Upgrade of Burmester surround sound system to Focal Utopia
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Nov 2019
Posts: 58
Likes: 11
S500 4matic L
Upgrade of Burmester surround sound system to Focal Utopia
I'm very much annoyed about noise in the car to the point that I can't stand for slightly used tires michelin pilot sport 3 and as they have started to create more noise they have to go away.
The next step is to really improve the soundproofing of the car. So the car goes to audio studio. Obviously straight on they suggested to change the audio system and this is they proposal.
Adapter : MOST to analog.
Processor : Helix DSP Ultra
Controller for processor ( CPU RIVER) : Helix Conductor
Amplifiers Ground Zero GZUA 4.150SQ-Plus - 3pcs
Amplifier Ground Zero GZUA - 1pc
Tweeter Focal Utopia TBM
Midrange Focal Utopia 3.5 WM
Woofer Focal Utopia 6WM
Subwoofer Focal Utopia 10 MW SUB
Set of speakers : FOCAL 165 W-XP PASSIF
All comes with new cables and so on. No android modification will be added to that.
Total cost of that is 18k $ with tax. ... So I know that Focal is the top of the top but is it worth to go for that ? would you consider such as expensive upgrade
The next step is to really improve the soundproofing of the car. So the car goes to audio studio. Obviously straight on they suggested to change the audio system and this is they proposal.
Adapter : MOST to analog.
Processor : Helix DSP Ultra
Controller for processor ( CPU RIVER) : Helix Conductor
Amplifiers Ground Zero GZUA 4.150SQ-Plus - 3pcs
Amplifier Ground Zero GZUA - 1pc
Tweeter Focal Utopia TBM
Midrange Focal Utopia 3.5 WM
Woofer Focal Utopia 6WM
Subwoofer Focal Utopia 10 MW SUB
Set of speakers : FOCAL 165 W-XP PASSIF
All comes with new cables and so on. No android modification will be added to that.
Total cost of that is 18k $ with tax. ... So I know that Focal is the top of the top but is it worth to go for that ? would you consider such as expensive upgrade
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Nov 2015
Posts: 1,687
Likes: 823
From: Newcastle, WA
2019 S63 4Matic+, 2018 E400 Cabrio, wardens car.
Soundproofing will help a little bit but these are already pretty well insulated cars. I would not spend 18K on any audio system, not to mention one for a car. I upgraded the audio system in my last S class, a 2015 S550 and it was around 6K and sounded phenomenal. I went with a NAVTV MOST150 to Toslink adapter to grab the signal off the HU. From there I ran two amplifiers, a JL Audio VXi800/8 8 channel amp to run all channels but the sub, for the sub I ran a dedicated JL VXi-1000/1 mono amp into a single JL Audio 10W7-AE3 10" sub in a sealed custom enclosure. I also added a BT module so that I could tune it on the fly and a remote knob for sub volume and different sound profiles. JL gear is on par with Focal but I have not heard of the other stuff you reference. The factory speakers worked fine in my application with a nice tune applied to them. The JL amps all have on board DSP and processing so no need for a bunch of extra gear. That is what I would do.
