I installed my KD-AR880 today. I am very happy with it so far. I added Bluetooth and XM to it. I have not paired my phone up so I cannot give any feedback on that yet. I did put the mic close to the A pillar. I have not spent any time with any of its features.

I did get the display color set to as close a match as I think possible. For reference I used red +9, green +2, and blue +0 at that seems to match quite well. I may try tweaking it a little but I think that is as close as it will get. The knob stays blue and the perimeter buttons are red. There is a red LED that I bet can be changed fairly easily to get at least some of the buttons to match the display. The red matches to red arrows on the AC and the blue around the knob matches to blue arrows so I think it is fine the way it is. The knob is silverish but that's fine with me because I will be switching to a SS shift knob soon and they will kind of match.

I am using my stock HK system and it does sound better than my old C33.

The hardest part of the install was finding room in the dash for all of the extra crap. I put two boxes under the OBC and one under the glove box.

Here are a few pics I took from inside my garage this evening. I will try to get some daylight pictures tomorrow if anyone is interested.

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/capwilson/Radio/Radio1.jpg


http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/capwilson/Radio/Radio2.jpg


http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/capwilson/Radio/Radio3.jpg


http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/capwilson/Radio/Radio4.jpg


http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/capwilson/Radio/Radio5.jpg


http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/capwilson/Radio/Radio6.jpg

I hope this is helpful.

Sweet! Thanks for the pics. I think I'm going to order the KD-AR780. The color matching looks pretty good.

I think I will do what you did and order the wire harness and antenna adaptor from Crutchfield.

No problems with the vendor you got the HU from?

you'll like that deck , we sell quite a bit of them, my only beef is the problem's w/ xm or sirius of no presets for stations

No problems with the vendor you got the HU from?

I had no problems whatsoever with HookedOnTronics (http://www.hookedontronics.com/show_product_details.jsp?cid=41974&c=0705PriceGrabber&b=Jvc_Arsenal+KD-AR880). I ordered it Sunday, it shipped from Florida Monday, and it arrived in North Carolina Wednesday. It works perfectly as far as I can tell. Since I have not had to use their customer service I have no opinions there.

I ordered everything else from Crutchfield. If Crutchfield sold the HU then I would have purchased from them. Yeah, they may be a tad more expensive but they still know what real customer service is IMHO. Speaking of Crutchfield, the XM unit seems to have arrived with a bad DIN cable. The first time I tried to connect it the plastic surround came apart. I later discovered that it was cracked. Then a metal tab fell out. This prevented me from connecting the XM unit. I did not have this problem with the other end or the other DIN connectors so I believe it was at least partially damaged when I got it and I probably finished breaking it when I connected it. I called Crutchfield and they are sending another XM unit. That is why I like buying from them. Awesome customer service. Luckily I only have to pull the OBC to get to the cable so swapping the new one in should be very easy.

you'll like that deck , we sell quite a bit of them, my only beef is the problem's w/ xm or sirius of no presets for stations

As far as the preset issue, I cannot comment from experience (cable issue above seems to prevent me from testing this) but I can say that the manual states that there are three bands (either XM1, XM2, XM3 or SR1, SR2, SR3) for a total of 18 presets. I hope this does not prove to be a problem. No XM presets would suck.

One more thing, Crutchfield's website suggests the PAC OEM-2 adapter. I did not use it and everything is fine. The HU does have three amp settings, high power, low power, and amp off. I selected low power and I generally do not listen to my stereo too loud so I think this should work for me. YMMV

I only have one more thing I am trying to figure out. My old XM antenna was mounted on the dash next to the passenger side A pillar and the signal would drop out from time to time. Because if this I wanted to mount the new antenna on the roof above the rear window and then paint it. However, the curvature of the roof and the flatness of the antenna base prevent the antenna from attaching firmly. Now I need to figure out how to attach it more securely without damaging the paint in the long run. My other thought is to mount it at the base of the windshield right in the center so the roof pillar does not interfere. The back window is not an option because of metallic window tint. I really want the best signal possible but not at the expense of damaging the paint. Any ideas?

How does the bluetooth work? I'm not familiar with bluetooth HU's at all. Does it enable to you to make phone calls right from the deck? Like does it have a mic?

