[drbluedevil]

I'll post about my recent troubles, confirm what many of you have echoed in a recent post (with both the HK and the B&W stereos), and share an actual solution to the problem!

I had a 2022 iX50 with HK that was rear-ended, and I traded it in for a 2024 iX (which in this market only comes with B&W).

The B&W (and the 24 iX generally) is f**king amazing, but I noticed horrible distortion at ~50% volume and higher in vocals and isolated instruments (especially piano). My old 22 iX50 and my dad's 23 iX50, both with the HK system, didn't have the distortion. Nor did two random iX50 loaners with HK that I had. People in the other thread discussing this suggested problems with equalizer settings and with the source material. Nothing like that is the problem, but it's a good and obvious starting point.

I took it in to the shop. They gave me a 2023 iX50 loaner (that didn't have the distortion). They took off my speaker panel, added some "speaker insulation," and said it was done. When I inspected it, I saw that it wasn't fixed at all. They then gave me a 23 iX60 loaner with B&W, and it sounded perfect, so I showed them with a song that highlights the distortion very clearly that it wasn't fixed and that it sounded fine on the B&W. They agreed and tried again for about a month without any solution, so they then finally replaced the speakers and the amp and said it was fixed. It wasn't fixed at all. They then took the functioning 2023 iX60 and gave me a 2023 iX50 loaner, this time with the HK system, and it for the first time, demonstrated the same distortion on the HK system.

They got BMWNA involved. They noted that my vehicle makes no distortion with the speaker panel removed. They then installed the functioning 2023 iX60 loaner's speaker panel onto my door over the speaker, AND THE PROBLEM WAS FIXED. As a positive control, they installed my speaker panel onto the previously functioning loaner vehicle and confirmed that it caused that sound system to distort. They concluded that either something has changed in the manufacturing process with the speaker panels, or very minor differences within acceptable production tolerances lead to the conflict with the speakers at moderate/high excursion.

So they made some adjustment to the speaker panels on my vehicle, and it solved the problem.

So all of you are not crazy. The stereos should NOT be doing this, and the thing to tell your service department is to test the system with the cover panels removed from the vehicle. That should confirm that the systems actually function properly and that a modification should be made to the panels to enable proper functionality.

HugoNZ, do you know anything about this? I know you're out there

I'm hoping BMW issues a recall for this issue so that people can enjoy their systems the way they're intended.

Listening to my 80s/90s favorites with my now-functional system, I'm noticing and enjoying detail I've never heard before.

So, so, so happy!!

[hugo_nz]

Glad you got it resolved

[therealkenc]

Congrats! Such niggles would drive me crazy as well, so I can only imagine your relief and satisfaction. Thanks for the heads-up too, now we know what to look out for if ours faces a similar issue.

[Road Trip]

Sorry Doc that you had to go through all that. Maybe they should have you early on be the BMWTech and gotten it fixed up front. Glad in the end that they finally listened and eventually fixed your issue.

[DemoZ]

This is great news and makes sense. I’m going to call my bmw dealer and ask for the same test
I have the 2024 iX with the HK and it’s the same issue.

They have to give us new speaker covers. Appreciate the post

[DemoZ]

I have my car at the dealer today having them looking to get the speak covers adjusted.
drbluedevil - If you have any info on the BMW rep - please let me know as I'm trying to get them to resolve my issue with my speakers.

Thanks again,
Demo

[drbluedevil]

I don’t have any specific info beyond what I shared here.

But I wouldn’t accept anything less than perfection. Just demonstrate to the service advisor the problem clearly, and if they say it’s not malfunctioning, then have them demonstrate the same song at the same volume on another iX with the same sound system. That’s what I did, and it got them to work on the problem in earnest.

[DemoZ]

They insist on gas lighting me and saying they don't a see/hear a problem. Same issue with my 2013 BMW750i that used to drink a quart of oil every 2000 miles (they all do that they said - until it got class actioned)
Of course, they didn't want me to demonstrate the difference, even though the 2022 iX loaner I had with the HK sounded perfect. I'm going to pursue legal with BMW North America and my legal connections on how to take this on without wasting any more time on it as its been 5 visits to the dealer.

[drbluedevil]

Originally Posted by DemoZ

They insist on gas lighting me and saying they don't a see/hear a problem. Same issue with my 2013 BMW750i that used to drink a quart of oil every 2000 miles (they all do that they said - until it got class actioned)
Of course, they didn't want me to demonstrate the difference, even though the 2022 iX loaner I had with the HK sounded perfect. I'm going to pursue legal with BMW North America and my legal connections on how to take this on without wasting any more time on it as its been 5 visits to the dealer.

Can you try a different dealer? The place I took it to took a while, but they've treated me very well over the years, and they do a better job than previous BMW dealerships I've visited.

