Opinions on audio setup...

[TDE30]

I bought a 325e recently with a whole bunch of aftermarket audio equipment. I've never been huge on aftermarket audio stuff, regardless of how much better it may sound than the factory equipment. There's a whole mess of multi-colored wires throughout the car, and I find that mildly irritating as I like things the way they were from the factory. The car has an Alpine head unit (probably not bad stuff, but the display has a plethora of colors instead of the OE amber and black display,) and an Eclipse (?) amplifier in the trunk. When I redo the audio stuff (3-4 months from now) I'd like to do away with the trunk mounted amp and get a head unit with the amp integrated into it like the OE system. If anything, I'd probably lean towards a period-correct Blaupunkt or Becker unit, if not either of those then I may just throw a stock head unit in there. I was wondering if anyone has any advice for what I'm going for (which is basically a very factory look). I'm not a huge in-car audio person, so sound quality doesn't have to be McIntosh good, as long as it sounds as good or marginally better than the factory unit. Can anyone recommend a very stock looking head unit with integrated amp? And one more question, has anyone looked into installing a H/K or Becker TrafficPro in an E30? Is it much different than the stock unit? It has been in the back of my head that if I ever ran across one of those on the Bay that I could fork over ~$400 and retrofit it into the E30.
Anyways, all opinions are greatly appreciated.

[browntown]

Well be prepared for some wiring work. No plug and play harness in an e30. You can ditch the alpine unit for a nakamichi which will blend in with everything else perfectly. Keep the amp,or upgrade it, but trying to use the Headunit only might disappoint you.

[TDE30]

Keep the amp,or upgrade it, but trying to use the Headunit only might disappoint you.

Right right, I just hate the fact that it just sits on the trunk mat (granted it is restrained by zip ties and a bungee cable to the rear strut brace.) It seems very susceptible to being damaged by the trunk's contents. Has anyone thought of mounting it to the top of the trunk (obviously further back from the trunk lid.) I suppose that would be a pretty simple temporary solution.

So the stock head unit doesn't have an amp integrated into it? For some reason I was under the impression it did.

/in-car audio ignorance

[StereoInstaller1]

Trey, the stock systems came both with and without amp. Late models had a 4 channel amp, early models had a 2 channel amp and a fader on the dash.

If your car came with the tweeter pods at the top of the door, it is Premium Sound, and came with an amp.

If you would like areally "stock" look, check out the CD players that came in E36's

[smonkbmw]

mount the amp upside down under the rear deck. if its any older eclipse amp it shouldnt hang down far at all. if youre not electronically inclined, take it to a reputable shop in the area and have them clean up everything.

[StereoInstaller1]

Mount your amp on spacers, so it is "right side up" under the rear deck, leave an inch or so above it for heat dissapation.

Find an E36 deck, then just use that to run the amp and 4 decent speakers, done.

[TDE30]

Mount your amp on spacers, so it is "right side up" under the rear deck, leave an inch or so above it for heat dissapation.

Find an E36 deck, then just use that to run the amp and 4 decent speakers, done.

Good point about the heat dissapation. What exactly do you mean by the "E36 deck"?

I imagine this (mounting the amp upside down to the rear deck) is the route I'll go until I go through the car completely and convert all (or most) back to stock equipment.

[Mless5]

e36 deck:

[StereoInstaller1]

as above, but the CD43 "Business Class" deck is a CD player.

It does require an amp to be happy, and since you already have the Eclipse, use that.

[TDE30]

Hmm, that is a thought. In terms of fitment, there's no retrofitting required correct? I've got one of these lying around so I may fiddle around with it. Preesh.

[StereoInstaller1]

Trey, you have never talked about your skills in general, but making the CD43 work is not tough. Making it work with the Eclipse amp is harder, and modifying the bezel to make it flush mount like the stock E30 deck is WAY harder than that...so it kind of depends on what you want to end up with.

Do you have a spare bezel lying around? Slide that puppy in there, see what you think.

[TDE30]

Trey, you have never talked about your skills in general, but making the CD43 work is not tough. Making it work with the Eclipse amp is harder, and modifying the bezel to make it flush mount like the stock E30 deck is WAY harder than that...so it kind of depends on what you want to end up with.

Do you have a spare bezel lying around? Slide that puppy in there, see what you think.

Well, I'm not very handy at wiring things up (yet), so plug-and-play is what I'm looking for (for now at least), but when I decide to do things right I'll have someone local and reputable do it. In-car wiring is about the only time I would take it to someone and let them do it, I'd rather not have it cause an electrical fire. I believe I've got a CD43 lying around in the garage somewhere, but I'll have to look. If it requires that much modification to make it functional, I may pass on it.

For now, I'll probably do what you guys mentioned about mounting the amp upside down so it's out of the way. Later, when the cash flow is increased, I'll look towards re-doing things.

[Mless5]

Well, maybe it is time to learn, eh? It ain't rocket science and you just need a voltmeter. I use quick disconnects and heat shrink.

[TDE30]

Well, maybe it is time to learn, eh? It ain't rocket science and you just need a voltmeter. I use quick disconnects and heat shrink.

Learn to what? To connect (maybe even retrofit) the new components? Sure, I plan on learning a bit. I'm not at square one or anything, I know some of the basics. But once I really delve into it, I'll definitely try to become a bit more well-versed about wiring, etc. You used quick disconnects and heat shrink for what?

[StereoInstaller1]

I just use normal butt connectors and quality crimpers to make connections.

You will need to solder RCAs on the speaker wires from that CD43, but it is no big deal, then just normal install on deck, amp, speakers.