How does the bluetooth work? I'm not familiar with bluetooth HU's at all. Does it enable to you to make phone calls right from the deck? Like does it have a mic?

I paired my phone today and it works great. If you have voice tags on your phone it will voice dial by holding one button. It mutes the radio and displays incoming calls, battery life and signal strength. I mounted the mic in the upper left-hand corner of the windshield, not very noticeable. I also have an Acura with built-in Bluetooth and I think the JVC one may be better except I doubt you can say a phone number and have it dial and I cannot look up points of interest in the nav directory and dial directly since this does not have nav. At least I do not have to have two phone books like I do on the Acura. Now if I could only get all of the voice activated stuff on my M3 like I have on the Acura I would be set.

Just ordered my wire harness and ANT adaptor from Crutchfield and the KD-AR780 from HookedOnTronics last night. :)

One other question. Can you reverse the display with the colors you have? The sample pics show a blue background with black text....can you do the same with the amber? i.ei amber background with black text?

ipod compatibility?

One other question. Can you reverse the display with the colors you have? The sample pics show a blue background with black text....can you do the same with the amber? i.ei amber background with black text?

Yes. It can be set to always positive (below), always negative (the way it is in my first post), or auto, which I assume is positive during the day and negative at night.
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/capwilson/Radio/Positive.jpg


ipod compatibility?
There is an iPod interface but I do not have an iPod so I did not get it. I cannot comment on how well it works. The KD-AR780 has a mini-jack aux-in on the front. I would think you could use that with the iPod but you would have to use the iPod to navigate. From what I have heard, most of the iPod interfaces are kind of crappy so I would think using the Ipod controls would be preferable. Again, since I do not have an iPod I really don't know.

The KD-AR880 (mine) has a USB port on the front. I have plugged in my 4GB flash drive and it works great. I keep music on my flash drive so I can listen on my computer at work. Now I can use the same thing in the car, which, IMHO, is great. I like the 4GB flash drive because it is tiny and it costs less than $30 so if I lose it or it is stolen, BFD.

I have played a little more with the colors and it appears that +11 red, +3 green, and no blue looks good during the day. The car has been in the garage ever since I installed this since I am working on other projects. Once I have a chance to take it out in sunlight we will see what colors work best in direct sunlight. The cool thing is you can set one color for daylight and one color for nighttime. I think it will switch based on whether the lights are on.

North Carolina and you like it @71/78 degrees?

There weren't any mounting screws involved were there?

North Carolina and you like it @71/78 degrees?

Same settings as what I used when I lived in SoCal:). The wife likes it a bit warmer on her side. I bet I have not changed the temp in over two years.


There weren't any mounting screws involved were there?
Nope, DIN sleeve.

FYI, I received my replacement cable from Crutchfield this afternoon. It only took one business day. I now have XM and can confirm that I have 18 XM presets.

Got my KD-AR780 installed last night. I was worried that it had something wrong with it at first as it wasn't working (Diplay, but no sound) Then I realized you need to have blue wire hooked up in order to turn the HK amp on....LOL...:shifty

Here's a few pics I took. I think I have the color settings at +11 Red, +2 Green and 0 Blue. It sounds much much better than the stock radio. I also replaced the 5.25" kick panel speakers witha pair of Infinity Ref 5022i. I was going to maybe replace the small rear speakers too, but it actually sounds good enough to me now that I think I'm going to hold off on that. I now have a betting sounding setup along with in dash CD and MP3/WMA capabillity....I'm happy :)

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t306/chris_7492/My%20BMW%20M-Roadster/IMG_0001.jpg

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t306/chris_7492/My%20BMW%20M-Roadster/IMG_0002.jpg

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t306/chris_7492/My%20BMW%20M-Roadster/IMG_0003-1.jpg

Looking good.

Thanks for the writeup and great pics. I've been looking forward to seeing this unit installed in an e36.

Looks like a SWEET fit!!! Finally more companies are releasing and creating head unit we can use in the BMW market :)

That looks so much better than the kd-ar870 I tried to install in my car. No matter what I did, the display always looked washed out and I couldn't get a good orange color out of it. :mad

Maybe I'll plug it back in and see if I can't get anywhere with it.