[drbluedevil]

Originally Posted by DemoZ

They insist on gas lighting me and saying they don't a see/hear a problem. Same issue with my 2013 BMW750i that used to drink a quart of oil every 2000 miles (they all do that they said - until it got class actioned)
Of course, they didn't want me to demonstrate the difference, even though the 2022 iX loaner I had with the HK sounded perfect. I'm going to pursue legal with BMW North America and my legal connections on how to take this on without wasting any more time on it as its been 5 visits to the dealer.

And yes, I still have a few quarts of oil left over from my X5m days

[60diablo]

Demo Z. Let me know what transpires with your problem. I'm having the same problem. This sound is awful. Even the BMW genius that listened to my car couldn't believe it but then he went bmw corporate on me.
Like i said in another post. I have them dead to rights. Any person listening to my system can tell there is something really wrong.
I've just been to busy to deal with this right now.

[Tanveer]

Hey everyone, glad to know I'm not going crazy. I actually just posted about this on reddit. I tried out 5 different iX's and all of them had the same issue and when we sat in the X5, it was perfect at max volume.
Showed the service guys as well and they agreed that it was something I should get looked at, only thing is I don't know if they'll be able to find a solution since so many of these cars have this issue :\.
https://www.reddit.com/r/BMWiX/comme...g_issue_sound/

[Tanveer]

Hi all, I love my iX but this speaker issue is making me hate the car. It sounds horrible and the dealership and BMW Canada are gaslighting me into thinking that the car should sound like this. I've exhausted my options as BMW Canada basically took the dealership's side....
Here's my reddit post:
https://www.reddit.com/r/BMW/comment...rchase_dealer/

If you go on my profile, I've been posting videos.

Please someone help I hate this.

[darylp310]

Tanveer, I know you are pretty passionate about this consider all the posts I've seen of yours over the Internet. Do you think it worthwhile to take to a local car stereo shop and pay them $100 to diagnose the problem for you? Since BWM dealers aren't audio experts, I doubt they have an easy to solve this for you except to take the car apart and start replacing parts. As you can imagine it costs several hundred dollars in labor, and shipping parts across the ocean each time. I'm hopeful that a car stereo shop can give you some more useful information to pass on the BMW, e.g.,: "We found that the right rear speaker resonates strongly against the grill at 200 hz.",etc. That way BMW can take action for you most efficiently.

[javapro]

Originally Posted by drbluedevil

I'll post about my recent troubles, confirm what many of you have echoed in a recent post (with both the HK and the B&W stereos), and share an actual solution to the problem!

I had a 2022 iX50 with HK that was rear-ended, and I traded it in for a 2024 iX (which in this market only comes with B&W).

The B&W (and the 24 iX generally) is f**king amazing, but I noticed horrible distortion at ~50% volume and higher in vocals and isolated instruments (especially piano). My old 22 iX50 and my dad's 23 iX50, both with the HK system, didn't have the distortion. Nor did two random iX50 loaners with HK that I had. People in the other thread discussing this suggested problems with equalizer settings and with the source material. Nothing like that is the problem, but it's a good and obvious starting point.

I took it in to the shop. They gave me a 2023 iX50 loaner (that didn't have the distortion). They took off my speaker panel, added some "speaker insulation," and said it was done. When I inspected it, I saw that it wasn't fixed at all. They then gave me a 23 iX60 loaner with B&W, and it sounded perfect, so I showed them with a song that highlights the distortion very clearly that it wasn't fixed and that it sounded fine on the B&W. They agreed and tried again for about a month without any solution, so they then finally replaced the speakers and the amp and said it was fixed. It wasn't fixed at all. They then took the functioning 2023 iX60 and gave me a 2023 iX50 loaner, this time with the HK system, and it for the first time, demonstrated the same distortion on the HK system.

They got BMWNA involved. They noted that my vehicle makes no distortion with the speaker panel removed. They then installed the functioning 2023 iX60 loaner's speaker panel onto my door over the speaker, AND THE PROBLEM WAS FIXED. As a positive control, they installed my speaker panel onto the previously functioning loaner vehicle and confirmed that it caused that sound system to distort. They concluded that either something has changed in the manufacturing process with the speaker panels, or very minor differences within acceptable production tolerances lead to the conflict with the speakers at moderate/high excursion.

So they made some adjustment to the speaker panels on my vehicle, and it solved the problem.

So all of you are not crazy. The stereos should NOT be doing this, and the thing to tell your service department is to test the system with the cover panels removed from the vehicle. That should confirm that the systems actually function properly and that a modification should be made to the panels to enable proper functionality.

HugoNZ, do you know anything about this? I know you're out there

I'm hoping BMW issues a recall for this issue so that people can enjoy their systems the way they're intended.

Listening to my 80s/90s favorites with my now-functional system, I'm noticing and enjoying detail I've never heard before.

