Active Sound

[phish_100]

As far as i know, every person complaining about active sound has not driven the car and I think this says a lot.

Don't get me wrong, I don't like the 'idea' of active sound and what it ultimately may lead to, but with the F10M, it is not a negative on the experience.

[///M5Canuck]

Originally Posted by phish_100

Before we start looking fwd to this Sunday again, is it actually on this Sunday - where is the proof? hmm? well? I thought so. There is no proof. its all a conspiracy.

Oh it's confirmed!!!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01dljnx

[mdh]

Originally Posted by bm323

Have you test driven the F10 M5?

No. And I don't need to in order to form an opinion about Active Sound.

It's like saying "wait, you need to hear the quality of Milli-Vanilli's lip-synching" in order to criticize it. I don't care how good it sounds. It's a terrible idea.

If you are in the US, your only chance to 'test drive' an M5 would be at some type of special event sponsored by Porsche. Otherwise all the M5's at the dealer will be spoken-for for some time.

[clar]

Originally Posted by mdh

No. And I don't need to in order to form an opinion about Active Sound.

It's like saying "wait, you need to hear the quality of Milli-Vanilli's lip-synching" in order to criticize it. I don't care how good it sounds. It's a terrible idea.

If you are in the US, your only chance to 'test drive' an M5 would be at some type of special event sponsored by Porsche. Otherwise all the M5's at the dealer will be spoken-for for some time.

It's pretty ridiculous for us F10 M5 owners reading all these rant about active sound. You quoted the Milli-Vanilli example. To us, it's more like us marrying super models and having a blast every nite while u guys go on all day about how high maintenance they might be. Active sound is the last thing in your mind after you spend some time driving this car. For any F10 M5 owner to bitch about the ownership experience becos of Active sound, one has to be very unhappy with life.

[sparkyg]

Originally Posted by clar

It's pretty ridiculous for us F10 M5 owners reading all these rant about active sound. You quoted the Milli-Vanilli example. To us, it's more like us marrying super models and having a blast every nite while u guys go on all day about how high maintenance they might be. Active sound is the last thing in your mind after you spend some time driving this car. For any F10 M5 owner to bitch about the ownership experience becos of Active sound, one has to be very unhappy with life.

Awesome Clar

I think there will be plenty of purist E60 M5 drivers out there bitching till they get behind the wheel...then

[AM47]

Well said Clar .........

[mdh]

Originally Posted by clar

It's pretty ridiculous for us F10 M5 owners reading all these rant about active sound. You quoted the Milli-Vanilli example. To us, it's more like us marrying super models and having a blast every nite while u guys go on all day about how high maintenance they might be. Active sound is the last thing in your mind after you spend some time driving this car. For any F10 M5 owner to bitch about the ownership experience becos of Active sound, one has to be very unhappy with life.

No, complaining about the gas mileage or maintenance cost of the M5 would fit your analogy with the 'high maintenance' model better. And yes, I agree it's one heck of a car - never said otherwise. But given the supermodels I had to choose from, I just prefer the natural vs. the synthetic, that's all.

[nordic@telia.com]

well said clar

[sparkyg]

Originally Posted by mdh

No, complaining about the gas mileage or maintenance cost of the M5 would fit your analogy with the 'high maintenance' model better. And yes, I agree it's one heck of a car - never said otherwise. But given the supermodels I had to choose from, I just prefer the natural vs. the synthetic, that's all.

Let us know once you sit in one. It would be interesting given that you own an E60 M5.

The two will be vastly different cars. See if you can really tell some sound is from the speakers.

I drove an E60 M5 at M School and preferred the new M3 but the M5 at that time was old and needed to be replaced.

It will be interesting...

[04S]

Originally Posted by clar

It's pretty ridiculous for us F10 M5 owners reading all these rant about active sound. You quoted the Milli-Vanilli example. To us, it's more like us marrying super models and having a blast every nite while u guys go on all day about how high maintenance they might be. Active sound is the last thing in your mind after you spend some time driving this car. For any F10 M5 owner to bitch about the ownership experience becos of Active sound, one has to be very unhappy with life.

