Head Units

[adrean8j]

I just dont like the set up of the entire network. When I did this project, I re-wired the entire car, by-passed the amp and ran my own crossovers and new amps, that were to MY specs and MY prefence. If its working out for you, sweet, but I dont like being locked into something just because a bunch of people in Germany thought it was a good idea. Plus, now I can play my .mp3 CDs.

ok check it out I am just saying that you didnt have to rewire your whole car to run your own crossovers and amps to your specs.....what do you think I am using??? I dont think bmw makes amps to push what you see in my trunk......you can use the high pass outputs from the rear deck speakers BEFORE the factory installed amp to connect to the amp......from there everything is as you want it...as for mp3 they make a mp3 "changer of sorts" that connects to the stock system with a simple adapter.....I challenge anyone who is not "professionally" sponsored to put their system up against what I have in my trunk....next thing <i will change out the front 51/4's with some mb quart w/dual vc's and then it will sound even better....all that said the stock deck is middle of the road.....oh and the network does suck if you have the premium sound package (with the hk stuff), my system in particular does not have an amp stock so I dont have much of a problem......

 

[kev415]

Yeah, I orginally had a stock amp and was running the High pass from the deck (pre-amp) to my amp. The signal wasn't good at all and had way too much ambient noise, even connecting right to the high-pass on the amp. It reduced a little when I used the High->Low resistor set up. I'm glad it worked for you, but Like I said, I would rather re wire the whole car then mess with that damn common (-) system and crappy Nokia speakers with a stock amp/cross-over that was tuned my someone who was apparently deaf.

And If you want to run a couple db drags with my Lincoln Mark VIII, let me know. I'm in NH now, but will be in FL until May. EXTRETE SPL and nice easy listening SQ too. I havent unleashed any tones on it yet, so I have no Idea what it can do, but I'm dying to see!

 

[adrean8j]

Yeah, I orginally had a stock amp and was running the High pass from the deck (pre-amp) to my amp. The signal wasn't good at all and had way too much ambient noise, even connecting right to the high-pass on the amp. It reduced a little when I used the High->Low resistor set up. I'm glad it worked for you, but Like I said, I would rather re wire the whole car then mess with that damn common (-) system and crappy Nokia speakers with a stock amp/cross-over that was tuned my someone who was apparently deaf.

And If you want to run a couple db drags with my Lincoln Mark VIII, let me know. I'm in NH now, but will be in FL until May. EXTRETE SPL and nice easy listening SQ too. I havent unleashed any tones on it yet, so I have no Idea what it can do, but I'm dying to see!

Yeah thats the problem getting the high pass straight from the deck(at least on the 5er stock business cd deck) or stock amp. Like I have said the last three times you get the high pass at the rear deck speaker location.....I mean it is right by the rear seat, by the trunk so wiring is very short and easy to hide. But anyway to each his own...as long as you like it.
Oh yeah .....what do you mean by the "common" ground system? Yeah the high low pass filter is connected to the low side of the rear deck speakers, but your amps should have their own ground, best place is right in the battery box in the trunk(maybe you mean that????) or directly to the batteries ground......I am not a pro so I dont really know. Let me know!!!

I am located in Germany so we might have to wait a while to pit my 5er against you Lincoln!!! I am sure you system sounds good though!!!

 

[kev415]

The common (-) negative is the polarity of the speakers. Comming out of the amp, there is a (+) for every speaker, but just 2 (-), very strange system.

I understand where you are getting your signal, all Im saying is that it didnt work in this situcation with the stock amp set-up. I took the time to figure it out enough to know that I didnt like it. I also wanted a CD player and the only way I could add that to the stock system was RF Moudulated (BLAH!) or to buy a OEM BMW changer for the pre-wired trunk, which was going to be around $350 and I wasn't even sure if it was going to be compatible with my "BMW Alpine 2" deck. SO I just decided to do everything my way.

 

[Sexualwasabi]

to anyone that has put in a new head unit, can you guys still use the volumn controls on the steering wheel?

 

[kev415]

my car doesnt have volume controls on the steering wheel, and I really havent seen anything that could let you do that. I am not sure however...

 

[adrean8j]

to anyone that has put in a new head unit, can you guys still use the volumn controls on the steering wheel?

You can use the volume controls with a lot of cutting and soldering and general perserverance.
Goto bmw-syndikat.de, click on forums, go down to hifi and look at the photostory presented by Jogi(the forum is kinda setup kinda like ours so it should be easy enough to navigate even if you dont know any german). He has pictures of what he did to install his stereo system and keep onboard computer controls.