Best Aftermarket Deck for E34

[Costa Mellios]

I'm reluctantly looking to replace the OEM deck in my new 540. I want something that can sort of match the interior and has a similar orange backlight. Can anyone give me any ideas?

[Stereoinstaller1]

Color match is close enough for most people, and available on decks from Pioneer, JVC, Sony and Kenwood, among others.

Personally, I like the operations of the Pioneers best, but there are lots of nice decks onthe market.

If you plan on building a nice stereo, make sure it has 3 sets of pre-outs and ideally, high voltage preouts.

GL!
Luke

[ShapeShifter]

I love my alpine 9887

[NikosX]

I love my alpine 9887

This.

[cddallara]

Didn't we just go thru this last month?

[ShapeShifter]

We do this every 18 days....

[Javathehut]

great song!!!!!!

[Stereoinstaller1]

Should we start yelling "SEARCH" in 17 days?

[E34 5er]

I love my alpine 9887

I had the exact same deck in my E34; really a good option, as it didn't detract from the interior of the car and had a great interface. I still have my OEM system though, which wasn't bad at all for being made in 92.

[thatonedood]

Oh good! I was gonna dig up the "old" thread, but...

For every HU I've ever installed, the wiring part was as simple as picking up the appropriate harness. I was reading things that seemed to indicate there is more to it than that. Yay or nay?

[Costa Mellios]

Looks like I'm getting an Alpine CDA-9887 then, thanks guys.

Also, sorry for not using the search. Almost impossible to find what you're looking for over an iPhone.

[Stereoinstaller1]

if your E34 is a later one, yes it is "harnessable" but you will overlaod the input stage on the stock amp, that is why people think they sound so lame.

I have a trick to drop the decks output voltage to the same as the stock deck, the difference in clarity is amazing.

LMK if I can help.

Luke

[yamoda]

if your E34 is a later one, yes it is "harnessable" but you will overlaod the input stage on the stock amp, that is why people think they sound so lame.

I have a trick to drop the decks output voltage to the same as the stock deck, the difference in clarity is amazing.

LMK if I can help.

Luke

Tell us more please.

[Russellc]

Tell us more please.

Please. This seems critcal on the later cars.

[thatracer]

Please do tell. I just ordered a new kenwood that should be here next week.

[Stereoinstaller1]

Tell us more please.

Please. This seems critcal on the later cars.

Please do tell. I just ordered a new kenwood that should be here next week.

OK, I have posted this elsewhere, and when I do the "how to make your E34 sound killer for $500" thread it will be covered in detail.

So, here is the trick: use chassis ground on the amplifier input ground.

Sounds simple, huh? Well, it is, but it is a bit counter-intuitive.

So, that being said, this trick works on most all factory-amplified cars, or at least the vast majority. Yes, even non-BMWs.

Step one: use a normal Metra 70-8590 (http://www.amazon.com/Metra-70-8590-.../dp/B0002BG6CI) harness if that is what your car takes (don't forget to order your antenna adapter too!). Grab your aftermarket decks harness and the Metra harness.

Do the wiring a tiny bit different than you expect. Connect the gray/black, white/black, green/black and purple/black on the harness (NOT the "radio side"!) to the black wire of the harness.

Yes, all 4 "black stripe" wires go to the black wire of the aftermarket harness. The car has different colors, please ignore them for now, ONLY the harness needs attention here. I do this part out of the car, it is much easier.

Now for the normal part: connect the yellow, red, orange (if you are using illumination to dim your deck) and the speaker wires color for color: purple to purple, white to white, gray to gray, green to green...watch the blue wire though, if your deck has a blue/white, you will need to use that blue/white to the solid blue on the harness.

Now for the weird part again: remember you used the 4 speaker positives from the deck to the Metra harness? Good...now simply "cap off" (insulate with tape, whatever) and do not use the speaker negatives from the deck at all. This is very important, make sure the 4 speaker negatives from the deck don't connect to anything. I can't stress this enough, so many guys who "know what they are doing" screw this part up so PAY ATTENTION!

Back up a bit and think about this: you are not applying chassis ground to the speaker leads of the deck at all, not are you interconnecting them in any way. All you are doing here is applying chassis ground to the input wires of the amp. It really is that simple.

What this will do is cause the normal 12 watts or so (yes, your deck makes about 12 watts X4, not 50X4 or whatever nonsense they lie about) to drop to a useful 3.4 watts X4, which is still double the stock decks voltage, but within useful range.

Another advantage is the deck will run much cooler so it will last longer and some would say cooler sounds better. The fact is that your stereo won't be as god-awful "loud" (being over-amplified distortion is unlistenable to me) nor will it blast you out of the car at low volume settings. You will be shocked at the difference in clarity and noise levels (that nasty background "hiss").

Let me tell you guys something here...if you do just what I described with any deck that has "High-Pass Filters" and use a small 2 channel amp to run a cheap SVC 4 ohm 10" woofer in one of my boxes, no one will believe you spent so little on your stereo.

