Speaker alternatives to Rainbow/BSW? (HK, non-nav Touring)

I know BSW uses Rainbow Speakers IQ line in their kits... I wanted to do a little research on the speakers themselves, so I went on the Rainbow site... Aside from being filled with text placeholders and typos and whatnot...

(Under each picture on the main page is this:

Text about this line goes here. Keep it simple and short.
Text about this line goes here. Keep it simple and short.
Text about this line goes here. Keep it simple and short.

not entirely detail oriented, but whatevs.)

... all they mention is a single kit for the BMW E46:

2-Way Component system
6.5 inch Woofer
max. 150 Watt
Part number: 231210
Factory location: Front door, mirror triangle
For use with sedan and touring only.

I guess I didn't think they'd spell out the BSW kit, but I thought I'd at least see all the options for the E46. (Or IS it the full BSW kit, and it's just not that clear in the description?)

Oh, they also have this big disclaimer: DO NOT BUY RAINBOW SPEAKERS ONLINE. THEY ARE COUNTERFEIT! And then they have a map of authorized distributors/installers. And BSW isn't among them. Heh.

Anyhoo, I'd be remiss in my research of audio-improvement options for my 325i Touring if I didn't at least look into BSW and their plug-n-play kit. But it's danged expensive.

I'm still trying to figure out why they don't have a rear-mid-bass unit for the HK system in the wagon. (If you have HK, they take $100 off the price, but you don't get the rear mid-bass speakers. Stock mid-basses are 6x9 instead of 6.5 round, and they say they this:

*If your vehicle is equipped with Harman Kardon, your rear midbass drivers will not be replaced with this package; this is because the mounting area for these speakers is too small to accommodate an aftermarket speaker with peformance that meets BSW's high standards.

I'm sure there have to be 6x9 mid basses out there that are high quality, but maybe not from Rainbow.

So, I'd like to hear from those of you (wagon owners, especially!) who've replaced your factory speakers who went with something other than BSW... I had CDT drivers in my Jetta, and they were great.

What did you go with?
Did you replace all of them, or did you leave some of them out of the system?
Was it worth it? Lots of modifications to make it fit?

I might do the amp eventually, but I'd probably just start with the speakers.

Music-wise, I like lots of acoustic stuff, but not new age! Progressive Bluegrass. (String Cheese Incident, Yonder Mountain String Band, etc...) Country Blues. Steve Earle. Peter Rowan. Punch Brothers. Grateful Dead. Steely Dan. Bruce Cockburn. Little Feat.

No rap, hip hop, heavy metal or any of that. I like crisp, clean sound. Well balanced.

If I were you, I'd remove the rear midbass to take a look at what depth you have. If they are normal 6x9 size, you can just go from there.

so, let's say I find some quality 4-ohm 6x9 mid-bass speakers that fit in the rear location... no amplifier changes need to be made? Just slap 'em in? Any specs, in particular, I should look at? (Especially to make the rears play nice with the rest of the BSW kit if I chose to go that route?)

I'm intrigued by the PnP nature of the BSW stuff, as I don't really want to spend a lot of time fabricating MDF surrounds, etc... SQ is important, but again, I don't CRANK the volume... and if it's measurably better than stock, that's something.

We are not longer on their list because we no longer use them as our manufacturer. And we have not used them for years. However when we did we were ordering direct from Rainbow and not selling counterfeits. At this point in time you would be receiving BSW branded speakers. They are our speakers from our Build House in Chicago. We are the retailer, we are customer support and we are the manufacturer. Allows strict quality control and we can design new kits from the ground up.

No one else offers a similar product. We are using factory hardware to install. We use 3 screws to install the mids. Direct fit 6.25" drivers. It sounds like our upgrade might be just what you are looking for in your E46.

Cool. Didn't know you guys had moved to your own products. (Or I don't know, specifically, where I got the idea you still were using Rainbow!)

Great to know, thanks.

from Madison Sound (http://www.madisound.com/).

Rears: Infinity Perfect 6.1 Kappas with Infinity crossover

Rears:
- woofer: Diamond Audio Tech 6.5 inch woofers
- mid: Vifa NE65W, 2" full-range drivers
- SEAS Prestige 27TFFNC/G (H1396) 1" textile dome tweeters

The front crossover is a Mavin 12db 3-way 4-ohm. Here's the link: http://www.mavin.com/store.php/produ...2-db-crossover

I also installed an Infinity Basslink subwoofer. The sound is great.

Originally Posted by terzinator

Cool. Didn't know you guys had moved to your own products. (Or I don't know, specifically, where I got the idea you still were using Rainbow!)

Great to know, thanks.

No problem at all!