitivity, frequency response, and directionality. Unless you know exactly what you're doing and are using an aftermarket DSP crossover and EQ system to correct the response you will alter the way the system is designed to work and likely not for the better.

Left Coast Geek

hah, one of the two dash speakers on the W124 E's was like that back in the 1980s... the 2nd voice coil was connected to the OEM analog cell phone