What I am talking about here is nice, clean, solid bass you can hear and feel clearly but no stupid "kid boom", and no rattles. Basically, the sound stays in the car so only you hear it.

I know what you are driving around listening to right now, it is just miserable. Not "tolerable" to anyone who likes music with any level of quality reproduction, worse than a base-model 2010 Hyundai Accent! No dynamics, any attempt at having music you can "feel" is just pure fuzz at any useful volume...well, let me tell you, you simply would not believe what a simple system like I am talking here would do for your ears! Those same miserable stock speakers can truly shine, as can that crappy stock amp.

And, just so you guys know, we will be releasing very soon a real solution to BMWs major audio handicap: the G.A.S. 10 channel passive crossover network. Feed that same deck you just installed into a nice 5 channel amp, using the 5th channel on a nice DVC woofer, the other 4 channels will feed our crossover and the stock speakers. Expect some serious performance at that point. At least 10db more SPL at half the distortion, much greater clarity and of course, easy enough to install.

About my resume: I have been a professional car stereo installer since 1980 and have specialized in BMW since 1984. I started in San Diego and spent a bunch of time in LA during the 80s and 90s. We did tons of BMWs, mostly wrong. I moved to Portland Oregon in 1988 and worked exclusively on German cars for nearly 5 years. In 2008, I closed my car stereo shop and began working exclusively on BMWs. I am one of, if not "the" most experienced "Classic BMW" car stereo installer on the planet.


That being said, my opinions here are not some wild conjecture, this is all proven and provable fact...yet just about unknown in the car stereo industry. Ask half a dozen certified "pros" and few will even understand what I am suggesting for you to do here. You will find that 90% of all installers are idiots, simply incompetent to work on our cars. Do not leave your car to anyone who says such things, that is pure hackery just waiting to happen. Most just say "tear it all out, we gotta do new everything". Please don't, there are so many better options, the stock stuff is actually very good, just misunderstood.

$20 at Home Depot for a pair of crimpers, $5 at WalMart for a testlight. I will guide you through the rest, I have done so for literally hundreds of E30 people.

If you have any questions, please contact me. This is one of those "so simple it is hard" things, but once you hear the difference, you will be amazed.

Luke

[Cosmos///95Lux]

Luke,
Thanks for posting this. You should do a DIY with some pics to end the confusion once and for all.

OK, I have posted this elsewhere, and when I do the "how to make your E34 sound killer for $500" thread it will be covered in detail.

So, here is the trick: use chassis ground on the amplifier input ground.

Sounds simple, huh? Well, it is, but it is a bit counter-intuitive.

So, that being said, this trick works on most all factory-amplified cars, or at least the vast majority. Yes, even non-BMWs.

Step one: use a normal Metra 70-8590 (http://www.amazon.com/Metra-70-8590-.../dp/B0002BG6CI) harness if that is what your car takes (don't forget to order your antenna adapter too!). Grab your aftermarket decks harness and the Metra harness.

Do the wiring a tiny bit different than you expect. Connect the gray/black, white/black, green/black and purple/black on the harness (NOT the "radio side"!) to the black wire of the harness.

Yes, all 4 "black stripe" wires go to the black wire of the aftermarket harness. The car has different colors, please ignore them for now, ONLY the harness needs attention here. I do this part out of the car, it is much easier.

Now for the normal part: connect the yellow, red, orange (if you are using illumination to dim your deck) and the speaker wires color for color: purple to purple, white to white, gray to gray, green to green...watch the blue wire though, if your deck has a blue/white, you will need to use that blue/white to the solid blue on the harness.

Now for the weird part again: remember you used the 4 speaker positives from the deck to the Metra harness? Good...now simply "cap off" (insulate with tape, whatever) and do not use the speaker negatives from the deck at all. This is very important, make sure the 4 speaker negatives from the deck don't connect to anything. I can't stress this enough, so many guys who "know what they are doing" screw this part up so PAY ATTENTION!

Back up a bit and think about this: you are not applying chassis ground to the speaker leads of the deck at all, not are you interconnecting them in any way. All you are doing here is applying chassis ground to the input wires of the amp. It really is that simple.

What this will do is cause the normal 12 watts or so (yes, your deck makes about 12 watts X4, not 50X4 or whatever nonsense they lie about) to drop to a useful 3.4 watts X4, which is still double the stock decks voltage, but within useful range.

Another advantage is the deck will run much cooler so it will last longer and some would say cooler sounds better. The fact is that your stereo won't be as god-awful "loud" (being over-amplified distortion is unlistenable to me) nor will it blast you out of the car at low volume settings. You will be shocked at the difference in clarity and noise levels (that nasty background "hiss").

Let me tell you guys something here...if you do just what I described with any deck that has "High-Pass Filters" and use a small 2 channel amp to run a cheap SVC 4 ohm 10" woofer in one of my boxes, no one will believe you spent so little on your stereo.

