New Head unit in E36 - wiring choices - what did you do?

[Kirby]

I have a 3 month old Sony head unit to put in the '94 325i. I discovered that the factory unit has an amp in the trunk (I thought it didn't because it sounded so weak). Here are my options, pros and cons:
1 - Cut the speaker wires at the amp, add crossovers, and drive directly from the Sony. ( BUT I don't like cutting any of the stock wiring harnesses in a car)

2- Get an adapter from Crutchfield to convert the Sony speaker out (no line outs) to line level to drive the BMW amp. BUT the BMW amp basically sucks, and adding more inline adapter electronics does nothing good to the sound quality.)

3- Run new speaker wires, add crossovers, etc. use the old speakers.

4- New speaker wires and speakers, amp, etc. I wasn't planning on dumping another $300 - $500 into the audio right now. I want to get wheels/tires!

What did you guys do?

 

[jszar]

Here's what I WILL do: (don't have money yet)

new amp, new speakers. just use the crossovers on the amp, they'll do. if you are using the HU's power, its dirty, so it doesnt really help much having a crossover...especially with sony.

another option, is to go back to the amp in the trunk, and cut wires there, then bypass the amp. then you wont have to reroute wires all over your car.

with the wiring harness, you dont have to cut off the original wires. just dont wire the speakers, and/or whatever else you dont want hooked up.

DO NOT get line-level converters. you will kill any sound quality thats left coming out of that HU.

obviously, i am not a fan of sony. i am not saying replace it, i mean its a deck and it does the job. but dont expect much of an increase in SQ. if you get an external amp, the sony feeds low voltage signals, so the amp is not going to sound much better anyway. i'd recommend spend the money on a new HU and get the wheels and tires you want. then, you can save for a new amp and speakers. the nokia's arent that bad, better than most stock speakers.

HU's i'd recommend for little money:

Clarion Proaudio - any model, specifically though - DXZ745mp, 4 volt pre amp outs, 24 bit d/a's - $300 shipped off ebay. 20wrms x 4, that's more power than the amp in the trunk i am sure. and clarion's proaudio is very nice. i own one myself. i'd rate this line up with nakamichi. yes, even better than low - middle alpine.

Alpine - any unit with 4 volt pre outs and V-drive. something like 27wrms x 4.

eclipse - any eclipse.

any of these units will give you a clean source of power. that's most important, an amplifier cant make a crappy signal sound any better.

that's my 2 cents...good luck.

 

[Madd Fajita]

I have a 1997 328i , and I did a complete stereo replacement, except for the speakers. I got a Clarion ProAudio DXZ835MP before I decided that I would use a seperate amp to do the interior speakers. I would suggest getting a zero power head unit, and something like the Alpine MRV-450 V12 amp, that does 5 channels. The crossover network will have to be rebuilt because it is all done inside the BMW amp.

Check out my installation here: http://www.sounddomain.com/id/madd_fajita

 

[irizarr]

More details on how to only use the crossover of the amp

More details on how to only use the crossover of the amp.
-------------------------------

Here's what I WILL do: (don't have money yet)

new amp, new speakers. just use the crossovers on the amp, they'll do. if you are using the HU's power, its dirty, so it doesnt really help much having a crossover...especially with sony.

another option, is to go back to the amp in the trunk, and cut wires there, then bypass the amp. then you wont have to reroute wires all over your car.

with the wiring harness, you dont have to cut off the original wires. just dont wire the speakers, and/or whatever else you dont want hooked up.

DO NOT get line-level converters. you will kill any sound quality thats left coming out of that HU.

obviously, i am not a fan of sony. i am not saying replace it, i mean its a deck and it does the job. but dont expect much of an increase in SQ. if you get an external amp, the sony feeds low voltage signals, so the amp is not going to sound much better anyway. i'd recommend spend the money on a new HU and get the wheels and tires you want. then, you can save for a new amp and speakers. the nokia's arent that bad, better than most stock speakers.

HU's i'd recommend for little money:

Clarion Proaudio - any model, specifically though - DXZ745mp, 4 volt pre amp outs, 24 bit d/a's - $300 shipped off ebay. 20wrms x 4, that's more power than the amp in the trunk i am sure. and clarion's proaudio is very nice. i own one myself. i'd rate this line up with nakamichi. yes, even better than low - middle alpine.

Alpine - any unit with 4 volt pre outs and V-drive. something like 27wrms x 4.

eclipse - any eclipse.

any of these units will give you a clean source of power. that's most important, an amplifier cant make a crappy signal sound any better.

that's my 2 cents...good luck.

 

[jszar]

Most amps have built in crossovers. THey work just fine, however, if you are looking to specifically send a frequency to certain speakers, then you need separate crossovers. The crossover on the amp will filter all frequencies you dont want from all the speakers hooked up to that amp. Check any amp you're looking for to make sure it has built in crossover.