So, so, so happy!!

drbluedevil or anyone else, what exactly are these speaker panels? What kind of adjustments did the dealer make to the speaker panels on your vehicle to solve this problem?

[NomoTesla]

Sorry to be that guy, but have you had your hearing checked? I don't think listening to music at such a high volume level is advisable. Why would anyone? At 50% volume it's already too loud for my mortal human ears. Also, plugging-in your phone does not change the route your music takes to the car, which is always wireless (either through BT while streaming only or Wifi if using Carplay).

[javapro]

Originally Posted by NomoTesla

Sorry to be that guy, but have you had your hearing checked? I don't think listening to music at such a high volume level is advisable. Why would anyone? At 50% volume it's already too loud for my mortal human ears. Also, plugging-in your phone does not change the route your music takes to the car, which is always wireless (either through BT while streaming only or Wifi if using Carplay).

You are wrong about the always wireless route. If you turn off WIFI and Bluetooth on your phone and connect your phone to the car through the USB-C cable, you will be playing music through a wired connection. iDrive 8/8.5 will basically recognize your phone as a music player and it will show up under media as one of the audio sources.

[NomoTesla]

Originally Posted by javapro

You are wrong about the always wireless route. If you turn off WIFI and Bluetooth on your phone and connect your phone to the car through the USB-C cable, you will be playing music through a wired connection. iDrive 8/8.5 will basically recognize your phone as a music player and it will show up under media as one of the audio sources.

Unfortunately, turning off BT makes it impossible to make phone calls or navigate to address book entries. Is the wired connection able to replace this functionality?

[ggalanis]

Originally Posted by Tanveer

Hi all, I love my iX but this speaker issue is making me hate the car. It sounds horrible and the dealership and BMW Canada are gaslighting me into thinking that the car should sound like this. I've exhausted my options as BMW Canada basically took the dealership's side....
Here's my reddit post:
https://www.reddit.com/r/BMW/comment...rchase_dealer/

If you go on my profile, I've been posting videos.

Please someone help I hate this.

Your best bet is to find someone local with an iX that doesn't have the problem. Since this may be a problem with newer ones, you'd need to look for a 2023 or earlier one to be safe.

Put the music on a usb stick and play it from there to remove the phone and its connection from the equation and then also demo using the digital art mode sound that is stored in the car, but do note that older cars like mine don't have the digital art sound.

I recorded one of the songs you tested playing all the way to full volume in my car and get no distortion. Do note that i am playing it through YouTube music via Bluetooth (NOT using android auto) from my android device, so not an apples to apples comparison.

EDIT
Also, if you haven't yet, follow the advice below from drbluedevil :

Originally Posted by drbluedevil

So all of you are not crazy. The stereos should NOT be doing this, and the thing to tell your service department is to test the system with the cover panels removed from the vehicle. That should confirm that the systems actually function properly and that a modification should be made to the panels to enable proper functionality.

[javapro]

Originally Posted by NomoTesla

Unfortunately, turning off BT makes it impossible to make phone calls or navigate to address book entries. Is the wired connection able to replace this functionality?

I don’t think so but my scenario above is just for a music test over a wired connection.

[Simondhartha]

iX owner from Switzerland here. Thank you so much dr.bluedevil! You made my day! I had a very similar journey with my iX and my dealer, having the same issues with mit B&W-System. After I read your post I insisted to do a test with the 4 door panels removed and the distortion was also gone. We fetched an older (2022) model that didnt have the problem to see what was different. Turns out the way they glued on the circular foam tape was the only visible difference. We tried putting it on better but turns out with these tapes removed the sound is perfect. See pictures. I hope this helps and also I hope that BMW finally takes notice of this problem and fixes it. In my journey to tackle this problem I have testet 7 iX cars with the B&W system of which all 5 2023&2024 (build year, not model year) models had the distortion and the 2022 models didnt have it.

[javapro]

Originally Posted by Simondhartha

iX owner from Switzerland here. Thank you so much dr.bluedevil! You made my day! I had a very similar journey with my iX and my dealer, having the same issues with mit B&W-System. After I read your post I insisted to do a test with the 4 door panels removed and the distortion was also gone. We fetched an older (2022) model that didnt have the problem to see what was different. Turns out the way they glued on the circular foam tape was the only visible difference. We tried putting it on better but turns out with these tapes removed the sound is perfect. See pictures. I hope this helps and also I hope that BMW finally takes notice of this problem and fixes it. In my journey to tackle this problem I have testet 7 iX cars with the B&W system of which all 5 2023&2024 (build year, not model year) models had the distortion and the 2022 models didnt have it.

Simondhartha, thanks for getting to the bottom of it. Which circular tape are you referring to? It is not clear from your photos. What is the difference between the two photos?