What I am talking about here is nice, clean, solid bass you can hear and feel clearly but no stupid "kid boom", and no rattles. Basically, the sound stays in the car so only you hear it.

I know what you are driving around listening to right now, it is just miserable. Not "tolerable" to anyone who likes music with any level of quality reproduction, worse than a base-model 2010 Hyundai Accent! No dynamics, any attempt at having music you can "feel" is just pure fuzz at any useful volume...well, let me tell you, you simply would not believe what a simple system like I am talking here would do for your ears! Those same miserable stock speakers can truly shine, as can that crappy stock amp.

And, just so you guys know, we will be releasing very soon a real solution to BMWs major audio handicap: the G.A.S. 10 channel passive crossover network. Feed that same deck you just installed into a nice 5 channel amp, using the 5th channel on a nice DVC woofer, the other 4 channels will feed our crossover and the stock speakers. Expect some serious performance at that point. At least 10db more SPL at half the distortion, much greater clarity and of course, easy enough to install.

About my resume: I have been a professional car stereo installer since 1980 and have specialized in BMW since 1984. I started in San Diego and spent a bunch of time in LA during the 80s and 90s. We did tons of BMWs, mostly wrong. I moved to Portland Oregon in 1988 and worked exclusively on German cars for nearly 5 years. In 2008, I closed my car stereo shop and began working exclusively on BMWs. I am one of, if not "the" most experienced "Classic BMW" car stereo installer on the planet.


That being said, my opinions here are not some wild conjecture, this is all proven and provable fact...yet just about unknown in the car stereo industry. Ask half a dozen certified "pros" and few will even understand what I am suggesting for you to do here. You will find that 90% of all installers are idiots, simply incompetent to work on our cars. Do not leave your car to anyone who says such things, that is pure hackery just waiting to happen. Most just say "tear it all out, we gotta do new everything". Please don't, there are so many better options, the stock stuff is actually very good, just misunderstood.

$20 at Home Depot for a pair of crimpers, $5 at WalMart for a testlight. I will guide you through the rest, I have done so for literally hundreds of E30 people.

If you have any questions, please contact me. This is one of those "so simple it is hard" things, but once you hear the difference, you will be amazed.

Luke

[Stereoinstaller1]

Luke,
Thanks for posting this. You should do a DIY with some pics to end the confusion once and for all.

I will, I will...all the E34s around me are early models. I am getting a '95 shell, I am hoping the radio wiring is not all hacked.

Soon, guys, I am hustling as hard as I can!

Luke

[inkacola]

thanks for the pointers Luke. does this also apply to '95 e34s?

[5mall5nail5]

I made this a while ago




JVC Headunit by Jon Kensy, on Flickr

[Russellc]

Didn't we just go thru this last month?

What is this radio you have installed. Is it a Becker or Decker? It looks very clean

[Stereoinstaller1]

thanks for the pointers Luke. does this also apply to '95 e34s?

Yes sir, pretty much all BMW from '93 to about 2003, and amplified cars as early as '84. Of course, the DSP stuff is of course weirder than that. This dirty trick won't work there. We are working on a plan for those cars too, iDrive and all...but to answer your question, yes. This wiring covers most all BMWs more than about 5 years old. Well, the ones with BMWs idea of a "simple" system.

Same wiring works on most amplified MBZ, Mini, some Audi, most Porsche, non-bose amplified GM, Nissan including early Bose Maximas...on and on. All it is is a reduction of output voltage. Since the little chip amp is only seeing roughly 1/3 of the "load", it puts out 1/3rd the voltage. The amp still needs to see some sort of reference to that signal voltage, so chassis ground will suffice, as it is not a terribly picky input stage. The chip amp is happier too, as it has so little load it will play cleaner and cooler.

[SwissCheeseHead]

I wish Alpine still made the 9887. I had one in my mustang a long time ago and it was tits. It seems their quality had gone downhill since then. The displays on the newest, top of the line single DIN decks look like digital clocks. Terrible.

[ancho]

I wish Alpine still made the 9887. I had one in my mustang a long time ago and it was tits. It seems their quality had gone downhill since then. The displays on the newest, top of the line single DIN decks look like digital clocks. Terrible.

Kenwood KDC-BT952HD or 948HD. Illumination is a very close match, plastic is matte black.


My gripe with the recent Kenwoods, is the difficulty in reading the display in direct sunlight. Great units otherwise. I like the Alpine 9887 but like you said, the only option at this time is used. Also, cosmetically, the Alpine bugs me because of the blue buttons and gray plastic instead of black... I'm very picky when it comes to aftermarket HUs looking correct in the dash.

[cddallara]

What is this radio you have installed. Is it a Becker or Decker? It looks very clean

It is a Becker Grand Prix

i like it, but it is kind of a pain to use. Once it is setup, it's fine though. I have iPod connectivity thru the cd changer control (no charging though), and Bluetooth works great.

I mainly got it for the looks though, and as Luke will say, there are much more affordable, and probably versatile head units available.