That looks so much better than the kd-ar870 I tried to install in my car. No matter what I did, the display always looked washed out and I couldn't get a good orange color out of it. :mad

Maybe I'll plug it back in and see if I can't get anywhere with it.

Mine looks great at night. It could be a better match during the day. You can set two different color schemes on the 880 (which I assume you can also do on the 780), one for daytime and one for nighttime, which I did. I still have not quite gotten the display to look right with direct sunlight. I am going to have my windows tinted soon and that may help a little. GL

Mine looks great at night. It could be a better match during the day. You can set two different color schemes on the 880 (which I assume you can also do on the 780), one for daytime and one for nighttime, which I did. I still have not quite gotten the display to look right with direct sunlight. I am going to have my windows tinted soon and that may help a little. GL


Yeah, the 870 is the same (it's the 880 without Bluetooth, the 880 replaced it). That sounds like what I was running into, I never did test it in the dark. Lighter colors, like white and bright blue, looked fine. Maybe I'll run white in the day and orange at night. Or just put the 870 in my brothers Jeep and buy a CD43 for the true stock look. iPod integration isn't so good then, though. :(

After testing fitting again, and using your settings, I'm keeping the 870. Looks great!

How are you addressing the antenna issue? I've got an adapter, but my E36 apparently has a diversity spread antenna embedded in the rear window. The signal on the 870 isn't so good, are you using an amplified adapter, or is it working fine for you?

Can any of you with this deck make any comment on how it displays MP3 information on the screen with MP3 CDs, USB flashdrive, and iPod? Does it scroll the mp3 info?

Can any of you with this deck make any comment on how it displays MP3 information on the screen with MP3 CDs, USB flashdrive, and iPod? Does it scroll the mp3 info?

I'll let you know tomorrow. :D

Well, for the iPod at least. Unless I run to work I won't be seeing my flash drive until Monday.

How are you addressing the antenna issue? I've got an adapter, but my E36 apparently has a diversity spread antenna embedded in the rear window. The signal on the 870 isn't so good, are you using an amplified adapter, or is it working fine for you?

My antenna works fine as it is. Do you have tinted windows? If so maybe your tint may be the issue.

Can any of you with this deck make any comment on how it displays MP3 information on the screen with MP3 CDs, USB flashdrive, and iPod? Does it scroll the mp3 info?

IIRC, this data scrolls. If you look above at the pics, the artist's name is where it says No Name and the name of the song is below. I am going from memory. Shortly after I installed my 880 I was on vacation for two weeks. My car has been in the shop for a euro 6-speed tranny swap ever since I returned so I have not had much time to actually use the new HU. Hopefully she will return home next week. Don't ask why the tranny work is taking so long.

My antenna works fine as it is. Do you have tinted windows? If so maybe your tint may be the issue.

Yeah, I've got crap bubbly tint on the rear window. Came with the car, so far I've not found anyone who's willing to take it off and guarantee that they won't rip the antenna/defrost wires. I'm going to have to just do it myself, I guess.

Going to pick up a **** 40VW53 amplified adapter today, as well. Well, I think I am, the website says it's in stock. We'll see.

Thanks for the help, man. Now that the HU is in, I can't believe how much better it sounds over the old C43 tape deck. Even on my blown speakers, there seems to be more range to it. Besides, it looks cool as hell. :D

Yeah, I've got crap bubbly tint on the rear window. Came with the car, so far I've not found anyone who's willing to take it off and guarantee that they won't rip the antenna/defrost wires. I'm going to have to just do it myself, I guess.

I used to have tinted windows. When I moved from CA to NC my CA legal tint was illegal in NC and thus would not pass the state inspection. I found a tint shop that was able to remove the tint without damaging anything. Lightning Mikes at (704) 347-3775 did it for $100. Give them a call and maybe they will tell you what they used since it would be a little inconvenient to take your car there;). My car smelled like Simply Green when I got it back and it took less than an hour. I am having it retinted when I get it back next week.

IIRC, this data scrolls. If you look above at the pics, the artist's name is where it says No Name and the name of the song is below.

Cool. Thanks for the info.