+1

[mdh]

Originally Posted by sparkyg

Let us know once you sit in one. It would be interesting given that you own an E60 M5.

The two will be vastly different cars. See if you can really tell some sound is from the speakers.

I drove an E60 M5 at M School and preferred the new M3 but the M5 at that time was old and needed to be replaced.

It will be interesting...

The E60 was an amazing car. I drove it almost 130,000 miles, many track and dragstrip sessions (I'm an instructor and race as well). The SMG was amazing in certain respects, but overall a terrible transmission. The DCT is what the SMG should have been. On the track, the M5 was a handful. A Cayman with 200 less HP and good suspension setup would hand the E60 it's lunch. The Maserati and Panameras were better handling cars. The V10 was a work of art, never to be duplicated in a production sedan again. And of course, that 8,500 rpm V10 exhaust sound that you heard while driving was real.

I think this car will exceed the E60 in almost all categories. BMW has done a heck of a job. But Active Sound is crap. And I'm fine with the 'you don't even notice it', and I would have learned to live with the Active Sound if I had decided to get the new M5. Just like I lived with the unreliable and incredibly rough SMG and the crappy gas mileage and the ugly look of the E60.

Demanding customers make for better products. To single out something about a great car, and say - this is crap BMW - make it better, will result in better cars. 'Fanboys' and people that get upset about any criticism of 'their car' really don't do true enthusiasts any favors.

[Falcao]

Originally Posted by mdh

No, complaining about the gas mileage or maintenance cost of the M5 would fit your analogy with the 'high maintenance' model better. And yes, I agree it's one heck of a car - never said otherwise. But given the supermodels I had to choose from, I just prefer the natural vs. the synthetic, that's all.

on with the active sound yet again. one thing though about synthetic. get it whatever size you want and no drooping after years

seriously. i think the better analogy would be E39 guys bitching all day about flame surface on E60, ugliness, not classic look, fake, etc. etc UNTIL they drove the car

I suspect most will get over the active sound once they actually drive the car. I am already over it and just waiting to test drive the car and buy it once it gets to the states.

[sparkyg]

Hopefully when the M5 hits NA shores we'll get more on the road and more feedback.

I bet the new F10 M5 will be a better seller than the E60 M5. I think overall BMW addressed 90% of the issues of the E60.

They aren't perfect for sure but lets see how it rolls over the next year or so.

[noxredna]

Instead of whining and arguing; why don't we be objective with this and design an experiment?

My car just arrived in the dealership, will be picking it up sometime over the weekend.

Anyone willing to throw out ideas?

I could take a sound meter/decibel meter in the car with the speakers turned on and do a 3000rpm cruise and a WOT. I can then proceed by using some sort of sound insulating material and duct tape to tape all the speaker opening in the car and measure the reading of the decibel meter.

Of course I will also be making judgement call using my own ear to lookout for any difference.

Thoughts?

[Mussafry]

I don't think people care whether or not it's loud/hearable/annoying, it's "fake sound" so it automatically = bad, even if its barely noticeable. I honestly don't care, and getting the car in a couple months, and this is the last thing on my mind.

People who own the car don't seem to be complaining about it, and people who don't are. It's simple, if you can't be in a car with "fake sounds" just don't buy it, although i am pretty sure it will be you guys who will be missing out. You don't need to make a new thread about it every week.

[clar]

Originally Posted by Mussafry

I don't think people care whether or not it's loud/hearable/annoying, it's "fake sound" so it automatically = bad, even if its barely noticeable. I honestly don't care, and getting the car in a couple months, and this is the last thing on my mind.

People who own the car don't seem to be complaining about it, and people who don't are. It's simple, if you can't be in a car with "fake sounds" just don't buy it, although i am pretty sure it will be you guys who will be missing out. You don't need to make a new thread about it every week.

