I've bought a 328 and I pick it up next week. It has an aftermarket radio, and I kinda like the factory style stuff. How hard would it be to swap one back to a factory style radio, like a "Business" radio. I'm a partial machinic, but I do not mess with radios, lol. How hard would it be or how much would some one charge to do it? Any good people arround boone, hickory, etc? Here is a link to my e36 thread, it has a link to the car. Thanks guys!!!

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=820428

No offense, but factory radio is crap.What is the aftermarket head unit.Only CD43 is worth reinstalling, and it will cost more than a better aftermarket unit.I will tell you why the HK midrange speaker gets blown - it's a 20W 3ohm speaker. I am looking at it now as I am repairing it until I put my normal sound in. The tweeter is a standard 4ohm speaker that is rated for 40W. This 3ohm/20W speaker defies logic as that is simply extremely uncommon.You can get an aftermarket HU that will perfectly match your interior. Some of them have color-matching feature built in.What aftermarket amp and speakers did you get with the car?Making the stock head unit work with the aftermarket amp will be "fun". You may or may not have wiring harness bypassed entirely.In short - too expensive and worth it. Get a color-matched aftermarket head unit and enjoy someone else's investment in better equipment. Crutchfield will be awesome to research current head units.

CD43 I think is what I was thinking of replaing the aftermarket unit with. The one with a CD player on it as well as 6 disk control. I've messed arround on crutchfield before, I'll check and see if I can find anything that looks factory too. Probly just leave what's in it untill I do a fiew maint things first. The car is 100% factory except for the head unit. No aftermarket amp, speekers, subs, etc. Even has factory filters installed (Talked to the shop that has serviced it seince it had 40k miles on the car untill about 200 from what it has now). I just want to know how dificult it would be to swap it back? I guess it depends on how they done the install though, does'nt it? lol.

Thanks to people like you, the CD43 will retain its value until you are ready for a complete upgrade.If the harness is intact, which it should be, it'll be an easy thing to do.In this context, it sounds like the CD43 may well be a good option for you and easy to sell when you decide that the factory stuff doesn't satisfy you anymore.There are threads on colormatched equipment. I am reinstalling my Sony CDX-C7850 MobileES stuff soon. Now _that_ is a good HU that can glow either green (matched my Rav4) or amber (reasonable match for my M3, will post pics once done, but I think it'll look good enough). I bought it in 2000 from Crutchfield, which comes with support, so I'll call them up and get an updated harness. It has seriously high end sound (the ES line is discontinued, but that's Sony's high end stuff for home so don't confuse it with Xplod crap) and capability to expand the system with Sony proprietary buslink components. Oh, and it speaks French too, which freaks out my passengers... :)You may like it. I'll install it and let you know. I see it on Ebay pretty cheaply all the time. There is an Auxiliary input expansion module available as well as part of the XA-series accessories. Target has an XA-series iPod controller for $32 on clearance near me, which I will test shortly.I find it interesting that my purchase from 7 years ago is still compatible with modern video stuff.

Thanks to people like you, the CD43 will retain its value until you are ready for a complete upgrade.If the harness is intact, which it should be, it'll be an easy thing to do.In this context, it sounds like the CD43 may well be a good option for you and easy to sell when you decide that the factory stuff doesn't satisfy you anymore.There are threads on colormatched equipment. I am reinstalling my Sony CDX-C7850 MobileES stuff soon. Now _that_ is a good HU that can glow either green (matched my Rav4) or amber (reasonable match for my M3, will post pics once done, but I think it'll look good enough). I bought it in 2000 from Crutchfield, which comes with support, so I'll call them up and get an updated harness. It has seriously high end sound (the ES line is discontinued, but that's Sony's high end stuff for home so don't confuse it with Xplod crap) and capability to expand the system with Sony proprietary buslink components. Oh, and it speaks French too, which freaks out my passengers... :)You may like it. I'll install it and let you know. I see it on Ebay pretty cheaply all the time. There is an Auxiliary input expansion module available as well as part of the XA-series accessories. Target has an XA-series iPod controller for $32 on clearance near me, which I will test shortly.I find it interesting that my purchase from 7 years ago is still compatible with modern video stuff.

sorry, but I'm not too good with the audo thing, lol. Never realy cared that much to learn, ya know? Thanks for your help, that's the answer I was looking for. I'll of corse have to find one that has the harness. The code thing I've read about, can you do that your self or does the dealer have to do that? The quality of the sound and loudness does'nt matter much to me either. As long as it sounds nice, I'm fine with it. I don't even listen to music much annywaise unless I'm on a long trip or just bored. I'm used to the steros in my fieros and jeeps. I'm shure a BMW radio will sound great to me! Thanks!