Installing new head unit - questions

[Unregistered]

Ok, I've read Bruno's write up and how I need a BMW harness, a head-unit harness, and the antenna adapter to do the plug and play method.

On Crutchfield, if I order a new CD player, it comes with a BMW receiver harness (120709195) and an antenna adapter (097DIN2). So, does this mean, I would still need to order the head unit harness? I can't seem to find one on the crutchfield site, but I know I can get it at Circuit City.

I'm also confused, does the BMW harness somehow connect to the head unit harness?

[ilya]

no it sounds like you got what you ned already.
you will basically plug in that reciever harness into the wiring inside your dash when you takke your old deck/tape player out. same with the antenna

[Phil M]

Ok, I've read Bruno's write up and how I need a BMW harness, a head-unit harness, and the antenna adapter to do the plug and play method.

On Crutchfield, if I order a new CD player, it comes with a BMW receiver harness (120709195) and an antenna adapter (097DIN2). So, does this mean, I would still need to order the head unit harness? I can't seem to find one on the crutchfield site, but I know I can get it at Circuit City.

I'm also confused, does the BMW harness somehow connect to the head unit harness?
When I installed my clarion, I bought a universal harness and the antenna adaptor at circuit city (the ones listed on brunos site). The ends of the universal harness from CC was just wire and the other end is what pluged into the harness that detatches from the stock radio. My clarion came with a harness as well that had one end that pluged into the clarion player and the other end was wire as well. Confused, I went to a local auto shop to see if they made a harness that had both connectors on either end so I didnt have to strip both ends and wire them myself. They said they didnt use them and their installers just stripped and wired the harnesses together. So thats what I did. The colors matched but except for a few and I had to use the diagram that came with the clarion to correctly connect them. Some wires were left on the clarion harness unneeded and so i just cut em off. If this is what you have to do, make sure that you use good wire cutters and electrical tape and try to cut as much wire off as you can because there isnt **** for space in the dash. But from what I suspect, the harness from crutchfield is already wired together and you just need to follow the directions for removal and attach. You'll understand whats going on when you pull out your stereo because I had no clue either until I pulled mine out. I remember riding around a few days lookin like my car had just gotten broken into.. Also, while youre back there you ought to run some RCA's to the trunk just in case you would want to further upgrade your sound with aftermarket amps, speakers, etc...

Hope this helps and dont hesitate to ask more questions.