[noxredna]

Well I've already made a decision to purchase the car, therefore I have already passed the mental hurdle of owning a car that feeds exhaust noises through speaker. To me, it's irrelevant. As a matter of fact, the car has already arrived in the dealership in Singapore to be picked up over the weekend - so I don't have a choice backing out on a 500k car

I am however curious to what extent the car feeds engine noise through the speakers; this is satisfy my own curiosity.

There's no question that I will be doing an exhaust mod to the car (it's a matter of when), along with x-pies and down pipes because it will unlock a huge amount of power for a FI car and I just enjoy modifying cars in general. I'm wondering how that will affect the active sound function.

[phish_100]

Originally Posted by noxredna

Well I've already made a decision to purchase the car, therefore I have already passed the mental hurdle of owning a car that feeds exhaust noises through speaker. To me, it's irrelevant. As a matter of fact, the car has already arrived in the dealership in Singapore to be picked up over the weekend - so I don't have a choice backing out on a 500k car

I am however curious to what extent the car feeds engine noise through the speakers; this is satisfy my own curiosity.

There's no question that I will be doing an exhaust mod to the car (it's a matter of when), along with x-pies and down pipes because it will unlock a huge amount of power for a FI car and I just enjoy modifying cars in general. I'm wondering how that will affect the active sound function.

Just to say in case it's not clear. the sound inside is quiet, but many people have told me (when i've been driving past) that the car sounds ridiculously loud and brutal from the outside. This is not a quiet car.

[AM47]

Originally Posted by phish_100

Just to say in case it's not clear. the sound inside is quiet, but many people have told me (when i've been driving past) that the car sounds ridiculously loud and brutal from the outside. This is not a quiet car.

Excellent.... thats the sound I want loud and brutal I can't wait

[sparkyg]

Originally Posted by AM47

Excellent.... thats the sound I want loud and brutal I can't wait

[mdh]

Originally Posted by noxredna

Well I've already made a decision to purchase the car, therefore I have already passed the mental hurdle of owning a car that feeds exhaust noises through speaker. To me, it's irrelevant. As a matter of fact, the car has already arrived in the dealership in Singapore to be picked up over the weekend - so I don't have a choice backing out on a 500k car

I am however curious to what extent the car feeds engine noise through the speakers; this is satisfy my own curiosity.

There's no question that I will be doing an exhaust mod to the car (it's a matter of when), along with x-pies and down pipes because it will unlock a huge amount of power for a FI car and I just enjoy modifying cars in general. I'm wondering how that will affect the active sound function.

What you're hearing through the speakers is pre-recorded. You're not hearing the actual engine or exhaust. So if you get an aftermarket exhaust, you'll still hear the exact same thing through the speakers.

I would have no problem if they were feeding the actual engine/exhaust sound through the speakers from a microphone. Then if your engine or exhaust sound changed, you would hear it through the speakers. Evidently BMW tried locating microphones all over the engine/exhaust, but had major sound/feedback problems and couldn't get a reliable sound transfer. So they recorded an engine on a dyno, and this is what you hear. So, no matter what your car actually sounds like, regardless of exhaust or intake mods, you'll still hear exactly the same recording through the speakers.

The first mod (of many) I made on my E60 was to remove the resonator. Big difference in the sound inside and outside of the car. A lot of people will want to do exhaust mods on this car. They at least have to give people an easy way to turn this off without disabling the entire sound system.

[sparkyg]

IMOP it is completely irrelevant mdh.

I dont know how you can draw any conclusion if you havent driven it, been inside it, or heard it.

You are starting to sound like all other ranters at M5board who want to buried with their E60 M5. Seriously that car had a shit transmission, shit Idrive and shit mileage.

This small, minor, detail is nowhere near the deal breakers your car had that many people prob didnt get because of.

Give it a chance. Drive the car and then pass your judgement. I get a feeling though you already decided without any evidence.