okay, so im planning on making a carputer!. but i need to price it out first. as i came to how i was going to connect the carputer to the stereo, all things came to a hault.

i am almost 100% sure that stock bmw radios dont have aux in. so i cant use the HU. the second option is to go through an amp.

my question is. how do the stock e34 amps work? does it have rca cable connections? if not, can i just replace the amp with an aftermarket one and have eveyrthing work like normal, except with the cable connections.

TIA- if something dosnt make sense, its because i am a total NOOB to audio.

on a side note. i dont need the sound to be the greatest. i just want "radio quality" at least. nothing over the top.

Aftermarket. Stock doesn't use RCAs. However If you like that amp, you could use the money to get a new HU instead, one with an Aux input.

the stock amp takes wierd molex connectors like 12 in and 12 out. doesn't even make much sence since there are 10 speakers that the amp needs to feed. ive pulled mine out and chased the cable back a few feet when i re did my system and its very wierd the way the stock setup is done. there is NO WAY you can put an aftermarket amp in there properly because the stock amp contains the crossovers. i too would just buy an aftermarket deck with an aux input, its the easiest way to keep the system undistrubed. i noticed a bit more hissing when i still had my stock speakers, i was told that the new deck put out much more power through the lines and so when the factory amp amplified the sound it brings out more noise, but it wasn't too bad, and that problems is gone now that everything is aftermarket.

If I had to guess, the 12 is 10 speaker + power/ground, but I would have to look at the schematics. Anyhow, it isnt hard to put an aftermarket amp in there, you would just find out which wires are which, snip the connector off and insert them in the proper spots on the new amp. Either that or get a LOC for your stock unit and run it to an aftermarket amp.


I would still however go with an aftermarket deck. Then if you are unhappy with the ouput of just the HU, you can install an aftermarlet Amp as well and you will be happy.

thanks for the replies.

now which HU has the most stock looking appearence? almost all black, wiht orange lights

If I had to guess, the 12 is 10 speaker + power/ground, but I would have to look at the schematics. Anyhow, it isnt hard to put an aftermarket amp in there, you would just find out which wires are which, snip the connector off and insert them in the proper spots on the new amp. Either that or get a LOC for your stock unit and run it to an aftermarket amp.



you can't power 10 speakers with ten wires. every speaker needs a positive and negative wire. that would be 20 wires for the speakers out put alone. they are there, but they aren't at the ends of the wires. i have about 2 feet cut off the end of the harness and i have no idea how they managed to connect everything the way they did. there are a bunch of groups where 3 wires merge into one. its CRAZY :eyecrazy and an aftermarket amp cannot power 10 speakers when its designed for 4 channels max (sub doesn't matter). the factory one had a crossover built in that spread the signal between the 3 different front comps and the 2 different rears. if you throw a new amp in you will have all the range going through one wire. if you know what your doing then you can make your own crossover that is tuned for the ranges the stock speakers were made for, but if you knew that much you would replace everything. the problem comes down to the tweeters and mids being wired individually from each other without a damn crossover. i guess thats why bmw has so many total aftermarket setups in them, its basically all or nothing :stickoutt. athough you can do a new deck and wire a sub in but adding a sub and leaving the stock speakers isn't an impressive result, thats how mine was before i finished the whole thing.

you can't power 10 speakers with ten wires. every speaker needs a positive and negative wire. that would be 20 wires for the speakers out put alone. they are there, but they aren't at the ends of the wires. i have about 2 feet cut off the end of the harness and i have no idea how they managed to connect everything the way they did. there are a bunch of groups where 3 wires merge into one. its CRAZY :eyecrazy and an aftermarket amp cannot power 10 speakers when its designed for 4 channels max (sub doesn't matter). the factory one had a crossover built in that spread the signal between the 3 different front comps and the 2 different rears. if you throw a new amp in you will have all the range going through one wire. if you know what your doing then you can make your own crossover that is tuned for the ranges the stock speakers were made for, but if you knew that much you would replace everything. the problem comes down to the tweeters and mids being wired individually from each other without a damn crossover. i guess thats why bmw has so many total aftermarket setups in them, its basically all or nothing :stickoutt. athough you can do a new deck and wire a sub in but adding a sub and leaving the stock speakers isn't an impressive result, thats how mine was before i finished the whole thing.

All due respect, He might not have the same Audio System yours came with.

his amp will be the same, and even if its not, it will have the same kind of connections. ive redone my whole system myself ive seen what is there and ive spent forever looking into it, ive followed every wire and i know exactly how the factory stuff is run now, and it stupid. i even have the shop manual which is no help because it doesn't have the correct colors for the wires and a whole bunch of other problems. they will be wired very similarly. we all have a 5.25 mids up front with a stupid 2" driver in the dash and then the tweeter in the window corner. we all have a 5.25's in the back with tweeters beside them. all the speakers are wired individually to the back where they connect to the amp. all of us have a deck that connects to the amp as a high output signal. even if a small change is made we are still 98% the same.

why don't you take a look at your amp (its in your trunk on the left) then tell me whats what. ive looked into it, so don't make it sound like i don't know what im talking about. im taking my time here to help. ive found almost no info on the net that is usable. only the stuff at bmwe34.net helped and even that wasn't much.

sorry, havent checked this section for awhile.


so basically. all i need to do is buy a new head unit and install it? is there any problems with which head unit i need? i know i need a aux in. input, but what else would i need to install a new head unit?

you will need a harness adapter. you can get them from 10-20 bucks. and an antenna adapter. Fry's will sell both but you will pay the 20 bucks for the harness adapter, but if you want to wait then you can save a couple bucks and get it off line. almost all the colors on the harness should be correct, but the wire on the harness adapter that says power antenna is actually the amp turn on wire, if you connect that up right everything should work. its really not a hard job at all. just get some little wire connector clips that you can crimp onto the ends and then plug them together so that its easy to change or remove the deck, its only another few bucks for a pack of them.

id recommend mp3 capability, i don't have anything but mp3 disks, and if you can try and find something that has amber lights/buttons on it.

a lot of people like alpine. and even though not a lot of people have eclipse decks, they are rated the highest in sound quality buy the people on the audio+speaker forums like sounddomain.

radio harness is about $13 at cartoys... do you need an antenna harness? If there is an Antenna turn on wire going into the stock radio, then it will hook up to the blue wire on the aftermarket radio harness, might not need one.

thanks for all the help guys! i'll be looking for a nice head unit now.