Hey there,
regarding music in our e30s there is usually only one choice to make:
Install an original radio and live with poor sound quality and cassettedeck or install a newer radio with "bling bling", blue lights and shiny surfaces.
There is a solution for this! ;)
Nearly every original BMW Radio with a cassette deck can be rebuild with an aux in and a 3.5mm plug to play music from your mobile or any other mp3 music source.
Its quite easy, you need a soldering bolt, a normal cable with a 3.5mm plug and no fear to destroy your radio :o (Belive me, they really stand a lot
).
I will begin with one of the easiest radios and add other types continuosly.
I hope the pic host will work for you ...
_______________________________________________
Lets begin with a Reverse RDS from an e36. Its not one of the best OEM radios but cheap and (at least in Germany) easy to find.
First you need to get cable inside the radio. Usually I'm just drilling a hole on the backside. Here theres no space fot this, so I saw two lines and bowed the metal. Second is to drill a hole to get the cable on the other side of the board.
Next is to connect the pins to the board. Get the cable on the backside of the board (before inserting the cable into the radio, cut of whatever is on the other side of the cable ...). Cut the cable to have 3 wires:
- red = right audio signal
- white = left audio signal
- ground/shielding
Its always like that unless you have some interesting chinese cable stuff (I will come to that later on :p)
Sold these 3 wires to the board like in this picture:
For ground you can also use the area marked red.
There is also a chance to make a line out to install an external emplifier. For that use the yellow pins on the right. From top-down its:
left front LF
left rear LR
right rear RR
right front RF
Do use the yellow ones, the red pins marked there dont work!
Usually I'm using a normal chinch cable to apply the line out. Dont forget to sold the shielding to radio ground, too!
If you want to keep your cassette deck, you are already finished now. If you are like 98% of all other people around and dont own cassettes any more, you have to switch back to the topside.
What we have done, is to sold the mp3 signal on the signal that comes from the cassette deck. So if you want to hear mp3 music, the radio must be in cassette mode. You can do this either by playing a cassette every time you want to listen to mp3 - the mp3 signal is superior to the cassette signal, so the cassette can be recorded - or switching of the cassette deck.
Stake out the plug you see in the next pic and cut of the blue cable. This cable must be solded to ground. I simply use the radio chassis marked red here.
Now the cassette deck is hosed. You can easily switch between radio and mp3 by clicking the "TAPE" button. The display shows Tape 1 or Tape 2 but plays mp3 music in perfect quality that cant be reached by aux in cassettes or fm modulators or other stuff like that!
Thats the way it works:
______________________________________________
There are plenty of OEM radios that can be modified like that:
- Bavaria C
- Bavaria C II
- Bavaria C II Reverse
- Bavaria C Business RDS
- Business RDS
- Bavaria C Professional RDS
- Professional RDS
- Reverse
- Reverse RDS
- Business CD
- Blaupunkt Heidelberg
and so on ....
The Reverse RSD shown above is the most simplest to modify. Some others are more difficult and with some you still need a cassette... I have pictures from each of them, but not with every single step.
I will add other radio models the next days. Feel free to ask questions!!!
Greetings,
Phil
regarding music in our e30s there is usually only one choice to make:
Install an original radio and live with poor sound quality and cassettedeck or install a newer radio with "bling bling", blue lights and shiny surfaces.
There is a solution for this! ;)
Nearly every original BMW Radio with a cassette deck can be rebuild with an aux in and a 3.5mm plug to play music from your mobile or any other mp3 music source.
Its quite easy, you need a soldering bolt, a normal cable with a 3.5mm plug and no fear to destroy your radio :o (Belive me, they really stand a lot
).I will begin with one of the easiest radios and add other types continuosly.
I hope the pic host will work for you ...
_______________________________________________
Lets begin with a Reverse RDS from an e36. Its not one of the best OEM radios but cheap and (at least in Germany) easy to find.
First you need to get cable inside the radio. Usually I'm just drilling a hole on the backside. Here theres no space fot this, so I saw two lines and bowed the metal. Second is to drill a hole to get the cable on the other side of the board.
Next is to connect the pins to the board. Get the cable on the backside of the board (before inserting the cable into the radio, cut of whatever is on the other side of the cable ...). Cut the cable to have 3 wires:
- red = right audio signal
- white = left audio signal
- ground/shielding
Its always like that unless you have some interesting chinese cable stuff (I will come to that later on :p)
Sold these 3 wires to the board like in this picture:
For ground you can also use the area marked red.
There is also a chance to make a line out to install an external emplifier. For that use the yellow pins on the right. From top-down its:
left front LF
left rear LR
right rear RR
right front RF
Do use the yellow ones, the red pins marked there dont work!
Usually I'm using a normal chinch cable to apply the line out. Dont forget to sold the shielding to radio ground, too!
If you want to keep your cassette deck, you are already finished now. If you are like 98% of all other people around and dont own cassettes any more, you have to switch back to the topside.
What we have done, is to sold the mp3 signal on the signal that comes from the cassette deck. So if you want to hear mp3 music, the radio must be in cassette mode. You can do this either by playing a cassette every time you want to listen to mp3 - the mp3 signal is superior to the cassette signal, so the cassette can be recorded - or switching of the cassette deck.
Stake out the plug you see in the next pic and cut of the blue cable. This cable must be solded to ground. I simply use the radio chassis marked red here.
Now the cassette deck is hosed. You can easily switch between radio and mp3 by clicking the "TAPE" button. The display shows Tape 1 or Tape 2 but plays mp3 music in perfect quality that cant be reached by aux in cassettes or fm modulators or other stuff like that!
Thats the way it works:
______________________________________________
There are plenty of OEM radios that can be modified like that:
- Bavaria C
- Bavaria C II
- Bavaria C II Reverse
- Bavaria C Business RDS
- Business RDS
- Bavaria C Professional RDS
- Professional RDS
- Reverse
- Reverse RDS
- Business CD
- Blaupunkt Heidelberg
and so on ....
The Reverse RSD shown above is the most simplest to modify. Some others are more difficult and with some you still need a cassette... I have pictures from each of them, but not with every single step.
I will add other radio models the next days. Feel free to ask questions!!!
Greetings,
Phil
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