HD Radio Installed in E34! WOW!!!

[Tiger]

Hey Guys and Gals,
I finally did it. I installed the HD radio that has the decoder built in. I picked up Sanyo ECD-HD 1990M head unit on eBay... it was dirt cheap so I figured I'd give it a shot. The cheapest HD radio retail is $300 sold at Crutchfield... Don't confuse it with HD ready units... those units you need to fork over another $300+ for the HD decoder.

When I got it... I looked at the headunit and the warning label said do not tie all speaker grounds together or to the chassis... stating it is a FLOATING ground unit... I figured it would make my install easy since BMW head unit is also floating ground setup.

The Sanyo happens to be 50 watts per channels Mosfet and I thought it might be too high for factory amp... My car is full factory setup. So I thought I'd install the OEM-2 converter from Crutchfield. BUT! When I read the fine detail of the instruction... the converter manual also said if installing floating head unit, wire speaker negatives from head unit to amp directly... So I figured, what the heck, just install everything direct and test it...

The test tells me everything is fine... factory amp played the music very nicely... no complaint... Started up the car and revs the engine... to check for the whines you guys are complaining about... Nothing, zip... nadda... no whines whatsoever. So I full installed the unit into the car.

The real test... out on the road... I tuned into the HD radio station that has strong signal strength and full digital reception... WOW... WOW... WOW... The sound is so crisp, so clear... sooooo good baby! I can't imagine how good the factory sound system can put out... it was never at its full potential with factory head unit.

The factory antennae is super and fully compatible with HD radio. The reception on the Sanyo is incredible... picked up all stations without problem... sound is good and clear for all analog stations. Awesome when you got full HD digital signal. The AM? Not a problem too... it picked up the HD AM station too and it tuned much better than factory head unit... I picked up good 10 stations compared to 1 on BMW... that much difference.

Now, I was thinking about all the problems you guys are having... I think some of you have problem because the head unit was not full floating... so that makes it a bit different. I don't see why the OEM adapter wouldn't work if you simply use the postives though it... and connect the ground direct from head unit to amp. I'd recommend you guys hook up all the wires direct to see if you have any problems before you buy the adapter. Just make sure you hook up color to color... stripe to stripe... 1 missed would screw it up.

Another potential problem is usind the crimp or simply tape... in which the connection is not totally tight... will create arcing... which will result in crackle or popping... I soldered all my connections and shrink tubed it.

Last thing is don't read all the horror stories... they just will screw you up into alot of thinkings and solutions... You have to do your own acid test... hook it up all direct... then if problem then go from there...


Boy... if this head unit were hooked up to aftermarket amp and speaker setup... it would blow your minds... I am going to do this to my other car... whoohoo!


Another note... This Sanyo cannot pick up HD2 stations... the second channel your local stations broadcast in different format and type of music... so if you really want those channels, be sure it can do so... not this Sanyo... so don't spend too much money for this Sanyo... I got it for under $100. even though it is retailed for $350.

http://www.sanyo.com/entertainment/m...productID=1136

All about HD radio:

http://www.hdradio.com/index.php

[Gayle]

Thanks for an interesting and informative post.

I checked the stations in San Diego and they are all university stations or talk radio.

[Tiger]

That sux... Eventually all radio station will convert to HD.

[Tiger]

Gayle. you should check with your local stations website to see if they got HD... I doubt hdradio.com can catch all stations or some stations didn't bother getting on the list.

[Tiger]

Gee... no one else has HD radio?

[clhorton]

So um how's the quality

[Tiger]

I guess my post is too lengthy ... So let me make it short... AWESOME!!!