CD43 help

[montanvs]

Hi there,

New to the forum, and my mint condition E30 318is. I recently changed to the CD43 head unit, however now have really bad quality audio. I ran the C33 before without issue, and thought the CD43 would be a simple plug and play.

Having read some of the threads here on the CD43, and there are different discussions about needing an Amp?

I don't need a crazy system, and was happy with the C33 without an amp. I just wanted to be able to play CD's with a stock stereo. Does anyone have any advise on how to get the CD43 running properly? Am I missing something about it requiring some extra mods to get it to work?

thnx

[TurboFox93]

Read on....

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=170952

[bmwman91]

Are you running the speakers directly from it, or did your car have the premium sound system with the amplifier (shouldn't, I don't think the 318iS ever came with it)?

If you are running the CD43 to the factory amp, then that is one part of the problem, for a few reasons. If you are powering speakers from it, it should work OK. How is the sound "bad?" Distorted, or is there new background noise / whine?

[montanvs]

The sound is cracked (even on CD), and you can hear the whine of the revving engine through the speakers. Its as almost as if the speaker wires are crossed, or the ground is bad? It also gets worse as you increase the volume.

The only problem seems to be that the C33 worked/s great, and they use the same plug. I would expect the wiring to be identical in the back.

I had to re wire an OEM wiring harness into the car again because the previous owner just hacked the OEM one out to install a cheap after market deck. But again the C33 works great with my re-wired OEM harness and antenna adapter.

Oh, and I don't think I have premium sound (where would the amp be?), however I do have OEM tweeters on the front doors, and have them properly wired to the new OEM harness (cause they work on my C33)

[bmwman91]

If the car has the tweeters, then it either has the amp (should be in the trunk under the rear deck) & there should be a simple crossover network somewhere in there, or the PO installed tweeters into a car that didn't have premium sound & the tweeters are crackling because you are running bass to them (and WILL kill them).

You need to figure out exactly what is wired & how before doing much else. Something might get damaged, or catch fire.

Checklist:
- Determine if the car had premium sound & locate the stock amp (if there is one)
- Figure out where the CD43 outputs are going (to speakers, to stock amp, etc?)
o The CD43 has 2 outputs per channel (+ & -). If there is an amp, you need to trace out where BOTH go per channel. This is likely the key to the alternator whine.
- Determine if the tweeters have a crossover (could just be something as simple as a capacitor soldered in somewhere). This is likely the key to the crackling noise.

[montanvs]

I'll have to pull it out again. The tweeters are OEM, as the two wires under the dash (yellow and blue) still had the German sticker on the wiring harness.

The rears are cracking, and not just the tweeters, so I don't think its an over powerment of base. It has to be something to do with the wiring. Odd though that the C33 deck worked just fine, without any crackling....

I'll check for an amp as well.

[montanvs]

Is this the Stock Amp in the trunk beside the power antenna? (E30 318is)

If that is the amp, then I'm pretty sure it has premium sound, as the tweeters are stock in the corners of the windows.

[montanvs]

Just to further confirm, I tested the CD43 deck in an E34 which has a OEM disk changer and amp, and it runs perfect. I've at least ruled out the unit. The C33 again runs great. I noticed that the E34 had an extra plug that ran with the antenna, and it connected to the small "RCA style" plug beside the main plug. But I think it may be related to the CD changer itself....

[StereoInstaller1]

Just to further confirm, I tested the CD43 deck in an E34 which has a OEM disk changer and amp, and it runs perfect. I've at least ruled out the unit. The C33 again runs great. I noticed that the E34 had an extra plug that ran with the antenna, and it connected to the small "RCA style" plug beside the main plug. But I think it may be related to the CD changer itself....

You do have the stock amp in place: your pic shows it. Whether or not is is connected is another story.

The easy test is to unplug the amp while the stereo is playing.

[montanvs]

Re-checked everything today and because I could not reconcile how another BMW deck, business RDS also worked in my 318, I felt there had to be something else at play. Checked the antenna wire, and pushed the metal pads out a little to increase contact.....Radio now works great. Guess the cheep aftermarket antenna adapter doesn't do the same job as the BMW original. But it all works now