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Amp down by battery, who thought that was a good idea?

Discuss problems you have had or are having with your Z4
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Speedracer
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Amp down by battery, who thought that was a good idea?

Post by Speedracer » Tue Aug 01, 2017 12:47 pm

Just want a bit of a rant at BMW, how the heck thought it was a good idea to put the amplifier right down by the battery in the boot?
As you can probably tell I have had a lot of water ingress into the boot, fixed now I am glad to say, but the amp has been completely fried. Ok I thought, quite look at ebay & there is sure to be a few on there, doesn't look anything special so can't be expensive....WHAT! Only 1 on there at the moment & a scrappie wants £350 plus carriage for it, is that really the going rate? I have put a wanted ad in the classifieds but just wanted to vent on here as well, sorry.

So, what is special about the Z4 amp that it is many times more expensive than any other model of BMW?

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hopz121
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Amp down by battery, who thought that was a good idea?

Post by hopz121 » Tue Aug 01, 2017 1:14 pm

Carver Amps are crazy cash new mate that's the issue, £350 isn't too bad but try and knock them down a bit :thumbsup:
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Speedracer
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Amp down by battery, who thought that was a good idea?

Post by Speedracer » Tue Aug 01, 2017 2:04 pm

hopz121 wrote: Tue Aug 01, 2017 1:14 pm Carver Amps are crazy cash new mate that's the issue, £350 isn't too bad but try and knock them down a bit :thumbsup:
It isn't even a Carver amp, it is a Lear amp.

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Amp down by battery, who thought that was a good idea?

Post by bz4kev » Tue Aug 01, 2017 2:09 pm

I had to wait a while to find one at a good price nearly 2 months with no sounds then found one for £120 but hard to find at this price just keep looking and waiting good luck with your quest :headbang:
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Amp down by battery, who thought that was a good idea?

Post by GuidoK » Tue Aug 01, 2017 2:49 pm

Speedracer wrote: Tue Aug 01, 2017 12:47 pm
So, what is special about the Z4 amp that it is many times more expensive than any other model of BMW?
Lol, a top hifi amplifier from a current 5 series is over twice the price (about 2,5k) of a top hifi z4 amp, so its the other way around!
Electronic parts are just expensive and they keep getting more expensive. Get used to it, take good care of your car and dont let your boot get flooded (theres more electronics in there than just your amp)
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Speedracer
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Amp down by battery, who thought that was a good idea?

Post by Speedracer » Tue Aug 01, 2017 3:50 pm

Good points well made!

I still don't see why they needed to route the loom all the way around the boot edges & into the well at the bottom though, it could easily be mounted nearer to the equipment surely?

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Amp down by battery, who thought that was a good idea?

Post by Magicarcher » Thu Aug 03, 2017 12:23 pm

Speedracer wrote: Tue Aug 01, 2017 12:47 pm Just want a bit of a rant at BMW, how the heck thought it was a good idea to put the amplifier right down by the battery in the boot?
If you have ever been involved in designing cars, you would understand. Every inch of real estate in a car is at a premium to hit the targets that are set by the project manager and unfortunately the poor old electrical engineer (I am biased) is often last in the pecking order. The boot is likely classed in BMW as a dry zone and as there is no need to top up batteries these days, next to the battery would be a legitimate location (subject to satisfactory crash test results). I haven't seen the location of a Carver amp, but if I were designing it I would have the connectors entering from the bottom too, it minimises the risk of someone dropping "swarf" or similar and bridging terminals. If inadvertently the ecu were to get splashed it would minimise the risk of water ingress and allow any such ingress to flow out.

The problem is where else would you put it? There is no room in the cabin other than under the seats (and that is likely to be considered a wet zone). It could go behind the seat, but that would restrict seat travel. So return to the boot, the best place in a conventional saloon could well be below the parcel shelf, but the hood scuppers that one. anywhere else will impinge on the boot space and the marketing department are unlikely to accept that!

So the poor old designer probably did the best he could and unless there are high incidences of failure due to water ingress, he probably got it right too.
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hopz121
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Amp down by battery, who thought that was a good idea?

Post by hopz121 » Thu Aug 03, 2017 7:16 pm

Speedracer wrote: Tue Aug 01, 2017 2:04 pm
hopz121 wrote: Tue Aug 01, 2017 1:14 pm Carver Amps are crazy cash new mate that's the issue, £350 isn't too bad but try and knock them down a bit :thumbsup:
It isn't even a Carver amp, it is a Lear amp.
Same thing buddy, the system was called the Carver DSP back at launch :)
2004 BMW E46 M3 Coupe - Manual - Silver Grey
2017 BMW F31 318d M-Sport - Auto - Glacier Silver
2007 Porsche Cayman 2.7 - Manual - Arctic Silver
2003 Renault Clio 172 Cup - Blue
2003 BMW E85 Z4 3.0i - Gone
2008 BMW E90 330i SE - Gone

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