[alewifebp]

Wondering if this was intentional or if there is a problem with mine. For those that have B&W, do the front speakers have a backlight? I was unsure as to whether we were getting that here in the US, but then I saw the option in the menus, and the rear speakers have the backlight. But my front ones do not.

I'm curious if this is a new model thing where they forgot to install the option, or if there is something else. It's such a first world minor issue I really don't want to go to dealer for it, which is why I wanted to ask here first.

[wagonallterrain]

they do not have backlight in the front. they probably don't have the space they need as they do in the 7s.

[cpt]

Front door speakers have illuminated "Bowers & Wilkins" logo, rear door speakers have logo and backlight as well, all would dim when audio is muted.

What I couldn't figure out: what exactly does the speaker lighting option do in the "interior lighting->ambient" menu?

[trivalent]

Originally Posted by cpt

Front door speakers have illuminated "Bowers & Wilkins" logo, rear door speakers have logo and backlight as well, all would dim when audio is muted.

What I couldn't figure out: what exactly does the speaker lighting option do in the "interior lighting->ambient" menu?

Hey! Fancy meeting you here.

I'm still waiting to get my i5 back from repair today. But my recollection is that this option governs whether the speaker backlight will be active when ambient lighting is enabled.

This setting was important to me, since I wanted my speakers' backlight never to be active. I do toggle ambient lighting in my i5. So far, so good: I believe that the speakers' backlight is never visible.

[PsychDoc]

I'm assuming your i5 is essentially brand new. Might I ask why it was in for repair?

[trivalent]

Originally Posted by PsychDoc

I'm assuming your i5 is essentially brand new. Might I ask why it was in for repair?

It is brand new. Two faults:

1. A defective heater. This killed climate preconditioning by any means, and nearly killed cabin heating. FYI - If i5 is like i4, it has a heat pump (for cooling and primary heating) plus two 9 watt supplemental heaters. According to my automotive tech friend, if one heater in such a subsystem goes bad, that creates a high voltage condition in that subsystem, thus killing all related functionality. He has seen this in other brands.

2. Very low volume audio in CarPlay, regardless of source (phone, media, Siri, etc.) The i5 software update that was needed after the heater repair also corrected this flaw. FYI - The test to prove the nature of the flaw, my friend and I conducted first. For a given audio source (phone or media), in successive trials we proved that the abnormally low audio volume was found exlusively through CarPlay, wherein (for example) playing a track from a flash drive was correct or making a phone call directly through Bluetooth and iDrive was correct.

[PsychDoc]

Wow, happy you got that sorted out.

[trivalent]

Originally Posted by PsychDoc

Wow, happy you got that sorted out.

Thanks. Me, too.

[trivalent]

Originally Posted by trivalent

Thanks. Me, too.

Now the repairs are complete and my i5 functions correctly. The cabin heating is nice. CarPlay audio sounds good. And it's great to be back in my car after a week in the loaner!

[ando]

Quick question regarding the B&W option. Are your front door, mid range speaker grilles fabric or metal? Mine appear to be fabric …

[trivalent]

Originally Posted by ando

Quick question regarding the B&W option. Are your front door, mid range speaker grilles fabric or metal? Mine appear to be fabric …

Hello. As far as I can tell, that is normal. That is, I cannot recall seeing an example that was otherwise.

[alewifebp]

They are "metal" in the 7 Series I believe.

[RJH52]

7 series definitely has a nicer set up. Also cost 4-5x for that option than what it does for the 5

[RichardInCA]

The top one is metal, the one below the armrest is plastic covered in fabric (I think) and there’s a plastic grill on the bottom one. Honestly, I didn’t notice that there was a speaker there first time around.

[SkykingUSA]

In case anyone wanted a review of the B&W system, I found this one online.

[BMWKLG]

Originally Posted by trivalent

This setting was important to me, since I wanted my speakers' backlight never to be active. I do toggle ambient lighting in my i5. So far, so good: I believe that the speakers' backlight is never visible.

One thing I wish BMW did as an option was to activate Ambient Lighting at dusk and deactivate at dawn. There is an option to dim during night driving, but no option to turn off automatically during the day. It makes sense since you can barely see the light during the day.

[wagonallterrain]

Originally Posted by cpt

Front door speakers have illuminated "Bowers & Wilkins" logo, rear door speakers have logo and backlight as well, all would dim when audio is muted.

What I couldn't figure out: what exactly does the speaker lighting option do in the "interior lighting->ambient" menu?

do you know where the setting is to turn them on? mine do not illumate and i just couldn't find where to turn them on lol

[cpt]

Originally Posted by wagonallterrain

do you know where the setting is to turn them on? mine do not illumate and i just couldn't find where to turn them on lol

The only setting for speaker lighting is under: Interior Lighting > Ambience > Lighting effects > Speakers
Once enabled, you'll also need to be playing music for the LED to turn on. Also they are quite dim and not very noticeable during the day.

[AddyDaddy]

So I’m confused by the settings as well.

Rear speakers occasionally illuminate the color of the ambient lights, sometimes they aren’t, same with B&W emblems above the rear speakers. The front B&W emblems sometimes light up but only half the time the rears do. I can’t figure out how to get the front emblems to illuminate, they do sometimes on start up but go away. How can you get them to be on full time? Front and rear emblem illumination?

[Trevor G]

The intensity off the speaker lights needs to be adjusted to max in the ambient lighting settings to be visible. I saw them once I am over it already.

[AddyDaddy]

Originally Posted by cpt

The only setting for speaker lighting is under: Interior Lighting > Ambience > Lighting effects > Speakers
Once enabled, you'll also need to be playing music for the LED to turn on. Also they are quite dim and not very noticeable during the day.

So last night I drove the car and the speaker lights stayed on the whole time , front emblems and rear speakers and emblems. Wonder if daytime they auto on/off? Trying to find that detail in tips and tricks.