C33 AUX input and Installation Megathread

[Todd Black 88]

Thanks. I have an early car and it only has 1 white wire that I can see on the diagram. Car doesn't have a power antenna so ......maybe thats normal then?

Oh, I see another white wire on the diagram but it says lights input (for dimming?)

[StereoInstaller1]

Thanks. I have an early car and it only has 1 white wire that I can see on the diagram. Car doesn't have a power antenna so ......maybe thats normal then?

Oh, I see another white wire on the diagram but it says lights input (for dimming?)

How damn early do you have?

Most '84's have power antennas, certainly any car that has premium sound is gonna have power antenna.

Now, go PULL YOUR DECK and check. It takes like 15 seconds to get it out, if it takes you longer, you need to practice!

Luke

[Todd Black 88]

I have my deck out. Its a 1988 M3
The wires on the back are:
yellow and blue speakers
yellow and white in one connector for memory and lighting circuit
Violet/grey for power on and brown/black for ground
Single white for ......maybe ampand antenna? Its small
And there is a plug not used with two wires, one white/brn and one blue/black

Thats it.

Its also a pyramid slide dimmer thingy deck.

Todd

[StereoInstaller1]

Yup yup yup....M3 is different.

No power antenna, got that thingie on the roof.

White wire on E36 harness goes to white on E30.

I would have to look at a wiring diagram for an M3, but just test shit. BMW is notorious for changing wire colors after a plug, so make sure you check the "car side".

Luke

[aproy]

this is a very cool trick, thanks everyone for putting it together.

and luke, you keep all this info in your head? or do you just do it constantly so that its always at the front of your brain... thats a lotta shit!

[StereoInstaller1]

this is a very cool trick, thanks everyone for putting it together.

and luke, you keep all this info in your head? or do you just do it constantly so that its always at the front of your brain... thats a lotta shit!

Yes, I agree, there is a lot of shit in my head.

Now if it were only USEFUL shit...

[moatilliatta]

So is there 2 negatives for the speakers, one for L and one R; or is there 4, one for each speaker?

[kronus]

So is there 2 negatives for the speakers, one for L and one R; or is there 4, one for each speaker?

It depends on the radio model you have, apparently. On my C33, there are two negatives, but on C43/CD43, there is an independent negative for each speaker, according to the information I have.

[brokenbimmer533]

Just did this yesterday and tested it today. Everything worked great. Excellent write up kronus!
Went to install the new head unit and come to find out the previous owner pulled the speakers. Went to bestbuy to get some new speakers and the guy said that I have to use factory speakers because they run at different voltages or something? Is this true?

[kronus]

Just did this yesterday and tested it today. Everything worked great. Excellent write up kronus!
Went to install the new head unit and come to find out the previous owner pulled the speakers. Went to bestbuy to get some new speakers and the guy said that I have to use factory speakers because they run at different voltages or something? Is this true?

Nope, completely false. You can use mostly any 5 1/4" speakers you want.

[brokenbimmer533]

I was hoping he was wrong. Thanks for the response. So let me get this straight. The c33 deck will run speakers with no amp but an amp is recommended. Do not use the speaker ground pins on the back of the c33 deck and just ground the negatives from each speaker to the chassis. That right?

[kronus]

That's what Luke (stereoinstaller) claims, but I can't bring myself to ground speakers to chassis, so mine are grounded to the head unit.

It runs speakers, just not very loud, and the car's noise drowns out the midrange at highway speeds. I've had an amp that was supposed to go in for the last year, but it's been powering a set of tower speakers for my entire dorm, so I couldn't do the install.

[moatilliatta]

I just ordered a BLAUPUNKT PCA460, im pretty physicked! I guess the grounds arnt really going to matter...

[StereoInstaller1]

That's what Luke (stereoinstaller) claims, but I can't bring myself to ground speakers to chassis, so mine are grounded to the head unit.

I

No, that is NOT what I claim.

If using speakers, use the decks speaker grounds. Normal stuff, right?

If feeding input to an amp, THEN you use the chassis ground on the shield of the RCA.

If your C33/CD43 whatever deck came out of an E36 with a 4 cylinder, it does not require an amp. If it came out of an E34/E32/E36 with more than 4 cylinders, it will run hot if you don't use an amp.

Luke

[nmlss2006]

Luke,
stupid question: is there a way to tell whether a radio is amplified if you don't know what car it came from? Further, if a radio IS amplified, will it put out enough power to harm any amplifier you attach to it, assuming something like an inexpensive Alpine or any other 4-way-with-lowpass-out you care to recommend? My DD needs an upgrade due to unreliable operation of the original premium radio.